Quote:
Originally Posted by Cdre Gibs
Borris.
I cant speak for the other's, only myself. To me it doesn't matter that you succeeded, but that you tried. The life of a soldier is not for all, but at least you stood up and had a go.
To me that alone speaks volumes about your character, in that you had the forthought to try to do service for you country.
The same can be said of your relitives regardless of what side they were on. There is no disrespect in 1 serving 1's own country, no matter the time frame nor the politics. A person can only try to do the best that they can and do it with honor.
I can salute my enemy for his Valour, Courage, Duty and Honor from 1 soldier to another. To do so brings no shame.
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Thanks for you kind words.
This is a far cry from the parting words of my commandant who (paraphrasing) said that I should be ashamed that I have only taken from my country and given little in return, and that one day I should consider repaying my debt to this country.
I attempted to break my service obligation five years before it should have ended, when I realised that a career as an officer in the army no longer interested me and that therfore i could not be an asset to the army.
I wanted to leave for a whole number of reasons, needless to say my whole outlook on life had changed a lot from the straight out of school guy that i was when I joined.
I planned to try everything to get out, without having to pay the exorbitant amount of money that the government wanted for the early severance of my service.
In the end an opportunity presented itself when my mid-year leave was denied. I had planned on (already booked) taking a trip to Europe with some of my Army mates and to see my family.
I decided to try and go anyway, since at this stage I was no longer in training and had little to lose. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), somehow the staff got wind of my intentions, and the night before my trip I recieved a direct order not to leave the base and to parade at 0730.
By that time the next morning I was at Sydney Airport, having taken a bus overnight from canberra. When my friends arrived 9ish, by plane, they confirmed my hunch that the MPs were at Canberra Airport looking for me.
We checked in our luggage, got through customs and onto the plane. Most passengers were seated and the crew was ready to close the doors, when I heard my name spoken. I looked up to see a badge in my face, accompanied by the words "Australin federal police, come with me please sir"
And that was that... the MPs flew me back to Canberra, where an angry Colonel tore me a new one and told me I would be kicked out.
:) It's all a good laugh in retrospect now, and a bit of an adventure at that.