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

meticulously plan acts of terrorism aimed at inflicting maximum casualties against the country that provides them with welfare, housing and an income to support their families without ever giving anything back. We owe it to every Australian serviceman and woman who have lost their lives fighting for this country to ensure that any refugees (particularly boat people who try to enter the country illegally and are at best “queue jumpers”), are given a strong message that they are not welcome here unless they apply through the right channels and satisfy strict criteria. Peter Costello is the only politician who made it quite clear that any migrant who acts in breach of the law in regard to any activity connected with terrorism would be immediately deported. Neither the Labour Party nor the Coalition gave any guarantee in the lead up to the last Federal elections that they would get tough with boat people illegally entering Australian waters. It would appear that if you are relying on the Government to maintain strong border protection you are going to be disappointed. We also owe the same debt to those who have fought for their country and may be affected by their service fighting for their country on foreign soil. Some handle these debilitating physical and mental health problems better than others, but they all deserve our respect. Sir Edmund Barton had some strong views on immigrants as early as 1907 when he said: “In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an Australian and assimilates himself to us. He shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an Australian. There can be no divided allegiance here. We have room for but one flag, the Australian flag…….we have room for one language here and that is the English language ….and we have room for but one loyalty, and that is loyalty to the Australian people”. Australian troops have never been better prepared for war than they are now, but the potential for casualties with Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) placed under the cover of darkness and used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan has never been greater. Our troops receive the most thorough and advanced training and the lessons learnt from previous deployments and the ongoing opportunities for exchange and deployment with other coalition forces gives them a great deal of expertise and flexibility but the tempo of the fighting and the pace of the war on terrorism (with a very formidable enemy), is not to be taken lightly. It is well to remember that the Taliban handed out a solid back hander to the Russians a few short years ago. Any parent who has a family member on an overseas deployment should be immensely proud of their involvement and we know from the feedback we are getting from other coalition forces that the Aussie soldier and service men and women are highly regarded for their professionalism and ability to get the job done. That hasn’t changed from our earliest deployments as a young nation when we sent troops to South Africa in 1901. This is why we owe it to them to be doing the right thing at home while they are away fighting terrorism at the sharp end. Sadly, many veterans and others who care about our country has expressed a view that they are glad they will not be around to see the result of our “out of control immigration policy” in another 20-30 years. There are others in the community that simply don’t care about what our service men and women have done for them. We can all do something about this, although not in a direct way:  We need to continue to support our troops who are serving overseas.  Resist all attempts from those who want to change our flag. Many service men and women fought under this flag.  Fly the Australian flag at your home.  Continue to promote and support Australia Day, Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.  Protest loudly when minority groups want us to change our culture to suit theirs.  Encourage the younger generation to read the military history books and learn about the number of service men and women who have lost their lives on the battlefields so that we can live the way we do.