FRIENDLY rivalry is fine, but a distinct chill has come over Australia’s closest friendship, warns New Zealand opposition leader Don Brash. Picture is the entire NZ Infantry Regiment on a parade called to see who’s turn it was to defend New Zealand. Our Kiwi cousins are feeling out of the defence loop and well they should. With Helen Clark thinking 1% of GDP being a reasonable amount to pay for an insurance policy she is now discovering that her no-claim bonuses are useless.

Since being elected in 1999, the Clark Government has closed down the air force’s combat wing and reduced the navy to a two-frigate fleet. Clark refused to join the US-led invasion of Iraq, and Washington expressed its displeasure through some unusually sharp diplomatic comments about New Zealand’s attitude, and by pointedly refusing to include New Zealand in talks on the Australia-US free trade deal. Since then, Clark has committed both troops and money to reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Can you imagine Australia closing down the RAAF? No way. Even if times are bad, to close down a complete system means you have no national inventory should a need arise. You can’t say ‘Oops we have a war coming up – lets start an Airforce. Stupid – which is why no other country has ever done it. Except New Zealand. Except Helen Clark. However, I stopped feeling sorry for them when they voted her in. Sure they have been with us though thick and thin but often cousins mature at a different rate – swing left – dance by yourself. Sure – go all warm and fuzzy, give all your money to social services and beach access to the Maoris but don’t whinge when the more mature people in the family don’t invite you to our parties, or don’t tell you what is going on. And if you don’t want US nuclear powered and (maybe) nuclear armed ships to darken your ports then they can come to Sydney to spend their R & R money. Nuclear free port, nuclear free suburb – what a joke. Even in the bad old ‘Cold War’ days no Russian Officers, that I was aware of, kept a list of left-wing , nuclear free city and state institutions so they could check that they weren’t being targeted. Yes, it is only an opposition leader doing what he should, but the problem has been around for years and the longer New Zealand is out of the loop the less use and help they are to us and the world. They don’t contribute any more and we don’t care anymore.

The seemingly ubiquotous UH 1H is about to be retired due to the Tiger chopper coming into service in the next month or two. Chief bastard points this out and asks for any pictures of the gunships in action. The Tiger, pictured below will be a great addition to the ADF’s inventory but it’s just not the same. Looks mean alongside the lines of the old Huey. I have lots of photos of Huey ‘slicks’ (troop carriers) but none of huey gunships in action. There is a very good reason for this. If gunships were around it was because we were in trouble and they were shooting at bad guys that were shooting at us. Not a ‘kodak’ moment. For 40 years the Huey has been a part of the defence scene around the world and will be sadly missed, although I hope defence keeps a couple flying, if only to send shivers down the spines of Vietnam Vets at reunions. The line from Redgum’s ‘I was only Nineteen’ when he asks ….why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet? is only a line to most but to me and most of my peers it is real. If ever a sound triggered memories it is the wop, wop, wop of choppers – it does it for me everytime. I was watching my rugby coach son’s football team play last year when a chopper flew overhead. I involuntarily shivered like a dog shaking off water. The spectator alongside picked it in one when he asked “Vietnam Vet?” I laughingly answered in the positive but felt a bit embarrassed to be caught out. Thanks Huey for all the rides, for all the ordnance fired in the interests of my longevity and for the sound of your blades, the tips of which broke the sound barrier, making that distinctive, memorable, memory triggering sound.

This weeks defence beat up starts with By Cameron Stewart and Michael McKinnon with a by-line in the Australian stating Air force ‘powerless’ to pay pilots enough. When I joined the Army I did so for a career of adventure and never considered remuneration as a motivator. I was coincidently paid well (40k in my last appointment in 1986) but the job was the draw. The adventure, the adrenilin surges, the travel, the power and responsibility of command and the smug satisfaction of doing a difficult job well in the face of the media still berating us for having the temerity to kill communists, and even then, looking for ways to make us look bad. When Hawke was in power he authorised $30k advances to RAAF pilots to encourage them to stay instead of flying Qantas. I, and my collegues, suggested at the time that the $30k bonus underlined the government and medias lack of understanding of the professional serviceman. All the RAAFies wanted was air hours. Let them fly their bloody F18s and they would stay. You see, my civilian readers, there is nothing quite as exciting as pushing mach2 in pursuit of another pilot and winning. (Not to mention the excitement of losing!) Although being fired on by machine guns and then attacking and defeating the bad guys has some element of exitement we’re talking about pilots today.

The pay of RAAF pilots continues to lag behind that of their commercial counterparts, with junior RAAF pilots earning about $56,000 a year, rising to $95,500 a year for senior pilots with 10 years’ experience. By contrast, a senior Qantas pilot might earn $190,000 to $220,000, aviation sources said.

There is a trade off here. If you want to be a bus driver and ferry drunk passengers to Brittain on their ‘rights of passage’ tours in a plane that is so boringly safe that it can fly itself then go do it. If your life’s goals are monetary based with the holiday home at the Gold Coast, a Ferrari in the garage and a million or two in rollover then Qantas is your go. ( Stay with me you Jet Jockies – don’t be seduced) On the other hand, if you have some sense of adventure; if you want to test yourself, push yourself and have others try and keep up; if you don’t care about money once you and your family are secure and you can pay the good school fees then join the RAAF. If you’re a RAAF pilot reading this and don’t understand what I’m staying, then get out. You see, flying fighters is not just about the mechanics of flying. From the Infantry perspective, it’s about flying at night, in bad weather, below 1000, with Sams coming up at you and not deviating until you’ve dropped your ordnance on the bad guys, thus saving the arse of the good guys. Nowhere do Stewart or McKinno identify the author of the report or it’s status. For all we know, it could have been written by a whinging malcontent and by all accounts, most probably was. If it’s unidentified it’s meaningless but they take the effort to find a negative report and then pay good money under the Freedom of Information laws to get a copy, and in my opinion, achieve very little. What is their point. Are they suggesting that 25 year old boggies get 200K plus a year or are they just hammering the ‘Defence is bad’ mantra.

The RAAF says the report was overly pessimistic because it did not foresee the downturn in the aviation market following the Ansett collapse. But experts say demand for commercial pilots is rising again. The report, called the Pilot Sustainability Project, says RAAF pilots are now flying less and this “may well be contributing to a lack of professional satisfaction”.

You bet it is! As an aside – if a guy spends ten years flying F18s and then resigns to fly 767s and two years after he started with Qantas the balloon goes up. Then within a month he’s going to be heard muttering. Mmm, lets see – little grey plane, mach 2, upside down at 40,000 feet – how do I do it again? I trust the ex RAAF Qantas pilots realize they are a part of the Nations defence inventory. You go read – if you get their point then leave a comment. Check here as well. The authors managed to sell the Australian two articles based on one report I don’t know what their point is exactly, but I will say – It’s not about the money, honey, it’s about the game.