Gnads wrote on Sep 4
th, 2024 at 10:43am:
Shoalwater Bay is a 4,500 sq kilometer military training ground just north of you.... been in operation since 1965. 59 years.
The Colonial military, consisting of the army and navy kept "Australia" safe for the first 20 years of Australia's 'inception'.
I have 'trained' at Shaolwater Bay in my late teens. I was given the option of joining the reserves and preparing for East Timor. Or I could get on the piss with the other reserves who had just completed training. So, I decided that since I was already there, I could give the basic training a go. Having completed a school-based First Aid the year before, it all came down to learning how to shoot; basic fighting stances; when to piss; what to watch for in the jungle (remember this was north of Yeppoon -- tropical conditions); countering sleep deprivation techniques -- remember, the actual army reservists were still having their booze ups. Then we did some orientation.
After about 5 days of basic training, I was allowed to have a BBQ with the other soldiers. Except the guys that were wearing the SASR headwear were no longer around. They were being deployed overseas. In their place was about 20 "Jar heads" with American accents. Operation "Tandem Thrust" was underway.
They let me eat with them. They let me drink with them. Some of them even ordered in some ladies from nearby Byfield. It was a pretty wild night. But my mouth got me in trouble when I criticised American politics. Some laughed. Others said that they know people who live there. Apparently, they were not earlier talking about "a boat". They were talking about "about". Hence the misinterpretation.
I slept out near a tree. One of the Byfield ladies slept near me, to get away from the rabble. Then she slept on top of me, to keep me warm. I heard that she nicknamed me "Matt Rest". Then there was a bit of a commotion at the camp site where one of the Canadian 'soldiers' was 'harassing' the lady. One of the 5 other Aussie boot campers that stuck around that week, phoned in the military police -- who took their sweet time. Good thing that we had locals who knew how to shoot and fight, to pre-empt the M.P.
I slept off the night. The next morning, the Canadian SAS were packing up to move on their patrols. Having been hungover, dehydrated and bruised, I took my time "getting ready to leave". My backpack contained a map, compass, flick knife, torch, flare and 2 x 1 litre bottles of water. After using the outhouse provided, I got out to find that the backpack had all items except for a 1 litre bottle of water. In its place was a box of matches, a lighter, and a jar of vaseline. It also had a note that read "Let's see what you are all 'aboat'".
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