Government supporting our troops

[masoth]

Please DO NOT READ THIS as bragging - I spent 7.5 years "on active service", and Groggy said:
"Australia has treated its serving and ex-serving military people quite badly at times. This is known outside the country but seems to surprise those inside the country."

Sorry Mate, you have used two superfluous words in that statement - 'at times.'

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[masoth]

........... and Dazzler, I'm going to dissagree with you too , your statement:

"Isnt this the penultimate of our careers. If you were an infantryperson would you rather be sitting in Townsville(?) or doing what youve been trained to do ..............."

I WAS infantry and the 'war like' work is the ULTIMATE not 'penultimate'.

Whatever I have wrong with my heallth, wealth, and good looks may well have come my way if I'd worked my life in a municipal library.

soth

[Stuart]

........snip..... He was most passionate about how the captain 'drove' the boat like a speedboat, speeding up alongside supply ships and washing off speed, the ship shuddering etc etc---"very navy! " ........

Called a "fast backdown". We had captains who would do it coming alongside to dock as well- makes for a lot of fun in the boiler room!!

Pretty much have to do it alongside another ship to stop the bow-wash pulling the two ships together- not good karma!


I'll also second Soth's last post - as much as you never want war / combat etc to occur, you always wonder if your training (which is constant and ongoing your entire military career) is good enough for the real thing. Exercises etc may prepare you (hopefully), but you always are left wondering if you are skilled enough for the real thing. My personal perspective is from a naval engineer's point of view, so I was looking at "fighting the ship" - keeping it operational / fighting / moving / floating despite combat damage, but I'm sure the same self-questioning applies to all corners of the military.

As to ET, without looking deeply into the various ides of the argument, if the government deems it important enough to send troops into harms way, then it should be willing to pay the extra that it costs. At the moment, they are probably getting no more allowances than we were doing combat exercises in another country, but in this case, there are hostile forces at work. Fairs fair, if people are firing real bullets that potentially will hit real people, then real money is justified.

Would the troops have gone if they knew without a doubt that they wouldn't get extra pay? Absolutely. They are not there for the money (you don't join the military if you want to get rich!!!!) What they want, is the recognition, and equitable treatment that the extra allowances make as a statement.

[dazzler]

Fair call guys

I have learnt a little from our chat.

Cheers

dazzler

p.s. What about strippers then. Now THAT would help moral

[ozwinner]

p.s. What about strippers then. Now THAT would help moral

Not if they are big hairy blokes. :eek:

Al

[masoth]

Stuart. A gentlemanly challenge to you too. You said:
"What they want, is the recognition, and equitable treatment that the extra allowances make as a statement."

Soldiers, sailors, airmen (and the service women too) I THINK do not care a Tinker's raspberry for 'recognition' by the public. They most certainly want peer recognition - check the (possibly) hundreds of pretenders wearing unearned medals.

I've been "out" for about 35 years - we got only tax concessions, and no postage costs in addition to normal pay. First away trip for me was 19 pounds and sixpence (nett) per fortnight.

If my memory is right I had a lot of er, fun.

[Stuart]

Too true - I wasn't thinking of public recognition, as it never crossed my mind. From my experience, and by the sound of it yours as well, is the opinions / recognition of your peers counts for everything, and few expect the general public to have a clue as to what it all really means, or what you have to go through to earn the extra few dollars a day.

What was undoubtedly true in your day, as it was in mine, is noone expects the politicians to have a bloody clue about what is happening to be able to make fully informed decisions, but unfortunately, they are the ones that hold the purse strings, and therefore need to be 'guided' to making the right decision.

In hindsight, it is 'fun' (although not having experienced combat, I am not qualified to remark on that at all - this comment pertains to war exercises only). I'd certainly do it again if I had my time over.

[dazzler]

Not if they are big hairy blokes. :eek:

Al

Now come on sailor....each to thier own

[masoth]

Stuart, your last caused more memories:
".......is noone expects the politicians to have a bloody clue about what is happening to be able to make fully informed decisions, but unfortunately, they are the ones .......... "
I don't recall his name, but OUR Minister for the Defence, and the Duke of Edinborough (sp?) both visited a place where I happened to be the Minister knew jack, and Phil knew most of everything. Impressed me, 'e did Mate.