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About the AuthorMajor Gavin Keating is an infantry officer in the Australian Regular Army. He hasserved in the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, the Special Air ServiceRegiment and the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and has deployedon operations to East Timor, Bougainville and the Middle East. He is currently astudent at the Australian Command and Staff College.AcknowledgementsThis paper was completed as part of the Australian Command and Staff College’scurriculum in 2007. Professor Jeffrey Grey kindly agreed to be my academicsponsor for the project and his guidance, delivered over successive Fridaylunches, was invaluable and greatly appreciated. Colonel Roger Noble volunteeredto be my military sponsor and was helpful in guiding me through the combatmorale literature.I was very fortunate to be able to draw on the excellent work of MarkJohnston, Garth Pratten and Karl James, all of whom have made very significantcontributions to the understanding of Australia’s military history. Karl James wasparticularly helpful, and his detailed knowledge of the Bougainville campaign andsuggestions for further work were very beneficial.I am grateful to Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm McGregor of the Land WarfareStudies Centre for agreeing to publish the paper and to Scott Hopkins for takingit through the editing and production process.My father, Michael Keating, read the draft manuscript and offered somethoughtful perspectives. My wife, Myra, was, as always, most supportive, particularlygiven that our second son was born just before research began.