ANZAC Lives On

As a former member of 5/6 RVR B Company, I wish to use this forum to gratefully acknowledge the sacrifice of my former young ‘Brother in Arms’ Private Greg Sher. Greg joined the unit about 10 years after I departed but there is a ‘Brotherhood’ amongst soldiers that time and history only add to rather than act as a mechanism that allows the memory to fade. Many will ask themselves why Greg chose to serve in Afghanistan but they will never find the answer until they look inside of themselves and strip bare their prejudices, preconceived and often biased understanding of what motivates an Australian Soldier. Greg came from South Africa and is of Jewish faith fighting for the safety and security of not just the greater world but the Muslims who live in Afghanistan. Please excuse the cliché but an Australian Soldier is very different from most others; perhaps it has something to do with our young history which was born out of something very cruel.

When men are faced with a crisis they generally have two options; to submit and accept or make a stand for righteousness and time and time again the Australian Soldier has taken the path of righteousness. In every theatre of war the indelible memory that is left behind is one of compassion and charity even when hell is raging around, the Australian Soldier will see the vulnerable child and protect that child as if it were his own.

In Vietnam, Australia was handed Vung Tau which was a hotbed of enemy activity the Americans had been unable to suppress. Upon taking command Australia’s leadership immediately set about clearing a safe zone between the taskforce and the enemy of approximately five miles radius. They then went into the villages to win the hearts and minds of the local population by providing desperately needed services such as healthcare and food. The enemy’s idea of winning hearts and minds was at the deadly end of an AK47. The SAS set the benchmark in establishing positive and constructive relations in this theatre of war; being the quintessential professionals they have learned through history and a legacy we identify as ANZAC that the fire fight is just one small part of winning war. It is interesting to note that the UN have tried but failed many times to employ the values of the Australian Soldier onto their own peace keeping missions but have never enjoyed the success of Australia. An interesting fact of the actual warfare in Vietnam is that the enemy initiated nine out of 10 contacts on the Americans being their enemy but the opposite is true of Australia including the amazing National Service Soldiers. I’m not prepared to go into the politics of this just as I won’t with us and WWI which was more or less politically identical, even WWII was until December 7th 1941.

Beside Private Greg Sher’s sacrifice and the other fine men of the ADF we recently witnessed another moment in history when Trooper Mark Donaldson was awarded the Victoria Cross. I sat mesmerised in front of the television with my nine year old son as Trooper Donaldson received his VC and was moved when the Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston saluted Trooper Mark Donaldson. It was truly an amazing moment and the fact that I could share this real life history with my son was something truly very special. When it was over my son and I googled Trooper Donaldson to learn more about his story; we were told he received it for among other things causing the enemy to bring fire down on himself this enabled his wounded comrades to be evacuated but he also gave total disregard to the enemy firing on him when he identified a comrade lying motionless out in the open after being shot. Trooper Donaldson allowed himself to be exposed to sustained fire while saving the life of this man; an interpreter.

Unfortunately we only see US soldiers on the news unless it involves the ultimate sacrifice and act of gallantry but this is what we are; we don’t boast we just go about our job and do it in the best possible way. Is it any wonder that one of the main reasons Trooper Mark Donaldson received the VC was for saving the life of another while exposing himself to a barrage of enemy fire? What makes this story even more remarkable is the man he saved wasn’t a fellow soldier; he was an interpreter, an Afghan. Trooper Donaldson and Private Greg Sher are what ANZAC was, is and will be forever and this is what makes the Australian Soldier a truly unique and valuable asset.

The Burqa Debate

I personally believe the Burqa is a tool of submission but what concerns me is the erosion of anyone’s human rights and the way in which people with an agenda hijack an issue where naturally emotions are high. Can someone please publish the crime figures because there’s something going on I know nothing about and we need to divert away from this xenophobic diatribe into an informed and objective debate. Some points to consider might be; not so long ago I was paying for my petrol when another customer entered wearing a helmet which alarmed no one nor did the need arise to hit the ground and take cover. The console jockey didn’t bat an eyelid but and may I say I have never experienced it but I bet if it was a woman or anyone for that matter wearing a Burqa that all eyes would be on them. The Burqa is about as inconspicuous as Bin Laden strolling around the Pentagon. Airports are very different places to the $2 shop or even Chadstone and strangely enough the last ball I went to, all the men were in black tie not beachwear because it was not appropriate and acceptable! Why must one set of generic values be imposed on everyone; the only reason we can have such a public debate is because we are secular and have enviable freedoms which were paid for in blood. Yes you must wear a Hijab in an Islamic State but you would have found if you went to Iraq when Saddam Hussein was in power you were free to walk around in bathers if that’s what you wanted because it is secular; Iraq never forced anyone to wear anything so why should we; after all aren’t we better than them? Look for solutions, not exclusions, in multicultural suburbs solutions are found for all sorts of things but I can’t recall the last time I saw a woman wear a Hijab in Eastland let alone a Burqa.

Agents of Puissance

I like many millions of others, sat up all night for the chance to view what is easily the most historically significant event in world politics; the inauguration of Mr Obama. Now I think most of us aren’t naïve enough to believe that tomorrow will see the beginning of world peace and an end to poverty. The Republicans have been dealt a savage blow and they are bleeding and angry thus any chance of worldwide reconciliation is simply a pipe dream because such values will cost these people their ultimate hold on power and the ability to make money through selling and developing weapons.

 

The agents of puissance have already set the wheels in motion; for one they left a legacy of debt that will take some 100 years to pay off, a couple of overt wars and god knows how many covert. They have crawled back into their spider holes to regroup but already the ‘brokers of depredation’ are coming out to undermine and harass the Obama administration. In his usual typically paranoid and obsessive partisan state Rush Limbaugh said, ‘he hopes Obama fails as president because he will usher in socialism.’ This man needs serious medication; Ronald Reagan peddled this sort of propaganda back in the 50s to fight the evils of a free national health service because once healthcare is free then naturally the ‘Dominos’ will continue to fall and he actually said, “The next step is communism”.  America spends approximately 15% of GDP on healthcare and we spend about 9% on ‘Universal’ healthcare; such is the price of a ‘Free and Market Driven Capitalist Economy’. The only thing this form of capitalism has proved is that it can only survive in a ‘Quasi-Socialist Economy’.