4 Field Regiment (SVN) 'Old Boys' Newsletter - February 2011 Edition

From David Anderson: An interesting article apparently written by an ex SAS soldier John Trist of Deniliquin and printed in the local paper. Australia Day, Anzac Day and Remberance Day are important days to all Australians. It is when we celebrate the birth of our nation, our achievements, and reflect on the many thousands who gave their lives fighting for this country. Through their determination and sacrifice we are able to enjoy a unique lifestyle and freedom, and an exclusive standard of living, making us the envy of many other countries around the world. When we consider the progress we have made as a nation, we should acknowledge the migrants who have made a contribution to this country in developing the infrastructure that required their engineering skills to enable the Snowy Mountain Hydro Electric Scheme to be completed. One project that we can relate to locally is the Lawson Syphon right here in Deniliquin. These projects were completed largely by skilled workers from abroad who earned their place in this country and quickly became fully fledged “Aussies”. They struggled with the language, but were quickly accepted due to their strong work ethic and desire to assimilate with us in their adopted country. Previous Australia Day ceremonies that I have attended speakers have paid tribute to those migrants who established their market gardens, and other enterprising business people who have worked extremely hard, often under the most arduous and primitive conditions, seeking to earn a living and raise their families in their new homeland. The Italian, Greek, Poms and Eastern Europeans have all been great migrants and contributors to this country and have all assimilated well. As a nation we are extremely generous and tolerant. Some would say we are too generous, and charity begins at home. We are always quick to respond to our neighbours who are affected by any natural disasters, and we provide specialist medical help, emergency aid and military assistance at short notice whenever it becomes necessary. But the world is changing, and far too rapidly for many of us. Terrorist with “silent feet” planned and executed the terrorist attack on the twin towers in the US in September 2001 that shook the world, and has “changed the way we live, forever”. It has changed the way we travel, and made us more aware of our surroundings in centres where large numbers of people congregate where any one of us could be a victim of a terrorist attack. We have a different set of values and respect for life of those who come here to disrupt our way of life and daily routine. On Remembrance Day on 11 November 2010, one Government Department in Victoria issued a statement to their employees that they did not want staff to pause for one minutes silence to remember the fallen as it may offend other non- Australians in the workforce. Unless we voice our opinion on issues such as this in the strongest possible terms, this will become normal practice and those things we value that are very much a part of our custom will become forbidden. For the United Kingdom and the United States it is too late to close the gate. The “enemy within” are well entrenched and have established their networks and are pretty much comfortable in our own backyards. The authorities have huge problems monitoring potential terrorist threats and we have had a number of incidents here that luckily have been foiled before any damage occurred. Only a fool would say that it will not happen in Australia, although it is a far safer place than many other countries around the world. Those who are responsible for terrorism are well settled in the community but they have not assimilated into our way of life and are unlikely to do so at any time in the future. In time they will want to build more mosques and will want their children educated in Muslim schools. They will require taxpayer funded accommodation and any other government handout they can get. If you have ever visited a Muslim country and lived in close proximity to a Mosque you would know it does not fit into our culture. The issue of border protection is a complex one and “boat people” have very few documents and history to identify them. It is not a simple task to trace a person’s background from a third world country where falsifying documents is rife. Those who have a criminal background are prepared to wait patiently in the shadows while they