Old Codger wrote on Oct 18^th, 2013 at 8:23am:



Tis place is full of people who have never done anything with thier lives, looking to troll those who serve this country.

I just flame them and move on, not worth any effort in discussing the issues, they're just idiots.

Friendly warning: recent post's are off topic, please return the discussion back to "Do we really need a defence force?"

Pantheon wrote on Oct 18^th, 2013 at 11:30am:


No!

We need the Swiss model in which every man and his dog has a loaded rifle at home, and is instantly on call to rally to certain points to defend the country.

A fully trained Reserve military capability is what Australia needs.

A gun in every home.

At present the only purpose our army and navy serve is to provide a smorgasbord of female-lovelies for the males to sexually harass, film in secret, and upload the porno videos to the internet.

That's all one ever hears when the news is about the services.

Pantheon wrote on Oct 18^th, 2013 at 1:15pm:


We could disband our whole military organisation and for a relatively small annual fee place ourselves under the protective care of the UN's military forces.

Or we could declare ourselves a Neutral Nation.

Or ... scrap all the obsolete military hardware that we now have, and replace these with:

1. One nuclear submarine with long-range intercontinental ballistic missile capability.

2. 10 long-range fighter-bombers with the latest technology.

3. One nuclear aircraft carrier.

4. Only a skeleton crew of technicians to service and man these military logistics.

95% of the current personnel in the various service branches could be retired at enormous savings to the government.

Our current military hardware could be auctioned off to the Third World.

BigOl64 wrote on Oct 18^th, 2013 at 2:35pm:


I've just been a voice-in-the-wilderness saying that all our young fellows and gals should NOT be in harm's way in these silly boutique mini-wars that the US keeps dreaming up for the dancing pleasure of its millions of military personnel.

But that aside, even at my age I'd volunteer to remotely pilot from a comfortable office in Sydney's Pitt street a drone with a nuclear warhead directed towards North Korea...

BigOl64 wrote on Oct 18^th, 2013 at 2:35pm:


Did you know I once handed out scrounged cigarette butts to Japanese war criminals at Stanley Prison in Hong Kong in 1953?

**

If there's anything more ridiculous than the situation of our young men risking their lives in a shooting war in Afghanistan while newly-arrived young afghans are driving taxis in all our major cities ~ then I have yet to hear of it.

It's one of the most flaky, cockeyed scenarios one could ever imagine ~ and it's all sponsored by the imbeciles who run this country.

Lord Herbert wrote on Oct 18^th, 2013 at 4:14pm:




This is what the satelites picture Korea at night. You can see the North Koreans basically spending their time without lights, with only Pyongyang showing some degree of electrical power. The South Koreans living the modern equivalent of any first world country, and able to fund keeping the lights on.

Do you really want to aim a nuclear weapon at that waste of time of a country? It would be a waste of nuclear weapon.

Lord Herbert wrote on Oct 18^th, 2013 at 8:12am:


Except for Malaya and Borneo, Herbie.  Then there was East Timor, not much "behesting" from the USA on that one either.  Then there were various UN commitments and of course our own in The Solomons.  Not much interest or involvement in most of those, Herbie.   

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Well, you're partially right.  Our involvement in Afghanistan came about because of our then over-zealous Prime Minister, John Howard who wanted to leap onto the George W. Bush bandwagon and prove that Australia was with the USA, rather than agin the USA.   However, we should not ignore that it also came about because we are both a stronger supporter of the US and of International Law.  The US had right on it's side when it declared war against Afghanistan.  The Taliban government had refused to hand over Usama bin Laden, which the US had demanded because of his involvement in the 11 September attacks.   It made good sense to help, both from our own geo-political viewpoint and our alliance responsibilities with the USA.

That the US Government was stupid and decided to withdraw troops at a crucial juncture in the campaign in Afghanistan in order to attack Iraq, is not our fault nor should it necessarily show that there was something wrong with the cassis belli, Herbie.

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Young Afghan men whom are in danger of persecution, Herbie.  Bit hard to stay and fight when you're in danger of being killed, not only the "enemy" but people who are supposedly on your side as well.   

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And you are, Herbie a troll and a fool.  A retreat into isolationism is guaranteed to fail.   

Lord Herbert wrote on Oct 18^th, 2013 at 4:14pm:



Your political opinions about Australia's involvement in the Ghan and Iraq aside; we are still conduction operations in Timor Leste and have been since the late 90's. Without a decent defence force, are we to abandon our weaker neighbours to stronger more beligerent countries like we did in '75? An act of cowardice we should be eternally ashamed of, thanks to whitlam and his gutless cronies. 

If you are seen as selfish and cowardly, soon enough you will get to look after yourself and in a time of need everyone will treat you as you deserve.

I would prefer that didn't happen to Australia; we have security obligations to our neighbours, how about we at least try to meet them