Ever wonder how the navy, & other services, look after their weapons in this politically correct fool of a country?

Yes the navy have men on duty, 24 hours a day, but only a couple at night or on weekends. Yes they patrol their ship, or shore establishment. But what do you think their orders are? What would you expect these unarmed men to do, if they detect an intruder?

Would you believe they are instructed to maintain surveillance on the intruder, & call the cops? Yep, that's right stand back, don't get involved, & call the cops.

Now if you know anything about calling the cops at say 2.00 AM for example, your call just might get answered. It might get action. You might get a little lady, by her self, who at least might have a Glock on her hip.

Just what she would do, if there were a number of intruders involved, I shudder to think. Probably call for back up, & wait for the cavalry to come thundering up.

Any reasonably informed bunch of insurgents or terrorists, could easily take over a frigate, moored in Sydney, Darwin or anywhere else, & fire off a few rounds. If very well informed, they could probably bung off a few missiles as well.

When will our powers that be realise we want an armed defence force, able to protect itself, & us when necessary. A bunch of nice safe unarmed politically correct boys, playing Pirates of Penzance, with real ships & weapons is not good enough.

Pretty safe to say the intruders had been there before, and knew where to look.

Hasbeen - You expect too much under this Government our Navy is reduced to the roll of REFUGEE TAXI SERVICE, even if the refugee is 370 KM inside Indonesian waters.

Most of the time they can't even find the boat until it's occupants ring OOO and tell them where they are.

I don't blame this totally on the Navy it is what this Government has reduced it into being.

They would rather spend $6 Billion dollars accommodating the welfare for lifers than that money on an effective Military.

I know sailors are said to be a superstitious mob - is it considered bad luck to put a lock on a ship's armoury?

For once I find myself agreeing with Hasbeen. I would expect any military personnel carrying out any guarding role to be carrying a sidearm as the bare minimum. And to be permitted to forcibly expel intruders from military installations and Naval ships. This isn't a question of resources or training: they've got the guns and they know how to use them - it's just a question of policy. Some Vice-Admiral needs a boot up the arse for this cock-up.

Cheers,

Tony

Hasbeen as the information we are fed catch,s up.
As we find a Navy man was part of or the only person involved, your view may change.
I note the theme, not unexpected, Labor bought this about.
Note and remember too, some actions in near north by brave and determined Australians.
Who manned that little boat and entered a Harbor against far more security.
It too talks of suicide bomber,s getting past the UN in the middle east, all Labors fault.
Gillard must not do as CM and big Barry does, cut costs, she and she alone will be held to account if kids shoes wear out quicker because they walk to school.

The headlines are outstanding, SM does that also.
An inside job as expected, so who is to blame, probably Labor, they get blamed for everything else here. From the price of power to the weather.
Someone has to take it, at least they are man enough.

Having done Guard Duty umpteen times in my Army Service, I have a some news for you all. The guards are not issued with live ammunition for their weapon, in Australia.

I always felt rather stupid carrying around a 25 kilo dead weight. The best deterrent was when the Army switched to the "sawn-off pick handle." to be used in reverse.

Now days Service personal don't do Guard Duty anyway. That's done by civilian Security Services. At least they are more diligent than we were, hiding in the drying room, on a cold Winters night.

Those that know, know.

It must be so miserable to be defensive all the time. Is Labor that bad, that you expect it to do every thing wrong?

This has been going on from well before the last couple of parliaments, so it might be Labor, or the other lot. Which ever it is, some parliament has caved into the paranoid bleeding heart brigade, who think it's OK for these people to defend them, but must not be allowed to show a gun in Oz.

Just a while back we had some terrorists planning a killing spree at Holsworthy army base. This could only be imagined in a small number of western democracies. In most of the world, soldiers carry their rifles when patrolling cities.

Effectively we put a large target on defense bases, then leave the men unarmed.

From the response here, Laborites only care if their party is blamed, & few others give a damn.

I can assure you there are more than a few disgruntled defense force people, who might be harboring ideas of revenge. Lets just hope the next inside job is not more deadly. The only thing guaranteed is that while while defense bases are effectively undefended, there will be a next time.

Hasbeen: Effectively we put a large target on defense bases, then leave the men unarmed.

If you went to an Military Base in Australia at night You would be hard pressed to find anyone. The Duty Corporal & his Driver in the Guard Hut. That's all. No one lives on Base. In fact there is no where to live. All the Barracks have gone, & everyone lives off Base. You actually have to get special permission to live in your Unit Area now days. There are no Kitchens or Mess Halls. There is usually a Maccas, KFC & a Fish & Chip Shop & a General Store (Toothpaste & Razorblades, etc.) somewhere on the Base, but not in the Unit Area. The Security is left completely up to the Civilian Security Patrols. Oh, they are armed & carry live ammunition & are nasty B's

Most personal ride their bikes to work & come in along the Bike path. No Security Check that only happens at the Main Gate.

I go back to Townsville for the odd Reunion every now & again. They put me up in a huge dormitory with a few other guests. No Radio, no TV, no Boozer, no library, & not a soul around after 4.30pm.

Hi there JAYB...

I joined in the sixties, and after my mandatory 3 months in RTB, the first guard I stood was with a bayonet. We're had the old SMLE .303 and the bayonet for that, was what we stood guard with ?

Sounds like things have worsened, but you're right we (Australia) is a joke. And though I'm very much a conservative, things weren't that much better under a Liberal Govt. either ?

Hi o sung wu, we must be of an age. I was navy, joined in 58, but the first guard duty I served was at Uranquinty, the RAAF flying training base. The RAAF taught us to fly, then the navy sent us off to the Royal Navy to learn all over again, off carriers.

As I recall a bayonet would have been an improvement. I was armed with an allen key type thing, to turn a gadget which showed up in the guard house. I guess they didn't trust blokes to walk around the Wagga country side, if they couldn't check on them. It was more about fire safety in those more pleasant days.

Still once I got on board a ship it was different. There was no way anyone, other than those permitted, was going to get onto a ship, at least not with out a squadron of tanks.

Yes indeed, that device to which you refer HASBEEN records the time when you insert the key into the contraption located at the guard house ?

As you say, thay don't seem to trust a young bloke wandering around Wagga in the middle of the night, in vain attempts to guard the place, with an 'allan key' locked and loaded ?

Still they were great days I reckon. As you quite correctly remark, one wouldn't want to try boarding an Aussie Warship without very clear authority. You'd get more than a beyonet up one's 'thingo' I'd imagine.

And when on guard, you'd be lucky if you saw the Orderly Sgt. or Duty Officer, during your entire guarding tour.

Speaking of Wagga (Kapooka) gee, it was cold place when I went through, very cold indeed. I'm sure you'd remember how jolly freezing it really got there ?

Great days I reckon - sorry for straying from the topic, just the quiet musings of an old man I'm afraid.

We have settled down and got to the truth.
In the end Murphy will have his way.
Anything that can go wrong will.
Past theft of about six army weapons, still not all recovered, that could shoot a house to dust, tell of that.
In the case of a planned terrorist act to kill army personnel in Holsworthy base we can thank good policing for finding that out first.
Un armed that would have bought mass deaths.
What level of security can we pay for.
And surely contracting that out is in its self a sercuritry breach?

Australia is literally there for the taking for anyone who wants it. We're not allowed to defend ourselves because we might get hurt & sue the Government.
I believe it is Switzerland where every household has a Government issue rifle by a family member having served in the Army.
I wonder how long it'' be before our Government takes away our kitchen knives ?
I remember when we still had a Police whom you could call when trouble was on the horizon. These days we only have career cops whom you can't even contact when you need them. Were you to call them & say I just got threatened with a toy gun the whole ballistics force helicopters & all would show up in two minutes flat of course they'd let the TV cameras get there a minute earlier so that they can play hero on the News.

Yes o sung, remember it well, I was there through winter, & helped replace a few radiators frozen & cracked by the cold.

At 'quinty The trainee pilots dongas were 6 man huts, with individual rooms, quite a luxury in those days. However they were up to a couple or more hundred yards from the shower block.

One of the standard initiation activities was the removal of our clothes while we were in the showers, leading to a freezing run back to your donga. This was done one at a time, so no group bravado to help the victim.

To make it worse for many young blokes, in those more discrete, private days, the run was partly through the married quarters. Some of those blokes were so hot with embarrassment, I doubt they felt the cold, present company included. Very different days in a lot of ways.

'afternoon to you HASBEEN...

May I ask, do you still keep in touch with some of those, with whom you served in those days ? As you say, they were great ! Uranquinty was only a bit down the road from Kapooka as I remember ? Not all that far.

You speak of initations, I recall them alright ! At the tender age of 17, we really copped it for sure, though it wasn't too bad, we all were subjected to it, together which lessed the impact somewhat.

INDIVIDUAL...

You're quite correct, all Swiss households, where a male member had completed his mandatory National Service, and continued to be retained in the Swiss Military Reserve, he was required to (safely) retain his issue military firearm at his place of residence. My information also included, there was a further requirement for him to maintain the weapon, secured under lock and key.

Yes I remember Kapooka well, particularly the narrow right angle railway bridge in the road just outside it. Near lost it there one night, with the entire Wagga navel strength on board.

People thought flying training was dangerous, but it had nothing on Saturday night in Wagga.

I was one of 6 navy types on that course, & the only one with a car, a little 1936 Morris 8/40. All six of us used to pile into it, & head for Ramona's pub in Wagga Saturday night. Fortunately I don't drink much, but a couple was enough to be too many for me.

Add the army, & the Forest Hills air force crowd, & blood baths were some what common. With navy numbers so limited we had to be careful. Add an 18 year old with a couple of drinks, driving a very little car, with 6 largish blokes in it, & it's a wonder any of us survived.

No don't see any. Only 3 of us made it through the course, & one of didn't survive long on squadron. Last seen the other one had a bottle shop on Sydneys northern beaches. Once out, we had nothing in common.

Sure the Bridge, yes a swine of a turn ! Though from Kapooka, if heading into Wagga you need not cross it, only if you were heading down your way actually (if my memory serves me right) ?

The RAAF at Forest Hills far outnumbered either Kapooka or the Navy. And Saturday night (provided we got leave), was a veritable 'blood house'. I received a sound hiding at the rear of the Picture Theatre in Baylis Street. My opponent, who was in his late twenties, had a real victory over me, a mere 17 years old lad, an army recruit ? Still, it was lesson I learnt, and learnt well, I can tell you.

Your beaut little Morris side valve was a 'soft top', was it not ? 0 to 30 mph in about half 'n hour ? Though a reliable little fella really.

My heap was a Wolseley 18/84 6cyl 1946/47 model with twin SU Carbs. and electric fuel pump, which necessitated a slight 'tap' with a spanner in hot weather, in order to get it 'ticking' again, overwise you went nowhere ?

At the conclusion of my three months at Kapooka, gee I was fit, and even felt fit, if that's possible.

Really nice talking with you HASBEEN, rekindled some great memories, of times past it really did, thank you.

Cheers...Sung Wu.