Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps

Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps
Badge of the Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps
Active	1 July 1902 – present
Country	Australia
Branch	Australian Army
Type	Corps
Role	Military supply chain management Administration
Motto(s)	Sua Tela Tonanti (to the Warrior his Arms)
Commanders
Colonel-in-Chief	Queen Elizabeth II

The Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps (RAAOC) is the Corps within the Australian Army concerned with supply and administration, as well as the demolition and disposal of explosives and salvage of battle-damaged equipment. The Corps contains clerks, operator supplies (including q-store staff, warehouse staff and food technicians), petroleum operators, parachute riggers and ammunition technicians. Members of the Corps are nicknamed Roaches.

Unlike other Corps within the Australian Army, there are no longer any RAAOC specific units, instead RAAOC sub-units sit within mixed units such as Combat Service Support Battalions (CSSBs) or Force Support Battalions (FSBs). RAAOC is also responsible for clerks and quartermaster store staff in all Australian Army Units. The motto of the Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps is 'sua tela tonanti' (commonly translated to 'to the warrior his arms'), taken from the mother corps, RAOC.

The Corps traces its history back to federation where General Edward Hutton started the Australian Army Ordnance Corps. The Corps gained its Royal prefix for its work during the Second World War.

The RAAOC motto translates from Latin to 'To the warrior his arms, to the thunderer his thunder bolts'. The RAAOC badge is copied from the Board of Ordnance in the United Kingdom.

On 31 May 1973 the Royal Australian Army Service Corps ceased to exist and the responsibilities of road, transport, air dispatch and postal functions were handed over to the Royal Australian Corps of Transport (RACT) who were formed on 1 June 1973. The responsibilities of provision of foodstuffs and POL (petrol oil lubricants) was handed over to the Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps (RAAOC).

Members of the ordnance corps will be found serving in most Army units and headquarters. The primary Regular Army units manned by RAAOC soldiers are:

However, many Regular Army RAAOC trades are posted to units of all Regular and Reserve units throughout the Australian Defence Force as clerks, storemen(-persons) and other administrative and support roles.

The Army Reserve element of the Corps used to also consist primarily of Supply Companies, with 4, 5, 8, 11, 13 Supply Company of each Combat Service Support Battalion (CSSB) of the respective numbered Brigades in each state. As part of Project FOCUS (Project Director Colonel Allan A Murray), these supply companies have been replaced by Brigade Operations Support Companies (BOSCs) in each Reserve Brigade. This implementation has centralised supply support to Army Reserve units, and as such, has been witness to a change of trade for Army Reserve members from warehousing (as in the old reserve Supply Companies) to Q-store streams.