For the parents and children at the Nhulunbuy Aquatic Centre, the chance to beat the soldiers in a match of tug-of-war was too good to pass up.
It turns out a dozen children are stronger than a handful of sappers.
But for the troops on Exercise Predator’s Run, getting dragged across lawn by groups of cheering children was all part of the plan.
For a week during mid-July, engineers, military police, medics and other soldiers were a common sight in the schools, cafes and parks of Nhulunbuy, a town in East Arnhem Land and home to the Yolngu people.
The townspeople had never seen anything like it, according to Nhulunbuy Corporation community manager Michael Rogers, who arranged an Army open day at the local pool to finish the school holidays.
A ride in a Bushmaster and chance to get hands on Army tools was too good to pass up for the estimated 300 people who attended.
“It’s the first time we’ve had a real collaboration with Army on this scale and the interaction with the community has been fantastic,” Mr Rogers said.
“Living in a small town you see big groups of people coming through, especially if it’s Army, and days like today are integral to help the community understand what Army does and why they’re here.”
Across the other side of town, at the site of the annual Garma Festival, soldiers loaded up with as much firewood as they could carry to add to the ever-growing pile.
Organisers requested 25 tonnes of wood for the festival and the sappers were up to the challenge.
It was just one way the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment (1CER) and attachments helped the community.
With boots already on the ground in a remote location, the battlegroup easily switched from community outreach to tactical operations, such as preparing beach-landing sites for tanks and HIMARS.
Engineers are frequently deployed across the region and beyond.
Commanding Officer 1CER Lieutenant Colonel Travis Day said engineers’ skills enabled them to pivot and respond to different situations while deployed.
“Whether it’s a disaster, HADR task, security operation or worse, chances are engineers are already in the country,” Lieutenant Colonel Day said.
The first week of Exercise Predator’s Run was a chance for soldiers to experience nation-building before embarking on littoral operations across the Top End.
“It’s about how we transition from being an engineer, doing valuable work like cutting wood for the Garma festival and generating goodwill,” Lieutenant Colonel Day said.
“Our first objective is nation-building and community engagement, and then we transition rapidly to a combat force,” he said.
1CER recently evolved into a light-littoral combat engineer regiment.
Exercise Predator’s Run is the largest littoral manoeuvre training event this year, involving soldiers from the UK, USA and Philippines.
