Those of you who subscribe to any number of ex-service Facebook groups may have already come across this petition.
In case you haven't, here is a quick and dirty explanation.
Between 1964 and 1972, 63,740 twenty year-olds were called up and enlisted into the army. This was the number of men who had their birthdates drawn in one of the sixteen ballots, and who passed the medical.
In all, 804,286 registered for national service, but the bulk of these (92%) maintained their lifestyles when their birthdates weren't drawn.
Of the 63,740, only 15,300 saw active service in Vietnam, which means that 48,440 Nashos served their two years in units in Australia. Among them were such well known sporting celebrities as Doug Walters , Peter Brock, and Dick Johnson.
Most weren't celebrities, of course, and their lives were turned upside down by the simple fact that they were born on the wrong date. I have two in my extended family. One (who died a few years ago) served in Malaya, and one as a driver in a Brisbane unit. He was part of a small business in Clermont at the time and it took him (and the burgeoning enterprise) a long time to recover. He is now dealing with injuries occasioned at training.
It's worth remembering that this scheme was the only national service programme that was not universal, so it was completely unjust and morally absurd.
More detail is contained here.
When the two years was up, these men were entitled to return to their pre-Nasho jobs, but that was about the only benefit they received.
Contrast that with somebody like me who saw active service, was provided with a war service home loan and a *DLNS rehabilitation scholarship, and a DVA gold card at age 70.
I reckon these 48,000 (or perhaps given the ravages of time, the approximate 30,000 who survive) are entitled to some form of compensation. The provision of a gold card at age 70 would seem to me to be utterly reasonable.
So I completely support this initiative.
I am bemused by some fellow Vietnam veterans who oppose it.
The term "dog in the manger" comes to mind.
*Department of Labour and National Service
3 comments:
Whitlam cancelled the war service home loan and the study grant wasn't much use to married personnel who needed to work. Yep I got the gold card at 55.
What Whitlam actually did with the scheme was to extend the eligibility to members serving in peacetime. His government did not cancel it, and the extension of the eligibility was an ALP election promise in 1972 which was kept.
The scheme was sold to Westpac in October 1988 under the Keating government.
Read the history here - https://www.dsh.gov.au/sites/default/files/insurance_docs/cover-plus-the-care.pdf
As far as the support for study was concerned, It didn't matter whether you were married or single, the DLNS rehabilitation scheme was open to all Nashos who had seen operational service, and took the form of a living allowance which approximated the basic wage. From Sue Langford's comprehensive account of the second National Service Scheme on the AWM website -
"Training under the National Service Vocational Training Scheme where the Army believed a national serviceman's skills could be supplemented by a course of study or a refresher course, whether full-time, part-time or by correspondence, or if the serviceman had no job to return to on completing national service. The scheme covered the cost of post-discharge training, including compulsory fees, travel fares, textbooks and equipment, and a living allowance for those studying full-time."
See - https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/viet_app
I was lucky enough to take advantage of both, and believe all Nashos, whether they served in Vietnam or not, should have been eligible as a form of compensation for having two years of their lives stolen, whilst their non-conscripted peers carried on with their lives.
Obviously didn't appreciate my rebuttal of your BS and upon checking it out decided not to allow the comment. Does not surprise me, Robert, or is it headmaster.
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