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.

Back From Darkest Asia

Posted on by

Well, that’s what it seems like. Now resident in the Grand President Appartments, Sukhumvit, Bangkok, the appartment is decidedly presidential after the last eight days in Cambodia. Welcomed also is the front page of the Bangkok Post announcing “Ruthless Aust win back Ashes” All I need to make it a great day is a couple of Poms at the bar tonight

Cambodia – Day One.

We flew out of Bangkok just over a week ago with Bangkok air and had a very good short flight to Phnom Penh. Picked up at the airport by our Khmer contact we drove to Kampot in a Mercedes Van thus heralding my reinsertion into Asian culture. It was a hot insertion as well as the traffic can be best described as chaos in motion. Mitsibishi vans with 15 people inside, three 150cc Honda bikes on the roof and three other people hanging onto them. We watched amazed as one guy transfers from inside the van to the cooler upstairs seats (read roof) and we then pull out to pass a truck to be confronted by 10 Hondas coming straight at us. Everyone merges…against all apparent odds (to a western eye) and we get back into the comparative safety zone of the right hand lane. If the van had seat belts they were not apparent which would’ve gone some way to calm my fears as we risked head-on crashes at a frequency of at least 20-25 per kilometer.

We book into the Sen Monorom Guest House and get used to life at a different pace. The French have a lot to answer for in South East Asia but surely the legacy of their plumbing has to top the list. A bidet is the local answer to hygiene and the bathrooms are unusual to say the least. 2.5 metres square; a toilet in one corner, a hand basin in another, the shower on the wall with intermittant hot water; all with a drain hole on the floor in the furtherest corner from the shower head. This guarantees the floor and your clothes are always wet unless you strip before entering.

The Guest House looks good from outside;

but on closer inspection the painters could’ve used a tape measure;

and maybe R&M could be given a higher priority.

Just saying.

Notwithstanding all the above the staff were very friendly and helpfull and the rate was only $20.00US per day. We went down town and had lunch at a local food/drink bar. Food is good and very cheap while Beerlau costs less than 1.00 a glass and became the preffered drink for the group.

We are in town, fed and watered and ready to start. Through the afternoon we rest up in preparation for meeting the Khmer and expat players at a BBQ at a locals riverside house. We are promised a cow on a spit, plenty of local refreshments and transport to the event on a traditional Khmer long boat.

More tomorrow. I can hear some Poms in the bar and I need to chat to them. I might start the conversation by saying straight face..“We’ve been bush in Cambodia for a week…do you know how the last test went?”

Travel

On Leave

Posted on by

Today I commence a journey to Kampot in Cambodia with a view to help bed in a programme that will eventually see a small local village become self sufficient. More on the project after I spend some time on-site. I am looking forward to this weekend in old Bangkok where I spent time during the Vietnam war. Should be fun but not too much fun if you get my drift.

Monday we fly on to Pnom Penh and then to Kampot. I will hopefully be able to blog from there with my take on Cambodia with pics and details of the project. In the new year I will set up a website to publicise and help gain support for the project. Those old South East Asian hands who spent their younger days blowing this part of the world to pieces may consider putting up their hands to help rebuild a small part of a nation shattered by communism. There is more than one way to fight the bastards even if it is remedial rather than preemptive.

Must go…plane to catch.

Travel

A new ALP or is it?

Posted on by

NEW Labor leader Kevin Rudd today told voters to give his office a call and share their ideas on how his party should develop policies that offer a clear alternative to the Howard Government.

Do you mean to say he has got this far and doesn’t have a clear set of policies?

I’m not a Rudd fan for the same reason I don’t like my wife when she nags excessively nor my old teachers when they ticked me off too much. I have only heard him harp about Howards policies; never about his own vision for the future and I definitely don’t like the handbag on his left arm; Gillard.

She holds Jim Cairns dear and quotes him in a speech she gave to Melbourne High School students as she extolls the virtues of peace activism, supporting the Soviets and anarchy.

Rudd may not be a loose cannon like Latham but the ropes holding him down are frayed and the ship’s sailing though a heavy swell. With Gillard as navigator there will too much of a risk that the party will keep on veering to port and I for one wouldn’t like Australia going down that road again.

A softer shade of Cairns as Whitlam’s deputy and what has Rudd promised in return for the support of the left?

I liked Beazley and he definitely has my commisserations for the very bad day he had. I also think there is a smattering of talent in the ALP but it remains to be seen whether Rudd will be able to pick and choose his own front bench nothwithstanding his demand for that very right.

Mr Rudd, who had an emphatic victory in yesterday’s caucus ballot, is now under pressure to promote backers into senior front bench roles.

Of course he is.

The ALP are in a better position than they were when they opted for the lunatic Latham to lead but I don’t think it’s enough for a ground swell against Howard.

The ALP can attack IR laws all they like but untill they come up with a better policy that includes a guarantee of keeping unemployment down it won’t wash with the electorate. The AWB Cole Commission was a fizzer for those hoping it would bring down Howard and yet that’s all I’m hearing – nag, nag, nag!

Time will tell if new leadership will mean much but I’m betting it won’t be enough to cross the divide.

Politics

ARRIVAL OF AUSTRALIA’S FIRST C-17

Posted on by

From Defence Media

What: Media Opportunity – Flypast and arrival of the Royal Australian Air Force’s first Boeing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.

Where: No 34 Squadron, Richmond Avenue, Defence Establishment Fairbairn, ACT.

When: Media to arrive no later than 11.00am Monday 4 December 2006.

The media release is for journalists but if you’re moving around the capital on Monday then you will be able to witness the arrival of a significant improvement in the ADF’s deployability.

Defence

It’s on!

Posted on by

Kevin ‘Tricky’ Rudd has thrown his hat in the ring as Kim Beazley gives in to pressure and declares a spill of his entire frontbench.

Mr Beazley today declared a spill of his entire frontbench following a fortnight of pressure for him to stand aside in favour of Labor’s foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd.

It just keeps on getting better

Labor’s health spokeswoman Julia Gillard will make a statement on the leadership spill later today, her spokeswoman said.

Ms Gillard, the member for Lalor in Victoria, has been mooted as a possible leader or deputy leader.

In the past she was endorsed for the leadership position by former leader Mark Latham.

Personal endorsement by Latham…mmm that should help.

With ‘Tricky’ Rudds carping voice and Julia’s left wing antics it bodes well for us conservatives in 2007.

Politics

Black Hawk down

Posted on by

ONE Australian soldier is dead and another is missing after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed into the sea while landing aboard HMAS Kanimbla off Fiji today.

The victim was pulled alive from the water after the helicopter went down but died as he was being treated for his injuries aboard the Kanimbla. He has not been named.

Seven other soldiers were injured but are not in a serious condition. A total of 10 personnel – including six SAS troops – were on board.

Over the last decade, Australia has lost many more service personnel in helicopter accidents than from any other cause.

In the tragedy on Nias Island, Indonesia, in April 2005, nine died when a navy Sea King helicopter crashed as it came in to land.

In June 1996, 18 servicemen, including 15 members of the crack Special Air Service regiment, died when two helicopters collided during a training exercise near Townsville in Queensland.

The names have not been released yet and all of the defence community and those of us interested in their welfare will have an uneasy time until we know the fate of the missing trooper.

You might spare a thought for those at home waiting for the knock on the door. Tonight and tomorrow morning a wife or mother will answer a knock on the door and will see an army padre and attending officer and her world will fall apart.

It’s sad but if you live on the edge oft times someone falls over.

Defence

I can see more clearly now

Posted on by

When posting on Peter Tinley the other day I resisted the temptation to ask when he was going to nominate for federal parliament although I did say that if ex Army Officers critisize the government of the day they should do so quoting their political aspirations rather than their military qualifications.

I was so sure he was an ALP member I even googled his name looking for an association but couldn’t find any. I obviously need better intelligence that would allow me to follow up a persons obvious political leanings – is there a list of party members anywhere on the net?

Todays press announces Peter’s intention to seek preselection for the crucial marginal seat of Stirling in Western Australia for the ALP and in fact mentions he joined the Fremantle branch of the ALP in 2001. He should’ve resigned his commission then as the army officers code holds us to being apoliticial – can’t do the job otherwise.

Why is none of this a surprise?

He also claims to have been traumatised by his deployment to the MV Tampa which happened just after his joining the ALP

He was scathing about that “frightful” experience yesterday, saying it played a big part in his political awakening.

“We were effectively invading the sovereign soil of Norway … the Government was using us as a political tool,” he said.

Yeah, right and what sort of mission brief did he give his troopers for that deployment?

A more honest headline in the Saturday’s Weekend Australian might have read ALP member with left wing tendencies says Iraq is a blunder and buried in the article could’ve been a mention of his military background.

That way it wouldn’t have been so embarrassing to the Corps.

Politics

Majors now running Defence Policy

Posted on by

Well it’s all settled then. We have the Shadow minister for defence saying defence policy should be dictated by a Major. I guess smaller incursions than Iraq, say Fiji, could be stage managed by the Sergeant’s Mess on that basis.

Peter Tinley has been reported in Saturday’s press as saying Iraq is a moral blunder and to lend more weight to his opinion the article identifies him as a ex SAS Major and war hero – both sound qualifications for a considered opinion however I just can’t get it out of my mind that there is some political overture involved.

Peter has retired from the Military and has set up a sandstone business in Fremantle, Australis Pavestone and Blue Gum Leadership, a .leadership Consultancy He is moving into the corporate world and lectures and submits articles to various institutions in West Australia including the Curtin Business School and the Fire and Emergency Services Authority.

Nothing wrong with any of that and front page Weekend Australia isnt going to hurt his aspirations. Good or bad, publicity is publicity.

I may be old fashioned but I’m of the opinion that ex officers should not go public about finer points of intelligence planning and if they critisize the government of the day they should do so quoting their political aspirations rather than their military qualifications. I might add that a Major doesn’t really have much sway in war zones and I’ve generally found they are too close to the action to have objective opinions about the war overall albeit very in-tune with their immediate responsibility.

But that’s just the opinion of an ex major and would hardly rate against opinions of editors with a mission to increase circulation.

Peter’s not quiet so angry in this Army News article that announces his being made a Member of the Order of Australia for his role in the planning and coordination of the Op Falconer. Happy to accept awards from the same people who he now says ‘cynically used the ADF and duped the public’ – maybe he has a double standard issue.

“It was a cynical use of the Australian Defence Force by the Government,” the ex-SAS operations officer told The Weekend Australian yesterday.

“This war duped the Australian Defence Force and the Australian people in terms of thinking it was in some way legitimate.

Old friend and retired Army Officer, Karl Hartman nails the issue with his letter in todays Australian.

I BELIEVE it is worthwhile asking the chief of the defence force how many SAS majors he has on his staff giving him strategic advice. The answer would be “not many”. You would think that after 25 years, Tinley would have learnt to keep his mouth shut.

Oh, and the term ‘Hero’, at least within miltary circles, is not normally used when discussing recipients of the Order of Australia. These awards are made for exemplorary service and hard and dilgent work in planning or management; not actions in the face of the enemy. Maybe the journalist based the use of Hero on this paragraph

Part of his command was 1 SAS Squadron, which was awarded a US Meritorious Unit citation for its “sustained gallantry”, contributing to a comprehensive success for coalition forces in Iraq.

‘Part of his command was 1 SAS Sqn‘ says he wasn’t the OC of 1 Sqn and as Majors only command at Squadron level, and considering what else was reported, then he was a part of the Special Forces planning staff and had no command function as such.

I have not pursued any insider information and thus don’t know exactly waht Peter’s appointment was in Iraq but in reading the article the terms ‘Hero‘ and ‘Part of his command was 1 SAS Sqn’ are misleading.

Still, half the front page of the Weekend Australian is good publicity.

Defence, War on Terror

Civil war?

Posted on by

From my military days I recall this definition of civil war;

civil war: A war between factions of the same country; there are five criteria for international recognition of this status: the contestants must control territory, have a functioning government, enjoy some foreign recognition, have identifiable regular armed forces, and engage in major military operations.

However that would hardly suit the New York Times thus they quote a ‘common scholarly definition‘ has having two main criteria;

The first says that the warring groups must be from the same country and fighting for control of the political center, control over a separatist state or to force a major change in policy. The second says that at least 1,000 people must have been killed in total, with at least 100 from each side.

There now, that’s a lot easier isn’t it? The real definition of civil war al la media is this; One media outlet uses the words civil war in an Iraq war article and a million other editors follow suit. It is now the term du jour for the anti-war brigade. This New York Times article is the first I’ve noticed where they at least attempt the define the term and I would suggest it has been tailored to suit the current kill rate in Iraq.

Using that definition I would imagine the American Civil Rights Movement and the settlement of Australia could both be defined as Civil Wars when clearly they were not.

The Iraq war may be lots of things but it is not a civil war.

War on Terror

Howard visits Long Tan

Posted on by

The Prime Minister visited the battle scene at Long Tan yesterday and according to some veterans it wasn’t before time. I must admit I never felt anguished over the fact that a politician hadn’t visited the area but some obviously have and if that makes them happy then good. I note an old aquaintence gets a quote in the article;

For some veterans, such as Graeme “Breaker” Cusack, the first visit to the Long Tan site by an Australian prime minister was “great – but it’s 30 years too late”.

Breaker, a tattooed bikie and ex officer of 6RAR didn’t actually fight at the battle but was on duty at Nui Dat and now lives in Vung Tau as do quiet a few veterans. Married to locals they live the life of Riley with their military pensions putting them clearly in the millionaire status in the third world local economy.

I watched TV last night and wondered how professional journalists can make so many mistakes. Don’t they check anything? According to the journo D COy was ambushed (it was a encounter battle) by a battalion (it was a regiment plus) outside the Nui Dat Airbase (it was a military base).

The developing signifigence of the battle of Long Tan is discussed here by Peter Edwards an official historian of Australia’s involvement in Southeast Asian conflicts.

Vietnam
1 … 124 125 126 127 128 … 229