Chief of Army gets up me for commenting on the soldiers being charged for actions in Afhganistan. Well not me exactly but those of us commenting publically. In an unclassified email to the military he says; Many will have views about whether or not charges should have been brought. Many may hope that those who
No tanks, we don’t need ‘em
Ms Gillard took a swipe at the media for not focusing on issues of “real concern”, saying there was a “ridiculous” debate about the need for more tanks. “You may as well send them a submarine,” she said. Good line PM. I bet we’ll hear about it for a while but it is disingenuous and
More on the Diggers
In case you wonder what us retired soldiers think of the recent decision to court martial three soldiers due to their actions in Afghanistan then here is a letter doing the rounds of the ex-service community with explanatory notes by a Vietnam Veteran. For those of you who don’t know, Roger Tingley won his Miltary
Recycling IED makers
SUSPECT insurgents held by Australian troops are spending time handcuffed, blindfolded and wearing earmuffs to stop them talking to each other. The journalist is all over the fact that the terrorists are treated like prisoners hoping this will raise a storm of human rights activists complaining about the inhumane treatment whereas the soldier in me
Have we gone insane?
A soldier pens an email to a mate criticizing the Army generally and his headquarters specifically and we are having a national debate. So far the Minister for Defence and a Lt Gen have made statements and hundreds of would be arm-chair generals have given us the benefit of the erudite and considered opinions. At
Sgt Till was tired!
SERGEANT Brett Till may have been fatigued when he was killed 18 months ago trying to defuse a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, a defence inquiry has found. Sergeant Till, a member of the Holsworthy-based Incident Response Regiment (IRR) had fired a controlled initial blast to destroy the booby trap and was inspecting the result when
Soldiers to be charged over raid
AN OFFICER in line for a medal is among a group of Australian soldiers who will face manslaughter and negligence charges over the deaths of five Afghan children in a bungled raid last year. The soldiers, mostly from the 1st Commando Regiment, are facing an unprecedented court martial over the raid, codenamed Operation Pakula, near
Beneath the Southern Cross…..
Got this link from the SASR network. Maybe some old mortarman, or a young one for that matter, could explain the maths. I seem to recall being in command of an ambush on Christmas eve 1970 at the base of the Lang Hais and the Artillery put up flares that popped in the shape of
Diggers killed in Afghanistan
TWO young Australian combat engineers on their first deployment in Afghanistan have been killed by a bomb in the army’s worst combat loss in a single day since the Vietnam War. A bomb detonated during a patrol on Monday morning, killing Sapper Jacob Moerland, 21, and Sapper Darren Smith, 26, both from the Brisbane-based 2nd
Afghanistan
Haven’t been to Michael Yon’s site for a month or two but visited today and found great reading on Afghanistan He is with the Brit’s 2nd Para and writes of their day to day life fighting “Terry” Taliban (as the Brits call them). If you read on you will find some mention of us Aussies





