Chickenman Remembered

One of the very few entertaining aspects of serving in Vietnam was the opportunity to listen to episodes of Chickenman broadcast on American Forces Radio.

They were universally funny and a send-up of the genre of radio serials that had been popular both in the US and Australia throughout the fifties and sixties.

By the time I was in country, this genre of programming was no longer popular back home in both countries, but they enjoyed a resurgence amongst service personnel during the war. They were at the same time a reminder of home, and a bizarre diversion.

There was also an Australian radio station set up by members based in Vung Tau, which supplied news, sporting broadcasts and other reports from home. From memory, it didn't broadcast around the clock as the American station did, and was bereft of the "commercials" which punctuated the American broadcasts, which reminded GIs to fasten their buttons, take their anti-malarials, and secure parked vehicles, amongst other things. 

This broadcast coincidentally was made on the day I arrived in country aboard HMAS Sydney. 

You're probably familiar, gentle reader, with Robin Williams' Good Morning Vietnam.

We used to listen through earphones to AFN on transistors secreted in our basic pouches. It was tolerated, but not encouraged by our commanders. Listening without earphones was  a chargeable offence, as was listening (with earphones) on picquet.

The Americans were prone to playing radios at all times, even when patrolling in the case of some units.

 

"Jellybeans" in Hindsight

About thirteen years ago, I finished putting together a series of blog posts and converted them into a memoir, had them printed by USQ press, and published it.

1000 copies were printed. There are about 80 left.

Looking back on the experience is interesting.

I wrote it because it was something I'd always wanted to do. The story was in my memory and had been for years. I had also been back to Vietnam a couple of times, and those trips had put a lot of things in perspective.

The school I had retired from in my last principalship was happy to organise a book release as a fundraiser, and I undertook to provide a percentage of the proceeds to the P & C.

It was marketed through word of mouth, a couple of radio interviews, a website, advertisements on a couple of websites, and most recently in DVA's Vetaffairs newsletter. 

I travelled to the USA in 2018, and established contacts with Vietnam veterans across the Pacific to help sell the eBook version. Selling hard copy overseas was never a possibility because of mailing costs. It was reviewed by Marc Leepson in 2018.

It has been stocked in a couple of Dymocks bookstores.

Since release, about 900 copies have been sold, and quite a few (I haven't counted) given away, mostly to fellow Nashos.

Apart from the experience of writing it, it has been a reliable minor earner, and helped keep me in coffee and beer money since released. The P & C also did OK. 

I've given a few author talks at libraries. What surprised me at these functions was the deep ignorance of our Vietnam commitment demonstrated by audience members. Where these author talks were conducted with veteran groups, as a few were, the acceptance of some toxic myths surprised me.  

This was substantially what motivated me to commit to further research about National Service Conscription at USQ. 

It's still available, by the way. 

I have no regrets, gentle reader, everybody should write a book. Have a go....

 

Covid Continues

 

It's finally caught up with me - the dreaded Covid.

It's probably my own fault because I wasn't up to date with the vaccine. I was lulled into a false sense of security, as much as anything else because the issue has been completely ignored by the media.

I had made a booking to get the most recent version of the vaccine but had come down with mild respiratory symptoms on the day of the booking, and when I turned up at the surgery was banished to the carpark.

My GP sent me off for testing, and sure enough I was positive. He was apologetic for not seeing me in the surgery, but explained (from about three metres away on the passenger's side of the car) that he'd had so many bad experiences with himself and staff going down with the bug that he was being very cautious.

What I found confusing was that the pathologist wasn't masked or gowned. I hope she doesn't contract it.

One the positive diagnosis was sent by text, I was booked for a telemedicine appointment which resulted in a course of antivirals. The guidelines were pretty clear, so I've been isolating since diagnosis, which is a greater inconvenience than the virus itself. I have a few days to go.

Mind you, the first few days weren't pretty (burning eyes, sinus headaches, and sandpaper throat). I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. That only lasted a day or two, and has cleared up. The antivirals seem to have worked for me. They have side effects, but in my case minor - a metallic taste which persists.

So far, my bride seems to have escaped, so fingers crossed.

As to how I caught it - who knows. I did venture unmasked to a large shopping centre congested by the Christmas rush a few days before onset of symptoms, so perhaps that's where it originated. The fact is, the virus is still rampant, even if mainstream media has decided to ignore it.

I's no linger a story that sells papers or attracts clics, I guess.

The statistics speak for themselves in terms of how it was handled in Australia, but the wingnuts across the Pacific (which has a death rate four times ours), and a few here, continue to make a big noise. 

What remains unmentioned is that 135840 cases have been reported in Queensland this year, and weekly averages are around 1500 weekly. When you consider that many cases go unreported, it's likely that the real incidence rate is much higher.

Wear a mask in congested areas, gentle reader, and ignore the outrage merchants who really don't have anything to complain about.

  

Hysteria in Politics

                        Image courtesy The Guardian

No doubt, gentle reader, you're acquainted with the recent media about the High Court decision releasing detainees from indefinite detention.

In summary, that decision ordered the release of stateless detainees as it ruled that politicians don't have the constitutional power to punish. The High Court found that punishment is the role of the courts, not parliament.

That principle is nothing new, but as a consequence of political decisions (supported by both major parties) hundreds of these people were in indefinite detention. Whether or not indefinite detention can be supported morally or legally is not the issue. The High Court found that it was illegal, and for what it's worth, I regard it as morally indefensible. In any event, they had to be released, and they were.

The people caught up in this were stateless, and the reason they remained in detention was that no country would accept them. Some of them had committed serious crimes, and all of those had served sentences as a consequence. Some had committed no crime, but they were deemed to be of poor character. Those who had been convicted of serious offences had served their time. If they had been Australian citizens, and not stateless, they would have been released into the community, just as thousands of other ex-prisioners are annually.

The opposition has lapsed into hysteria around this issue, in an attempt to make political capital, as fear of refugees has always been a politically powerful meme, and has worked well in the past.

They seem to have forgotten that the legislation that the High Court deemed unconstitutional was strongly supported historically by the Coalition, and that it had been introduced for political reasons which were, as it turns out, found to be in breach of the Australian constitution. 

Nevertheless, Dutton and fellow shadow ministers have been doing the rounds whipping up hysteria. The irony, of course, is that it was legislation introduced by the Keating government, and amended in 2001 by Howard's cabinet at the height of the Tampa incident. A further irony relates to the fact that Dutton has always been prominent at exploiting law and order issues for political capital. 

It will be interesting to see if the Coalition cooperate with Labor in instituting new legislation that puts these non-citizens back in detention.   

Whether they do or not makes no difference to the fact that indefinite detention, as a concept in a civilised society, is morally bankrupt.

 

Personal Pronoun Primer

 

Image courtesy Liveabout

Perhaps my teaching background is an issue, but the misuse of common English grammar both in social and corporate media drives me nuts.

Even when working as an itinerant consultant in bush schools between 2007 and 2017, I frequently had to restrain myself from correcting the grammar written on blackboards by teachers that I saw from time to time .

There are two common examples.

Take "your", and "you're" for example.

"Your" is the first person possessive pronoun. Its usage is very straightforward. Yet, somehow people confuse it with "you're" which is a contraction. "You're" is a shortening of "you are". 

For example - "You're late for your appointment".

Then there's "their" and "they're". 

"Their" is the third person possessive pronoun. "They're" is a contraction, a shortening of "they are".

For example - "They're going to collect their wages".

It's pretty simple.

I reserve the right to correct any grammar errors that are posted in comments on this site. I will always correct them on any sites I comment on, and am, as a consequence, often accused of pedantry.

It's weird that the same people who are bemoaning what they consider an erosion of Anglo values, are disrespecting the heritage they claim to honour by abusing the basic grammar of the English language.

Strange but true.

The Media Megaphone

        Image courtesy Medirect

The State of israel was proclaimed on May 14th 1948, so that makes it one year younger than I. 

Since that time, there have been eighteen different episodes of conflict that Wikipedia classifies as "wars" involving Israel and its neighbours, including Six-Day war in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973. There have been many other episodes besides these two which resonate in my memory, but many of them have rumbled along in the background without making the news, routinely killing and maiming the participants. 

In the course of these wars or skirmishes, around eleven thousand members of the IDF have been killed, and approximately 4000 Israeli civilians have also died. During the same period, reliable statistics recording Palestinian casualties have not been kept, but some data is available since 2008 indicating that over 120000 have died. This figure does not include those killed by the current Israeli activity in the Gaza strip.

The war in Vietnam was the first conflict televised daily into western living rooms, and many historians insist this exposure of the horrors of war to everyday citizens was largely responsible for the loss of support in both the USA and Australia which began to decline measurably in 1968. 

This pattern of weariness with the conflict does not seem to have been reproduced in the Middle East. Those wars have endured throughout my lifetime. Perhaps we have become accustomed to them. I doubt that the people involved (Israelis and Palestinians) have.

And this tolerance for the slaughter by both sides, gentle reader, is a conundrum that I can't get my head around. Both sides of the conflict use the media megaphone to advance their respective causes. All this seems to achieve is division on the streets of our capital cities, and political point scoring. 

Perhaps it's time to try a novel approach. Rather than using confronting imagery as a means to attract eyeballs and clicks, both corporate and public media could agree to help resolve conflict or at the very least, move it from a violent to a non-violent phase.

This, of course, will never happen so long as the media is conceptualised as a market, and the story will need to be sold to the highest bidder.

Australians at War Film Archive ..

Pic courtesy Marlowes Books

In the process of completing my master's thesis I encountered this archive of videotaped interviews prepared in the early 2000s by the University of New South Wales.

The collection was commissioned through the Department of Veterans Affairs and is a diverse and exhaustive collection of personal military histories. 

It is also a remarkable historical resource of information about Australian social and cultural life.

Anybody with any interest in military history will find it of enormous value in understanding the political and cultural history of the time, as the men and women interviewed were encouraged to describe the context of the era, and their place in it.

What fascinated me were the interviews with people who had served in Vietnam across a range of units and corps. Almost to a man (or woman - as there were a few nurses and one physiotherapist interviewed), they described the disillusionment they felt when they compared what they had been told before disembarking with what they encountered in country.

Also consistent within the hundreds of interviews were the reports of the consequences of service on participants for the decades that followed. There was a clear pattern. Initially, on return to Australia, most simply put the experience behind them, and in most cases were happy not to admit their veteran status.

 As time went on, many found that they succumbed to a range of problems, which in many cases meant that they were no longer able to function well enough to live productively. 

The temptation to continue with research, advancing to a Ph D proposal is strong. This time, I'd like to examine the stories of Nashos who remained in Australia for the duration of their service. 

These soldiers were indeed the men Australia forgot.

    

Winning Friends and Influencing People (Not)

 

                                             Image courtesy NDTV

One of the most enduring memories of my service in Vietnam is the experience of being on the wrong end of a misdirected artillery strike. In May 1970, during operations with 7 RAR, American self-propelled M110 howitzers firing just on dusk from the Horseshoe sent two salvos into our night platoon harbour which went within a whisker of cleaning us up. Fortunately they landed in front of our position, and the shrapnel went forward, away from us. The worst we endured were the seconds of sheer terror as we heard it coming, and the shards of split timber from the trees it hit flying about.

Fortunately we were on stand-to and hadn't put sentries out at the time, as any digger out in front of the position would have been mincemeat. The fact that we discovered later that the gun crew was high on marijuana at the time didn't improve our lack of respect for Americans in general, and US artillery in particular. They had forgotten to check the position of "friendlies" and we were ambushing a track junction. The Yanks were firing H & I (harassment and interdiction) missions and this same track junction was a juicy target. 

I mention this to explain that I know what it feels like to be attacked with high explosives designed to kill and maim. The last few seconds involve an eerie whistling sound that I can still hear, fifty-three years after the incident.

Imagine the terror of civilian populations subject to this hi-tech carnage daily and consider how they might react.

There's plenty of history. Let's examine World War Two, gentle reader. First there was the London blitz, and then the area bombing of the Ruhr, and cities such as Hamburg, Dresden, and Cologne. Earlier in the war, the Japanese bombed Chongqing in China a total of 268 times in an effort to terrorise the population. Our own country was bombed on 19th February 1942, when Darwin was attacked, and Broome followed on 3rd March the same year. Neither the Londoners, the residents of these German cities, or of Chongqing or Darwin became enamoured of those doing the bombing. In fact, the civilians involved typically got behind their armed forces after these incidents. 

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki cost about ninety-four thousand deaths. This loss of life was justified by the Americans using the argument that it saved hundreds of thousands of GIs who would have died in a conventional maritime invasion of the Japanese homeland. Hiroshima nd Nagasaki stand out because of the use of nuclear weapons, rather than the number of civilian casualties, which were actually less than those resulting from the fire bombing of Tokyo. This justification has been disputed by some historians who claim that the Japanese surrender was precipitated by the Soviet declaration of war two days after Hiroshima and one day before Nagasaki.

Between 1965 and 1970, the Americans dropped 2,756,941 tons of ordnance on Cambodia, destroying most of the minimal infrastructure in that country, and terrorising the population. There is a strong argument that this terror drove the population into the arms of the Khmer Rouge, and the killing fields followed as a direct outcome a few years down the track. After patrolling in areas of Phuoc Tuy where B-52 strikes had been conducted in 1970, and coming across the vast overgrown craters left by these raids, I can well understand the reaction of any civilian population to indiscriminate bombing, and the desperation they must have felt.

Then there was the "shock and awe" unleashed by US forces on Iraq in 2003. It was followed after the American withdrawal by the rise of ISIS, which reached its zenith in 2015. That was twelve years after "shock and awe". The Killing Fields were perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979, ten years after the bombing. These are two very similar examples in recent history of the long-term outcomes of attempting to bomb a population into submission. The result in both situations seems to have been the rise of the most evil of terrorist groups. 

Now we are seeing the Israeli bombing of Gaza. Let's hope that the outcome will not be the strengthening of the existing Hamas hold on the Palestinians. 

One thing I am sure of, gentle reader, is that the residents of Gaza will not feel any sympathy for the Israelis killed and captured on October 7th. Getting bombed has that result. If history is a guide, the bombing will have a long term effect that will remove any likelihood of peace in the Middle East in my lifetime. 

Bombing people does not win their friendship, nor does it ever influence them to hold a favourable view of those responsible. That simple and understated historical message seems to have completely escaped the military leaders involved.

 

Australia, the Nation with a Hearing Impairment

Image courtesy Depositphotos

Now that the referendum is done, gentle reader, it's time for an analysis - or maybe a post mortem.

The proposition was dead from the day that Littleproud, looking over his shoulder at the 5% of PHON voters that stalk the Nationals in Queensland, scurried away from the idea like a rabbit on the run.

This left Dutton with the possibility of blowing up the Coalition agreement if he supported the "Yes" case, and although many in his party were supportive, he also took the coward's option.

From that moment, given the history of referenda lacking bipartisan support, the enterprise was doomed.

The disinformation spread on social media by the keyboard warriors didn't help, but probably wasn't a decisive issue. Disregard, complacency, and general disengagement were complicit. Unfortunately, much of the casual nascent racism that persists on the edges of our culture emerged in this media. Some of it was also apparent on what is called mainstream media.

We used to have a saying in Vietnam - "Thumb in bum - brain in neutral". It was applied to soldiers who had become so complacent, patrolling in a "switched-off" state of mind,  that they were a risk to themselves and other soldiers.

This complacency exists in perhaps half our voting population. If they're not affected, they really couldn't care less. The same cynical political principle applied fifty years ago when 1/12 of twenty year olds were conscripted to fight overseas in a civil war in peacetime. Despite that fact that the policy was morally bankrupt and anti-democratic, it persisted for about ten years until Australian voters woke up.

So that's the "why". 

Let's look at the "what".

First up, indigenous Australians were supportive. This is evident when you examine voting patterns in the remote mobile booths in Lingiari, and on Palm Island. Mornington Island, Hopevale and Yarrabah showed a similar pattern.

Secondly, the electorates that the Coalition lost in 2022 to Green and Teal independents voted solidly "Yes". This means that voters in these electorates are feeling more than a little aggrieved. What are the odds that they will return to the Coalition next federal poll?  

Dutton may have begun a journey towards the complete demise of his Coalition.

Update - This map of the voting patterns in indigenous communities gives the lie to the statement from Jacinta Price that they didn't support it. 

 

Autonomy

There are a number of different dictionary meanings for this word, gentle reader.

They include "freedom from external control or influence", or "the power or right to act, speak or think as one chooses", or "the state of not being subject to or affected by something".

To me, the vital element of true autonomy lies in an individual or society's capacity to control, manage, develop and/or improve quality of life. 

This element is particularly vital to people living with disability. In that case, personal autonomy is often dependant on the capacity to live without relying on others. Of course, for many the disability (which could be related to age or physical impairment) makes it impossible to get by without some form of external help, and the way in which this help is applied can make all the difference.

In other words, true autonomy means that the person being helped is in control and has the power to choose what kind of help is most useful and important. He/she should always be in charge.

And this is often when, with the best of intentions, it breaks down. By that I mean that well-intentioned people, often paid to help, will almost subconsciously begin to exert power and control over the individual or group. Once this happens, the relationship between the those being helped and those helping becomes a co-dependency. 

This is unhelpful, and creates a situation which prevents any growth or development on the part of the dependent group or individual. This is what Noel Pearson often talks about. At the root of it all is resistance to the transfer of power from the helping agency to the target group, or individual.

And this, gentle reader is the main reason behind the lack of progress in improving quality of life for people in remote communities, indigenous or otherwise, and is what the Voice is all about.

Opponents of this transfer of power are often not aware of this issue, and are fearful of a change in the status quo.

Now I have often been admonished by Murris when I point out a similarity between the plight of people with disabilities, and people in remote communities, but I'd always insist there is a valid case to be made that the problem is about a transfer of power. 

Until these people gain control of their own destiny, nothing will change. 

Will the Voice achieve that?

I don't know, but it's a good place to start...

Same Old, Same Old...

 

Pic courtesy Montrose Services

The Disability Royal Commission has just released its findings. 

There are over two hundred recommendations. Enacting them will be a monumental task. 

The last Royal Commission with as many recommendations as this one was the 1991 inquiry into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. 

Of *RCIADIC's 339 recommendations, a Deloitte Access Economics review in 2018 found that, 64% have been implemented in full, 14% have been mostly implemented, 16% have been partially implemented and 6% have not been implemented.

It's to be hoped that twenty-seven years down the track, the disability royal commission has a better outcome.

Somehow, although I won't be around to see it that far down the track, I believe that the result for people with disabilities will be similar to that for indigenous people in custody.

I write this because everything I saw in my 40 year career in special education points in this direction. Ironically, the five years I spent in aboriginal education in remote North-West Queensland confirms it.

Both are areas of enormous challenge, and both are shaped by the general population's disregard, sprinkled with a fair amount of fear and ignorance.

It is dismaying to note the disagreement about recommendations for the future of both special schools and group homes reflected in the findings. The commissioners were divided.

It's profoundly depressing, that in the year 2023, we are stuck in the worn out debates about provision, with the argument cycling around binary concepts, of one style of organisation opposing another.

Here's a simpler solution. All schools should be special schools, and all accommodation universal. By that I mean that the lock-step, highly graded and hierarchical organisational structure of conventional schools doesn't really suit anyone, let alone students with disabilities. 

Schools should be ultimately flexible, and organised around the learning needs of the enrolment, not the classroom spaces and timetable. It can be done, and has been successful. The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership has released a paper that is well worth a read. 

State governments in this country are generally responsible for schooling, and I can't see any of the current governments with the requisite courage and foresight to change the fundamentals. This is, of course, because governments are run by politicians, not teachers, and education is one of the most politically sensitive aspects of government. It was ever thus...

*Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

 

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The Story of Thomas Samuels

 

Pic Courtesy AWM` 

Thomas Samuels was an indigenous man who attempted to enlist in the AIF at Innisfail in October 1917. 

This post from the AWM tells the full story, and reminded me, gentle reader, of the indigenous men I had the privilege to serve with in 7RAR in Vietnam.

 One was WIA* when we hit bunkers in April. He was returned to Australia and died in Alice springs in 1992. The other is living in South Australia. 

This surviving digger remains one of the funniest men I have ever known. 

He was interviewed in 2005 ago by the State Library of South Australia. It's worth a listen. 

The unfortunate part of this story is that Thomas Samuel's experience was far from unique. Many indigenous men shopped around from depot to depot until they found one that would allow them to enlist, and went on to serve. 

It also demonstrates the disrespect held for our indigenous Australians back then. Aboriginality was classified on his documents as a disease. 

Not much changed between 2017 and 1965. Many indigenous men who were called up in the second national service scheme were treated with similar disrespect. The bottom line was that the Department of Labour and National Service really wasn't sure of their status.

Unfortunately much of that disrespect remains as can be seen by what is appearing on social media.

Read it and weep.

*Wounded in action

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The Ugly Underbelly

 

A cartoon doing the rounds in the first conscription referendum over 100 years ago.

There has been recent media accusing proponents of both sides of the Voice debate of racism.

I decided to do my own investigation of what's appearing on my feed over the last few weeks. I almost wish I hadn't.

Below are a collection of posts that appeared in a group supporting the "No" case. 

This is just one day's collection.

I won't attempt to categorise them, but as you can see, gentle reader, they encapsulate the stereotypes and cliches that are held by some of the "No" supporters.

Now I'm not suggesting that the "Yes" supporters are all sweetness and light, but these tropes (aborigines are violent, greedy, lazy and wasteful) don't appear on their supporters' pages.

The accusations of cruelty and violence are interesting put in the context of the colonial practice in the UK of hanging drawing and quartering at the time. It wasn't until 1870 that it was abolished.

If, as appears likely as this is written, the referendum goes down, it may deliver outcomes that Dutton and Littleproud may live to regret.

George Megalogenis explains it pretty well in this podcast.

Comments closed.

Boundaries

 

Pic courtesy News.com

This is another post which references the Voice, but is more about the history. 

I've lived all over Queensland, and every reasonably sized town that I've known has a Boundary Street or Boundary Road. That includes Rockhampton, Townsville, Toowoomba, and of course, Brisbane. 

Try entering "Boundary St" or "Boundary Rd" into Google Maps, and see how you go.

I've never really wondered why this was the case, but recent reading has revealed some interesting (and harrowing) history. 

These streets and roads mark out the perimeters beyond which indigenous people were not allowed to venture at night during the week or on Sundays. They were common in Queensland towns and settlements and were usually marked by a wooden post (boundary posts).

In Brisbane, since the early 1850s, Aborigines had been allowed into the town during the day, but could be driven out by the police using regulations that came into force about that time. 

They were allowed to come in beyond the boundary during the week where they performed menial tasks in exchange for tobacco, flour and other rations. By the 1870s, organized groups of police would round up any aborigines inside the boundary and used stockwhips to move them out. They would be removed to camps on various watercourses in Dutton Park, Fairfield, Annerley and Coorparoo.

Strangely, in a mid-twentieth century reprise of this process, the boundaries were reinstated to keep African-American servicemen on the "correct" side of the Brisbane River. White Americans were allowed on the north side of the river, but the blacks were expected to confine themselves to the south. This was one of the situations which triggered the famous Battle of Brisbane on 26th and 27th November 1942, when an Australian soldier took exception to an American Military Policeman's attempts to arrest a black soldier with whom he had been drinking presumably because he was on the wrong (north) side of the river. 

The MP used his truncheon on the Australian, and all hell broke loose. There had been simmering resentment of the Yanks for months, but race was the trigger.

Given the vituperative nature of discussion about the Voice on social media, it seems not much has changed since 1942.

Comments closed.

Review - Our Vietnam War

 

Image courtesy ABC iView

This ABC programme has been broadcast on Tuesday nights for the last three weeks. It is also available on ABC iView.

It should be compulsory viewing for all Australian high school students, as it offers a comprehensive, factual and unbiased narrative of the conflict. It is also exquisitely made, featuring interviews with historians (some of whom served during the decade of the war), together with ex-service personnel, of both genders, and Vietnamese refugees. The music of the era provides a sound track, and contributes to an understanding of the time.

The interviews with people like Graham Edwards (ex-7RAR, who lost both legs in a mine incident in 1970), Harry Smith (D Coy commander Battle of Long Tan), Ashley Ekins (ex chief historian at the Australian War Memorial), Mark Dapin (author of The Nashos War and Australia's Vietnam: Myth vs History) and a couple of anti-war activists and Vietnamese refugees, provide an unrivalled cross section of recollections and perspectives.

The topic is covered comprehensively, beginning with the history of the French defeat and concluding with the long shadow created by the war in the lives of so many Australians.

I found it deeply moving, and would recommend it.

It can be found on ABC iView.

Here is a link to the trailer.

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Fifty Years On

 

The 523 who were lost.

I've just arrived back, gentle reader, from the commemoration in Canberra of the 50th anniversary of the end of the Australian commitment to Vietnam.

It was a very well-organised event, and the people who put the programme together achieved a fine balance between commemoration of the loss and sacrifice of those who were killed and wounded, and acknowledgement of the tragedy of the war.

The Canberra weather wasn't cooperative. We had about ten minutes of bright sunshine after the ceremony which was mostly conducted under rainy skies, but then the clearing westerlies turned up. I swear you could feel the snow on the shoulders of that wind.

I was able to link up with a few of the 5 platoon bunch, but we're getting a bit thin on the ground. All of us have age-related maladies, but that didn't spoil the fellowship. Sadly, it's probably the last reunion.

I made the mistake of booking into a caravan park outside of town, which meant I had to drive in and out. This put the kibosh on sharing more than one or two beers with the crew, but there you go.

There was a well-compiled video of the proceedings, and I've included it here.

It's well worth watching.

Comments closed.

   

Back to School

                        

Image courtesy MastersDegree.net

After three years part-time, gentle reader, I've graduated in my M.A.

Resuming study in your seventh decade is perhaps a little unusual, but I need a goal, and I'm a lousy golfer.

I already had two degrees from the seventies and eighties, when I got a leg-up post Vietnam through a Department of Labour and National Service rehabilitation scholarship, so I had no problem getting admitted once the University of Queensland dug up my academic record.

I wasn't so lucky in getting a statement from my post-graduate diploma from Griffith University, as it had been lost in a warehouse in the 2011 flood, but they did write a letter of confirmation of enrolment.

Academia has changed more than a little in forty plus years, but the principles remain the same. You simply have to do a little work each day. It's straightforward when you're retired.

These days, information technology is all the goal, so I had to brush up a little on my computer skills. None of that was around in the seventies.

My project was an examination of the old myth "Every national serviceman who went to Vietnam was a volunteer". Others have already exposed it as nonsense, but I wanted to investigate it myself, and did so by interviewing Vietnam veterans who were Nashos. I managed to find a few volunteer Nashos, but they're like hens teeth. 

Bizarrely, some of those who applied for early registration finished up as accidental volunteers - strange but true.

Because the experience was so enjoyable, I'm considering continuing, although I'll need an institution, a new supervisor and a new project. I'm open to suggestions.

In the meantime, here's a link to my thesis. It's not exactly light reading, but some of you may be interested.

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A Tribute to Sinéad O’Connor with a little help from Yeats...

 

 Easter, 1916  - William Butler Yeats 

I have met them at close of day 

Coming with vivid faces 

From counter or desk among grey Eighteenth-century houses. 

I have passed with a nod of the head 

Or polite meaningless words, 

Or have lingered awhile and said 

Polite meaningless words, 

And thought before I had done 

Of a mocking tale or a gibe 

To please a companion 

Around the fire at the club, 

Being certain that they and I 

But lived where motley is worn: 

All changed, changed utterly: 

A terrible beauty is born. 

That woman's days were spent 

In ignorant good-will, 

Her nights in argument 

Until her voice grew shrill. 

What voice more sweet than hers 

When, young and beautiful, 

She rode to harriers? 

This man had kept a school 

And rode our wingèd horse; 

This other his helper and friend 

Was coming into his force; 

He might have won fame in the end, 

So sensitive his nature seemed, 

So daring and sweet his thought. 

This other man I had dreamed 

A drunken, vainglorious lout. 

He had done most bitter wrong 

To some who are near my heart, 

Yet I number him in the song; 

He, too, has resigned his part In the casual comedy; 

He, too, has been changed in his turn, 

Transformed utterly: 

A terrible beauty is born. 

Hearts with one purpose alone 

Through summer and winter seem 

Enchanted to a stone 

To trouble the living stream. 

The horse that comes from the road, 

The rider, the birds that range 

 From cloud to tumbling cloud, 

 Minute by minute they change; 

A shadow of cloud on the stream 

Changes minute by minute; 

A horse-hoof slides on the brim, 

And a horse plashes within it; 

The long-legged moor-hens dive, 

And hens to moor-cocks call; 

Minute by minute they live: 

The stone's in the midst of all. 

Too long a sacrifice 

Can make a stone of the heart. 

O when may it suffice? 

That is Heaven's part, our part 

To murmur name upon name, 

As a mother names her child 

When sleep at last has come 

On limbs that had run wild. 

That is it but nightfall? 

No, no, not night but death; 

Was it needless death after all? 

For England may keep faith 

For all that is done and said. 

We know their dream; enough 

To know they dreamed and are dead; 

And what if excess of love 

Bewildered them till they died? 

I write it out in a verse— MacDonagh and MacBride 

And Connolly and Pearse 

Now and in time to be, 

Wherever green is worn, 

Are changed, changed utterly: 

A terrible beauty is born.

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The Power of Listening (2)

 

Apparently that's me. I don't really understand the picture.

I've blogged about this before, gentle reader, but now that the legislation clearing the way for the referendum to be held has been passed, I'll have another look at the issue.

 One of the reactions to that post was interesting, in that it claimed that self-interest has put a barrier between the resources allocated and the outcomes achieved. I wouldn't for a moment disagree with that, but that failed top-down model is the whole point of setting up a voice.

The historical record has shown us that whenever non-indigenous agencies come up with "solutions" to the problem of indigenous disadvantage, the result is failure. There is a succession of these "solutions", ranging from the formation of ATSIC in 1990 and its dissolution in 2005, to Howard's intervention in 2007.  

ATSIC's abolition followed a 2005 report and enquiry by its Select Committee which found that although there had been widespread support for instituting changes to the way that ATSIC was structured and operated, there was also "overwhelming" support for the continued existence of a national Indigenous representative body. Most witnesses to the inquiry had suggested that regional operations could be improved, but they were strongly in favour of having a national, elected Indigenous representative body. Deep concerns were expressed about the disempowerment of Indigenous peoples. One of the recommendations was that the government "give active support and funding to the formation of a national Indigenous elected representative body, and provide it with ongoing funding". That recommendation went begging.

That recommendation could be seen as the origin of the Voice. The dismantling of ATSIC was seen by many commentators as harmful to Aboriginal people in Australia. In 2009, Lowitja O'Donoghue opined that reform of the agency would have been better than abolishing it.

It's instructive to compare the behaviour of Geoff Clarke (disgraced ex ATSIC Commissioner) involving pub brawls, and sexual assaults, with that alleged to have been carried out by Kathryn Campbell (ex Secretary of the Department of Human Services) which occurred in the air-conditioned offices of the DHS, by people "neat and clean and well-advised"*. Clarke's offences didn't kill anyone. It appears that what happened under Campbell's watch did.

The discussion about listening reminded me of my experiences in North-West Queensland referred to in my original post. 

At the time I was a naive, but well-intentioned middle class public servant commissioned to manage and annual budget of $2.8 million to support the NATSIEP (National Aboriginal and Torres strait Education Programme)  initiative in an area twice the size of victoria and Tasmania combined. 

I had to learn on the job. When I left that position, I did so with the good wishes of the Mitakoodi and Kalkadoon elders that I had worked with in the portfolio, and they presented me with some parting gifts. The first one is a dot painting shown at the top of this post.

The second was the poem above. 

What gobsmacked me when I read it again (after nearly 30 years) was the reference to "listening" in the opening line of the second verse. 

I learned a great deal from these wonderful people in the five years I worked with them. Much of the listening took place as I was driving with them along the Flinders Highway to Cloncurry and Hughenden or the Beef Developmental Road (now Route 83) to Dajarra, Boulia, Bedourie and Birdsville. 

Those journey lasted hours, so I learned plenty. All they ever wanted back then was to be listened to and taken seriously. When that was done, and their initiatives and suggestions followed, progress was made. There was never any place for judgement - (see the second line of the second verse). 

They'd had generations of that. 

I doubt much has changed since the nineties.

*From the old Irish Ballad.

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Groundhog Day - Consultants on the Taxpayer's Dollar

 

Image courtesy Australian Financial Review

We're reading and watching plenty of media about the big four consulting firms. 

My brief experience as a school principal with consultancies was an eye opener, and showed just how much of a scam many of their operations were. Nothing has changed.

Back in the late nineties, I was principal of a large regional special school. There was a department supplied special bus supplied as part of the infrastructure. It was equipped with a wheelchair hoist which allowed children with physical impairments to attend excursions along with their able-bodied peers. The previous three special schools I had led were similarly equipped, as were all other Queensland special schools at the time.

Apparently, providing kids with disabilities equity of access had become a low priority and Treasury had decided that supplying these buses on the taxpayer dollar was a bridge too far, even though the real cost was slight.  They were replaced every five years, by which time the Q-Fleet leases resulted in an almost cost neutral exercise. They were traded at a price about the same as they were purchased tax-free by Q-fleet.

The decision had to be justified, of course, so Education Queensland commissioned a firm of consultants to come up with a rationale. The first I knew was when I received a phone call from someone senior in resources branch in head office saying that I would get a visit from a representative of the firm to assess the way in which the bus was being used. Half a dozen other schools statewide were also being investigated.

The consultant turned up shortly afterward armed with copious supplies of paperwork. He explained that he had a range of data collection documents, conveniently mounted on clipboards, that staff would be required to complete every time they used the bus. Information requested included destination, distance, reason for the journey including the educational aims of the excursion, name and role of the driver, and an approximation of the cost of the fuel involved. 

Once completed, the documents were to be forwarded by post to the consultancy. I asked him what would be done with the information. He replied that it would be collated and sent to Treasury. I asked what the firm was being paid for the exercise, but he wouldn't tell me, claiming "commercial in confidence".

Off he went, back to Brisbane. After considering what my already overworked teachers were being asked to do, I phoned a few of my principal colleagues, who  expressed reservations similar to mine. Eventually, we agreed that this task was beyond the role of our teachers, and one by one, phoned central office to break the sad news that we wouldn't cooperate. All the consultants were being paid for was to enter information into a database, summarise it, and forward it to central office. This information was not received with enthusiasm by head office, and comments were made about the career damaging possibilities of this non-cooperation. 

The Union became involved, and that was the end of the exercise. Treasury pulled the pin.

Looking back on it, the episode was emblematic of how the use of consultants, on taxpayers' funds, has crept into public institutions. The current malfeasance exhibited by the big four is simply a sophisticated evolution of the process.

It's gratifying to see it called out at last, but great damage has been done to what used to be a frank and fearless public service. Between this and Robodebt, it's time for public service reform.

Unfortunately, the wound will take years to heal.    

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A Common and Consistent Thread

Image courtesy The Mandarin

 The consequences of the botched Robodebt scheme are beginning to rattle through the ranks of senior public servants and ex-ministers in the previous Coalition administration.

The debacle was driven by a toxic combination of populist virtue-signalling, public service cowardice, and the raw application of coercive power. 

The fact that there was never any legal basis for the process was completely ignored by those who knew that it was on shaky ground because they were afraid of telling the ministers and their staff something they didn't want to hear.

It killed people, but those people were unemployed, so there wasn't much attention paid.

The most disgraceful aspect of the whole deal was the populist dismissal of people on welfare as having little or no worth, and an attempt to appeal to voters through demonising them. The Coalition apparently believed that there was a vote or two in it. 

It has, for me, a familiar ring.

Back in 2014 I was phoned by someone from DVA at 8:30 one night. She opened the conversation with the words "How does it feel to be defrauding the taxpayer?". I probably should have hung up then and there, but was so flabbergasted that I simply listened as she went on about what a nasty individual I was. Back then I was receiving a part pension through DVA predicated on the amount I was earning as an itinerant consultant. The amount varied, as some weeks I worked two days, some three, and others not at all. 

Because of the varying nature of my employment I was diligent when it came to reporting my earnings. The issue arose because they were using averaging to determine income, and when it was far from average, as mine was, the system fell in a heap.

The scheme that developed into Robodebt was being rolled out, and it was not dealing with reality.

To cut a long story short, I requested my file under the Freedom of Information statute, and began a process with the Commonwealth Ombudsman. It turned out that my reports of my income had been filed, but nobody had read them, and I had indeed been overpaid the part service pension.

Problem was, I was not responsible for the error, but was threatened with debt recovery straight away without any consideration of how the overpayment came about. 

The Ombudsman found that I did have an obligation to return the funds (although one legal friend advised me that I should take the agency to court because the evidence of their oversight was on file) and that I should pay the money back at the same rate at which the debt was incurred. Spread out like that, it was not an issue, so that was what I did, but at no time was there any acknowledgement of the error, or anything resembling an apology.

The timing of this incident was interesting. It happened immediately following the 2014 Coalition budget, which was also the springboard for the development of Robodebt.

The political culture of a party that has always treated voters as collateral was evident between 1965 and 1972 when it conscripted one in twelve young men to fight overseas in a civil war in peacetime to hold on to DLP preferences. That little frolic killed about two hundred. That same culture was evident between 2014 and 2018 when welfare recipients were demonised in an appeal to redneck voters. That killed a number which is unclear, but many were classified as "vulnerable".

It has come back to bite the Liberals and Nationals on the bum, but I doubt that it will make any difference to their political value system. 

Power for power's sake is a common and consistent thread right through from 1965 until 2022. Appealing to fear and loathing has also been completely consistent during this period. 

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Of Bazball and English Encounters

1980 Centenary test scoresheet.

 The ashes series currently underway in the UK reminds me of the Centenary Test held at Lord's between August 28th and September 2nd 1980.

At the time my bride and I were touring the UK and Europe in a hired Bedford Dormobile, a stolid and reliable vehicle, but not the easiest thing to drive on the congested British roads.

Dormobile

We had bought tickets to attend the Centenary test, although neither of us were cricket fans. Our attendance was more about the historic nature of that one-off match, than it was about the ashes, but it was an interesting experience. We were staying in a caravan park in London, and caught a bus to the ground to watch a full day's play.

From memory, Australia declared at the end of each innings, after Graeme Wood scored a century in the first, and Greg Chappell and Kim Hughes got stuck into the English bowlers in the second.

The Poms proceeded (through Geoff Boycott and Graham Gooch) to put up the shutters and play for a draw. It was a great spectacle, but pretty boring cricket.

A few days later, we had to put the Dormobile in for a scheduled service prior to crossing the channel, so booked it into a metropolitan Vauxhall dealer for the job, whilst we went shopping in the Mall and took in a movie. I can't remember what it was. That was over forty years ago, after all. It may have been The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, but I can't be sure.

We rocked up to the dealer and I produced travelers cheques to pay for the service. The bloke behind the counter wouldn't accept them, and the banks were closed as it was late in the day, so I called for the manager. We didn't have enough cash, and that was in the days before travelling with credit cards. The manager wasn't happy, and by this time, nor was I, so I told him he was running his business like his countrymen played cricket - lacking in imagination.

I don't know whether this conversation made any difference, or if our threat that we would have to sleep in the vehicle in the forecourt (given it was our accommodation) convinced him, but he released the vehicle. Looking back on it, the travelers' cheques were secure, but I don't think he'd struck anyone using them for payment, and this made him uncomfortable.

Now, forty years later, the Poms (or their media) are claiming they have seen the light and are now playing entertaining cricket. They call it Bazball.

Perhaps they've seen the light. 

What Has Changed?

The woodcutters we encountered

The controversy about ADF behaviour in Afghanistan simply won't go away, with Jacqui Lambie's referral of the Australian Defence Force officers to the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes. 

 Whether or this is going to have any useful outcome is doubtful, but it has certainly elevated the issue on the international scene, and undoubtedly made senior commanders uncomfortable. 

Perhaps the soldiers involved will see it as an opportunity to bring these senior commanders to account, and through that, be granted some vindication. It has always seemed passing strange that they were blissfully unaware of the alleged misconduct. 

Because my 1970 experience with 5 Platoon included mostly long distance patrols and ambushes in the Tan Ru, a long way from any villages, there were very few encounters with civilians, so I vividly remember this rare one. We were on a TAOR* in March 1970, when we came across a party of woodcutters in what was a free fire zone, in other words, an area where civilians were prohibited from access. They were using a very overloaded truck and when we caught sight of them, attempted to drive away from us, as they were in and on the vehicle, and our patrol was obviously on foot.

The patrol commander shot off a magazine of M-16 in the air, and they got the message and stopped. We then spent the rest of the day guarding them until the local authorities got out of bed and answered our request to have them vetted. This took all day, so we spent hours with them. They were a mix of women, old men, and quite a few children.

We treated them well, making sure they had water, and put up hootchies to protect them from the sun. This treatment was an expectation of everybody in our unit. I can't vouch for what happened outside 7 RAR, but maltreatment of civilians was not part  of our behaviour.

Some of this may have been a result of what had been drilled into us through the soldier's handbook. I've included scans of the text below.

This material was taken from the excellent From Nui Dat to Discharge (Adrian Taylor & Karl Metcalf), April 2020, which is a compilation of material collected from members of 4 platoon B Coy, 7RAR. 

It makes interesting reading. Some extracts -

You must observe these rules whether or not the enemy does likewise...

And 

Remember always treat your prisoners in a humane manner...

And 

All the persons in your hands, whether civilians or battle captives, must be protected against violence, insults, curiosity, and reprisals of any kind...

Now I'm not going to pretend that there were never any incidents of mistreatment of prisioners in Vietnam by ADF personnel, but I never saw it, and when it did happen, a blind eye was not turned. It was also rare. It was certainly light years from what is alleged in Afghanistan. 

So what has changed in 50+ years?

I'll venture some suggestions, gentle reader.

The first is a growth (probably cancerous) in our military culture that there exists such a notion as a "warrior class", for whom the normal rules of conduct do not apply. This culture seems to have unfiltrated OR's (and some NCOs) in the SAS regiment. The results are clear to see. Apart from the unfortunate Afghans who encountered it, usually to their cost, it has killed a lot of Afghan veterans who were traumatised by it, and have taken their own lives since. It is a sick and sad culture.

The second is the progression to an all volunteer ADF. 

Conscription, with all its evils (particularly when it is selective and not universal) leavens the culture of any unit by including a cross section of individuals who don't necessarily see military service as a career choice. Professional military units always attract a sprinkling of psychopaths seduced by the notion that they are free to kill, and if not weeded out after enlistment, they can do enormous damage to the culture of any unit.

At least the all volunteer force deployed in Afghanistan included sufficient well balanced individuals with backbone who blew the whistle on the few psychopaths who did all the damage.

The question remains - why were the senior commanders unaware?

*Task Force Area of Responsibility - Routine overnight patrols out to Line Alpha from Nui Dat,.