Combat engineers work through the night to establish 46m bridge

How quickly do you think eight people could build a 46m bridge in the dead of the night that could hold a tank, while the enemy waits nearby? Here’s how combat engineers did it in six hours.

Australian Army Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles cross a bridge built by Sappers from 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment during Exercise Brolga Run at Townsville Field Training Area, Queensland. Photo: TPR Dana Millington

In the midst of war not only are soldiers creating strategies on how to overcome the enemy, but they are also navigating unknown terrain and obstacles. Which is why during Exercise Brolga run combat engineers put their bridge building skills to the test, racing against the clock to push back against the “enemy”.

Soldiers from the 3rd Combat Engineers Regiment (3CER) had sacrificed their Friday nights for months, learning to adapt their bridge building skills to a dark environment so that when the time came during the exercise they could construct a dry support bridge across Keelbottom creek at Townsville Field Training Area (TFTA).

Commanding officer of 3CER, Nick Trotter said that between midnight and 6am on the morning of the 26th of May a section of soldiers had worked to a tight schedule in tough conditions to establish the bridge.

“While it was occurring we had battlegroup Coral securing the flanks and then swimming across the river as well, securing the far bank and then moving forward to other objectives to make sure that the enemy wasn’t in a position to fire on us or disrupt the activity during the night,” he said.

“Our sections are normally eight or nine people and each of those members of that section has a different job in the actual physical construction of that bridge but on top of that we have other people driving the trucks to get the bridge there,” he said.

Although a small hiccup right at the finish line prevented the armoured vehicles crossing in the morning, it wasn’t long until they made it to the other side of the river.

“This is why we train. There was disappointment that it wasn’t able to go in during that one night as planned but then you take a deep breath and work through the problem and that’s exactly what they did and by mid afternoon they had it resolved.”

“It always feels good to complete a task. Doing an activity like that, by night and quietly so that the enemy will have a tough time detecting us takes a lot of training, a lot of teamwork and a lot of skill from the soldiers.”

The bridge allowed for tanks and armoured vehicles weighing up to 80 tonnes to cross safely and advance 3rd Brigade’s push against the enemy.

“What the brigade proved that night is that the training works. Everybody did their own part of the plan and for everyone to do that they have to have rehearsed, they have to be a tight knit solid team and the planning has to be sound because otherwise those plans won’t survive first contact.”

Originally published as Combat engineers work through the night to establish 46m bridge