O Sung Wu.
I never heard the place called "cockroach castle"...but the name fits.
I got a pleasure out of BOAZ_Davids little story so I thought I might write one of mine.
I did it to help anyone thinking about joining the police and to warn them of the trap... the alcohol culture... which Im sure still exists today, though hopefully somewhat diminished since the implemetations and subsequent decisions following the Royal Commission into NSW police corruption.
Im led to believe that people actually read OLO?
I also (simply) like to expose stuff thats hidden. "Have nothing to do with the works of darkness but expose them"...Ephesians 5:11.
If we bring hidden stuff out, God gets to Deal with it...which He does.
I always like to do a bit of preaching, even here on OLO.
It reminds people of whats been going on (Adam and Eve til today) and points to the Real Answer which is getting Jesus Christ into your life.
Its absolutley terrific to become born again.
You can confess the sins and invite Jesus in anytime.
Christians cant help themselves if they have had a miraculous conversion out of lifes dark side.

Thanks BOAZ_David for you encouragements.
That little drinking room was like a "time warp" back into another age.
Inside it was like a fantasy world where cops did their thing... but in truth... should never, ever have been there.
I often wondered if that room was still there in that old pub up in the Rocks, as a police room, and if the London bobby's helmet was still sitting on the little shelf above the inside of the door we had just walked into the room through.
I dont know why, but I feel sad writing this little comment...like some vital part of my youth had been lost:)
I guess I still need a bit of healing.
My vision to be a policeman was so powerful.

Well, it's certainly different.

But to me there's a whole lot missing. Much pasta, no sauce.

>>The drop out rate for constables in those days was about 70% in the first 7 years. I became one of the 70%<<

By my reckoning, that leaves more than 25 years unaccounted for, Gibo.

So, you were a fireman for four years, a trainee plod for a year, and on the beat for a maximum of seven. That only takes us into the early eighties.

>>five years later; and in another part of the country, broken and in despair and contemplating suicide<<

How did you get there? Were you a hobo ridin' the rails, perhaps? Or an itinerant encyclopaedia salesman - which would explain the contemplation of suicide.

I know there have been complaints that you have already written too much, but I'm of the opposite persuasion - I can't wait for the next installment.

Much of the reason for my enthusiasm may be that I have hitherto been under the impression that "Gibo" was in fact a psychologist of some immense sophistication, casting his line into the turbulent waters of OLO to obtain samples of reactions and behaviours that would form the basis of his book.

But to see him as - quite possibly - a real human being is quite an education.

Please, more.

To his credit, Gibo wears his heart on his sleeve.

The eminent 18th-century German poet and philosopher Friedrich Schiller wrote,

"Man is honoured by his heart, not his opinions."

RObert.
I agree with you about the number of threads we should post.
I dont know how many I can do in say a week...and Im full of stories.

If any of you wondered why Im a bit hardnosed at times it was the training and the living of the cop life.
Long career, short career it dont matter either way RObert.
Years and years later Im still a cop.
Im not in the job but Im still a cop.
Its the indoctrinations from the Acadamy.
They never leave.
I find myself watching everything. I memorise car rego numbers all the time and from time to time write them down in case anything happens that I can refer police to.
Imagine thousands of cops/ex-cops out there right now memorising all they see just in case.
Its in my heart. Im a walking eye witness.
I cant get rid of it. Its in that initial training.
This is why I put so much down to the eye witness testimony rather than some elses reports.
PS: RObert. Its not just the pentecostal christian churches that attract people like me. People go anywhere, to any christian church they can get help.
In the end wheres there to go but God? Theres nowhere. This is why AA looks to God as the Higher Power to get rid of the addiction.
I actually started off with the Salvos then moved up to lively christianity. Boy some of those pentie churches jump!

Seriously, please stop.

I am sick of hearing about your addictions and other mental illnesses.