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It’s Remembrance Day. And this year, we have more to remember than ever.

Ashley Birt, 22. Bryce Duffy, 26. Luke Gavin, 29. Rowan Robinson, 23. Todd Langley, 35. They’re all diggers killed in Afghanistan, and that’s just since June.

While we’re remembering them though, we need to jog our memories a little further. Because over the course of this Very Long War in Afghanistan, there’s a lot that we’ve forgotten.

Continue reading "As we remember our fallen, we forget why we went to war" »

The latest shooting of three Australian and two Afghan soldiers by a disgruntled Afghan comrade will intensify calls for our 1550 troops to be withdrawn immediately.

Details of the incident are sketchy, but given that the shooter escaped in a vehicle it is safe to assume that he was not a jihadist fanatic on a one-way suicide mission.

That was certainly not the case 10 days ago when an Afghan called Darwish opened fire at close range at Forward Operating Base Pacemaker in northern Kandahar Province killing Captain Bryce Duffy, 26, Corporal Ashley Birt, 22, and Lance Corporal Luke Gavin, 27.

Darwish had shaved and cleansed his body and dressed in white clothing to prepare for his journey into the next life following his murderous mission.

Continue reading "Another rogue Afghan not proof of ‘sleeper’ insurgency" »

Claims of abuse with the ADF have emerged again. Community concern with a Defence culture has again been reignited; the continuing fallout of the ADFA Skype Affair and other occurrences like the HMAS Success and Cerberus sex incidents.

The more things change the more they stay the same. There comes a point when we must call a spade a spade and make a clean sweep. These may be clichés but I am in keeping with tradition.

In 1983 Major General Coates, the commandant of RMC, explained to the Melbourne Sun that bastardisation at the college was not of a ‘general or systemic’ nature. Major General Coates assured us, civil society, that he was ‘certain’ of this.

Continue reading "Defence’s head is in the sand, and I don’t mean Afghanistan" »

As another Australian family endures the soul-destroying grief of the loss of a young son in Afghanistan - the fourth in a week -  the debate about the nation’s role in the campaign has shifted into fraught territory.

Some surveys show that the majority of Australians want the troops to be brought home immediately. Our political leaders say we must hold our nerve and harden our resolve for more losses in the weeks ahead.

Given that only two of the four latest casualties, Sgt Brett Wood and special-forces combat engineer Rowan Jaie Robinson, were killed in action fighting the Taliban the bipartisan position is the right one for a host of reasons. 

Continue reading "Afghanistan: We honour the fallen by staying the course" »

Forget Iraq, Afghanistan and any other theatres of battle Australia has been involved in recent years. The Australian Defence Force is in the middle of a battle of its own - and the enemy is within.

The latest flashpoint started just over a week ago after revelations that a young female cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy was allegedly secretly filmed having consensual sex with a male counterpart, and that he had allegedly broadcast the tryst to other soldiers via webcam.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith’s forthright and outspoken condemnation of the way the incident was handled and military culture in general blew the lid off a simmering internal dispute over incidences of bastardisation, bullying and the gender divide, and opened the wider question of whether women should be allowed to fight on the front-line.

Continue reading "Defence battling the enemy within" »

In 2006 I spent a couple of days at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

I inspected its organised dormitories (where male and female cadets shared the same buildings - but separate rooms). It’s like an upmarket youth hostel with communal kitchen and bathrooms at the end of each hallway. While there, I fired weapons, ate in the mess and spoke to staff including officers, professors and historians.  It’s an impressive place. 

ADFA at first glance looks like a tidy university, but walk into the bookshop and titles like Knife Fighting Techniques by inmates at Folsom Prison remind you this is a different world. This is a frat house with guns.

Continue reading "Inside ADFA: A frat house with guns" »

In the wake of the latest scandal to hit Defence, Defence Minister Stephen Smith has announced six inquiries, and says the Government will fasttrack changes so women can fight in all the most dangerous frontline positions. The Punch spoke to Australian Defence Association executive director Neil James about the move.

Q. Do you think women should be on the front line?

A. We support the fact that women in the Australian Defence Force serve on the front line and in combat (to the extent they currently can)... we also support the current scientific study into expanding the range of roles for women on the front line. We support evidence-based decisions - not emotive sloganeering.

This topic comes up every six to eight months and the discussion is never intellectually robust. Too many people enter it from an ideological viewpoint or they’re not across the facts. This is clearly a diversion by the minister - to divert attention from the fact none of the inquiries he’s called will investigate his apparent abuse of ministerial authority. He’s announced six reviews but none of them will include an investigation of him.

Continue reading "Consider this before you send women to the frontline" »

It sure is nice to see everyone upset with a culture of inequality and sexual objectification in the Australian Defence Force Academy. And then what happens after all the stern faces and head-shaking about those wayward ADF boys?

Coming up next…Two and a Half Men! Or how about a premiere screening of Observe and Report starring that adorably hilarious Seth Rogen? Or a special repeat screening of the inexplicably popular Wedding Crashers? Or maybe you don’t make it through the ads and turn off after a commercial for the new Hawaii Five-0.

Maybe a DVD instead; how about a perennial classic like a James Bond movie or teen-flick American Pie? Sick of TV, why not head outside and check out the unavoidable posters plastered all over bus-shelters for the new Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston flick, Just Go With It?

Continue reading "This one time, on ADFA camp…" »

The problem with Defence has been that nobody gets sacked.

Pushed sideways with a higher salary and rank maybe, but never taken out of a job as a punishment for failure.

That is the major significance of what has happened under Defence Minister Stephen Smith. Australian Defence Academy Commandant Bruce Kafer has been temporarily stood down as a consequence of the Skype sex scandal. Not many senior military figures have had to publicly lose face because of mismanagement.

Continue reading "Skirmish with Defence a long time coming" »

The reputation of the defence force has once again been tarnished by its personnel behaving badly. A defence force cadet has allegedly filmed himself having sex with another cadet and broadcasting it to his peers in an adjacent room.

The 18-year-old female RAAF cadet spoke of her sense of betrayal and abuse on Tuesday as the federal police and Defence investigators launched an investigation. She alleges she had consensual sex with the fellow cadet who was broadcasting their moment of intimacy by webcam to his mates in a separate room.

UPDATE: Defence Minister Stephen Smith said this afternoon that the ADF will not tolerate conduct that was sexist, vilified women or was indecent or uncivilised. He also said it was possible the female cadet could face disciplinary action.

Continue reading "Will Defence ever stop defending the indefensible?" »

“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”

“Ragheads’‘, “dune coons’‘, “sand niggaz’’ and “smelly locals’‘. Last night we were exposed to ADF soldiers with experience in Afghanistan acting in prejudicial, discriminatory, racist ways. That is what we call it in the civilian world.

A group of soldiers, some who have served overseas in contemporary conflicts, and apparently some who are serving, have allegedly posted their discontent on the social networking site Facebook. They have expressed their disdain, their hatred of the Afghanis, their racist and pejorative perspective of those they are charged to ‘liberate’ and their insubordination to their boss, Lieutenant General Gillespie.

Continue reading "Soldiers’ comments racist, disgusting, embarrassing" »

The stomach clenches with a cold nausea. The lip curls in disgust. It’s the same visceral reaction I had to pictures like the one below that emerged from Abu Ghraib; the images that made the idea of winning hearts and minds in Iraq a cruel joke.

Now, Der Spiegel has published three pictures of US soldiers, posing with the bodies of civilians they allegedly killed.  One grins. The German news magazine says it has thousands more ‘trophy shots’.

The soldiers are described as ‘rogue’ – as opposed to ‘sanctioned’. But of course this is just another one-off atrocity. Isn’t it? Just Americans, right?

Not right. Not one off.

Continue reading "Rogue soldiers shine light on Army’s dark side" »

Afghanistan, an uncertain world, and regional instability will make 2011 a challenging year for the Australian Defence Force.

The campaign in Afghanistan will dominate the military landscape this year as Australia and the other 44 nations involved in the International Assistance Force (ISAF) struggle to develop a workable exit strategy for the eight-year conflict.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has flagged a further decade-long involvement for Australian troops, but such a commitment will become increasingly difficult to justify as casualties mount during the coming fighting season. Pressure will build for a complete withdrawal once the training role is complete in Oruzgan Province (about 2014) where most of the 1550 Australians are working.

Continue reading "Afghanistan is one of many challenges for 2011" »

Apart from the two stars stitched onto his collar, there’s not much that sets Major General John Cantwell apart from his troops. And that is the way that Cantwell, who heads all of Australia’s Middle Eastern operations, seems to like it.

Cantwell, who turned 54 on Saturday, the day he escorted Tony Abbott on his visit to the Coalition base at Tarin Kowt, in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province, is an interesting study in the modern soldier.

At least, he comes across that way. Because access to the Australian military is quite limited, it’s hard to tell if Cantwell is an exception or reflects the easy intelligence – brain-power intelligence, not the secret stuff – of the Australian military in 2010.

Continue reading "We can and will win this war" »

‘Stop firing’ screamed the Afghan interpreter metres away from a suspected Taliban leader as he emptied his magazine towards a small band of Australian commandos. As the walls exploded the insurgent responded by clipping on a fresh magazine and unloading it at them. The Australians returned fire and lobbed a grenade into the dark room. 

The firing ceased. As they crept into the room they noticed a sight that will haunt them forever. 

The suspected Taliban leader lay dead amongst a human shield comprising women and children.

Continue reading "Military injustice: our troops should not be charged" »

The ongoing criticism of the Australian Defence Force’s deployed resources in Afghanistan, firstly by the 6 RAR Digger’s email and now also by a senior soldier in Townsville and a recently returned Officer, raise the real issue of the Government’s commitment to the fight.

Has the Government deployed every possible resource needed to achieve the mission?

In response to that now widely publicised email, Defence stated that the Commander on the ground at Deh Rawood had a range of direct and indirect fire assets at his disposal. The Commander chose to use some of those assets and others he did not, for a variety of reasons such as airspace deconfliction.

Continue reading "We need to listen to those on the ground in Afghanistan" »

The picture is seared in the mind’s eye: a moment that cut a beautiful young woman, heavily pregnant with a baby boy, to shreds.

A late-night knock at the door revealed two uniformed soldiers, the bearers of the news that her husband, Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney, had been killed in a war zone a few hours before.

His bride was shattered. With one sentence, Beckie MacKinney’s world careened off its axis. I know this because I have the privilege of knowing this brave, fragile, amazing woman. And although two weeks have passed since that terrible night, the feeling of helplessness as her friend refuses to loosen its grip.

Continue reading "Afghanistan: honouring the dead by staying the course" »

The 18th Australian soldier, Jason Brown, died in Afghanistan last week.

Gillard and Abbott were united in simultaneously expressing condolences to Jason’s family and friends; whilst expressing their determination to remain in Afghanistan (all the while carefully avoiding the war slipping onto the election agenda).

Gillard and Abbott are united in their declaration that Jason’s death should not distract from their commitment to maintain a presence in Afghanistan.

Continue reading "Shameful silence on the Afghanistan front" »

The timing is a co-incidence but it’s a terrible spectacle nonetheless.

As we’re bringing another three Australian Diggers home in coffins from Afghanistan, and increasing our civilian presence there, the man in charge of the allied military efforts has been dragged back to Washington because of something he said to a Rolling Stone journalist.

I’m not sure who comes out of this looking worse, President Obama or his General Stanley McChrystal.

Continue reading "Is the Afghan war in the hands of cowboys?" »

Update 10.30am: Acting chief of the defence force Lieutenant General David Hurley, and the acting defence minister Greg Combet have also just confirmed the deaths, and said the soldiers’ families had requested their names not be released.

Update 10.10am: Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has confirmed two Australian soldiers were killed. More here.

Details are still emerging but Australians are believed among the casualties in the most deadly day this year for allied forces in Afghanistan.

A spokesman for the Australian Defence Force confirmed an “an incident” involving the Mentoring Task Force and that next of kin had been informed, though did not provide further details. The Courier-Mail in Brisbane, where the MTF is based, is reporting two Australian soldiers were killed in the incident. If confirmed it will bring the number of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 13 since 2002.

Last night the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed an improvised explosive device incident that killed two soldiers in southern Afghanistan, where Australian troops are based.

Continue reading "Callous reminders of why Afghans still want to flee" »

On returning last month from 10 days in the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) that included five days in Afghanistan in Kandahar and Tarin Kowt, I was shocked to hear of another attempted extremist Islamic terrorist attack, on that occasion in Times Square.

This only reinforces my view that unless we defeat the Taliban and remove the opportunity for their Al Qaeda allies to spew venom through indoctrination, training and support, we will continue to fight them in our own backyard.

The Dutch unfortunately have decided their contribution has come to an end in Afghanistan leaving a capability vacuum in Oruzgan Province where the bulk of Australia’s combat forces are. The military has a maxim that ‘time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted.’ Likewise 10 days with our troops on operations was fertile time to reflect and I’ve personally concluded that Australia should consider expanding its contribution to fill this vacuum and take the lead in Oruzgan Province.

Continue reading "More Australian leadership is needed in Afghanistan" »

Throughout history millions have urged us to ‘make love, not war’ and an important voice has just joined this choir.

On Tuesday, Australia’s former Army Chief, Peter Leahy, suggested that the defence budget should be cut and redirected towards its diplomacy and aid programs – and no, he wasn’t wearing flares or dreads.

Continue reading "Former army chief says ‘make love, not war’" »

The Defence Department posted this image from Afghanistan on its website on Tuesday. As you can see, the faces of the Australian soldiers were obscured.

For security reasons, we have decided to also obscure the faces of the Afghans in the photo.

The Defence Department released this photo along with a media release, which explained the men pictured were village elders and religious leaders of Chenartu, north-east of Tarin Kowt. The photo shows the Afghans laughing and getting on well with members of Australia’s Special Operations Task Group as they engage with Afghan communities across Oruzgan province.

Continue reading "First casualty of war is truth, closely followed by logic" »

I read with glee this week the news that the Rudd government is reviewing the role of women in the Defence Force.

For some reason this always gets me riled.

Call me a bra-burning feminist with hairy under-arms and a Subaru if you like, but it appears to me that men don’t want women in the military because they are scared of themselves.

Continue reading "ADF: give us girls a go" »

Those people with strong religious beliefs tend to think graves are better left undisturbed. People with strong non-religious beliefs share this view.

“Let the dead rest” is a universal sentiment that is only ever challenged when foul play or mass executions are suspected.

There is no good reason to dig up our Diggers. Nothing will be gained by identifying those members of the 31st Battalion, and others, who died at Pheasant Wood in France, in July 1916. We already know what happened.

Continue reading "Let the Diggers rest" »

Until last week, I thought the silliest casualty of modern warfare was the word “bomb”, which in many news reports had become known by the acronym IED, or improvised explosive device.

IED might be a handy term for military strategists needing to distinguish between a mortar fired from a well-equipped conventional unit of soldiers and a bucket full of fertiliser and nails left by an anonymous freelancer in a car on a crowded street in Baghdad, but to the media, any explosive device whose detonation imperils those in the immediate vicinity should, provided it’s not Barry Hall after giving away a couple of 50s, be simply referred to as what it is: a bomb.

To do otherwise simply buries the true horror of the incident under a comforting layer of jargon.

Continue reading "ABC drops the F-bomb" »

Sixty five years ago today, Europe was enslaved by the greatest tyranny.

Proud nations were in chains.

Millions were dying in camps, such as Auschwitz, Dachau and Bergen-Belsen.

Continue reading "D:Day: 65 years since the world was freed from tyranny" »