Exercise Hamel, which takes its name from a battle fought in France in 1918, has been designed to develop, confirm, and evaluate the foundation war fighting skills of Darwin’s 1st Brigade and assigned Force Elements within a Joint Task Force setting.

Exercise Hamel is a major Army exercise that is designed to evaluate the war fighting skills of a Brigade and in 2016, Darwin’s 1st Brigade will be tested to ensure they are ready for potential future deployments from humanitarian assistance missions through to high tempo war fighting operations.

For the past six years, Exercise Hamel has been conducted in Queensland, but this year, South Australia has been chosen to hold this major Army activity. Given the historical significance of the region in both World War One and World War Two, this is an exciting opportunity for the Australian Army to train in South Australia during the Centenary of ANZAC.

Exercise Hamel will take place around Port Augusta, Port Pirie, Whyalla and the Cultana training area in June and July 2016.
It is expected that over 8,000 military personnel from the Australian Army, Royal Australian Navy, Royal Australian Air Force, along with personnel from the United States Marine Corps, The United States Army (Pacific Command) and New Zealand Army will participate in the exercise.

credit news, images & videos: army.gov.au