Following the retirement of Insp. Les Bardwell in 1976 after being in Charge of the Police Emergency Squad (PES) since its inauguration in 1968, Supt Bob Mathieson took charge of the squad.

Bob was like a breath of fresh air as far as the squad was concerned. The days of the squad being comprised of mainly CIB members were gone and he bought in new members who had special skills, e.g. rifle club members as snipers etc.

Training procedures were upgraded, I was sent to train with the SAS in W A for two weeks and the Army Land Warfare Centre (LWC) at Canungra was approached and agreed to provide five day a training course for the members in 1978.

Fitness became an important feature for the training provided by the army which was not for the faint hearted. Live firing exercises, emphasis on upgrading rifle and pistol skills, map reading, orienteering, mock village exercises and the dreaded confidence course. 

Each morning we were on parade at 6am for P E and a couple kilometres of jogging which helped clear the cobwebs from an evening in the mess.

The confidence course was not loved by many as it was reliant on fitness and the ability to negotiate cargo nets (under and over), wooden walls and the dreaded mud filled pit all while simulated grenades exploded, blank machine gun firing and smoke grenades were set off during completing the course. For the fittest member the course took approximately seven minutes. I was very fit in those days but I could never beat Bob Platt's time. At the end of the course we had to climb a three metre tower and plunge into cool fresh water creek to clean up the mud and cool down. (photo squad members after plunge

Brian Foster was the RSM from the old school being a Korean and Vietnam vet. He expected respect and got it from our members in the Sgt's Mess where he greeted us at the end of each day for a cleansing ale. On Thursday night there was a dine in night with all the pomp and pageantry including pass the port.

Originally we were going to live in tent lines, however when barrack accommodation become available we were housed in very comfortable brick barracks.

The training continued until the squad was restructured before the advent of the Commonwealth Games in 1982. This training together with our regular training at Greenbank allowed for the PES to become a more professional entity ensuring that we went about our duties with more confidence and professionalism.

Some members: Standing (l to r) - Phil Jones, Pat Galwey, Lance Roffey, John Hegarty, Bill McKechnie, Barry Short, Noel Gollschewski, Brian Sheehan

Kneeling - John Carnes, Barry Krosch, Peter Scanlon with Supt Bob Mathieson