Junior leader embraces innovation

As a training corporal at 16RWAR, Cpl Luke Rebola knows the importance of innovation.

Responsible for drafting, coordinating and conducting training for Army Reserve soldiers, he said there was a need for freedom within the program to come up with exciting, realistic training.

As part of the 2026 Chief of Army Symposium, Cpl Rebola was chosen to attend the Junior Leaders Forum, a program for high-performing corporals from across Army.

“It’s pretty pertinent to reserves. If you don’t run good training on a Tuesday night, because you’ve only got them for two hours, you lose buy-in from them,” he said.

“Being here and learning about ways we’re innovating and adapting aids in developing better ideas on how we can implement new tactics, techniques and procedures into training to try to keep it fresh and exciting.”

Born and raised in Geraldton, Cpl Rebola originally joined Army at 16RWAR as a reserve soldier before transferring to the regular Army as a rifleman at 2RAR.

While he said returning to his old unit was great for work-life balance, it was a challenge working to a different tempo.

“There’s a big transition difference from being at a battalion, surrounded by my mates and my peers to now taking a step back, organising training and administration,” he said.

Cpl Rebola said one of the major advantages of attending the forum was networking with others of his rank and senior leaders.

“Having the ability to speak to a lot of senior leaders doesn’t come around that often,” he said.

“I’m also interested in how the special operations units do things with regards to their junior leadership as opposed to the regular Army.”

The theme of this year’s Chief of Army Symposium was ‘Hardwired for Adaptation’, and the Junior Leaders Forum challenged attendees to answer what a junior non-commissioned officer’s role was in adaptation.

For Cpl Rebola, staying focused on foundational skills while also building new skills was important.

“Being hardwired for adaptation is building on those foundations by adding in new SOPs or tactics, techniques and procedures, depending on what’s changing in the battle space, such as drone or trench warfare,” he said.