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Such scrutiny

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THE Australian Defence Force has admitted that a dying Australian soldier took nearly two hours to reach hospital in Afghanistan, but sharply rejects claims that his retrieval was bungled.
Having initially refused to release timings on the wounding and air evacuation of SAS signaller Sean McCarthy, who died of injuries inflicted by a road-side bomb on July 8, the ADF revealed yesterday that aero-medical evacuation choppers lifted off from Kandahar airbase 38 minutes after the blast happened, and 22 minutes after the call for help from the soldiers was logged.
The time lag between the incident and lift off appears to be a little lengthy to me and will to all Vietnam Vets. We had a system then where we would radio in “Standby Dustoff” (AME) as soon as we knew we had taken casualties. Thus within a few minutes of a soldier being wounded the Medicos were warned of an imminent requirement for evacuation; the chopper crew were doing their preflights and the Doctors and Nurses were scrubbing up. Presuming Armies remember lessons from the past, and yes I know that isn’t always a given, then I would imagine that something similar happens today. If the choppers lifted off 38 minutes after the blast and 22 minutes after the radio call for evacuation then are we expected to believe that the patrol took 16 minutes to call for evacuation of a seriously wounded soldier? I’m not criticising anyone here, least of all the patrol, as my comments are being written far from the realities and fog of war and in the comfort of my office but the ADF does need to review every action and reaction to ensure we are doing the best for our diggers. I’m sure the ADF are busy doing just that right now. Recommended reading: DUSTOFF in the Vietnam War.
Defence

Jim Moylan nails it

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Paul Kelly talks to General Jim Moylan about his recently released book detailing his time as chief of operations to the US commander of the multinational force in Iraq, George Casey, which included planning the second battle for Fallujah in November 2004 and the successful general election the following January.
THE most highly placed Australian to serve in Iraq has offered a lethal critique of the Australian way of war in its diplomatic, strategic and military dimensions, challenging the orthodoxy of the Howard and Rudd governments. Putting it bluntly, (General) Molan, who retired a fortnight ago, says Australia is not prepared “to fight a war involving sustained combat”. As a professional, he is embarrassed. The conclusion from his book is that Australia has been too successful in winning political dividends from extremely limited military commitments. Sooner or later, he believes, our luck will expire.
As an ex professional, I am also embarrassed, as are many of my Army mates, but it takes a General to state the case to have people listen. The benefits we gain from being a part of the coalition against terrorism is tangible – we gain access to intelligence that helps us secure our citizens; we gain security from the very fact that the terrorist are being confronted in their homelands and thus have difficulty attacking ours and yet this is largely achieved by the efforts and casualties of the Yanks, Canadians and Brits. Thanks to Howard and his military rebuild we have the capability to deploy a larger force – maybe a Battle Group, and pick up the responsibility of a province in Afghanistan but I don’t absolve Howard from this criticism. I am on record as saying he achieved a lot of recognition for little commitment and whereas it’s true our special forces guys from the West and 4RAR have done us proud, special forces don’t win wars by themselves. Cue the Royal Australian Regiment, battalions of highly trained, well equipped and motivated young Aussies whose role is clear and unambiguous…to seek out and close with the enemy, to kill or capture him, to seize and hold ground and to repel attack, by day or night, regardless of season, weather or terrain. It is the battalions of Infantry and Marines from the US, Britain and Canada that are doing the hard yards, who are taking the casualties and who will eventually decide the outcome of war and if we intend to take a seat at the final conference when we have beaten the bastards then we need to recommit. Patrick Walters also quotes the General in an article headed “A nation at war, but kept clear of combat”
“We in Australia luxuriate in what I describe as wars of choice within wars; we choose the wars we will fight in, we choose the timing of our participation, we choose the geographical areas of our participation (and so control the level of likely combat), we choose the kind of operations we will conduct and we choose when we come home,” he says. As Molan tells Inquirer, Americans do not have that luxury in Iraq or Afghanistan. Australia may not have that luxury in the years ahead.
Chances of that happening under Rudd, Smith and Fitzgibbon – nil, zip, nada, no chance and Buckleys but one lives in hope that we might just do something other than seek seats on committees, demand NATO commit more troops and pontificate about how high we value our defence relationship with the Yanks and yet still refuse to commit sufficient ground troops to make a difference. Sigh!
War on Terror

Rudd attacks substance with spin

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KEVIN Rudd has launched a stinging attack on his predecessor, branding John Howard “an absolute failure” in preparing Australia for the end of the international economic boom. Howard tried to stop you gaining power and ending the boom, or at least Australia’s part of it, but the voters didn’t see it that way – blame them Kevin. Of course, all Kevin’s doing is talking up his Carbon Trading scheme and in doing so he must mention Howard’s supposed poor form on climate change as the ALP’s plan moves closer and closer to the original Coalition scheme. Given time and ample spin the punters will believe that Howard did nothing and that Rudd is the man.
(Rudd) said Australia had been left behind in education, had ignored the damage of climate change and had failed to respond to changes in the region and the world, including the rise of China and India as economic superpowers.
Unmitigated crap but tell the lie often enough and people will believe that spin is substance. They did in November last year, they’ll do it again.
Politics

Stay Peter, your country needs you.

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PETER Costello has been hailed as the “Don Bradman” of Liberal politics during a 300-strong dinner in Melbourne, at which he was urged not to quit politics.
But his closest supporters believe he will walk away from parliament at the end of the year to pursue job offers overseas, after he completes a tell-all book on the Howard years and his youngest daughter finishes school.
If he does walk away, I for one will be disappointed. He is one of the few players we have that can serve it up to the government. God knows we need someone and we do have a lot of ammo but no one’s firing, or if they are, they aren’t hitting the target.
Politics

Scam of the century

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MORE than $60 billion in planned LNG investments are likely to be shelved because the Rudd Government’s emissions trading scheme is “backwards” and penalises exports of the clean gas, according to Woodside Petroleum chief Don Voelte.
Asked what he intended to do about the problem, Mr Voelte said: “We have booked a lot of plane tickets to Canberra.”
Good luck – it’s always hard to get zealots to see reason. QANTAS is expected to announce today that it will axe between 2000 and 3000 jobs and cut more routes as it restructures to cope with high fuel prices. Get used to it. Not because the price of fuel will go up due to supply but because the Government are under pressure to raise the price to comply with it’s global warming lie. From David Evans in todays Australian I DEVOTED six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian Greenhouse Office. I am the rocket scientist who wrote the carbon accounting model (FullCAM) that measures Australia’s compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, in the land use change and forestry sector.
But since 1999 new evidence has seriously weakened the case that carbon emissions are the main cause of global warming, and by 2007 the evidence was pretty conclusive that carbon played only a minor role and was not the main cause of the recent global warming. As Lord Keynes famously said, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”
You elected them now wear it. The country is being held to ransom by a bunch of alarmists and where are the Liberals in our moment of danger – can’t hear ’em. Surely they should be questioning the basic tenet that says mere humans having more impact on global climate that the sun. We need someone with sufficient testosterone and wit to start educating the public. Tabloid TV, SBS and the ABC have rolled over and we can’t view a scene of nature or animals cavorting without a sombre voice-over mentioning global warming. Films of icebergs melting, as they do very summer, cannot be shown without a mention of the impending doom for all mankind, Polar bears and penguins. All of this is based on shaky evidence that theorizes that we humans are causing these calamities. God forbid that the Sun should have some part to play. The trouble is, you can’t make a religion out of the sun being to blame when it is just a part of a natural cycle. It needs to be caused by mankind so that the High Priests can agitate for change – force those filthy capitalists, petrol consuming V8 4WD owners (me) and other non-believers to see the light and convert. Evans again;
In the minds of the audience, the evidence that global warming has occurred becomes conflated with the alleged cause, and the audience hasn’t noticed that the cause was merely asserted, not proved.
and;
Evidence consists of observations made by someone at some time that supports the idea that carbon emissions cause global warming. Computer models and theoretical calculations are not evidence, they are just theory.
…they are just theory has been my point since Stern’s IPCC report and yet we are about to commit effort, money, profits, jobs and livelihoods on the alter of a false God. It would be OK if we spent money on R & D for alternative energy, forced companies to clean up their act and individuals to think smarter but to arbitrarily force big business to pay for carbon produced seems pointless. What happens to that income? Is it given back to the poor to compensate for price increases and if so what have we achieved. Rudd, Swan Song and Princess Penny say with all of their interfering with our economy, the impact on inflation will only be in the order of .09%. Well, excuse me, they would say that wouldn’t they? Go back to first line of this post to see how believable any estimation of the impact on inflation will be.
Climate Change

Peace statements, hymns and insults

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From a Defence Mailing list email. The ADF is hosting military pilgrims from around the world attending World Youth Day 08 (WYD08).
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) and foreign military pilgrims will hold a ceremony including a reading of a statement of peace and singing hymns on the Sydney Opera House steps to thank their NSW hosts for World Youth Day 08.
Seems a contradiction in terms to me but never mind….things do change. Moving right along I note academics still hold us in high regard; THE Australian Defence Force is planning to open the nation’s army, navy and air force bases to high school work experience students in a bid to arrest the crisis in recruitment. All well and good – at least it’s a plan but besides people panicking that a young man or woman should be exposed to, or actually use a weapon, academics apparently think so little of the military culture that the writer drops this little quote.
The program is also likely to be opposed by some education professionals on grounds that military culture is incompatible with the higher ideals of learning that high school teachers are expected to instil.
I can almost guarantee that I spent more time study tertiary level languages, logistics and management than the reporter, and for that matter, most high school teachers, ever will, but I’m a product of the military culture and whereas my higher ideals of learning had to include the pragmatic with the academic, what would I know – I’m just a dumb soldier! I might add, I haven’t always been convinced that an arts degree is compatible with higher ideals of learning as the academics might suggest, but I’ve never thrown gratuitous insults at the young grads I’ve had working for me. Statements of peace, singing hymns and insults from academics. Ned Kelly, you were right…..such is life – but I will reserve the right to feel insulted for myself and the current batch of ADF members.
Defence, General Musings

Art for pedophiles

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Olympia, an 11 year old girl, has become a pawn in the debate over photos of prepubescent children being publicized for arts sake, or, as might be the case, for increased magazine sales. Her parents – the flamboyant, bow-tied art critic for The Age, Robert Nelson, and his photographer wife – allowed the nude photographs to be published to protest the furore over “similar pictures” taken by Bill Henson. They hustled their mite before the nation’s cameras yesterday, so that she, at age 11, could insist that she didn’t mind being photographed wearing only her Grandma’s pearls, and displayed in a magazine.
“I think that the picture my mum took of me had nothing to do with being abused and I think nudity can be a part of art,” she said, in words that sounded somehow unlike her own.
In another article she has been primed to say
“I’m really, really offended by what Kevin Rudd had to say about this picture.”
Sorry sweetheart, you were six when the photo was taken and are only 11 now. Your opinion and any words you say have no bearing on the matter. Go to your room now and play with your barbie doll. Jesus wept!
General Musings

Two up for Brendan

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FEDERAL Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson says he will ask police to investigate whether an art magazine broke the law when it used a photograph of a naked six-year-old girl on its cover. and; BRENDAN Nelson has abandoned support for an emissions trading scheme without international action, warning Australia would be sacrificing jobs by going it alone. I am becoming very concerned with the Rudd government and their seemingly blind acceptance of the Gospel of the Latter Day Alarmists. I would rather we didn’t lead the world in this matter – when we can see everyone else is catching the bus then we should step on board. Until then lets look at what we can do with technology.
Climate Change

No women in Infantry

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Army chief General Peter Leah retires and talks about women in the ADF. He has no problems with the girls serving in most of the force but draws the line at direct combat units, as he should. General Leahy said the other key issue involving gender was one of physical strength and the capacity of men and women to perform certain tasks.
“There aren’t many women playing in the Wallabies, or for Carlton, or Essendon. It’s about the physical capability and there are some men who can’t play in the Wallabies. So we need to be fairly clinical, if you like,” he said. “If you want to be in the infantry and you want to be fighting in combat you had better to able to carry a heavy pack long distances.” While army studies suggested some women could do that, “right now they are busy getting ready to go to Beijing for the Olympics”, General Leahy said.
That ‘heavy pack” in my experience could, and often did, weigh about a hundred pounds or 45 kilos so his point is valid. The other reason I never wanted women in Infantry is I know full well that if Private Kevin was in a forward pit with Private Sheilah I wouldn’t be looking to my front or watching my arcs – I would be trying to chat her up. Basic but it’s true. General Leah commanded the Army over an almost unprecedented era of expansion of troops,roles and deployments and he is leaves it in good shape and I for on, wish him well in the future.
Defence

French Army shoot 17 of their own

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SEVENTEEN people were injured when soldiers fired live bullets instead of blanks during a military display in France’s southwest.
….investigators believed the deadly ammunition was loaded by mistake.
A bit hard to imagine. Most blank rounds, in my experience, are a different colour and weigh a lot less. I have no experience with French blank rounds but can’t imagine them being much different. Should make for a career changing and interesting investigation. UPDATE: A sergeant has been identified as the culprit;
The 28-year-old sergeant fired his assault rifle into a crowd of hundreds of visitors watching a mock hostage rescue operation Sunday at the base near the southwestern city of Carcassonne.
He fired the shots from his FAMAS assault rifle and was described as an experienced soldier with no history of behavioural or psychological problems. The report confirms my belief that French blank ammo is of a different colour and weight than live ball ammo. Presuming he only fired one mag of maybe 30 rounds then 19 hits is pretty deliberate shooting and even if he fired it all in one burst it’s still hard to imagine all those casualties. The final report will be interesting
General Musings
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