Former Cohuna lad, Corporal Adam Randall has been featured by the Australian Army as one of their most experienced soldiers working on the Army’s newest light protected mobility vehicle, the Hawkei.
Corporal Randall has more than 10 years’ experience in the Army, working across a range of vehicle platforms in infantry and cavalry units as a driver and instructor.
The Army says the Hawkei, made by Thales in Bendigo, is a highly protected and deployable light vehicle designed to provide optimum balance of survivability, mobility, usability, payload, sustainability and communications, and provides unprecedented intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.
Corporal Randall was one of the first driver instructors at the Army School of Transport supporting the introduction of the vehicle and now specialises as a Hawkei instructor at Simpson Barracks in Melbourne with 4th/19th Prince of Wales’s Light Horse. In February, he assisted with delivery of four Hawkei vehicles to 12th/40th Battalion, The Royal Tasmania Regiment, and will continue training new drivers in the Army’s 4th Brigade in Victoria and Tasmania.
“The Hawkei is far more capable than I first anticipated and its potential is only limited by the user,” said Corporal Randall in a statement from the Army. “They’re a fantastic addition to Army and it’s really great to see these vehicles now starting to be located around the country in Army Reserve units.”
Corporal Randall also said that giving Army Reserve personnel the ability to train on, operate regularly and identify the Hawkei’s strengths will boost how well equipped and prepared the 2nd (Australian) Division will be to protect Australia.
This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 16 May 2024.
