If you are reading this, thank a Teacher. If you are reading it in English, thank a Soldier
A cold windy day in Brisbane and the dogs know what to do…. snuggle up below the deck level to keep out of the wind. The black lab is a year old now and has settled into a routine of chewing my sandals, track shoes and deck shoes while the old golden retriever sleeps away the day.
At least they are ornamental features for the pool area and the black lab does takes her role as watchdog seriously.
Patrick Walters, National security editor for the Australian has written a particularly balanced report on blue-on-blue in Iraq.
Go read and be informed.
More from the Kovco Inquiry
Jake Kovco’s mates have a preminition about the body mix up
An unnamed soldier, codenamed Soldier 14, told the inquiry into Pte Kovco’s death and bungled repatriation that a group of fellow soldiers had tried to prevent any mix-up involving his body.
“We were looking after Jake and we wanted to make sure the job was done,” Soldier 14 told the inquiry in Sydney, via a video link from Baghdad.
“Our job was to make sure he got home and I guess we wanted to make sure that it was him that went home and that’s why we, as a group, had talked about that.
“One member then put forward that statement to Soldier 2, to make sure that it was him (Pte Kovco) because stranger things have happened.”
In all my days I have never heard of a body mixup other than on this one occassion. I wonder what historical precedence these guys used to express the concern that there might be a problem. It sounds like invention after the fact to me but then maybe it’s a known in-theatre problem. It’s hard to be sure from my desk in Brisbane.
In another article Soldier 17, a 23-year-old private figures it was an accident
….yesterday told the inquiry he believed Pte Kovco could have been shot in the head while joking around with his two roommates.
And this………
Soldier 14 told the Sydney inquiry that Pte Kovco walked several metres in front of him as they were leaving their posts and then held a door closed on him at a weapons checkpoint so he could not get through.
At the time, Soldier 14 said he decided he would clear his own rifle because he did not have Pte Kovco to follow the so-called “buddy system” of checking each other’s weapons when their duty finished.
Soldier 14 said Pte Kovco had been carrying a rifle plus his 9mm Browning pistol on duty that day.
……raises the question; what were the NCO’s and Officers doing while all this horseplay was going on. The so called “Buddy System” aside, where soldiers check that each others weapons are cleared, surely the Corporal Section Commander has a responsibility to at least ensure this happens.
The Inquiry now enters a phase of reviewing classified evidence in camera and fair enough too. It’s bad enough we have to wash our dirty linen in public without journalists and unqualified commentators debating operational security matters involving our troops in Iraq.
AN Australian soldier who wrote a damaging email from East Timor has been sent home and will be disciplined.
The Courier-Mail yesterday revealed details of the email which included sensitive operational information.
The young artillery officer known as “Gilly from Timor”, revealed detailed operational information including the locations and roles of units in an email to a mate.
According to this report Pte Kovco dreamt of death by his own hand just one month before he died from a single gun shot wound to the head.
I find it alarming that he not only had such a dream but he then recorded it in his private diary the next morning. Physciatrists would have a field day in a court case if armed with such startling information.
I am further alarmed by the statements of the two soldiers with him at the time who are reported as saying;
The three men had been singing along to pop music, reminiscing and using laptop computers when Pte Kovco’s gun suddenly discharged just 5cm away from his head around 4pm.
Pte Kovco’s pistol was in a holster slung on the bed post of his bunkbed, while he stood on the ground typing an email to his wife using a laptop perched on the top mattress.
I have been an Investigating Officer in the Army and know more than most punters about weapon handling, mishandling and the associated stories rationalizing same. I’m not saying it can’t happen, I’m just saying I have never heard of anything like it happening and therefore think a strong case exists to doubt the veracity of the evidence given too date…or, put more simply, someone is telling lies.
If the pistol hadn’t had the trigger guard removed it would be virtually impossible for it to discharge whilst still in the holster. The trigger guards very reason for existance is to stop accidental discharges and for that reason is seldom removed.The SASR have been known to do so for improved reaction time but I have never heard of infantry troops doing it. I could be wrong but even if I am, we still have to move the muzzle of the weapon from the bedpost to 5 centimetres away from Pte Kovco’s head.
I placed my laptop on my bed just now and adopted a typing position; this put my head more than 30 centimetres away from any bedpost.
It’s too early to draw any conclussions other than, up to this point, the testimony given has some serious holes in it. If reported accurately the Investigating Officer must be doing some serious eye-rolling.
“One of the them said `I didn’t hear the weapon cock nor did I see the weapon in his hand.” I would be beside myself in haste to ask; “then where was the pistol immediately after you heard the shot? In the holster, on the bed or on the floor? The answer to this would clear up some doubt.
I presume the question was raised.
The inquiry is expected to hear more evidence from Baghdad this week before adjourning until mid-July.
Via Rick in comments.
No, it wasn’t a case of not paying bills – it was a spam overload on one of the gravet.org websites that was starting to effect the server in the US. Gary at gravett. org has been busy fixing the problem and I’m sure he will ask for another “Site temporarily closed” notice that doesn’t make us look like we’re a bunch of slow payers.
A news report from Iraq. Very funny!
Professor Jon Altman, from the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at ANU Australian National University wants our brothers to stick to hunter gatherer career choices.
But the crucial issue that neither Johns nor Storry address is that of curricula. Too much emphasis is being placed in the current debate on providing opportunity for indigenous kids in very remote Australia for imagined futures as “lawyers, doctors and plumbers” (as suggested by Amanda Vanstone) and too little for futures as artists, land managers and hunters living on the land that they own.
The professor is obviously a good communicator. In one paragraph he has underlined one of the main problems with education of our brothers.
Unfortunately he has got it the wrong way round and although people reading the letter may well believe that because he is a ‘Professor’ then his word should be heeded, he is in fact suggesting we reinforce failure;
…… artists, land managers and hunters
Now there’s a career list that’s going nowhere. They need to be educated the same as the rest of the country’s kids so that when graduating they have a choice of careers; not some limited idea from an ‘out of touch professor’ that would have the boys learning ‘spear and woomera 101’ and girls swatting over ‘100 yam recipies for the busy mia mia wife’
The professor thinks we should pay heed to the ‘outstation’ mentality where Whitlam and Nugget Coombes believed they should all be living in the desert;
Rather than just seek mainstream education solutions to complex non-mainstream indigenous circumstances, we should develop curricula relevant to local settings and new enterprises and then see what impact this might have on attendance.
They really need a broad education that will allow them to view ‘outstation’ life for what it is; demeaning, pointless and set to fail.
Kim Beasley has set the ground rules for the next election. It is a vote for the Coalition or a vote for the Unions.
KIM Beazley’s about-face on workplace agreements has won him a reprieve from leadership pressures and kept alive Stephen Smith’s chances of keeping his frontbench job as Opposition industrial relations spokesman.
Maybe, but I can’t see it presenting a reprieve from the voters. The Coalition wil suffer in the polls over the immediate future as the Unions throw millions into an emotive and selective TV assualt programme but in the long term, as the economy gets even better, the voters will see benefits.
Kim hasn’t just rolled over for the unions; he has also rolled over for the mad left wing with Albanese getting centre stage with his anti-nuclear ranting
On Insiders, he makes his position clear. While the rest of the country are busy counting the billions to be made from uranium sales dear Anthony is angling towards phasing them out
BARRIE CASSIDY: Now, I know that you maintain that it’s a mistake to refer to Labor’s policy as a three mines policy. You say it’s not. It is genuinely an anti-uranium policy?
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, it’s a no new mines policy. It’s a policy that I believe gets the balance right in that it recognises the problems with the nuclear fuel cycle, but also recognises that an economically responsible position is to guarantee all existing contracts. So, in effect, it’s a phasing-out policy.
BARRIE CASSIDY: So, when current contracts run out, that’s it? ANTHONY ALBANESE: That’s right.
The Left wing – the gift that keeps on giving
The Nuclear debate has a long time to run in Australia and I for one wouldn’t like to preempt the result but with the ALP’s position being ‘close down the mines’ then it at least leaves the debate to more rational thinkers…the Coalition and the electorate.
I’m not a soccer fan but I am Australian and I’ll watch any representative team on the world stage. I flicked back and forth last night for 80 minutes but got bored with the 1:0 score and gave up thinking, “Oh well, they tried”.
I flicked back just a few minutes later and had missed two goals. I saw the third goal and I applaud the team. If they go no further they have been further than any previous team and they deserve our praise for that.
At 2:00 am while conducting JP work for the local police, I was chatting with the guys and the conversation turned to rugby and the Wallaby win against the Poms on saturday night. My point was that much was made during the game, of the 20 phase play by the Poms, but more should have been made of the answering 20 phase defence by the Aussies. The entire 20 phases were played with one promotional sign – ‘Bundaberg’ in the background. 20 phases over a 20 metre square doesn’t bode well for the Poms. The game was rivetting and I would never dreamt of flicking channels – I would have definitely missed a try, a near try or some clever play. With the Socceroos, to return after 20 minutes woud normally present no change and that made last nights game so different.
The rugby was a scrappy game but we did win and it bodes well for us in the future. Let’s see how the Poms come back next Saturday night at Sydney.
As for the Socceroos, I’ll try and stick to watching the entire game next time