Comments fixed
For those of my readers who tried to leave a comment over the past week and failed I apologise – even if the comment was an attack. The problem has now been fixed with a Word Press upgrade and all should be OK.
Author: Kev
Retired infantry officer. Conservative by nature and politics; Happily married and father and grandfather of eight. Loves V8 powered Range Rovers, Golden Retrievers, good books and technology and think there should be open season on Greenies.
Born in the mid forties and overdue for servicing but most parts still work.
Oh my God…Hezbollah tells fibs
Hezbollah sinks Aussie ship…or did it. Andrew Bolt catches them out.
I’m not surprised.
Freehold land rights thrown out
A DECISION to ban development in the World Heritage-listed Daintree rainforest has outraged landowners, who castigated Peter Beattie on talk-back radio yesterday during his visit to Cairns.
On Monday, the Douglas Shire Council passed a planning scheme to prevent people who bought freehold blocks in the Daintree 20 years ago from developing the land, bringing to an end two years of political wrangling over the rainforest’s future.So much for freehold title. Less than 20 years ago the Daintree was a hippy colony and any talk of roads or any other development was shouted down. Roads brought civilization…civilization brought police….police frowned on and locked up drug users. In 1982 I did a recce of the area looking for sufficient room to conduct an infantry exercise for 1RAR. We stopped in at the Cooktown Police station and introduced ourselves to the local Sergeant. He had just taken over the area and when we announced our intention to look at the Daintree his eyes opened wide. He was too scared to go down there as he had it on good intelligence that the drug runners were armed with M16 A2s and wisely he figured his .38 S&W pistol wasn’t up to the job. He fantasised about a battalion of infantry with associated M16s, GPMG M60s, SLRs, rocket launchers and the likes adding some balance to the equation but we had to disappoint him. We explained we were career officers and slaughtering civilians, even if they were drug runners and maybe deserved such summary justice, would be a poor career move. He knew this of course but it does reflect the aura of the Daintree. These days thousands of civilians cross the Daintree river every year and ooh and ah at the local rainforests but I wouldn’t be surprised that if they stopped and lived there for awhile they would smell the undercurrent of alternative people. The issue is not a small one and could tip the scales against the government. We are talking about a 100 blocks spread over a huge area currently controlled by local mayor Mike Berrick who my Cairns contact tells me is the quintessential greenie; a watermelon, red on the inside and green on the outside and typically anti-development. The freehold land owners have a case for compensation and the Premier has agreed to land valuation plus 10% and well he should as the valuation they are using is based on the value of the land without development rights. The land was brought freehold and should be valued as such – with development rights. Unfair but that’s what happens when you have a labour government. To keep the factions quite the greenies need to be appeased and thrown regular swill to keep them onside and so the people suffer financially. Still in the north residents of Charters Towers are under siege from flying foxes, and hope an election will finally prompt action from the politicians in Brisbane. Good luck guys. Residents have invited Premier Peter Beattie and Environment Minister Desley Boyle to stay in their houses overnight so they can hear the screeching of up to 20,000 black and red flying foxes themselves.
“(The noise goes on) all day and all night . . . the minister has said the bats sleep during the day,” said Kaye Jackson at 10am yesterday as she shouted to be heard above hundreds of flying foxes. She said: “We can’t have a barbecue, we can’t sell our house, we can’t do anything.”It is illegal to kill them and harassing the flying foxes with loud noise is only allowed from 5am to 7am and after 5pm. Yep, another Greenie places bats above humans in the feed chain. I’d harrass the foxes with a loud noise being the detonation of the percussion cap and propellant of a 12 bore. The answer? We are looking into a chemical deterrant.
But a spokesman for Ms Boyle said the Environmental Protection Agency was researching whether a chemical deterrent could move the bats away without killing them.Flying foxes have been a problem in towns for hundreds of years and the EPA is looking at answers now! What the spokesman really meant was we don’t think we will loose votes over this issue so I’ll say just throw a platitude their way to settle down the rednecks and the problem will be buried. As I said Good luck the Towers. You may be outnumbered almost three to one by the bats but Greenies don’t count people.
Travesty
Let’s get it down to one single line…no legal arguement….no human rights lawyer input;
Jihad Jack should be in gaol.
The Australian carries more verbose articles; one by David Flint and an editorial that says the same thing under the banner Jack Thomas’s freedom is a victory for our enemies.
It is too.
Vietnam Veteran’s Day washup
It’s now Sunday and I’ve recovered sufficiently to feel confident enough to write in complete sentences.
I spent the day with Percy Meredith, a digger in Recce Pl 7RAR with me in Vietnam. The previous evening I found a photo of Percy and printed it out for him. As he showed everyone he met I felt the need to apologise for having had a mere child in my platoon. Did I really tell this ‘child’ to do things of a dangerous nature? The short answer is yes and he certainly soldiered at a level well above his juvenile appearance. In fact he was as good as any and a very good forward scout.
We gathered, talked and marched through Brisbane. At the end of the march there was a comemmorative service at the Vietnam Veteran’s memorial in ANZAC Square with Adrian D’Hage, MC being given top billing. I have posted on D’Hage previously and wondered what the Vietnam Vets organization were thinking when they invited him to the event.
He didn’t disappoint delivering a peace message within the body of his speach. One would think that Adrian D’Hage of all people would realize the peace we enjoy is directly attributable to the fact that our young men and woman have gone to war when called.
Brigadier d’Hage said the lesson of Long Tan was to show the futility of war and the need for tolerance and acceptance of different cultures and faiths.
I beg to differ, old chap. The lesson of Long Tan was the courage of the participants with the ‘futility of war’ being a very moot point. If we accept futility as ‘uselessness as a consequence of having no practical result‘ I would suggest most wars do have a practical result with the demise of Hitler and Tojo being a good example.
Brigadier d’Hage said Long Tan was also a lesson for more recent conflicts.
“Young men and women are once again paying with their lives in Iraq, in Afghanistan and more recently in Lebanon.”
Negotiation should be the first resource, with war only as a last resort, Brigadier d’Hage said.
Brigadier Adrian D’Hage is himself a lesson in futility espousing words and ideals as the only ammunition against terroists prepared to blow up themsleves and their children in the pursuit of a new world order that doesn’t include infidels. There is no point negotaiting as a first resource with a group who detonate as a first resource.
Jesus Adrian, come back to the world.
There were mobs of KIWIs breasting the bar and as always they are treated as just another digger albeit with funny accents. Considering the NZ impact on the Battle of Long Tan one would imagine that the NZ press would be all over the celebrations of the 40th anniversary but when I linked to the NZ Herald the only mention I could find of Long Tan solicited a subscription to actually read the link.
Pass.
I later went to Gallipoli Barracks at Enoggera to view the Drum Head parade [scroll down to para 5] and the concert. Organizers had found Adrain Cronauer, the original ‘Gooooooooooooood Mornnnnnnnnnnnnnnnning Vietnammmmmmmmmmmmmmm’ DJ and he didn’t disappoint. Neither did grey haired Col Joye and the Joy Boys nor Rhonda Burchmore who sang well albeit with her quality voice and interpretation overshadowed by her long legs appearing to represent a full two thirds of her body length. I stood along side Minister for Veterans Affairs Bruce Billson and his delightfull wife Kate, sharing the musical memories of the era with them and know that they both have a sympathetic approach to Vietnam Veterans.
We stayed late and reminisced until common sense bid me call my daughter Jennifer with a coded message along the lines of Dad…Enoggera…fetch!
It worked.
Vietnam, Long Tan and all that
LABOR backbencher Graham Edwards has stepped up calls for an inquiry into medals issued to veterans of the battle of Long Tan.
Mr Edwards, who lost his legs to a mine in Vietnam, maintains the men who did the real fighting on the day have not been properly recognised, and it was officers who were miles away from the fighting who unfairly won the top citations.I know Graham well as we served in the same company in Vietnam and I know him to be committed to helping veterans when ever he can. It may come as a surpise to the unitiated but under the old Imperial system bravery medals were rationed in war in the same way that food, water and beer were rationed. If you had the bad luck to be involved in a major battle towards the end of the ration period then, simply put, there were no bravery medals left in the Staff Officers drawer at AHQ, Canberra. As well as soldiering under this anomoly regulations denied soldiers being awarded foreign decorations unless HM Queen Elizabeth herself gave approval as detailed by Bob Buick, Platoon Sergeant 11 Platoon, Delta Company 6RAR in his book “All Guts and no Glory”
On 2 September 1966 a parade was assembled near the Task Force headquarters[Nui Dat] because the Vietnamese Government intended to award honours and decorations for the battle at Long Tan. I think there was a total of 22 decorations – including a posthumous award to a member of the APC Troop who came to our rescue. The whole day turned into a fiasco and I’m ashamed to say AUstralians primarily caused it. The Commander of the Vietnamese Armed Forces and Chief of State, General Nguyen Van Thieu, effectively the Vice President, was told by the Australian government late on the previous night that he could not award Vietnamese decorations to Australians.This lead to the surreal circumstances where the General’s aids had to go to the local markets and buy gifts to replace the medals.
So, instead of military decorations and awards befitting warriors, the officers received laquered wooden cigar cases, sergeants were given similar cigarette cases and the corporals and privates received the dolls [Vietnamese dolls in national dress].When I was posted out of SASR I was replaced by Bill ‘Yank’ Akell. Then a Captain, he had been a private signaller in 1966 and was with D Company Headquarters [CHQ] at the battle. Radio operators had difficulty being heard over the maelstrom and at one stage 10 Platoon lost their radio when Private Brian Hornung was shot through the chest [and presumably through the radio as well]
Although wounded he walked back to CHQ and Bill ‘Yank’ Akell raced to 10 platoon with a new radio. ‘Yank’ was the second company signaller in CHQ and as he dashed forward to 10 Platoon through a maelstrom of enemy bullets he killed a couple of Viet Cong with his 9 mm Owen machine carbine. He received the Mention in Dispatches [MID] award for his actions.The MID was the lowest of all bravery awards and could also be awarded for just doing your job well. Clerks got MIDs for keeping their records straight so no way have I ever accepted that ‘Yank’s’ actions only warranted a MID. From the Australian editorial on 5 Aug; [scroll down]
A combination of incompetence, jealousy and the Imperial medal system led to many Long Tan veterans having their medal-worthy performance downgraded to mere mentions in dispatches. Even the commander of Delta Company, Harry Smith, saw his recommendation for a Distinguished Service Order knocked down to a Military Cross. Adding insult to injury, soon after the fight Canberra blocked an attempt by the South Vietnam government to honour the Australian troops who fought in the battle with bravery citations.My old mate Graham is right. A review is called for. Some readers may opine that us Vietnam Veterans do go on but after other wars the militay held a end-of war medal review. 20 years after Vietnam the government were embarrassed into holding a similar review for Vietnam and then every success was a long and arduous fight. My father came home from his war a hero and welcomed by all of society. I came home and was asked by an attractive young woman how many babies had I killed. Graham tells how a woman, a member of the church his mother attended, told her she hoped he died of his wounds. A male phoned up parents of one of 7RAR’s dead within days of his demise and told them he deserved to die. This morning’s news relates that ten percent of Vietnam Veterans have committed suicide and we wonder why…..and people wonder why I hate the left wing. I went to the Welcome Home march in Sydney in 1987 to see my mates, not to be welcomed home. Two years ago I wrote a tribute to a mate I lost in Vietnam headed A Letter to Ray. You might like to read it and feel the depth of our compassion. I have also written a piece headed ‘My first patrol’ No heroics, no medals, just a couple of days in the life of an infantryman. I’m taking the day off. I’ll get dressed up and go find some Infantry mates. We’ll go ANZAC Square in Brisbane and remember our absent friends and then maybe go off to a pub somewhere. No, not maybe…I will go to a pub and toast our mates and spit on the communist sympathisers. Stuff ’em. I know I did the right thing.
Just going camping, your honour
No wonder terrorists are such a problem. The Sun Herald reports on the Terrorist suspects going through the legal process at the moment.
Mr Hammoud tells her he is going to the mountains for two days. When his wife asks what exactly they are doing, he says: “Uh, go do a bit of, you know, terrorist training.” She replies: “Don’t be stupid. What are you going to do there?” Mr Hammoud says: “Go camping . . . kick back, read a bit of the Koran.”Go camping….kick back…read a bit of the Koran! It should be go camping….kick back…have a couple of drinks with your mates…do a bit of fishing/hunting…sit around the campfire telling exagerated stories of sexual conquests…..play a game of touch…..have a couple more drinks and buy some fish on the way home to prove it was all serious stuff. Shoue Hammoud, 26, made the comment, described by defence lawyers as an inappropriate joke, during a conversation recorded on October 8, 2004. Maybe it is a joke and they meant to have good time but I suspect they were sitting around the campfire plotting to kill us infidels. Maybe that’s a ‘good time’ to them but my way is more fun.
NYT backs the terrorists
The New York Times reports Hezbollah’s take over of Lebanon is almost complete
Environment issues vital to poll
Queensland Poll date announced.
The Premier has called us Queenslanders together to vote on 9 Spetember and the Greens PR machine swings into gear. I acknowledge that environmental issues are important to a few greenies but the rest of us would like too see something done about water and health.
The Greens want us to stop mining that actually is understaking the state’s development and of course the lungfish has been hoisted up the evolutionary feed chain to take on more importance than us humans. Can’t build a dam here..It’s a lungfish habitat they say and I say…can’t the lungfish simply swim on over to the edge of a dam and go walkabout like all good lungfish do? It is so predictable – government announces a plan to construct something, almost anything, and the greenies trip over themselves finding some small animal, insect or fish in the vicinity.
“We need to understand that increasing our reliance on coal and building more dams (such as the proposed Traveston Dam), is simply killing Queensland.”How?
Long Tan
I never thought I’d live to see the day. In todays Australian the Vietnamese have admitted Australia won the Battle of Long Tan. With several hundred Vietnamese versus 18 Australians dead; with the fact neither the North Vietnamese Army nor the local Viet Cong never ever engaged Australians in major battles after that day and with their plan to annhilate the Australian Task Force by attacking the base with a 2,500 man regiment stopped dead by 108 Aussie infantrymen from Delta Coy, 6RAR; one wonders why anyone could ever think differently.
But communists do think differently. As I recall at the time the communist forces claimed they had wiped out an Infantry battalion, 21 tanks (there were none at the battle) and as an aside, had sunk HMAS Sydney (for the fourth reported time)
“For 40 years they have lied about Long Tan,” said former platoon commander Dave Sabben, as he stood at the spot where he and his troops repulsed Vietnamese soldiers.
“They have never conceded they had their arses licked. [I’m sure Dave would’ve said ‘kicked’] Instead, they lied to their own people about what happened here. I find it offensive.”
Now, 40 years on, Sabben and Buick – who commanded Australian troops during the battle – have returned to Long Tan, east of Ho Chi Minh City,[they mean Saigon] for a final showdown with the enemy.
“For 40 years they have lied about Long Tan,” said former platoon commander Dave Sabben, as he stood at the spot where he and his troops repulsed Vietnamese soldiers.
“They have never conceded they had their arses licked. [I’m sure Dave would’ve said ‘kicked’] Instead, they lied to their own people about what happened here. I find it offensive.”
Now, 40 years on, Sabben and Buick – who commanded Australian troops during the battle – have returned to Long Tan, east of Ho Chi Minh City,[they mean Saigon] for a final showdown with the enemy.
The two Australians greeted their Vietnamese counterparts with warm handshakes in the plantation, near the memorial cross to the 18 Australians who died in the battle. After some small talk, the crucial question was posed to the Vietcong commanders: who won the battle of Long Tan? Nguyen Minh Ninh, former vice-commander of Vietcong D445 Battalion, thought carefully before answering – and then dropped a bombshell that exploded 40 years of official history. “You won … tactically and militarily, you won,” he said. His answer stunned Buick and Sabben. It was the first time a Vietnamese commander had ever admitted the truth about Long Tan.The photographer claims the picture of Bob Buick, long time mate, and the ex 2IC of D445 Battalion, was taken at the site of the battle. With nary a rubber tree in sight and with pavers down on the ground I would suggest the pic was taken at Xa Long Tan, the village, not the battle site. I was at the site less than two years ago and it is well into the rubber plantation. I well remember seeing vague fleeting images of rubber tappers moving though the trees invoking bad memories. In 2004 I went back to Vietnam and visited the site at Long Tan. I wasn’t at the battle but the scene is now a ‘must do’ for Vietnam Veterans. As an infantryman with some experience I tried to explain how the soldiers would have felt;
We gaze at the cross deep in thought and I try to think of words to describe the events and feelings on that day. It’s not easy. Sometimes thoughts and feelings don’t translate easily into words. But try and imagine this. You are walking alone in the bush and someone fires a rifle towards you. You hear the crack-thump associated with close shots and you feel targeted and frightened. The rifle round makes a loud noise that startles you. Now put yourself in D Company’s shoes and try and imagine a couple of hundred people firing multiple rounds all seemingly targeting yourself. The noise is incomparable. There is no similar noise effect anywhere in the world that simulates hundreds of auto rounds coming towards you. While this crescendo tears apart your senses, friends are dying around you. The noise continues for hours, you are running out of ammo, you know the RAAF will have trouble resupplying due to the torrential rain and the talk amongst you is that this is it. You know that half the platoon is dead or wounded- the screaming is always a give away. You can see you are being attacked by assualt forces numbering in the hundreds and you only have maybe fifteen fit soldiers still able to fight. So what do you do. Run? Roll over and adopt the feotal crouch? Just lay there and scream for your mother or father? No. You make a stand and fight. It’s the difference. It’s what good training sets you for. It’s the essence of being a ‘Digger’ There are only two memorials to foreign armies in Vietnam. One at Dien Bien Phu where the French threw tactics out of the window and paid for it and the other is at Long Tan where D Coy held the thin green line and by doing so wrote themselves into history books.My full report of that trip is here If I was amazed to read the Vietnamese had finally acknowledged D Coy kicked their arse at Long Tan, I was stunned to read in the Australian editorial that it was their considered opinion that our presence in Vietnam has been vindicated.
It has been more than 30 years since the fall of Saigon. Although this newspaper opposed the war in hindsight, the history of Vietnam under communist rule seems to vindicate the effort. Ho Chi Minh’s Stalinist regime was monstrous, even as it was lionised in the West. Vietnam still struggles under political and economic repression. But by stemming the totalitarian tide that was sweeping southeast Asia at the time, Australian and US troops may have saved countless millions.Thirty eight years ago, I, as an army NCO was well aware that all Stalinist regimes were monstrous and that if anything, Ho Chi Minh’s regime would be worse – the Australian finally gets the picture and agrees publically. Maybe, just maybe all those never-to-be-forgotten friends didn’t die in vain. The left of course will always see things differently which happens when you live in a country, Australia, and believe in the wonder of communism and hoping and working for the defeat of your own troops. It is to these people that I address the following: It is a myth that the Free World Military Forces lost the Vietnam War. Called the American War by the Vietnamese the Communists lost at Tet 68 when they had their arses handed back to them on a plate. The South Vietnamese rebellion that the North had banked their money on didn’t eventuate and when Nixon released the dogs of war in the form of B52s a year or two later, they were forced to the Peace Talks in Paris. Agreement was reached, all beligerants withdrew; the US and Australia went home and the North Vietnamese pulled back north of the DMZ. The war was over. Two years later the North Vietnamese, rearmed by the USSR who wanted warm ports on the Pacific rim, invaded the South. That was the tragedy that was Vietnam. Millions were subject to execution and/or retraining camps and those Southerners who could, escaped by ship, by boat, almost by air mattress if that’s all they could find. Thousands more died on the seas but they considered that risk better than living under Ho Chi Minh. Anything would be better than that.
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