7 Bde takes bragging rights at skills comp

7 Bde won the 2026 St Eligius Trophy, overcoming Army's toughest and most complex trade skills competition yet at Holsworthy Barracks.

Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RAEME) tradesmen and junior officers tested their teamwork, military and technical skills with demanding scenarios during the annual competition last month.

For 7 Bde energy technician CFN Sally Hamilton, success was measured by more than the final result.

“My main goal was for it to be fun and injury free, and we nailed that. In my version of success, we absolutely smashed it,” CFN Hamilton said.

“I really did not come to win, so for me, it was a cherry on top of a pretty good week, to be honest.”

The St Eligius Trophy is an inter-brigade military and trade skills competition named after the patron saint of RAEME.

This year’s event was the largest and most complicated yet, expanding to include RAEME aviation trades for the first time and introducing a live-fire component, more advanced trade challenges and an IED response scenario.

Teams from 1 Bde, 3 Bde and 7 Bde returned to compete, joined by 17 Sustainment Bde and Special Forces Group.

The day began at 0430h with a 90-minute PT session led by WO1 Ben Kamphuis, of 2 Health Bde, with competitors making friends with torsion bars and burpees in persistent rain. 

Competitors then moved to the range, where they completed physically demanding shoots designed to test marksmanship, weapon handling skill and decision-making under pressure.

Once the military activities concluded, soldier tradesmen faced practical and theoretical assessments designed by the master artificers of their respective trades.

Challenges included fault-finding on drones, repairing leaking fuel systems and conducting vehicle recovery tasks.

Despite accidentally ripping the pull-start cord from a generator she was supposed to repair during the trade stands, CFN Hamilton said the competition struck the right balance between realism and challenge.

“It was tough for me because I broke the generator and it threw me off, but I think the faults were within reach for many fully qualified tradesmen,” she said.

The winners were announced at the RAEME Corps conference on October 15, with 7 Bde taking bragging rights in the competition’s third year.

Competition organiser MAJ Dominic Buchan, of Army Logistic Training Centre, said the event highlighted the professionalism and capability of RAEME soldiers.

“The corps has a large number of outstanding tradespersons that punch above their weight in everything they do. This gives them the opportunity to showcase those skills and their tenacity,” MAJ Buchan said.

“They can take the trophy back and lord that over the rest of their peers amongst the other brigades and continue to drive that professional camaraderie that we love so much within RAEME.”

The competition also tested participants’ ability to adapt to the unexpected. 

LCPL William Ginn, 3 Bde’s team 2IC and a member of their 2025 winning team, said competitors were kept on their toes.

“We expected it to be tough, but there were random curve balls that would be thrown. On one stand we were supposed to do a vehicle recovery, and then out of nowhere there were bombs going off,” LCPL Ginn said.

“You’re never going to get the scenario you’re planning for. Instead of stressing trying to think of every scenario, it’s best to just roll with the punches, make a decision and stick with it.”