The Cove Podcast brings you candid, unfiltered conversations with the leaders, soldiers, and scholars shaping the Australian Army today. Each week, our host CAPT Todd Lempa sits down with uniformed officers and soldiers leading the change in the Australian Army as well as academics and international partners to unpack what modern warfare demands.
From redefining leadership and resilience in the modern Army to exploring lessons from combat operations, command culture, human performance, and the future of land power, The Cove Podcast reveals how the Australian Army thinks, learns, and fights. Whether it’s a Regimental Sergeant Major reflecting on combat, a general discussing Warrior Culture, or a psychologist unpacking mental readiness—each episode delivers a grounded look at the people and ideas driving the Australian Army forward.
Insightful, grounded, and authentic — this is where the Australian Army thinks out loud.
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The Cove Podcast brings you candid, unfiltered conversations with the leaders, soldiers, and scholars shaping the Australian Army today. Each week, our host CAPT Todd Lempa sits down with uniformed officers and soldiers leading the change in the Australian Army as well as academics and international partners to unpack what modern warfare demands.
From redefining leadership and resilience in the modern Army to exploring lessons from combat operations, command culture, human performance, and the future of land power, The Cove Podcast reveals how the Australian Army thinks, learns, and fights. Whether it’s a Regimental Sergeant Major reflecting on combat, a general discussing Warrior Culture, or a psychologist unpacking mental readiness—each episode delivers a grounded look at the people and ideas driving the Australian Army forward.
Insightful, grounded, and authentic — this is where the Australian Army thinks out loud.
Command in Combat: Hard Decisions and High Standards – BRIG Dave McCammon
The Cove Podcast
54 minutes
1 month ago
Command in Combat: Hard Decisions and High Standards – BRIG Dave McCammon
‘Nothing narrows the focus more than being properly shot
at ...’
In this week’s episode, the host sits down with Brigadier David McCammon, the Commander of the Australian Army Cadets and Head of Corps – Infantry, to explore what it truly means to prepare for combat, be in combat, and return from it. Few senior officers have deployed so frequently at the tactical level. From commanding platoons and companies to leading a battalion and a brigade on operations, BRIG McCammon’s operational experience stretches from East Timor and Kosovo to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East.
He reflects on the lessons forged through over two decades of command: the importance of preparation, discipline, and maintaining standards even when they’re unpopular; the leadership required to make hard calls under pressure; and the enduring truth that combat exposes character—it doesn’t create it. We unpack the “70% solution,” why morale isn’t about keeping people happy but giving them something to fight for, and what it means to be the “first adult in the room” when chaos breaks out.
Drawing on his experiences commanding Australia’s first Operational Mentor and Liaison Team in Afghanistan, Task Group Taji, and most recently JTF 1118 during Operation Beech, BRIG McCammon discusses accountability, resilience, and the moral courage required of leaders in war. He offers blunt advice on why he prefers to reign in a stallion as appose to flogging a donkey and what Australia’s next generation of
soldiers and officers must do to be ready for the wars ahead, even if there is no obvious deployment date.
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The Cove Podcast
The Cove Podcast brings you candid, unfiltered conversations with the leaders, soldiers, and scholars shaping the Australian Army today. Each week, our host CAPT Todd Lempa sits down with uniformed officers and soldiers leading the change in the Australian Army as well as academics and international partners to unpack what modern warfare demands.
From redefining leadership and resilience in the modern Army to exploring lessons from combat operations, command culture, human performance, and the future of land power, The Cove Podcast reveals how the Australian Army thinks, learns, and fights. Whether it’s a Regimental Sergeant Major reflecting on combat, a general discussing Warrior Culture, or a psychologist unpacking mental readiness—each episode delivers a grounded look at the people and ideas driving the Australian Army forward.
Insightful, grounded, and authentic — this is where the Australian Army thinks out loud.
