THE Royal Australian Armoured Corp’s Coral-Balmoral Cup was bigger than ever this year, boasting more crews and international participants.
Hosted and run by the School of Armour (SOARMD) at Puckapunyal, the event seeks out the best tank and cavalry crews in a tough six-day competition between the Australian Army and the United States military.
Australia swept the awards throughout the competition, with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment scoring Best Cavalry Crew, Best Tank Crew and Best Tank Gunnery Crew, while the School of Armour won the Best Cavalry Gunnery Crew.
Commanding Officer SOARMD Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Cimbaljevic said the competition went beyond bragging rights, signifying the pursuit of excellence at every level.
“Coral-Balmoral Cup provides a tangible benchmarking assessment against the best crews in the USMC and US Army to understand where we can improve in the delivery of our mounted combat individual training, as part of the Land Domain Training System,” he said.
The challenge traces its name back to Australia’s most costly and protracted series of battles in defence of Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral during the Vietnam War.
“It takes a unit’s culture of promoting excellence at the small team level to improve overall unit readiness and effectiveness,” Lieutenant Colonel Cimbaljevic said.
“Moreover, the Coral-Balmoral Cup promotes friendly competition, improves interoperability, and fosters our enduring mateship with the US military at the tactical and practical level.”
Master Sergeant Mitchell Cross, of the 1st Armoured Division—US Army, said both nations pushed themselves and their teams to the limits.
“In preparation for the competition, our crew got an opportunity to train to a new level of physical and tactical excellence,” he said.
“The relationships, respect and trust that built over three short weeks is amazing. I came away with an appreciation for Australian Army as a fighting organisation and I’m glad we had the opportunity to compete in the Coral-Balmoral competition.
“The level of proficiency among the Australian crews was incredible. It’s a testament to tough, realistic training.”
For the visiting US teams, preparing for the competition involved spending a week training on vehicles, Australian weapons qualifications and lessons on tabulated data.
The competition involved a range of activities that included tactical field craft, force-on-force actions and live-fire manoeuvre.
Warrant Officer Class Two Beau St Leone, of SOARMD, said the competition offered the ideal training ground for all crews.
“Although a competition, all the facets of modern warfare were tested,” he said.
“The crews’ ability to shoot, move and communicate as an effective team on a battlefield was a priority. This competition not only identifies the top performing AFV crews from across the US and Australia but identifies any shortfalls in our training.”
Sergeant Dody Martinelli, of the US 1st Light Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion, said it was a great experience.
“The true value of the Coral-Balmoral competition lies in the relationships and partnerships forged during this event. I hope that this event leads to further innovative collaborations between our great nations,” he said.
“We look forward to hosting Australian teams in the Sullivan Cup, Bushmaster Challenge and Gainey Cup in the near future.”
