Warrior Soldier Brigand
Institutional Abuse within the Australian Defence Force
Ben Wadham and James Connor
Melbourne, Victoria Australia: Melbourne University Press, 2024
Paperback 496pp RRP: $45.00
Reviewer: Michael Arnold, January 2025
As a former senior Army Officer, I found Warrior Soldier Brigand a confronting read. The authors analyse the root cause of institutional abuse within the ADF and do not pull any punches. Using actual cases studies, garnered from a range of Defence reviews and inquiries, they paint a picture of sustained and widespread systemic abuse. The damage to a large number of Australian servicemen and women and their families, who are victims of this abuse is incalculable. Ben Wadham is a former soldier turned academic, while James Connor is an academic with15 years of experience at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). The book is academic in its handling of the topic but is easy to comprehend.
The authors argue that three pillars shape abuse in the ADF, namely martial masculinity, military exceptionalism and fraternity. They note that the ADF has traditionally been an almost exclusively white male domain, which since the end of Vietnam War (and with it, the end of conscription) has become more culturally diverse. This change has been profoundly challenging and they argue that the ADF failed to manage it, and the consequent abuse, effectively.
They posit that there are five types of military institutional abuse, these being administrative abuse, reputational damage and sabotage, sexual assault (and sexual harassment), hazing and bastardisation, and extreme endurance training. They discuss how and why these forms of abuse have proliferated in the ADF, focusing on the period 1969 to 2024. They recount truly awful, individual cases of abuse, using them to highlight widespread cultural issues, including collective failure of leadership by numerous SNCOs and officers of all ranks. They examine bastardisation at a range of well-known institutions, including the Royal Military College, Duntroon and the Army Apprentices School. They assess the increased number women in the Services from 1987 and the consequent growth in instances of abuse, including sexual assault and harassment. They also assess the invidious impact of administrative abuse, which is often targeted at victims of other forms of abuse by officers and SNCO/WO, who should know better.
Wadham and Connor suggest that most militaries ascribe to a genuine warrior ethos, that is, ‘… an ethical militarism that forges the principles of heroism, gallantry, strength dominance, ethical violence, discipline, dependability, valour, fearlessness and charisma.’ They suggest that all too often in the ADF, the brigand, which is the antithesis of the warrior, prevails.
They posit that the senior leadership of the Defence Force and often the government have not effectively dealt with institutional abuse, usually ascribing incidents as being committed by a ‘few bad apples’ or even ‘bad orchards’. Instances of abuse are considered as being ‘out of the ordinary’, whereas the authors suggest that it is inevitable in military organisations. The authors also describe in detail, Defence’s tactics to resist meaningful cultural change as demanded by a succession of federal governments. Wadham and Connor acknowledge that it is extremely challenging for the ADF’s senior leadership to inculcate a true warrior ethos throughout the entire organisation but note that given the harm institutional abuse does to individuals and indeed, to military capability, they must succeed.
The RUSI – Vic Library is most grateful to the publisher for making this work available for review.
