Thread: Employment Opportunities

Great photos. Miles away from the standard Australian way of life.

The Fanta and Pepsi cans on the dinner 'table' made me smile!

Originally Posted by spudboy

Great photos. Miles away from the standard Australian way of life.

The Fanta and Pepsi cans on the dinner 'table' made me smile

!

yes me too

Originally Posted by FenianEel

HeyBBC, you didn't transport some knobs from Channel 7 recently did you?
Saw the briefest of snippets the other night and were riding in a Dutch chopper from Tarin Kowt.

No mate, they were obvious by their presence here though. Never think that the media can get in here and tell a story, it is disgustingly hand-fed to them by the ADF. I object to the control the ADF try exercise over the media. We may not believe in some of the 'low-life' beings who describe themselves as journalists but...they serve a purpose in our society...a purpose the military can not quite get to grip on.

The military do 'Phuckup' here on an all too regular basis, but all the public ever here are the contrived hero stories. You should here what the local regard is for the recent SF 'Kockup' that mistakenly killed Rozi Khan....but, will the truth ever be known? No way.

I personally wrote to the Defence Minister to point out to him the fact that there is only one Aero-medevac Helo on station here at TK. The reserve is located in KAF, two hours away, if the weather allows their deployment. One Helo is not a capability. What happens if there are mech faults...or...as has twice happened here...it 'lands heavy' (smacks in)...or...there are Troops in Contact (TIC) in more than one location...in two different directions...You know what happens? Soldiers bleed to death waiting for AME.

Ask about the 6 Afghani soldiers that were killed 3 days ago...did we hear about that? No..not in the ADFs interest for the Aust public to hear about that. Especially with the next rotation supposed to be out in the paddock beside them, mentoring them. Ask how long it took to get the wounded and dead back from that last TIC...it took about 4 hrs..one helicopter flying to and from...disgusting.

Fitzgibbon's response to the media over the matter of deploying ADF Blackhawks....they would not be ready until the middle of next year.....why? They lack armour and electronic counter measures. What? why are we in a position where we do not have an AME capability battle ready.....where did they think we were going to fly these things?...school fetes? What were they waiting for?

The ADF...AND the Australian public....need an effective media here.

Rant over.

Hey BBC - Won't you get your butt kicked by someone for saying things like that (even though they are true/commonsense) out on a public forum?

War has always been a pretty cynical exercise when it comes to the truth.

Thanks for all your posts - very interesting reading.
Cheers
David

Originally Posted by spudboy

Hey BBC - Won't you get your butt kicked by someone for saying things like that (even though they are true/commonsense) out on a public forum?

War has always been a pretty cynical exercise when it comes to the truth.

Thanks for all your posts - very interesting reading.
Cheers
David

David,

It has already been tried. It has been informed to me in an in-direct way that the ADF were trying to ban me from the camp. I am contracted to the Dutch. The Dutch own the camp, and I live in my own seperate compound. My letter to Fitzgibbon was written as Mr Joe Civilian who lives in a Federal electorate. Try to silence him. His right to free speech is one of the fundamentals that are being fought for over here.

My comments are based on my personal views and as long as it is not based upon any operationally sensitive information, there is no threat. I sent the message back to the people concerned that the move to silence me would be a bigger and more newsworthy story. No reaction.

A Personal Security Detachment of a certain VIP recently tried to remove me from a location...I was on my contracted worksite. I was asked for my ID (they knew who I was), I required them to show me their ID first, and then they could see mine...caused some consternation....I was told to move on....I told the member to cite his authority...more consternation...I stayed, they moved.

The ADF PSD teams are not well briefed as to how to deal with people. Subsequently, my name was mentioned in some briefings. I hope it assisted them in the improvement of their Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures. They need all the help they can get.

Dear All,

I think this Thread will be put aside for a while, as things are changing. I am taking up on a Letter of Offer that has been extended to me, and to that end, I will be exiting Afghanistan as of 26 Oct 08. At that time it will have meant that I have been here for a total of 34 mths since 24 Jan 06.

That time, depending upon the circumstances at the time, have either, sped by, or dragged themselves along interminably. Having won a further 12mth extension on both contracts here I do not feel any obligation, I have been successful but, it is time to do other things.

Firstly, I am heading home to Melbourne to spend some well earned time with my beautiful, loyal wife, and my growing kids...my looking forward to that is like an ache.

Then, in the latter half of January 09, after a bit of travelling around Australia...and some driving of my neglected Series 2A....I will be off on the new job. This will be working for a UK based company that has work in Africa.

For those in the know in the mining game, there is a considerable shortage of earthmoving tyres right across the globe. The company I am starting with supplies tyres and tyre servicing to mine sites around the world. My work is to do the Commercial Delivery on the tyres and tyre servicing to a number of mine sites located in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Egypt.

To do this I will be based out of Takoradi on the west coast of Ghan, west of Accra, near to Cote d'Ivoire. The package is a lot more attractive than where I am now. They were prepared to move the whole family to Ghana (impractical at the moment with the education situation). At least now, my wife can now utilise my company travel to fly and stay with me as she sees fit.

Looking forward to getting home, and then, looking forward to the new challenges in a different part of the world. Watch out for the photos.

Rock on - Oct 26th.
I hope you have a safe & good trip home. (Probably quicker than my trip home on the Monash Freeway sopmetimes).

Hopefully you will be able to continue to post those brilliant photographs from your new work place.
Are you delivering these tyres by helo??

Good Luck BBC - enjoy your time at home. Safe travels and thanks for the yarns. I look forward to your next chapter.

Cheers