Dear Gunners (Readers) -
Welcome to Airburst No 70 February 2023
Tempus is certainly fugit! Into the second month of 2023.
Congratulations to Richard Vagg on his promotion to Major General and his appointemnt as Head Land Capability in Army HQ. Richard was the previous Head of Regiment .
The RAAHC is currently reviewing its membership subscriptions with a view to reducing them. I will advise the new subscriptions when the review is concluded.
The Regimental Committee had its first face- to -face meeting, post Covid, at the School of Artillery on Friday 24 February 2023. It is too early to provide outcomes but the discussions were wide including an agenda item on the update of the RAA National Memorial on Mount Pleasant, Canberra.
Combined Arms Heritage Learning Centre (CAHLC)
Contract award for the Head Contractor is anticipated to occur early 2023, with construction of the CAHLC estimated to be complete in late 2024.
With over 5000 square metres of exhibition space, the CAHLC will be the largest of Army’s sixteen museums.
Exhibition planning is at an advanced stage, in consultation with the RAAC Head of Corps and the
RAA Head of Regiment. The exhibitions will provide an engaging and educative window into the
history of the RAAC and RAA and reflect on the similarities between the corps’ historical roles and
how they are conducted today.
The RAA National Memorial
In 2018 the then HOR, RCC and Regimental Committee (RC) noted that the RAA National memorial (RAANM) did not include any references to wars or campaigns post South Vietnam and therefore did not represent the historically significant experiences of contemporary gunners. A decision was taken to investigate and initiate a project to update the RAANM.
The key tenets of the Project are:
· The upgrade should be driven by the contemporary Gunner community.
· Of prime importance is to preserve the current footprint, as a sign of respect for our former Captain-General Queen Elizabeth the Second, who opened the memorial in Mar 1977 and a valuable piece of Gunner history.
· The expansion beyond that initial footprint is to maintain the style of the original footprint but with an identifiable separation in structure that will provide an element of ownership to the contemporary Gunner fraternity.
· Given the number of contemporary operations that Gunners have been involved in (in role and out of role) they cannot all be named individually. So, the naming of operations and campaigns is to be guided by the AWM's and Army’s treatment of the numerous operations that have occurred since South Vietnam.
· As previously agreed by the RC the campaigns to be included are: • Somalia • Peace Operations • East Timor / Timor Leste • Afghanistan • Iraq.
It is proposed that 9 March 2027 be the target date for the unveiling (50 years since the original unveiling). This hopefully allows sufficient time for design, government approvals, fund raising and construction.
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The RAAHC will assist with the project which will require substantial funding from sponsors and the Gunner Community.
UBIQUE
Ian Ahearn
Chair RAAHC
