Hey ttbn,
"I object to you calling the ADF 'mercenaries'; they cannot pick and choose, they follow orders. But I agree that protecting our nation by going to foreign countries is bullshite."

I'm sorry if I've offended you, Is Mise or any other member of our Armed Forces or their families; or any other Aussie that may have taken offense from use of the word 'mercenary'.
It wasn't my intention to cause offense; and I want you to know I didn't say what I said with disrespect.

It's hard to explain but it's actually more of the opposite:
- That if my forefathers; Anzacs and others, fought for anything worthwhile at all; then I'd like to think they did so for this nations future (and our freedoms), which by extension included their descendants (me) and for my right to speak my mind freely.

I want you to know I didn't say it disrespectfully, even though it probably came across that way.
I said it with a kind of respect that it was they (my forefathers) that fought for this nations future and my right to speak freely and say it.

Though after thinking about it, I also realised that simply saying these things publicly might contribute to lower morale within our armed forces;
And despite my beliefs and criticisms of our involvement in overseas wars I wouldn't want to inadvertently contribute to putting Australians in harms way.

I would like to think that the young men and women who join our Armed Forces do so for the right reasons; (ACTUALLY defending our nation) and that means that even though I may oppose the wars we involve ourselves in they still do deserve my respect.

I just oppose them becoming tools in other peoples agendas or being put in harms way and at the taxpayers expense for wars that really have nothing to do with us.

[Cont.]
- But I say that like I'm being naive when I actually know the world's far more complicated.
We're more or less joined at the hip with our intelligence agencies now which means that the intelligence apparatus is potentially more powerful than any individual nations leader within it, as we've seen with this Trump escapade, (though that's all about to explode any day now)
And if we weren't a partner in the global gang, we'd be a target for the US regime change type operations ourselves.

Sometimes I naively say things that reflect how I think things should be, but its not always in tune with the reality of how things actually are.

OSW: On one occasion, less than 40 to 50 metres from their line, he and his platoon had to watch helplessly while the warring sides evened the score, by hacking to death with machete's dozens of women & children, less than 50 metres from their position. And they were NOT permitted to open fire, due to the UN's partiality?

I had a mate in the Army Reserves who used to give me pi$$ over some of the stories I told of Vietnam. He joined the Regs & went to Rwanda. He sort me out a few years later to apologise to me about what he had done to me. He was at the massacre next day. He said he drove over 11 kilometers of bodies on the road, because the sides of the roads were mined. He said that what was shown on TV was only on tenth of the whole extent of the Massacre. 11 kilometers of driving over dead women & children. Would that make you feel OK? He said it's a sight no-one should ever have to see & live with for the rest of his life.

But these killers are the types of people defended by Steelie, Foxy & Pauly & others of their ilk all the time. If an Australian Soldier smiles at a female soldier or wears a Skull & X-bones on his truck he gets hung. Ay.

One has to get their parities right, Ay.

Issy, the term "mercenary" is a rather harsh term when applied to the individual Australian soldier who is caught up in these world conflicts. I do not denigrate the individual efforts of those men and woman who fought and died. It is governments who act in this senseless mercenary fashion, and for that they should be condemned. The deaths of 340 Australians in the Korean War cannot be justified. If only men of goodwill one both sides had acted before it came to armed hostilities, then all the deaths and suffering could have been avoided.

Yes, look at the pathetic state that North Korea is, its not something the people there brought on themselves or deserved. If things had gone better then all Koreans, north and south, could be today as one people, enjoying a free, democratic and prosperous society. The world failed the Koreans. Who is to blame,in my view all sides, the Soviet Union, China and America and it allies, none were clean skins when it came to Korea.

p1405: If things had gone better then all Koreans, north and south, could be today as one people, enjoying a free, democratic and prosperous society. The world failed the Koreans.

What you mean is that if the UN had won the Korean War. That's the only way Korea would be a free, democratic & prosperous Society. If the North had won then the entire Peninsular would be, "lights out" like North Korea is to day.

So much for your wonderful Socialist/Communist ideologies. If the Socialist/Communist/left/Greenie ever take charge in Australia we would be the next North Korea. Ay p1405, Steelie, & others of that ilk.

I guess Cambell wouldn’t approve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4UJDdrQmTw
A quick look. Just a few minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3ffrOzOLEE
2 ½ & 5 Ton Gun Trucks from Vietnam. 23 minutes.

These were constructed out of necessity by the Troops themselves. Fashioned out of anything they could, beg, borrow or steal. They worked. The most famous were “Eve of Destruction” & “Brutus”

Worth a look.

I know that p1405, Steelie & Foxy will be appalled by the aggressive natures of thees trucks. Try not to chuck a hissy fit fellers on't cry.