Singleton’s Lone Pine Barracks Army Base has a new face, with Warrant Officer Class 1 (WO1) Adrian Hodges taking over the role as Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) at the School of Infantry earlier in the year.
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Joining the Australian Defence Force at age 17, WO1 Hodges comes from a strong military background, being the third generation in his family to serve.
Born in Victoria, WO1 Hodges was posted to the 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment in 1987, before postings at the Australian Defence Force Academy and the Royal Military College - Duntroon as an Instructor.
WO1 Hodges’ military career has seen him deployed five times, most notably serving as a Section Commander in Somalia, Africa before being deployed to East Timor, the Sinai, Egypt, the Solomon Islands and then Afghanistan.
He says the focus of his new role as RSM and Warrant Officer Class 1 at Lone Pine Barracks is on training and how to better engage and integrate with the Singleton community.
In the first six months, the role has already taken on a strong community engagement and integration focus through cooperation with local groups such as the local Emergency Services, Lions Club, Singleton RSL-Sub Branch, Singleton Diggers Club and Legacy.
“It’s important to have a forward leaning approach to community engagement and to continue to be here to support and provide Defence Aid for Civil Community,” he said.
“Relations with the community haven’t always been as they are today, with local divisions and brawls.”
“Fast forward 20 to 30 years and you could argue that we now have a wonderful relationship with the community.”
Another main focus of the role has included assisting the Commanding Officer to engage with their unit through 15 weeks of intense infantry training at the School of Infantry.
“At the start of the year, we had approximately 250 staff with over 600 trainee soldiers ”, WO1 Hodges said.
Training the unit, youth and new generation of soldiers as well as building up the relationship between the barracks and the Singleton community is a responsibility that WO1 Hodges says he holds very highly.
“This job is an immense privilege, it’s a job that I cherish and I’m really looking forward to doing for the next year and a half.”