Aussies and yanks in Vietnam.

[rgmwa]

23 hours ago, onetrack said:

Re the Australian SAS and the American soldiers in Vietnam, this documentary (link below) is quite good, and pretty accurate.

 

A lot of the war and military scenes are irrelevant, repetitive and often unrelated - but the narration is accurate.

 

 

That was interesting. At the end of the video they make the point that as effective as they Australian’s methods were in the field, they resulted in high levels of PTSD and long term difficulties adjusting to civilian life after the war. 

[onetrack]

It was well known amongst "ordinary" Australian soldiers, that the SAS were called "super-grunts", and they considered all other ordinary soldiers, as far below them in skills.

 

Just the psychological effects of SAS training were severe, and huge numbers of SAS applicants fell out of the SAS courses, because they failed to make the grade. Their training is brutal. 

[Siso]

The reason we are getting free electricity is because of grid mismanagement. Nothing is free. Are intermittents cheaper. As I have said before nobody anywhere in the world has attempted what Australia is trying to do. Germany has lost a lot of industry and they are interconnected to other country's that have reliable generation weather that be nuclear, gas or massive amounts of traditional hydro. Australia only has 8% traditional hydro. CSIRO won't release the data used for their modeling. Pretty sure the titanic would have had modeling. Parasitic intermittent generation are very cheap when they are running, but make other forms very expensive when they aren't by cutting back on available generation for the dispatchable generation. If you underutilise plant you make it very expensive.

 

The ABC get it wrong and mislead more then they should for a national broadcaster. It is expected by the others as they are owned by people with agendas.

[facthunter]

Could it BE that Australia is MORE suited to solar, wind And STORAGE?  I suggest it IS. ANY standby thing is expensive. It also has to be quick in action.. Coal fired Plants are out if Life and unreliable and No one wants to fund new ones. Nev

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

4 hours ago, onetrack said:

that the SAS were called "super-grunts", and they considered all other ordinary soldiers, as far below them in skills.

Did they get their 20c/hour extra for being super grunts? That's all I got for my trade skills, and I can't quite remember if it was even that much. My pay disappeared in a flash with no chance of saving anything. The pay was far less than I got from my job in civilian life. 

 

Us Nashos should have formed a union to fight for better pay and conditions. I remember a barracks we stayed in, at Broadmeadows Vic, it had no glass in the windows. Mosquitoes swarmed in, even getting under our sheets. They were so thick, I got up one night and lit four mosquito coils to fill the donga with smoke. We breathed that for the rest of the night.

 

The Public never knew it, but new barracks were built only for Basic training camps. Parents visiting to see Marching Out parades at basic training camps couldn't miss seeing those brand new buildings and fooled into thinking that their conscripted sons were getting a good deal - like hell - all other camps were dilapidated WW2 wooden or corrugated iron shacks. A pig farmer wouldn't keep his pigs in them. 

 

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Grumpy Old Nasho

[facthunter]

About time you got Over it. You are still alive.  You wouldn't have to search hard to find people worse off. Nev

[willedoo]

A bit off topic, but on the subject of workplace accommodation, here's ours in early 1985 - a two man maggot camp. For those not familiar with the terminology, a fly camp is a junior off shoot of a main camp and a maggot camp is further down the pecking order from a fly camp; the term obviously comes from a maggot being the offspring of a fly. A fairly basic setup - a swag, a foldup shearer's cot, a cardboard box of tinned food and a golden circle pineapple tin for a billy. The reason we chose this spot is because we could have a shower after work. There was a small turkey nest full of water where the drillers had been filling their water truck and they'd left the pump and lay flat hose there. After getting back to the camp after work we could fire up the pump and there were enough holes in the lay flat hose to provide a good spray jet to have a bogey.

 

[facthunter]

When you  go bushwalking you go Light and sleep where you can. Nev

[facthunter]

And don't leave any rubbish. Burn and bury tins so they rust away. Nev