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| Image courtesy Susan Carlson.com |
Fifty-two years ago, gentle reader, I first discovered the importance of sequence.
The incident occurred when I had returned from a TAOR1 patrol and I reversed the weapon clearing sequence. I followed that well-drilled sequence to the letter, except that I cocked the weapon (my trusty SLR2) before removing the magazine, instead of vice versa.
It was fortunate that I adhered to another important part of the sequence (pointing the weapon skywards) before pulling the trigger, and ended up causing no more damage than one neat (and mostly invisible) hole in each layer of my tent.
The digger sharing the tent never understood why it would leak at the height of the monsoon. The holes were over his stretcher. I told him about it forty years later when I met him at Toowoomba when he came to collect his sick grandson from my school.
I got away with it without a charge of UD3 because I was by myself, there were no visual witnesses (although everybody heard it), and I joined the small group unsuccessfully looking for the origin of the shot. I'd also pocketed the spent round.
Sequence is also important when moving house, as we are at the moment. Tradies (painters and floorers) have to be engaged in the correct order, and when two buildings are involved, as they are for us, it becomes complicated.
Even relatively small issues, such as moving boxes and furniture from one house to the other, require very very careful sequencing.
You don't want to be double handling furniture and (heavy) boxes of books when you're seventy-four. Maybe doing the bulk of the work by hiring a ute wasn't such a good idea.
I'll let you know when it's all done. My back will no doubt let me know first.....
1. Task Force Area of Responsibility
2. Self-Loading Rifle (L1A1 Australian manufactured version of the Belgian designed FAL)
3. Unauthorised Discharge - one of the most common A4s (military charges).
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17 comments:
Not only stupid, but you overlooked the visual check of the breach before releasing the cocking lever, or you may have noticed that the mag was still attached. Does the term DH mean anything to you. Not very well done that man, although the subterfuge to avoid detection was expertly carried out. That attribute has carried you through many years and to this day you use it to avoid admissions of incorrectness in your postings. 👌
Firearms are stupid and dangerous objects. That much I learned 52 years ago. I also learned to tell the truth, but that was down to my upbringing, long before the lie of the menace of Communism was deployed in the late sixties/early seventies. It's a pity you haven't done the same.
Are you moving to Wellcamp? Bore the Ukrainians with your tales?
https://twitter.com/9NewsAUS/status/1504412748171538436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1504412748171538436%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fxyz.net.au%2F2022%2F03%2Fukrainian-family-flees-to-australia-goes-straight-to-covid-gulag%2F
Tell the truth ???
"I got away with it without a charge of UD3 because I was by myself, there were no visual witnesses (although everybody heard it), and I joined the small group unsuccessfully looking for the origin of the shot. I'd also pocketed the spent round."
Your admission doesn't indicate being truthful...it is tantamount to being the complete opposite, to avoid punishment, probably something you learned in your youth.
As the chief of Army noted after a few years after the introduction of conscription -The average IQ of the Australian army went up 20 points with the implementation of National Service. It was not too difficult to put one over the average Reg NCO, something I took great delight in. Besides I told no lies - nobody asked me, and I'm telling the truth now:-)
Something I learned over the years, Bobby, is that the best criminal is not the one with a long record of being caught, but the one who continues undetected.
Thanks for the compliment. I've always strived to be the best at whatever I do. That includes putting one over dumb Reg NCOs. It has stood me in good stead for a very long time.
Are you moving to Baillie Henderson?
Don't stop now Bob. Open up...let is know what you really thing about regular soldiers.
Being a good criminal is hardly something to aspire to. It merely displays a superior cunning that conceals the dishonesty inherent in being a criminal. Lying and deceit and subterfuge is a major part of that. Admitting that you are proud of that tells us a lot about you.
To say you have always strived to be the best at whatever you do, is similar to using the words, would have, could have, should have...meaning being the best has eluded you. Had you been the best you may have become a leader and attended Portsea or been promoted to the NCO that other conscripts managed to progress to, or been able to handle your weapon without an unauthorised discharge (not the one on R&R).
Had you been the best you may have become a leader
I became (and remain) a leader in a much more worthy enterprise - that of improving the quality of the lives of children with disabilities. That is an occupation worth celebrating, rather than running around the scrub in a foreign country in peacetime trying to kill people who were defending their country against much the same kind of military force that has recently invaded Ukraine. That belief doesn't disrespect those amongst my comrades who thought they were doing the right thing, as they are in the same boat as the unfortunate soldiers of the Russian Federation (many of them conscripts) who are being used cynically as cannon fodder. My understanding about that tragic war fifty years ago, and what it meant for me is best described here -https://independentaustralia.net/australia/australia-display/reflections-on-the-fall,4404
So now you are saying you didn't strive to be the best you could be in your endeavours during your stint with "B" company. With your beliefs on the event 50 years ago, your best would have seen you incarcerated as an objector. Obviously you chose not to be the best, by not following your beliefs.
I respect your endeavours with the special needs kids but your best endeavours didn't put you in a position to make decisions...merely suggestions, to those higher up the tree and then to implement the policies handed down to you in your position. Well done that headmaster.
So now you are saying you didn't strive to be the best you could be in your endeavours during your stint with "B" company.Depends what you mean by "best". If you mean looking after my fellow diggers and myself in the interest of surviving, those of us lucky enough to make it home in one piece obviously were successful (with the aid of some dumb luck) in that.
If you mean fighting for Queen and country, that was never what I believed I was doing, and by the time my stint was over, none of my fellow Nashos believed that either, as evidenced by the dearth of them signing up to complete the tour.
We were cannon fodder, sent to a civil war in peacetime to garner DLP preferences to keep the Coalition government in power.
By the middle of my tour (June 1970) the Australian people had begun to wake up to the scam, which was why hundreds of thousands of them took to the streets in the Moratorium marches, and why the government was booted out in December 1972 with a promise to end conscription, after Gorton had seen the writing on the wall by beginning a drawdown in 1970, which was the pivotal year.
By the way, I was never a "Headmaster". That sexist term went out with button-up boots. I was a principal for eighteen years, and held regional administrative positions also at times, where I was indeed in a position to make decisions on policy and finance.
You have friends who despite being of similar age and fragility would be happy to assist with moving :-)
Thanks Peter, but we're done now. The exercise was good for me. I lost 8kg and BP is down 10 points.
"regional administrative positions also at times, where I was indeed in a position to make decisions on policy and finance" ..in accordance with instructions and powers permitted by people well above your station as headmaster.
"looking after my fellow diggers and myself" for a short period before opting for a job behind the lines, even if you were trained for months for the job outside the wire. If that is your best you failed again, Bobby.
"the dearth of them signing up to complete the tour" merely indicated that like yourself they had done their two years, or in the case of a reg had served his time of three or six years and had seen enough of the conflict and wished to go home. The rest of us had time to serve and continued to do so. You win no points with that one.
Peter must be your neighbor. The only way you could lose 8 kgs in a short period of time like that is to have dropped the chip on your shoulder, Bobby. No effort required to drop ten points on BP. Deep breathing exercises can do that in ten minutes. Hardly an achievement.
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