4 Field Regiment (SVN) 'Old Boys' Newsletter - March 2014 Edition

From Brian Swift via email on 19 Jan 14. Peter, I just spent five hours having a great yarn and catch-up with Steve Glover and Greg Young (both regimental police in Vietnam.) Steve was in Brisbane for a shooting meet and Greg has recently returned to Australia after living and working in the Solomon Islands for about 30 years. Mick Long joined us for the afternoon. I am pleased to report that all three re in good health and high spirits, enjoying retirement like me and many others. Greg's appearance is very much like it was back then, while Steve looks like he swallowed Tasmania. He is very well and the happiest I've seen him in forty years. Still shooting like a young man too. All three (plus me) want to pass on our best wishes to all our mates and look forward to seeing some of you now and then. Spending good time with these ghosts of the past is a solid reminder of how important our old mates are and how we all should do our best to remain in touch with as many as possible. We re-fought the war, destroyed a few reputations, told a few lies, solved te problems of te world and laid out plans for the future of humanity -- so all-in-all a typical old soldiers' reunion. Signing off now with great affection to you all – Swifty From PJ Smith back in November: The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance. Cicero, 55 BC Tom Beynon (BQMS HQ Bty 70 – 710 ( by snail mail “Yesterday”) reports that he has moved back to the west. He is keen to establish contact with as many as possible in the west. Accordingly he has organised a get together and hopes many gunners and families may attend. It would be great if as many as possible could support Tom’s efforts. (Will be interesting how the function on 2 March went. Details next newsletter.) T om Beynon’s contact Number is 0448 768 024. Many of you will remember Tom but just to fill you in on some of his later life, Tom had a major back operation several years ago. A piece of bone the size of a large orange was removed from the back/pelvis area. On one of the many reviews the specialist recommended a sport to Tom that would strengthen the whole back area. After many trails and errors, Tom came across the ‘Power-Lifters Association of Australia’. After one session with a personal trainer who fully understood his problem, a set of exercises was developed for him. After three months he was fully tested on the exercises and his back. One thing led to another and Tom was enjoying the three main lifts the group specialised in ie bench press, the squat and the dead lift. Tom competed in his first national completion in Mannum in South Australia and set some amazing records for his age and weight division. The records included: Bench press – old record 62 kgs – Toms new record 65 kgs. Squat – old record 115kgs – Toms new record 120 kgs. Dead lift – old record 112 kgs - Toms new record 130 kgs. Again in Newcastle in 2012, Tom managed to set new records in each class: