Brian, I feel that Australia has lost a fair bit of her naivete over the past 40 years, and that shows in the attitude towards the troops serving overseas.

I'm still reminded of when one of our frigates sailed away to the gulf war and Howard gave his farewell address to her ship's company, thanking them for their service in advance.

Then Simon Crean got up and told them all he wasn't going to wish them the best because he didn't believe they should be going. I thought at the time the labor party hadn't changed an iota since the early 70's.

Strangely enough, here he is, part of the serving government, and is now in support for our troops in Afghanistan and Persian Gulf patrols by the RAN.

Always was a slimy little creep, still is.

_________________

Chris O'Keefe
R43136
Ex WO Chippy
19th MOBI Intake
July 65 to July 85
HMAS Nirimba X 4 -Penguin-Sydney-Queenborough - Creswell - Moreton - Stalwart - Platypus - Coonawarra Reconstruction Team 76 - Platypus - Hobart - Cerberus - FHQ - Coonawarra.

Anyone can be ordinary. Shipwrights choose to be extraordinary!

So, you didn't send him a Chrissy card then?

_________________
Brian Carney
R43371
Ex-WOMTP5
22nd Mobi Intake
Jan 67 - Jan 89
RANATE, Sydney, Swan, Creswell, Stalwart (FMU), Cerberus, Derwent, Nirimba, Parramatta, Nirimba, FHQ (FMMO).

Nah. They scan the politician's mail for explosives these days......

_________________

Chris O'Keefe
R43136
Ex WO Chippy
19th MOBI Intake
July 65 to July 85
HMAS Nirimba X 4 -Penguin-Sydney-Queenborough - Creswell - Moreton - Stalwart - Platypus - Coonawarra Reconstruction Team 76 - Platypus - Hobart - Cerberus - FHQ - Coonawarra.

Anyone can be ordinary. Shipwrights choose to be extraordinary!

Speaking of mail.
In '68 I drafted off the Sydney and went to the UK for 3 months on an EW course then to Lonsdale as Swan crew while she was being built. The wife, Sandy, got a job at the Dept of Labour & National Service in the AGL building on the corner of Flinders St & St Kilda Rd. She worked on the information counter giving advice to the young men coming in with questions about the draft, etc. Had to pacify numerous aboriginal young men who were incensed that they had been excluded from the draft. Advised recently married chaps that they were exempt, etc. She was taken off the counter as she was being TOO helpful (if they don't know, don't tell them) and put onto mail duties. They had a sealed room where all the mail was opened. We found out why the room was sealed shortly after. One of the girls slit open an envelope and was covered in a cloud of very fine white powder. This cloud expanded to fill the room and all the people in there (5 or 6) breathed this powder for until they could get out after getting someone to unlock the door from the outside. They all were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties. The powder turned to a blue die when it hit moisture, which included the mouth, throat and lungs of the recipients. As luck would have it, Sandy was not in the room at the time and was not affected. The ones that were affected never did come back to work so we don't know the final effects of the die.
The booby-traped mail along with the bomb threats and the aggresive anti-war picketers that jostled the young girls as they left the building made working in the DLNS a real joy. These girls were just public servants doing their job.
We've got several stories about this time in our lives, not all bad.

_________________
Gordon Robertson
ex-CPOETC
R42793
15th MOBI Intake
July63 to March74
Nirimba, Sydney III, Collingwood(UK), WSTG(UK), Lonsdale, Swan, Cerberus, Kuttabul, Harman, Kuttabul(RANTAU)

Isn't it amazing when some-one can be worded in for being "too helpful"???

There are some mentally twisted people out there!!!

Wouldn't it be interesting to know what became of those mail sorters who inhaled the "stuff"??

Peter,
I just checked with the Secretary for War & Peace and i had part of the story wrong.
The affected people DID come back to work after spending the night in hospital with blue coated innards. The powder/dye was declared non/toxic (which I believe means they didn't die immediately), but the mail room doors were not locked after that episode.

They knew when there was a bomb scare when the Feds in plain clothes would come into the foyer and start looking behind the pot plants whilst trying to look inconspicuous. Finally one would come up to the counter and identify himself and ask for the Dept head. There would then be an orderly evacuation of the floor. (Don't bother telling the rest of the building!)
It got to the point where as soon as she saw the feds, Sandy would grab her bag and go home.

Lovely people these anti-war mob. Used threats of violence against civilians to push their cause.

Now where have I heard that before?

_________________
Gordon Robertson
ex-CPOETC
R42793
15th MOBI Intake
July63 to March74
Nirimba, Sydney III, Collingwood(UK), WSTG(UK), Lonsdale, Swan, Cerberus, Kuttabul, Harman, Kuttabul(RANTAU)

It does my heart good (and my mind as well) to see the other comments and stories placed on here by other site members. Makes me realise that I'm not the only pessimist that looks at government departments and 'self-interest groups' with a sizeable dose of sarcasm.

Wonder if that makes me a sarcastic pessimist, or a pessimistic sarcassimist?

_________________

Chris O'Keefe
R43136
Ex WO Chippy
19th MOBI Intake
July 65 to July 85
HMAS Nirimba X 4 -Penguin-Sydney-Queenborough - Creswell - Moreton - Stalwart - Platypus - Coonawarra Reconstruction Team 76 - Platypus - Hobart - Cerberus - FHQ - Coonawarra.

Anyone can be ordinary. Shipwrights choose to be extraordinary!

To heck wiht it CJ, qualify for both!!!

_________________
Brian Carney
R43371
Ex-WOMTP5
22nd Mobi Intake
Jan 67 - Jan 89
RANATE, Sydney, Swan, Creswell, Stalwart (FMU), Cerberus, Derwent, Nirimba, Parramatta, Nirimba, FHQ (FMMO).

Received the following e-mail which may be of interest to all you RAN Vietnam Veterans,
a good buy for ANZAC Day I reckon...:evil3:


This Navy Vietnam Veterans Baseball Cap is available from the HMAS BRISBANE Association.

It is not ship or branch specific.

Cost of the cap, including postage, is $22:50 for one, and $40 for two.

Order through me (Peter Maher). Payment details will be supplied when you order...

Peter Maher
Secretary
HMAS BRISBANE Association

steelcatd41@optusnet.com.au



P.S. Before you ask. . .

Shouldn't the wording on the front be ROYAL Australian Navy?

We had this discussion all the way through the design process. Basically, we started with Navy, so people could relate to it being a sailor, but "navy" was a little unbalanced, so we wanted our sailor to be Australian to pad out the wording a bit. So the context is an Australian Sailor, rather than Royal Australian Navy. We tried "Australian Sailor" but then we had a problem as they wanted a picture of Lenny the Loop or the Kirribilli Gorilla instead of an anchor. The compromise is to have RAN on the back of the cap, simply because the words and spaces for "Royal Australian Navy" would necessitate making the lettering so small on the front that someone reading it would really have to be in your face to read it, and that’s not acceptable to most wearers, excepting perhaps, if the reader is Jennifer Hawkins.

That design doesn’t apply to all –don’t forget a lot are only entitled to the ‘Little Pattie’ medal (Logistics) and the Aus Active Service with Vietnam Clasp.

Fully realise that. Thing is, that ribbon bar is a well recognised symbol of a Vietnam Veteran - It's not intended to be a personal ribbon bar, but one that simply says "Vietnam". There are so many that also have the ASM, as well as other service medals, and we'd go mad making so many different caps, whereas the three ribbons shown are used by veterans organisations as a blanket type of thing. Same reason we didn't use a ship or branch on the design - simply wanted a blanket type of thing.

Peter

_________________

Rick Pengilly
WEBMASTER
Ex-CPOMTH3
R42630
13th MOBI Intake
July'62 to July'74
HMAS Nirimba - HMAS Melbourne - HMAS Cerberus - HMAS Tarangau - HMAS Lonsdale - HMAS Tarangau - HMAS Nirimba - HMAS Brisbane

Welcome Home

Vietnam Veterans Day was in Australia today 18Aug2009

Thank You by The Bobkatz

_________________
Wayne Johnson
(B149415)
OSC(SW) RET (RADARMAN)
Joined the Navy Jan 6, 1970, retired Jan 31, 1994
USS Trenton LPD-14, Hermitage LSD-34, Shreveport LPD-12, Saipan LHA-2, COMPHRIBRON-4 staff embarked in the Guam LPH 2, Saipan LHA-2, Nashville LPD-13, and Wasp LHD-1