Bought a tear to me eye.
We used to sing that at primary school in the mid to late 70's
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first heard that song when we went my Pops place for ANZAC day and it was done byt the Bushwackers from their lively album never forget it, I brought that album a while ago now and its in my rotation on my ipod. Brings back memories of Pop smoking on the back verandah and having a king brown(long neck) of Emu Export and listening the the nags on his old wireless.
G'day folks,
Thank goodness the right person is being considered for the position of Governor General and not like the last appointment!
Regards,
RLI
General Gosgrove front runner for governor-general role
Former defence chief Peter Cosgrove has long been a front runner for the role of Australia's next governor-general, and those who know him say he is a ''unifying figure'' who has remained ''controversy free''.
But the ink appears to not yet be dry on his appointment, with a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister's Office saying on Thursday: ''No decision has been made yet. An announcement will be made in due course as per the usual process.''
Responding to questions from Fairfax Media on Friday, General Gosgrove would not comment on the media speculation and he would not be drawn on questions regarding his ongoing roles as Chancellor of the Australian Catholic University or on the board of Qantas.
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News Corporation reported on Thursday that General Cosgrove had been appointed, although said it had yet to be finalised.
Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss said in Melbourne on Thursday that General Cosgrove, who led the international peacekeeping mission to East Timor, would be ''an excellent candidate'' but added: ''I'm sure there are other people also who could do the job well.''
In April, in response to speculation he wanted to appoint former prime minister John Howard to the role, Mr Abbott said he believed former military leaders and former judges made the best vice-regal appointments.
The national convener of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy David Flint said General Cosgrove would make ''an ideal appointment'' to the role.
If appointed, General Cosgrove, who served as chief of the Defence Force from 2002 to 2005, would be Australia's 26th governor-general and would play a prominent role in the 2015 centenary of Anzac Day.
Born in Sydney, General Cosgrove, 66, fought in Vietnam, where he earned the Military Cross in 1971.
He is on the board of Qantas and is the NSW Centenary of Anzac Advisory Council chairman. He has served on the board of the Australian War Memorial and as a director of the Australian Rugby Union.
He was Australian of the Year in 2001 and has a Townsville suburb named after him for his role in the Cyclone Larry relief effort.
James Brown, military fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, said General Cosgrove's ''excellent communication skills'', including his direct manner and ability to converse with people from all walks of life, stood him apart from other senior military figures.
Mr Brown said General Cosgrove is ''quite a unifying figure'' who is ''pretty controversy free''.
''I think military people make good governors-general because they are used to being apolitical, which is very important in this role,'' he said.
John Blaxland, a senior fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, who served under General Cosgrove in East Timor, said: ''I suspect he has been intellectually preparing himself for the role.''
Excellent news :). WTF with Howard???? That idiot said in a speech once that no person serves his country more than a politician!! Pigs arse Howard.....
Military Warning From Pakistan....
This morning, the Pakistan Minister of Immigration, Mohammed Omar Upperkhan, warned Australia to cease all military activities in Afghanistan.
He stated that if it does not stop immediately, Pakistan authorities will cut off Australia's supply of Cab Drivers and if this action does not yield sufficient results, Telstra Customer Service Reps will be next, followed by Centrelink Officers, Telemarketers, Supermarket trolley collectors and finally, Queensland Doctors.
PS, farkk trendsetters, this is really starting to get ugly!
Regards,
RLI
1996 I signed up
I signed up Rhodesian Army 1979 and then Australian Army 1980
Regards,
RLI
Probe into defence award 'injustices'
January 10, 2014
Defence force personnel who have been improperly denied honours and awards will be the focus of a new national investigation.
The Abbott government has tasked the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal to conduct a full inquiry into "refused, withheld and forfeited" honours and awards.
Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Darren Chester says the tribunal will examine the period from the beginning of World War II to the present day.
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"Recent work of the tribunal has indicated that many of the decisions taken to withhold the medallic entitlements of our veterans who served in the Second World War and later conflicts were of doubtful legal validity," Mr Chester said.
"I expect the tribunal to report back to government on the correct and preferable way to address any injustices it encounters in the course of its investigations."
Submissions to the inquiry will close February 28.
RSL national secretary John King welcomed a review into the honours and awards system.
"It's timely to look at this in the big context," he said.
Mr King said that some awards had become dated but others had been applied with too much rigidity, meaning some personnel had missed out.
He added that the changing role of the ADF, through peacekeeping roles, border security operations and use of contractors meant that some award categories may need to be expanded.
AAP, with Judith Ireland
PS, about time!
Regards,
RLI
I must be younger still.... I joined the NZ army Infantry in 1985 and 6 months later was living in Singapore with 1 battlion. Came home 18 months later as an adult carpentry apprentice with the Engineers. I had the best job in the would... got to build stuff then blow it up! Left the army in 1993.
'Oh, Kylie! What did you do? Next time, please don’t...': What mother told Military Cross hero daughter who twice braved hails of bullets to tend war wounded
By Sarah Oliver
UPDATED: 00:18 GMT, 10 December 2013
When Lance Corporal Kylie Watson was summoned to the office of her commanding officer for a ‘fireside chat’ she feared the worst. ‘Do you know why you are here?’ he asked the combat medic. ‘Am I in trouble, Sir?’ she enquired. ‘No,’ he told her. ‘You’ve been awarded the Military Cross.’
The then 23-year-old, whose 2011 tour of Afghanistan’s Helmand province was her first as a fully qualified battlefield medic, was stunned.
‘Are you sure you’ve got the right soldier?’ she asked. But there was no mistake. The extraordinary heroism she displayed by twice running into Taliban fire to treat wounded comrades had been recognised with one of the UK’s highest honours.
And now Lance Corporal Watson of the Royal Army Medical Corps – who stands just 5ft 1in tall in her Army-issue boots – is one of only four women in history to bear the coveted initials MC after her name.
‘It still seems extraordinary to me,’ she says, speaking from Invicta Park Barracks in Maidstone, Kent. ‘I believe anyone with a human heart beating inside them would try to help another who’d been hurt. Coalition soldier, Afghan army fighter, civilian – it makes no difference. When you hear someone shout, “Medic, Medic, Medic,” it only means one thing: trouble. So you go.’
Her citation for the medal spoke of her ‘immense courage, willingness to put her own life at risk and absolute bravery’. It revealed that she ‘saved the life of one warrior and acted as an inspiration to her platoon and their Afghan National Army partners’.
‘Ah, but it doesn’t mention the bit where I fell over,’ she grins, sounding more Private Benjamin than a thoroughly modern war hero. And then she retells her story which, like many footnotes of military history, contains as much chaos and grim comedy as it does courage and compassion.
‘We were patrolling by a compound on the outskirts of a village when the shooting began. A man went down about 70 metres in front of me. He was with British and Afghan soldiers in a ditch at the bottom of a hillock. I could just about see them but I couldn’t speak to them other than by shouting because we’d lost communications.
‘I had on my body armour and my helmet, and I was carrying my SA80 rifle as well as my medical battlefield trauma kit. It’s heavy, it contains IV fluids and water, rations, drugs, tourniquets and airway equipment, not to mention the collapsible stretcher strapped to one side and the mine detector strapped to the other.
‘I’d run no more than a couple of metres away from the compound where I had taken cover when I fell over something – uneven terrain, my own feet, I don’t know. I went down.
I was very, very embarrassed but I reckoned that in the heat of the battle with bullets flying in both directions my platoon was too busy to notice. So I got back up and kept on running.’
The wounded man was an Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier whose pelvis had been shattered by bullets. He was deep in shock and drifting in and out of consciousness.
Watson made a 100m dash in full view of the enemy under sustained accurate fire to deliver life-saving first aid to a soldier who had been shot twice
‘The soldier tending to him was doing a brilliant job but he was a sniper and he was needed for the fight. I couldn’t let him do my job,’ says Kylie.
Beneath an exchange of fire between her platoon and Taliban fighters, she stemmed the casualty’s bleeding with field dressings and splinted his pelvis before a Chinook helicopter arrived to fly him to hospital at Camp Bastion, the British Army HQ.
The entire ‘contact’ took, she estimates, no more than 40 minutes, after which she and the rest of the patrol returned to their base at Checkpoint Azadie in Helmand’s ‘Green Zone’, an area of lush vegetation irrigated by the waterways of the Helmand River. ‘I didn’t dwell on it. It was just another day in Afghanistan,’ she reflects.
It was at Checkpoint Azadie that Lance Corporal Watson spent most of her six months in mid-2010. Like the men she served alongside, 9 Platoon of ‘C’ Company of 1st Battalion, the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, she lived rough at first.
She slept wrapped in a poncho, washed every second day with a field shower (a black plastic bag with a mini-hose attachment) and supplemented her Army rations with packet food posted out from home.
‘We nicknamed it “Hotel Azadie”,’ she says. ‘We had pushed out from a checkpoint a little under a kilometre down the road called Haji-Alen to build a new base. At first we came under fire every day but we made it plain we were there to stay. We even adopted a camp dog and called him Marra [a north of England word for friend].’
The lance corporal settled into life in her ‘hotel’. At camp she tended to the general health of the infantrymen as they battled the twin horrors of mid-summer in Afghanistan: searing heat and dust. As the only medic, she went out on all routine patrols.
It was just such a patrol which saw the second act of bravery that contributed to Kylie’s MC. ‘We left at sun-up for a patrol,’ she says. ‘It involved crossing the river by foot, which was always good for a laugh because I am only 5ft 1in tall, and the river comes up to somewhere between my waist and my neck, depending on the depth.’ (Kylie would have been too small to serve in the Corps under the height regulations that once held sway.)
We patrolled a wee bit further and had just stopped for a break when the gunfire opened up. The commander of the ANA soldiers attached to us came racing down a track towards us – he ran about 25 metres with bullets flying all around him, screaming for a medic. The platoon sergeant and I ran back with him.
‘We saw one of his men lying on open ground and I ran forward into the contact. There was gunfire in both directions but ... well, none of it seemed to be aimed at me.
‘The casualty had no pulse, he wasn’t breathing. He had a tiny entry wound in his chest but no exit wound. I began cardiopulmonary resuscitation [CPR]. The platoon sergeant said, “Kylie, have you seen where we are?” and I looked ahead of me and to the side and realised we were in completely open ground. “Right,” I said. “I think we should get back.”
'The citation doesn't mention the bit where I fell over...'
‘Three guys came to help and we evacuated the soldier under fire. I kept going with the CPR and one of his comrades gave him the kiss of life.
‘We fought and fought until the helicopter came. I wouldn’t give up, but I couldn’t bring him back. Sometimes you can’t change the outcome. You can’t save everyone, you just have to know you did your best. Then we got shot at on the way home too.’
Kylie paid her respects to the fallen soldier at a memorial held back at Azadie but her emotions are those of a controlled professional. ‘What happens in Afghanistan stays there,’ she says firmly, unwilling to let operational horrors seep into her happy home life back in the UK.
For just to add to the drama of her tour, her boyfriend, Lance Corporal Jacques Swanepoel, a combat medic in 16 Air Assault Brigade, proposed to her and presented her with a diamond engagement ring when she returned on leave. He met her at RAF Brize Norton and swept her off to an expensive hotel in nearby Oxford. Suffice to say it was a world away from Hotel Azadie.
‘Jacques had arranged for me to be pampered and have a massage. The masseuse told me I had a lot of tension in my shoulders and I just thought, “Well honestly, I wonder why ...”
‘Later, Jacques asked me to marry him and I burst into tears. He didn’t know whether that meant yes or no. But of course I accepted.’
Kylie left Jacques just days later to return to Helmand to complete her tour. She did not expect to see him again for six months, but in a scene worthy of a romantic novel the couple were unexpectedly reunited for a few hours at Camp Bastion. She was departing Afghanistan just as he arrived to begin his own six-month tour.
‘I found him in the NAAFI. I still had all my kit on, I walked across to him and said, “Hello!” ’ And what was it like to see him in such circumstances? She answers with a smile and one word: ‘Precious.’
Lance Corporal Watson asked, 'Are you sure you've got the right soldier?' when her commanding officer told her she'd been awarded the Military Cross
Kylie was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland where she was raised in a large and happy family of five children by parents Glenn and Lorna. And while her MC might have made her the pride of her regiment, it earned her a stiff telling-off from her mum: ‘Kylie! What did you do? Next time, please don’t.’
Her family has no history of military service but a childhood set against the backdrop of the Troubles of Northern Ireland prompted her interest in the Army. She joined up in 2006. ‘I could imagine myself being a soldier, doing something to help,’ she recalls.
After basic training and eight months of studying battlefield medicine, she joined the Corps in September 2007.
The following year she went on her first operational tour, serving six months in Basra where she took part in patrols, looked after health in camp and trained Iraqi army medics. She returned to the UK to study and qualify as a Class One medic, able to operate alone.
As the only woman in an operational team of around 20 men she is used to being treated with affectionate respect in camp and equality beyond it. She was not surprised to encounter prejudice from Afghan nationals – but she was ill-prepared for her gender to become an issue among saloon-bar bores in relation to her MC.
‘When I got to the Afghan soldier who’d been hit in the pelvis the interpreter began to say, “But you’re a woman.”
‘I stopped him right there and said, “He’s going to be treated whether he likes it or not.”
‘It was not a big deal for me. They can think what they want but when you’ve got someone’s life in your hands you must do what you can.’
However, she is a little angered by some of the online comments which followed the announcement of her MC, branding it an act of tokenism or political correctness, rather than the just reward for acts of heroism to match any man. ‘Those who say that are welcome to take my kit and go to Afghanistan for six months. They are welcome to wear my boots and be me,’ she says, adding that she can’t wait to return to operations because ‘I think I’ve done all right so far’.
Modest words from a soldier whose fierce, lion-hearted humanity took her into the white heat of battle to help others.
The motto of the Royal Army Medical Corps is ‘In Arduis Fidelis’: Steadfast in Adversity. And so Lance Corporal Kylie Watson MC has proved.
A great story of a real Hero!
Regards,
RLI
Mehemea koe na tuoho, meinga ki te maunga teitei. [If you should bow to greatness, let it be to a lofty mountain.] Maori proverb ...
I think this suits Lance Corporal Watson MC quite well.... Amazing effort from a pocket rocket.
I bow before you, Ma'am.
hi all did 10yr in artillery before med kick out still fighting for compo (mental heath sucks) on a better note get to spend more time with wife and kids and my nissan and my other stress relief drift trikes
Online comments by cowards that don't have the balls to do what she did or say it to her face. Well done young lady...
A good link for our military history
http://alh-research.tripod.com
Another great story
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-1...island/5206420
An imperial Japanese soldier who spent 29 years in hiding on an island in the Philippines after World War II has died aged 91.
Hiroo Onoda was one of about 60 soldiers who fought on from their jungle strongholds after the war, refusing to believe that the Japanese empire had been defeated.
The former army intelligence officer spent three decades waging his own guerrilla war on Lubang Island in the north-western Philippines.
In 1974 he laid down his arms, but only after his former commanding officer returned and personally ordered him to do so.
"Every Japanese soldier was prepared for death but as an intelligence officer I was ordered to conduct guerrilla warfare and not to die," he told the ABC in 2010.
"I became an officer and I received an order. If I could not carry it out I would feel shame. I am very competitive."
For years, Hiroo Onoda would ignore attempts to get him to surrender. He dismissed leaflet drops and search parties as enemy trickery.
"The leaflets they dropped were filled with mistakes, so I judged it was a plot by the Americans," he said.
Hiroo Onoda, who was drafted in 1942, received training for two years and was sent to the island in 1944.
In the beginning, Hiroo Onoda was hiding out alongside two fellow soldiers. But they died in clashes with Filipino villagers and soldiers.
He survived on coconut milk, bananas and by stealing and butchering cattle.
For information, he would listen to a stolen shortwave radio. His favourite broadcast was ABC Radio Australia.
"Once I listened to an Australian election broadcast," he said.
"Another time I was interested in a cattle story - that helped me to later become a cattle breeder."
After returning to Japan, Hiroo Onoda emigrated in 1975 to Brazil to run a cattle ranch.
He later returned to his home country to teach students survival skills and authored several books including No Surrender: My 30 Year War.
Officials in Phillipines send condolences to Onoda
Hiroo Onoda died of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital Thursday afternoon (local time), his family said.
Officials from Lubang Island sent their condolences.
"On behalf of the people of Lubang, we would like to send our condolences and prayers to the family of Mr. Onoda," said Charles Villas, vice mayor of a municipality on Lubang Island.
When Mr Onoda surrendered, the Filipino government pardoned him for his involvement in the killing of some 30 islanders.
Mr Villas said islanders have forgiven Mr Onoda for the "mistakes" he made while thinking it was still wartime, like the torching of rice granaries and farm tools, and even the killing of some residents.
"What the people of Lubang remember now is how Onoda came to visit in the early 1990s and donated musical organs and school supplies like Japan-made crayons, water colours and pencils to the churches and schools here in Lubang," Mr Villas said.
"I vividly remember these donations because my mother was a grade school teacher and she was one of the beneficiaries."
"May he rest in peace."
"Onoda has become a part of Lubang history," said Gina Julaton, tourism chief of a Lubang municipality.
She said Lubang developed the Onoda trail and cave as a local tourist attraction in 2010.
"Japanese tourists and students have, in fact, come to Lubang just to experience Onoda's trail and life while in hiding. They are curious about his life here," Ms Julaton said.
G'day folks,
The following e-mail was sent to my Sub-Branch today regarding rumour mongering regarding DVA and our pensions to be reduced. This is utter noncence, please read the following letter below,
Regards,
RLI
Subject: FW: DVA TO GO - PENSIONS TO BE REDUCED ?
Ladies and Gentlemen
Firstly, please see the garbage about reduction in pensions and closure of DVA etc written below my email. There are a number of differing versions of the email around but they all come down the same thing – it’s bulldust!!
This all started because of an article in a sister ESO’s newsletter that was published on November 2013.
The issue re reduction in pensions etc as mentioned in your email is “old hat” dating back to 2005 when Mr Hendy was the Chief Executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce. I understand that Mr Hendy issued a discussion paper and that’s all it was – the discussion paper did not get an “airing” from the Federal Government of the time.
It certainly appears that someone has gone off with a gun fully cocked and loaded without first seeking comment from the Minister for Veterans Affairs.
Another email on this issue, and there have been a few going backwards and forwards (up to eight pages long!!), originated by Allan Peterson on 10 January 2014, contains a number of forwarded emails including one email sent by Senator Ronaldson on 8 January 2014 to Geoffrey Annett (not sure who he is) which states “Of course this is not going to happen Geoffrey. A ridiculous rumour that should never have been started and is a reflection on its author not others – Regards Michael”
It certainly is a reflection on the author/originator of the email – check the facts!!!
An email was sent out the other day regarding the indexation of DFRB and DFRDB yesterday – see attached.
Peter Bright
Secretary
Victorian Branch (VVAA)
A great story NP99,
Regards,
RLI
I will have to dig out the old album :) :smileyvault-cute-bi
Attachment 39576[attach=config]39575[
That's me with the silly looking hat in the front,
Not sure what I was doing in that pic but I had just spent about 2 hours trying to find my gas plug and piston with a threat of being charged for losing it.
G'day folks,
I received the following e-mail at my sub-branch, ithought i would share it with you all.
PS, Enjoy!
Regards,
RLI
Hi All,
For your information and distribution please.
Regards
Graham
Graham Anderson OAM JP
National Secretary
Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia
Telephone: (02) 4443 2911
Mobile: 0400 404 859
"It is important that I place on the record my deep concern regarding the reporting over the last few weeks in both new and old media that discredits the conduct of members of the Royal Australian Navy in Border Protection Operations.
There are few organisations in this land that are subjected to such relentless public scrutiny in almost every aspect of its business; this is a fact of life that Navy readily accepts as a national institution.
Similarly, there are few organisations that hold its people to such a high standard of personal conduct. Today’s Navy actively holds its people to account when they do not live up to the professional or personal standards that are required in serving this nation and its people. Our people are overwhelmingly supportive of this approach.
Ours is not a perfect organization, nor are our people infallible, but Navy is prepared to acknowledge its faults, take action and fix them.
An important component of our system of Government is civil control of the military. Navy’s role as part of the Australian Defence Force is to safely execute the lawful direction of Government, our people know this. Our people also know that by serving as members of the ADF they forgo some of the freedoms that the rest of the nation enjoys. It is clear there are those who exploit this.
I am exceptionally proud of the men and women of our Navy, particularly the way they serve on operations. They serve at sea and ashore, at home and around the world, each and every day with great dignity and often with considerable courage. They have 113 years of heritage and tradition to uphold, over a century of unbroken and honourable service to the nation protecting our ability to trade and contributing to our prosperity and security.
This generation of men and women who wear the uniform are worthy of more respect than has been shown to them in the past few weeks".
R.J. GRIGGS
Vice Admiral
Chief of Navy
there is a reason these men and women are out there, the average person would go out and deal with the things that they deal with but they are more than happy to judge people for the jobs they do. plus I think the media is to blame for most of the hype going on
G'day folks
I thought i would share a bit of military history with you!
The following is a bio of a battle that took place in World War 2. I hope you enjoy it!
Regards,
RLI
World War II’s Strangest Battle: When Americans and Germans Fought Together
Days after Hitler’s suicide a group of American soldiers, French prisoners, and, yes, German soldiers defended an Austrian castle against an SS division—the only time Germans and Allies fought together in World War II. Andrew Roberts on a story so wild that it has to be made into a movie.
The most extraordinary things about Stephen Harding's The Last Battle, a truly incredible tale of World War II, are that it hasn’t been told before in English, and that it hasn’t already been made into a blockbuster Hollywood movie.
Here are the basic facts: on 5 May 1945—five days after Hitler’s suicide—three Sherman tanks from the 23rd Tank Battalion of the U.S. 12th Armored Division under the command of Capt. John C. ‘Jack’ Lee Jr., liberated an Austrian castle called Schloss Itter in the Tyrol, a special prison that housed various French VIPs, including the ex-prime ministers Paul Reynaud and Eduard Daladier and former commanders-in-chief Generals Maxime Weygand and Paul Gamelin, amongst several others.
Yet when the units of the veteran 17th Waffen-SS Panzer Grenadier Division arrived to recapture the castle and execute the prisoners, Lee’s beleaguered and outnumbered men were joined by anti-Nazi German soldiers of the Wehrmacht, as well as some of the extremely feisty wives and girlfriends of the (needless-to-say hitherto bickering) French VIPs, and together they fought off some of the best crack troops of the Third Reich. Steven Spielberg, how did you miss this story?
The battle for the fairytale, 13th century Castle Itter was the only time in WWII that American and German troops joined forces in combat, and it was also the only time in American history that U.S. troops defended a medieval castle against sustained attack by enemy forces. To make it even more film worthy, two of the women imprisoned at Schloss Itter—Augusta Bruchlen, who was the mistress of the labour leader Leon Jouhaux, and Madame Weygand, the wife General Maxime Weygand—were there because they chose to stand by their men. They, along with Paul Reynaud’s mistress Christiane Mabire, were incredibly strong, capable, and determined women made for portrayal on the silver screen.
There are two primary heroes of this—as I must reiterate, entirely factual—story, both of them straight out of central casting. Jack Lee was the quintessential warrior: smart, aggressive, innovative—and, of course, a cigar-chewing, hard-drinking man who watched out for his troops and was willing to think way, way outside the box when the tactical situation demanded it, as it certainly did once the Waffen-SS started to assault the castle. The other was the much-decorated Wehrmacht officer Major Josef ‘Sepp’ Gangl, who died helping the Americans protect the VIPs. This is the first time that Gangl’s story has been told in English, though he is rightly honored in present-day Austria and Germany as a hero of the anti-Nazi resistance.
Harding, is a respected military affairs expert who has written seven books and long specialized in World War II, and his writing style carries immediacy as well as authority. “Just after 4am Jack Lee was jolted awake by the sudden banging of M1 Garands,” he writes of the SS’s initial assault on the castle, “the sharper crack of Kar-98s, and the mechanical chatter of a .30-caliber spitting out rounds in short, controlled bursts. Knowing instinctively that the rising crescendo of outgoing fire was coming from the gatehouse, Lee rolled off the bed, grabbed his helmet and M3, and ran from the room. As he reached the arched schlosshof gate leading from the terrace to the first courtyard, an MG-42 machine gun opened up from somewhere along the parallel ridgeway east of the castle, the weapon’s characteristic ripping sound clearly audible above the outgoing fire and its tracers looking like an unbroken red stream as they arced across the ravine and ricocheted off the castle’s lower walls.” Everything that Harding reports in this exciting but also historically accurate narrative is backed up with meticulous scholarship. This book proves that history can be new and nail-bitingly exciting all at once.
Despite their personal enmities and long-held political grudges, when it came to a fight the French VIPs finally put aside their political differences and picked up weapons to join in the fight against the attacking SS troops. We get to know Reynaud, Daladier, and the rest as real people, not merely the political legends that they’ve morphed into over the intervening decades. Furthermore, Jean Borotra (a former tennis pro) and Francois de La Rocque, who were both members of Marshal Philippe Petain’s Vichy government and long regarded by many historians as simply pro-fascist German puppets, are presented in the book as they really were: complex men who supported the Allied cause in their own ways. In de La Rocque’s case, by running an effective pro-Allied resistance movement at the same time that he worked for Vichy. If they were merely pro-Fascist puppets, after all, they would not have wound up as Ehrenhäflinge—honor prisoners—of the Fuhrer.
While the book concentrates on the fight for Castle Itter, it also sets that battle in the wider strategic contexts of the Allied push into Germany and Austria in the final months of the war, and the Third Reich’s increasingly desperate preparations to respond to that advance. This book is thus a fascinating microcosm of a nation and society in collapse, with some Germans making their peace with the future, while others—such as the Waffen-SS unit attacking the castle—fighting to the bitter end. (Some of the fighting actually took place after the Doenitz government’s formal surrender.)
The book also takes pain to honor the lives of the “number prisoners” who worked at Castle Itter—faceless inmates from Dachau and other concentration camps whose stories have never before been told in this much detail. Whatever their political leanings or personal animosities toward each other, the French VIPs did what they could to help the so-called “number prisoners”—i.e. the ones stripped of their names—in any way they could.
One of the honored prisoners was Michel Clemenceau, the son of the Great War statesman Georges Clemenceau, who had become an outspoken critic of Marshal Petain and who was arrested by the Gestapo in May 1943. At Castle Itter he showed “unshakeable confidence” in rescue, and had clearly inherited the courage of his father, who’d been nicknamed “The Tiger.” During the attack, with ammunition running dangerously low—they got down to the last magazines of their MP-40s—their tanks destroyed, and the enemy advancing from the north, west and east, this septuagenarian kept blasting away. His father would have been proud of him.
The story has an ending that Hollywood would love too: just as the SS had settled into position to fire a panzerfaust at the front gate, “the sound of automatic weapons and tank guns behind them in the village signaled a radical change in the tactical situation.” Advancing American units and Austrian resistance fighters had arrived to relieve the castle. In keeping with the immense cool that he had shown throughout the siege, Lee feigned irritation as he went up to one of the rescuing tank commanders, looked him in the eye and said simply: “What kept you?” Part Where Eagles Dare, part Guns of Navarone, this story is as exciting as it is far-fetched, but unlike in those iconic war movies, every word of The Last Battle is true.
The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe’ By Stephen Harding. 256 pages. Da Capo. $25.99.
G'day all. Spent 24 years in navy up until two years ago when I left and signed up for active reserves and now doing a nursing degree.
Joined 1988 as a radar plotter, now combat systems operators, thought I would just do 6 years, ended up staying and enjoying the puss! Paid off a chief petty officer combat systems manager, miss the outfit but enjoy the civvie way of life.
First pic just me, second pic was cover of rolling stone(inside front cover so technically on the cover...lol) last pic was the crew of HMAS Stuart in the Middle East..I am the short fat dude kneeling just to the right of the CO, in front.
Attachment 39946Attachment 39945Attachment 39944Attachment 39943
The future of aviation!
Regards,
RLI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC8U5_4lo2c
G'day folks,
I thought i would share this tragic story with you. I am an RSL Advocate/Pensions officer and i am frustrated by the way the system is letting down our young Veterans who are suffering from PTSD. Early last year the call had been put out amoungst the Mid North Coast RSL Sub-Branches that a young Veteran had gone missing, typical soldiers both ex and current serving we started looking for young Sapper David Wood an Afghanistan veteran who lived between Casino and Lismore.
Tragically we got the call that the police had found young Sapper David Wood and he had taken his own live. This shattered me personally as i wanted answers how this young Veteran had slipped under the radar of DVA.
The following is a story that out lines what are soldiers are really suffering from.
PS, unfortunately, this is not a happy story.
Regards,
RLI
From: DVA-OVERWATCH
Reporter: Neil Doorley, TodayTonight – 18 November, 2013 - DVA, The Federal Government’s Killing Machine!
"It's not on that, in reality, the Defence Force and DVA is committing murder because they're not looking after that soldier", said Keith Payne. Keith is one Australia's greatest heroes, earning the Victoria Cross -- the military's highest decoration for valour -- when he singlehandedly rescued 40 of his men, under heavy fire, in the Vietnam War.
He killed his enemies and was shot at more times than he can remember but somehow the Army thought that would have no effect on him. "Nobody can understand war unless you've bloody been to war", Keith said.
When he came home, his war didn't end -- he had to keep fighting for recognition that he wasn't well because he was suffering what was then called 'battle fatigue'. "It just went on and on and the cost to the Department, sending me to specialists here, specialists there, transport aircraft -- what were they trying to prove?" Keith said.
It's now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. "I was really, really angry and I kept saying to my wife, if this is what they are doing to me, what are they doing to my soldiers", Keith said.
It's a battle he's continued to wage since leaving the Army in 1975 after 23 years' service. "What I didn't realise and a lot of young veterans today won't realise -- they'll say okay, I'm getting out of the military saying we'll medically discharge you -- that's the easy way out, the very, very easy way out for the military to do that. They've done it in the past, and they'll do it until it's stopped", Keith said.
Keith Payne's counseled other sufferers of post traumatic stress and believes through neglect, the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs are effectively condemning some to death. "This is where he gets depressed; he tries to get a job, because of his PTSD he ends up doing his narna with somebody. He gets disenchanted with his employment and now trying to look after a family, so everything is building up on him, and building up. Some of them go down the suicide lane -- it's wrong, it is dead wrong", Keith said.
33-year-old Leif Edwards served in East Timor and Afghanistan -- he was a high tech, modern warrior forced to fight his own emotions while on the battlefield. "I was having panic attacks -- fear of dying and fear of helplessness", Leif said. He came home in 2010 and two years later was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. "I went straight to hospital and asked for help to see psychologists and psychiatrist because I knew something wasn't right", Leif said.
Leif took out his anger and frustration on wife Amy. "I'm anxious, I'm on edge all the time. I physically hurt my wife, verbally as well", Leif said. "I never thought I'd be married to someone that would treat me the way Leif does when he's having an incident, you know, have a mood or has been triggered by something", Amy said. Amy says she feared for him while he was away -- now, she just fears him. "I'm gutted -- it's not me, I don't know who it is", Leif said.
Leif has been discharged medically unfit, but Veterans Affairs rejected his compensation claim ruling his condition wasn't caused by his tours of duty. "He passed all his medical and mental health checks to deploy and when he got back he's not fit to serve in the Army, so only thing that happened to him between those two points was Army service", Amy said.
James Staples was in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan. "You come back and start noticing all the small things -- you become anxious, depressed", James said. A corporal in the Infantry, he was deemed unfit for duty in October, 2011 but was forced to wait another 17 months before being discharged with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. "It was torture -- it's like house arrest", James said. He's now struggling to survive on about a third of his old pay. He believes he's entitled to better compensation. "If we get the help we need and the help we deserve and shorten this whole way go about this, it wouldn't be so horrendous", James said.
The Department of Veterans Affairs argues James can still work. "Working in a service station, art framing, and for some reason they put security guard which I've never done which wouldn't be appropriate for me, a person with PTSD to carry a firearm around civilians --it just baffles me how they can come up with that conclusion", James said.
Veterans Affairs figures reveal more than 1500 veterans are suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder since troops were deployed in East Timor, which tops the list with 777; followed by Afghanistan with 438 and Iraq - 347. That's on top of the 17,764 Vietnam War veterans.
It's the hidden toll of war which continues to grow, and includes combat engineer David Wood. "My most enduring memory was when we followed the coffin back out of tent, the huge number of World War 2, Viet vets, with their medals on their suits and that made me think of Anzac Day", said his grandfather, Roger.
The peace and quiet of the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales is a world away from the battlefields of Afghanistan, but the horrors of war were never far from the thoughts of David Wood. The 22 year old returned home from his second tour of duty last December and his family says he was a changed man, who was battling his own private demons -- including severe depression. "He told me a little girl died in his arms and I believe when that girl died in his arms, that was the end of David, that was the beginning of the end, the Taliban had got him then and there", said Roger.
David knew he needed help and started seeing a psychiatrist and while he was making progress, his family immediately feared the worst when he simply vanished on the 22nd of May. "He took off his dog tags and his dog tags also had a St Christopher medal -- he took them and laid them on the bed and that was probably the last thing he did before leaving his house", said Roger
David's disappearance sparked a large search involving members of his family, and soldiers from his old Army unit. About a week later, his body was found -- there were no suspicious circumstances. Sapper David Wood had taken his own life.
"It's heartbreaking to even think about it. He wrote a note saying he just wanted to go away for a while and be on his own", Roger said. Roger believes his grandson should be classified a casualty of war. "So that in a 100 years' time, my descendants can say that was my uncle, that was David Wood and he's on that honour roll", he said.
"He came home with more than scars, open wounds that we couldn't see. Underneath his shirt, he was bleeding", Roger said. He argues more must be done to help veterans' families read the warning signs.
The death toll is mounting as well in the United States where it's estimated 22 military veterans are committing suicide every day -- that's almost one an hour. "If you look at American statistics, statistics from the US, that suicide rates tend to outstrip rates of those killed in action", said psychiatrist Andrew Khoo.
Dr Khoo runs one of the few specialist Post Traumatic Stress Disorder clinics in Australia at Brisbane's Toowong Private Hospital. "Suicide unfortunately is the most tragic outcome of untreated mental illness", Dr Khoo said. Dr Khoo says the process of making claims has become a bureaucratic maze. "Many of the patients have their symptoms exacerbated by the process of getting their compensation through", he said.
With almost 70,000 Australian troops deployed since East Timor in 1999, the sad reality is nearly one in five may develop a mental health problem when they come home. That's about 14,000. "The Government will never baulk at spending money on submarines or the huge logistical exercises sending people overseas, so they shouldn't similarly be baulking at fairly compensating these guys -- we knew a significant proportion were going to be injured", Dr Khoo said.
"Any suicide is tragic and the Department actively monitors suicide in veteran community", said The Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health Advisor Doctor Stephanie Hodson. "We actually do need to work on getting our staff more trained, but also about getting through these claims more quickly", Dr Hodson said. A former Army psychologist, Dr Hodson denies the Department's failure to plan ahead is resulting in long delays leaving claims -- and lives -- in limbo. "The Department is processing claims as quickly as possible but we acknowledge that some claims can take longer than we want", she said.
Incredibly, Doctor Hodson says part of the problem lies with the veterans themselves. "The problem is that it's not till someone is in crisis that they will actually start to look for the services. The treatment is there for veterans, we just need them to come and put up their hand and come and get it", Dr Hodson said.
DVA-OVERWATCH
When veterans’ eventually arrive at DVA’s door; often in quite a desperate state, DVA Delegates begin the slow and grinding process of exacerbating injuries’ as a means to exhaust and further damage people.
DVA methods’ have clearly been adopted from an insurance industry methodology well known by its four (4) distinct phases: Deny, Delay, Defend, and Damage – The 4D’s.
Overseeing the introduction of the DVA-4D’s, is the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (MRCC) comprised of: Military, Government and, Insurance industry executives who specialise in Exhaustion Strategies and Systems.
It is by no strange slight-of-hand that the DVA has adopted insurance industry practice, methods, and culture – in combining military and insurance ‘exhaustion stratagem’ with the artistry of ‘administrative complexity’ and ‘the consumption of time’ both time honoured tradition’s in the public service, it’s no wonder the symptoms of an evolving insurance fiefdom i.e. growth in ex-service organisations, and public protest from the most honourable, will grow in both number, and volume!
mental heath sux and dva dont give a f#ck about it as i am a exmember suffering from mental heath problems and get f#ck all help from them sorry dva boil my blood so bad
Corporal Cameron Baird, killed in Afghanistan, to be awarded the Victoria Cross
THE Victoria Cross will be awarded posthumously to Australian commando Corporal Cameron Baird, killed in Afghanistan in June 2013, Tony Abbott has announced.
The Prime Minister told parliament that Corporal Baird, of the Special Operations Task Group, was the 100th Australian recipient of the highest military honour for bravery in wartime.
Killed by small arms fire during a battle with Afghan insurgents, he was the 40th - and last - Australian to die in Afghanistan and the fourth Australian VC from the conflict.
“He repeatedly drew enemy fire away from his team members and charged enemy positions under heavy fire. His actions enabled the enemy to be neutralised and his team to be kept safe,” the Prime Minister said.
“Corporal Baird’s actions were in keeping with the finest traditions of the Australian Army and the Australian Defence Force. He is an Australian hero.”
Mr Abbott said the Tasmanian-born Corporal Baird, 32, was already an iconic figure in the army.
He had already received the Medal of Gallantry for rescuing a wounded comrade during a firefight with the Taliban seven years ago.
Corporal Baird was now being awarded the Victoria Cross for “most conspicuous acts of valour” and “extreme devotion to duty”, the Prime Minister said.
“I salute Corporal Cameron Baird VC MG. We all salute him,” Mr Abbott told parliament, noting the commando’s “extraordinary courage”.
“We can hardly imagine what the likes of Corporal Baird and his comrades do, but we stand in awe.”
Addressing Corporal Baird’s family members in the public gallery, Mr Abbott said: “You have lost a son, a brother, an uncle and our country has lost a citizen, a soldier, a hero.’’
Addressing the media outside parliament, the soldier’s father, Doug Baird, broke into tears as he described his “extremely humble” son who rarely accepted praise while heaping it on his comrades.
The commando’s brother, Brendan Baird, said it was “a bittersweet moment as Cameron is no longer with us”.
“But we are honoured to have him recognised in this way and through him, all of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their beloved country,” he said.
“Cameron never liked the limelight. He was a very humble man who would not see this as an individual award, but recognition of the entire 2nd Commando Regiment.”
Corporal Baird, from the 2nd Commando Regiment based at Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney, was killed during an engagement with insurgents in the Khod Valley in southern Afghanistan on June 22, 2013.
“Words can hardly do justice to the chaos, confusion and courage that were evident that day,’’ Mr Abbott told parliament.
He read to parliament a testimony provided by a comrade of Corporal Baird during his last tour of duty.
“Corporal Baird’s initiative, fearless tenacity and dedication to duty in the face of the enemy were exemplary and absolute inspiration to the entire team.
“I was witness to the ultimate sacrifice’’.
Corporal Baird was on his fifth special forces tour to Afghanistan when killed, after joining the army at 18 and having also served in East Timor and Iraq.
He earned the Medal for Gallantry for braving fierce machinegun fire to recover the “mortally wounded” Private Luke Worsley during a prolonged firefight in Afghanistan on November 22 and 23, 2007.
Labor leader Bill Shorten praised Corporal Baird’s “professionalism, courage and skill” over eight foreign tours, including in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor.
“Corporal Baird was a real hero. A man who risked his life for his mates,” he said.
“Cameron Baird’ s friends described him as one of the most iconic members of the regiment – high praise for an elite unit recognised the world over for its professionalism, courage and skill.
“He obtains the place of highest honour in Australian and Commonwealth history.”
Born in Burnie, Tasmania, Corporal Baird he is survived by his parents, brother and his partner.
Governor-General Quentin Bryce will award the posthumous honour at a ceremony at Government House in Canberra next Tuesday.
Earlier awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery in Afghanistan were Mark Donaldson, Ben Roberts-Smith and Daniel Keighran.
KEY FACTS ABOUT THE VICTORIA CROSS:
_ The Victoria Cross, the highest award for acts of bravery in wartime, was created by Queen Victoria in 1856 and made retrospective to 1854 to cover the period of the Crimean War
_ The Victoria Cross for Australia was approved on January 15, 1991, as the pre-eminent gallantry award in the Australian system
_ It is cast from the metal of guns captured during the Crimean War 1854-56
_ The bar is decorated with laurel leaves and bears a ‘V’ from which the cross hangs
_ It is awarded for conspicuous courage, daring, valour, self-sacrifice or displays of extreme devotion to duty
_ 100 Australians have been invested as VC recipients
Corporal Cameron Baird is the 100th recipient, the fourth Australian soldier to be awarded the VC for service in Afghanistan and the fourth soldier to be awarded the VC for Australia and the first to be awarded posthumously
_ The other Afghan veteran VC recipients are Corporal Mark Donaldson (2009), Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith (2011), and Corporal Daniel Keighran (2012)
_ Australians have been awarded the British Victoria Cross in:
- Boer War, 1899-1902: 6
- World War I, 1914-18: 64 (including 9 at Gallipoli)
- North Russia, 1919: 2
- World War II, 1939-45: 20
- Vietnam War, 1962-72: 4
I salute you Corporal Cameron Baird from another Commando brother!
Regards,
Paul
Men like this need to be our role models not afl or other sports identities. Soldiers who make the ultimate sacrifice deserve a place in everyone's hearts and minds.
Rest in peace Aussie hero
Great to see the responses made so far to one of our fallen warriors!
Regards,
RLI
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-1...loween/5258966
hey Paul
you can have this removed if you want, but i was wondering about your thoughts on how much is being spent on the ANZAC legends and what is spent on the new returned soldiers welfare.
I find this very interesting as we are about to get more returned soldiers back into the australian workforce and communities with mental health problems and physical health problems related to their time away. i personally would like to see these men and women get the support they deserve
cheers Shane