Digger named Aussie of the Year

And the Ingrate Idiots of the Year gather to comment about it in the Australian‘s Your Say section. More than half of the commentors rushed off to the tool shed to get their axe to grind. The plain loopy;

• Hope all the troops come home safe and help us get rid of the lying scum that sent them there….Dave of Japan
• What? for killing innocent people in an illegal invasion…Muskiemp of Bundaberg Qld
• I question the ethics of anyone prepared to kill-for any reason….Niemoller of Darwin
• David Hicks, you mean?….Holsworthy
• If the army is so great why haven’t Howard’s kids joined up?….smart_kid of Outer Space

and, the “I’m not getting enough pension” brigade

• Like many other fine Australians, I’ve been dumped. No longer able to work, forced to sell the house, can’t even pay for the kids school fees. My life is stuffed, over, I’ve lost everything I’ve ever worked for and/or ever had including my sanity. Paul Dignon of Adelaide
• It is a national disgrace the way the Howard Governement treats ex Diggers by way of the indexation of TPI and EDA entitlements and by way of the indexation of the ADF superannuation entitlelements…..Bernie McGurgan of Brisbane

Paul Dignon is an activist who served in East Timor and claims PTSD from his service. The DVA are reasonably demanding he give them some hint as to the trauma he suffered that might cause the PTSD and to date he has obviously not satisfied that requirement. I’m not suggesting there was a lack of trauma in East Timor, far from it, but if Paul has a case the DVA don’t know about it yet. He subscribes to a forum that has a graphic advising “Thinking about a military Career? Think again!! The government does not honour it’s promises to veterans” and that’s simply not on. He convened an activist group that tried to politicise ANZAC Day by encouraging veterans to wear an orange armband to support his cause and also got involved in a death threat against Defence Minister Billson. Bad moves in my books but of course the ABC loved it and picked up on it at least two states. He has a web site of sorts here full of innacuracies and exaggerations. If he has a case for pension he needs to learn to play the DVA’s game not fight them. I have posted on this site before when I had an email altercation with one of the main players and nothing seems to have changed. Bernie McGurgan, who I know from my army days, simply doesn’t like the Howard Government which is his right but I question his ethics when he uses a post naming the Digger as Aussie of the year to vent his anti government feelings. He was an officer and in my mind has an obligation to support the ADF, not use them to beat Howard over the head with “I’m not getting enough pension” stories. The comments are a bit dissapointing but that’s life. I left a comment there as well;

Some of you need to reread the question. It reads..”What do you think of the The Weekend Australian’s choice of Australian of the Year?” not “How can you put down on the Digger as Aussie of the year” or “How can you inject your ideology into the choice of the Digger as Aussie of the year” I’ll answer the question. I think it is well deserved and thank whoever made the decision. As witnessed by some of the above comments the digger does his work in the knowledge that some of his countryment don’t appreciate it yet he still strives to improve the lot of others and to maintain the security of Australia.