Dear ALTRAV,

Eventually all things become cliches.

The reason that cliches become cliches is that they
are the hammers and screwdrivers in the toolbox of
communication.

BTW: Life is a prism. What you see depends on how you
turn the glass.

As for dreamers?

You need to dream - and dream big.
That prompts you to do. Doers becom
doers because they firstly are capable of dreaming.
Those who don't dream - very rarely do nothing but
talk. Usually to themselves because they don't
inspire either themselves or anyone else.

Foxy, if ever I happen to meet the general I will pass on your thoughts to him.
With any luck it will stop him from exposing his ineptitude as this one foolish act has done.
His alleged achievements are now in question.
My point is someone in his position and who is so highly revered must NEVER make such a foolish mistake.
I am only relieved that it was something as pathetic as iconography on 'T' shirts and not sending troops to their death.

Dear ALTRAV,

If the only error you can find with the General is with his
previous take on death-cult symbols (which he's now
changed) - then I'd say our Defence Force is in very good
hands.

Foxy, I did not find an error.
He erred all by himself.
You want to overlook this as an irrelevance.
I agree, the whole stupid saga was an irrelevance and way beneath his pay grade.
He should have given this one to a junior officer.
You would say our defense force is in very good hands.
As I said before all we know about this guy is what the war office propaganda spew out.
You may be naive enough to hold this guy in high praise, I don't.
I will not accept the stories put out about this guy as they are politically motivated.
If the stories come from a private source who has witnessed him actually doing some praiseworthy act, I still would have visions of him trying to get the spotlight with his stupid iconography stuff up.

Dear ALTRAV,

Some of the -

General's service record is the following:

1) Commander with the Special Air Service (SAS)

2) Was awarded A Member of the Order of Australia -
for helping restore Order in East Timor.

3) Commanded the 2nd battalion, Royal Australian
Regiment as part of the UN Transitional Administration
in East Timor.

4) He was Chief of Staff to the Chief of the Defence Force -
General Peter Cosgrove (later Sir).

5) He assumed responsibility for ALL Australian forces serving
in the Middle East including Afghanistan

6) His command in Afghanistan earned him a Distinguished
Service Cross.

And there's much more but this will do.

This is a service record that has been earned.
It stands on its own merit

Foxy, once more you evade my point.
My point is that all these accolades are from and through a govt backed institution, the military.
As in the scouts, they are rewarded for merely participating.
You make this guy sound as though he single handedly did all these things without help.
First and foremost I come back to who it was that decorated him with all these honours. 'The club', of course.
There is nothing about this guy worth praising, as I have already said.
If he single handedly wiped out a whole enemy platoon and rescued a whole bunch of people, and in doing so encountered heavy resistance whilst attempting all this and still succeeded,wow then he would be a real candidate for all these medals, if not, then just leave him behind a desk at the back of the room.