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Last updated on August 8th, 2017 at 02:15 pm
mareeS comments:
My husband was a Vietnam conscript in 1966. While he was there his family care packages were routinely burgled by the maritime unions, the postal unions and the “public service” unions at the Defence Dept. The contents were thieved and notes left in place telling him he deserved to die, there was a bullet with his name on it, they knew where his family lived and would destroy their lives … etc, etc. This to a 20yo young man away from home for the first time, at war in a foreign country he hadn’t even heard of the year previously.
This is typical behaviour of the left. They don’t understand, however, that once you’re in the “band of brothers,” conscript or regular, if you serve together in combat you’re in and you never leave.
Unless you’re a member of the combat-faking left, in which case you never arrive.
- MareeS, my husband was also drafted in 1968, although he didn’t serve in Vietnam. He was, instead, sent to language school where they taught him Russian and Arabic (think they didn’t know they were eventually going to have a problem there?) and ended up in Europe, interviewing defectors from Soviet Bloc countries. The late 60s and early 70s left a bitter, bitter taste in my mouth, so much so that I have to turn away when people wax nostalgic about those decades, all because of the irrational, vicious behavior or people who called themselves “pacifists”.
- I reserve a deep and lasting hatred for the “protesters” who spat at Aussie soldiers returning from Vietnam, who collected money for the Viet Cong, who sent hate letters to the wives and parents of serving soldiers. The unionists who delayed mail, ammunition, supplies and even food to the Diggers to make a political point are particular bastards.
Graham Edwards, MP (Member of Parliament), who lost both legs when he stood on a mine in Vietnam, reported recently in Parliament that while he was recovering in hospital, some loathsome swine had sent a letter to his mother expressing the desire that her son die painfully of his wounds. The only time I have ever heard this exceptionally tough man come close to tears.
I am not now, and never have been, a man of peace. Come anywhere near me spouting that bullshit today and expect a belt in the mouth, a kick in the nuts, or worse.
Shameful, gutless cowards, every last one of them.
Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2006 12 29 at 02:18 PM • permalink
- Make no mistake about it. The anti-war faction from the Vietnam War era has yet to make an accounting for their lothesome deeds. Those of us who were witnesses to their treacherous and depraved acts – while at the same time watching our parents and grandparents who sacrificed during two world wars and the Great Depression in order to give a better life to those same protesters be rewarded by the notorious deeds – will never forget it.Posted by wronwright on 2006 12 29 at 04:26 PM • permalink
- I can remember in the 60’s (shit I can remember the 60’s), our family going to Mascot Airport to meet an uncle returning from Vietnam. The flight arrived late at night so the protestors wouldn’t turn up and harass the returning diggers. Apparently the drug smoking digger haters were too lazy to protest after dark.Posted by surfmaster on 2006 12 29 at 04:28 PM • permalink
- Considering that I’ve had two packages to Australia and one package from Australia stolen over the past 5 years, I’m sure by the Canada Post inside-workers handling them and not on your side of Down Under, I’m not surprised. (Excuse me if this posts twice; I’m trying out my new p.c. and XP Pro and my first attempt at posting this gave me an error page. And my second, so I’m trying to post it from “Preview” now, instead.)Posted by andycanuck on 2006 12 29 at 05:05 PM • permalink
- #7, There are people who are pacifists (those who believe and act accordingly), and there are those who callthemselves pacifists (those who use it as a convenient label to hide behind, or feel good about themselves, or flat out lie to themselves). Only you know which kind you are, but your right to believe and act accordingly is correctly protected in a free society. Unfortunately, the 60s and 70s were infested with the other kind, and mostly they have not been forced to confront the truth about themselves.
- Ah, success—although not with Canada Post.Posted by andycanuck on 2006 12 29 at 05:06 PM • permalink
- Personally, I have zero problem or issue with the truly pacifist. I don’t believe anyone should be uniformed up and sent off to fight that in a battlefield if they are honestly not capable.
Some of the most outstanding acts of bravery in WW2 were committed by real pacifists that would not carry a weapon and instead served as medics or Navy corpsmen.
And no nation at any time can afford to strip all its men of eligible age from the workforce and send them to war. Those that are not able to kill should not be made to and there’s plenty good they can do otherwise.
Where I get uppity is when pacifists try to impose their unwillingness to fight back against aggression onto the rest of the nation and then condemn their own fellow citizens for doing those things necessary to ensure survival.
I’ll also never be one to be able to tolerate those who are so dysfunctional that they feel it their right, duty and/or obligation to side against their own fellow citizens during a time of war, or are so weak, stupid and misinformed that they quickly and consistently jump to believing the absolute worst about those soldiers fighting for them.
I’m not intending to imply any of that negative toward you Room 237. If it came across that way then it’s just sloppy writing on my part.
- Firehand, Samuel Johnson explains it –
“Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.”
Samuel JohnsonPosted by Harry Buttle on 2006 12 29 at 06:54 PM • permalink
- I’ve heard similarly vile stories about the behaviour of maritime unions during WW2. On one occasion, it’s said, the bastards were refusing to load a vessel with supplies for the men in New Guinea, and a US officer ordered his men to push them off the pier and into the water. The details are hazy with me now; if anyone else has knowledge of the event please fill in the details.Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 12 29 at 08:56 PM • permalink
- We (7RAR – an Aussie Inf Battalion in Vietnam) had one of our dead identified in the press along with his suburb. The Left got onto it and phoned the parents days after they had been informed of the tragedy and told them that their son deserved to die.
People say get over it but I never will. It goes part way to explain why I will never vote Labour while they have any element of the left in their membership.
Posted by KevGillett on 2006 12 29 at 09:08 PM • permalink
- Howards breaking of the wharfies union is something he deserves to be remembered and thanked for by all aussies
just a pity they never unleashed the rottweilers
Posted by eeniemeenie on 2006 12 29 at 09:20 PM • permalink
- There are many Quakers in Ohio. Many of them, maybe most, are genuinely pacifist. I respect their beliefs, idealistic and unrealistic though they may be.Posted by wronwright on 2006 12 29 at 09:33 PM • permalink
- Room 237: Ok, got it now. You’re not a pacifist, you’ve just not been tested yet.
Here’s self administered test that might help.
Answer honestly.Situation: You and your family (wife, children). You are all returning to your car after seeing a late movie. The parking lot is empty. You are confronted by an attacker that expresses the desire to physically harm you and then satisfy himself on your wife and children. You are armed with a semi auto pistol.
Responses:
1. Is it my fault? What drove him to such a desperate state of affairs? Should I have agitated to get more street lighting in this neighborhood? If I ask him nicely, will he go away? Why am I carrying a gun? If I grab him around his legs, will by family be able to get away?
2. Bang!
3. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! <change magazines> Bang! Bang! Bang!
Daughter: Nice grouping daddy, you using them silvertips I got you for Christmas?Ok, dont really fit for pacifist or not, but I stil think its funny.
- #9, surfmaster, My husband also returned to Mascot on a Qantas charter in the dead of night for the same reason. He was then stationed at South Head for several months. While off base the troops weren’t allowed to wear their uniforms because so many soldiers had been assaulted by supposedly “pacifist” anti-war activists. Great welcome home for a bloke who’d spent the past year at the pointy end as a forward scout and survived some extremely hairy firefights where mates were killed.
A friend who served with him has three sons in Iraq Afghanistan and Timor at present. Hopefully they won’t have to deal with such crap.
- #17 – “Jo” Gullett, in his book “Not as a duty only” describes how the maritime unions tried to steal everything when they were loading a ship headed for New Guinea. They stole compasses, sights of the mortars etc.
The CO posted guards to stop the pilfering, and the Union promptly went on strike!
So the diggers loaded the ship themselves in half the time.
The link is not to his book, but to a nice synopsis of the Battle of Bardia by the Australian War Memorial, which Gullett describes in the book. I liked this quote at the end:
“It did not strike us as extraordinary or unfair that our generation should be called upon to fight. As volunteers we were there of our own free choice anyhow. Neither did we believe in our hearts that our country was threatened and that we were fighting for Australia’s existence. Even when the Japanese came in we did not think that. But we knew England’s position was very serious and that we should help her as our fathers had done. It was the order of things.”
I will give the book a big plug as it is one of the best military autobiographies I have ever read.
Posted by mr creosote on 2006 12 29 at 10:40 PM • permalink
- What I dislike about our current ‘pacifists’ is their willingness to ally themselves with murderous thugs and dictators who style themselves anti-West. They aren’t really pacifists, they’re on the other side.Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2006 12 29 at 11:20 PM • permalink
- I know of incidents in recent times when alleged pacifists have accosted serving members in uniform coming home from work. There’s a very good reason why one’s a ‘pacifist’ and the other is a professional warrior. One knows how to fight. F*ckers get the fright of their lives when someone they have just accused of being a murderer then goes about showing just how it can be done. (offering to wrap your tire iron around the skull takes the wind out of the windbag…hehehe)
- #28. My father was one of the troops who loaded a ship in Townsville when the Wharfies went on strike. (They did in 2 days what would have taken the wharfies over a week.)
Not only did the wharfies steal the bolts from the rifles (in obedience to orders coming from Moscow, if I recall correctly), they also stole the Diggers’ beer—which, though probably completely unrelated to politics, is a really heinous crime.
Posted by Chris Chittleborough on 2006 12 30 at 02:14 AM • permalink
- LOL, Grimmy (#24). Stealing that one forthwith.
Our Hero would have been using the venerable Colt 1911A1 in .45ACP of course. (seven shots, mag change, carry on)
Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2006 12 30 at 04:16 AM • permalink
- Grimmy
Making louder noises isn’t the aim of the game, bullet placement is.If you are serious about impressing the opposition with your resolve, use a serious weapon, like a 105mm L7 Rifle.
Cheers
Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2006 12 30 at 02:46 PM • permalink
- Grimmy
As a lazy Canadian, I prefer to leave it on its transporter and let it lug me around.Cheers
Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2006 12 30 at 04:18 PM • permalink
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64? Less than two months here and she gets a front page post? It took me years! And I had to move Russian lakes to get it. Aaaah, she must have bribed Blair somehow. Or blackmailing him. Which, all in all, is a good sign of a neocon, true. But still. Hmmm, better have MarkL move the Hubble to keep watch on her.