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25.01.2022 We're now live at the ADFA Virtual Open Day Facebook live Q&A. We're here with Sandra, a Maritime Warfare Officer in the Navy, Chris, an Aerospace Engineer in the Air Force and Sophie who is an Army Officer. Ask them your questions now!

25.01.2022 On Saturday 14th November 2020 11/28 Battalion RWAR exercised their right to Freedom of Entry to the City of Albany. Some of our cadets were there to provide a guard of honour and experience an amazing spectacle.

24.01.2022 'I probably should have been killed doing what I was doing' As a 17-year-old army recruit, Corporal Daniel Keighran VC would stand to attention outside his room... each morning and stare at the portrait of Albert Jacka, one of Australia’s most famous Victoria Cross recipients from the First World War. I have a vivid memory of getting off the bus at Kapooka on my first day in the Australian Army and being assigned to 32 Platoon amid much yelling and screaming, he said. In our barracks was the Hallway of Valour, funnily enough, so every morning when we’d run into Hallway 32, with your bed sheet over your shoulder, there was Albert Jacka across from me, and I would stand there reading and rereading his citation, or the others around it, as we were doing roll call and I was waiting to hear my number yelled out. Little could he have imagined that one day his photograph would appear alongside that of Albert Jacka’s. But that’s exactly what happened. Ten years ago, on 24 August 2010, Daniel repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire during a three-hour battle in the village of Derapet in Afghanistan, identifying targets and drawing fire away from his mates who were trying to save the life of a mortally wounded comrade. For his actions that day, Daniel became the 99th Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross, the pre-eminent award for acts of bravery in wartime and Australia’s highest military honour. I look back and think I was just doing my job that day, he said. I probably should have been killed doing what I was doing. I could see the bullets strike the ground in front of me and behind me, and I could hear them fly past my head And then the Victoria Cross came along and changed everything; how could it not? A humble man who describes himself as a classic introvert, Daniel Keighran was born in Nambour, Queensland, in June 1983, the youngest child of Judith and Ian Keighran. He spent his early years with his mother and his older sister Susan at Maleny on the Sunshine Coast where he was close to his grandparents. When Daniel was 11, his father showed up for the first time in Daniel’s life. It would turn his world upside down. His father uprooted the family, moving his wife and children four hours away from their grandparents and their home on the Sunshine Coast to live in a rough shack with dirt floors on a property at Lowmead, 100 kilometres north of Bundaberg. They bred paint horses and were involved in dressage and rodeo, but it wasn’t an easy existence. Daniel did his homework by candlelight and lamplight and would run two kilometres to catch the bus to school each day. I grew up with dirt floors and no main power and all that sort of bizzo, so it was tough, he said. We’d often go without, so it wasn’t a normal Australian upbringing I would imagine, although lots of people out in the bush had upbringings like me. I’d ride bulls and break in horses, and work from sun up to sun down on the weekends, and after school I’d go home and muck out stables and all of the stuff that you do; the life of a kid on the farm, I suppose. I look back on it now quite fondly, and was happy, but we didn’t have much. We grew up in poverty essentially. Inspired by his beloved grandfather, Allan Pyburne, a Second World War veteran, Daniel joined the army at 17. It’s no secret that there were limited options for me, he said. Employment opportunities up there in rural Queensland were just non-existent It was either stay on the farm and work on the property, which wasn’t really that enticing to me, or Defence. Realistically, that was the only other option to, one, get a job, and two, get out of there, let’s be honest, but I think it was always destined to happen My grandfather served in the Second World War, and without a doubt, he was my mentor my hero even and the reason why I joined Defence. He was certainly my father figure growing up my dad went MIA so he was very much an influence in my life from a young age. Daniel’s grandfather served in the Middle East and New Guinea with the 2/4th Field Regiment during the war and married his grandmother while on leave. He was a sergeant on the 25 pounders for the majority of the time, but he didn’t talk about the war with me until I said that I was going to join up, he said. "He spoke about the adventures that he had, but he also talked about the ups and downs, and the highs and lows that you go through in the service of your country; the good times and the bad. Then when I met my dad, I found there was a proud history of service there as well; his father [John Keighran] was a Rat of Tobruk and had fought at El Alamein, so the army was always in the back of my mind from a young age. Daniel joined the Australian Regular Army in December 2000, three weeks after finishing high school. I still remember getting yelled at getting off the bus at Kapooka, and I don’t think the yelling stopped for the entire time that I was there for basic training, but I found it pretty easy in all honesty I was a single guy at 17 who had just finished school and was on the adventure of a lifetime. I was used to hard work, and I was used to getting up early and working all day on the farm, so it wasn’t much of a stretch for me to get into the groove of army life. After completing recruit training at Kapooka and corps training at Singleton, he was posted to the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR) at Enoggera Barracks, in Brisbane. I hadn’t even turned 18 yet, he said. And apparently I was a fully qualified infantry soldier, in a battalion, ready to go. He deployed to East Timor in 2003, Iraq in 2006, and went to Afghanistan in 2007 and 2010. It was a bit of the Wild West back then, and the seriousness of operations became apparent very quickly, he said. Up until that point, I could count on one hand the number of times I’d been shot at, and then I got to Afghanistan, and I lost count of how many times someone tried to kill me. Daniel’s life would change forever during his second tour of Afghanistan. On 24 August 2010, he was part of a joint Australian and Afghan patrol in the village of Derapet in the Tangi Valley in Uruzgan Province. While the vehicles were going in, droves of women and children were leaving the village, he said. We could see them picking up and leaving, so by the time we managed to get the vehicles securely in without getting blown up, and our full patrol marched off, we already knew that potentially something was going to happen. We’d been there a couple of days beforehand and there were kids playing and people working out in the fields, but none of that was going on. There were a few tumbleweeds, and a few dogs running around, but there were no real people, and no one waved at us so there was already a heightened sense of awareness. I remember walking around one of the last buildings, and hearing that very familiar sound of a machine-gun firing at you. There was that thump, crack, as the bullet passes very close to you, like a whip cracking, and sure enough we were getting shot at. I knew pretty quickly it was pretty serious, and I remember running up this hill on the right-hand side. I was on this hill, on and off, for nearly three hours, but I nearly got killed straight away. I’d gone too far, and I’d exposed myself, so they could clearly see me, but it wasn’t just one guy shooting; it turned out there were probably 100 people waiting in a defended position an ambush and here I was standing on the hill like an idiot. Everyone saw me, and started shooting at me, and there was a little wave of bullets striking the ground around me. It was probably half an hour into this battle that I remember hearing a scream, or a shout, or a yell, or something, which was odd, and I remember looking over to my left-hand side. It was probably some 50 metres away, and I saw my mate Jared [MacKinney] lying on his back on the hill. It came over the radio not long after that we’d taken a casualty, and I assumed straight away that it was him, but it took another five or ten seconds to realise the seriousness of what was going on. I remember looking over again and all of sudden there’s not just him there; there’s five or six people around him, and they’re ripping his clothes off, and his armour off. I could see them doing CPR, and one of the engineers was on his knees doing compressions, and then another soldier grabbed this guy’s helmet, and ripped his helmet down just as a burst of machine-gun fire went through where his chest had been. It would have killed him, and I remember seeing that, and thinking if someone doesn’t do something now, and make a decision, they’re all about to die. So I came up with a quick plan, and my plan was pretty simple; it was to run along this hill, expose myself and my position, and let people know where I was so that they would start shooting at me and hopefully stop shooting at Jared and the rest of the guys. It was more of a gamble than anything, but I thought it would also give our guys time to get into position and identify targets. It was a very quick plan, and I still remember the look on the gunner’s face when I told him what I was going to do. As soon as he stood up, he heard the thump, crack of a bullet travelling past his head. Sure enough, it was like if you’re watering the garden with a hose, he said. The bullets were chasing me like a stream of water along this hill in front of me, behind me, and all around me. I should have been dead the first time, and I ended up doing it three times in total because it was working; they were literally following me instead of the team doing CPR and dragging my mate off the hill. After the third run, he ran back across the hill to provide security to his fellow soldiers as they fought to save his mate’s life. Probably one of the hardest things in my life was that walk back from the contact site to our patrol base, he said. It was probably only about 1800 metres in total, but we knew Jared was dead. I wasn’t frightened or concerned for my own life, but I was fearful of letting the team down, or not doing enough. I expected to get shot when I was doing those runs, let’s be honest, but I had my body armour on, front and back, and my helmet, and I had faith and trust in my team. I had no other option. There was nothing else we could do. We couldn’t identify the target, and it was better than doing nothing, so it was one of those things, where I’m like, ‘I hope this works.’ I probably should have been killed doing what I was doing, and I remember my body shutting down around me, but I wasn’t going to stop. Two years later Daniel learnt that he had been awarded the Victoria Cross. By this time he had left the army and was working at a gold mine in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. It was a whole other world, he said. I was blasting underground this particular day, and I have no idea why, but I came up, and checked my phone. It’s a 30-minute drive from the bottom of the mine, and the phone was ringing, and it was the Chief of Army. He said he had the jet and he was coming to Kalgoorlie to see me. I was starting to get worried, as you would, and I’m thinking, what’s happened, what have I done, and all that sort of business, but it was the Chief with the letter on behalf of the Queen, saying do you accept this nomination for the Victoria Cross? I was stunned and tremendously honoured, but also reticent, for I was not the only person on the battlefield that day. I remember talking to my now ex-wife, Kathryn, and saying this is an opportunity to tell their story my mates’ story and shine a light on the great work that the Defence Force has been doing, and that was the only reason I accepted. He was presented with the Victoria Cross at an investiture ceremony at Government House in 2012, surrounded by his mates and his family. I would be dead without these guys, and I say that all the time; I would not be alive if it wasn’t for these guys on the ground there supporting each other, he said. I wouldn’t have made it, so it’s for all those guys who were there that day, and it’s an opportunity to tell all of our stories. Those experiences change you for good and bad and I’m one of the lucky ones The mateship and the bonds you forge with will no doubt remain for the rest of our lives. Today, he is proud to be a member of the Council of the Australian War Memorial. Once upon a time, the Memorial was about other wars, but now it is very close to home, he said. A lot of guys I know are now on that Roll of Honour, so for me, it is a special place to go and remember them, and that’s exactly what I do; I go and remember those that I served with, and those that have lost their lives, and are no longer there. I don’t know how many mates have told me how much it means to them; it’s a place where they can tell their stories and tell their sons and daughters what they did. The Memorial is currently undergoing a $500 million development to help tell the stories of more recent conflicts, peacekeeping and humanitarian operations. When it’s finished, it’s going to be world class, and I really look forward to seeing the doors open, he said. It’s important to continue to tell the stories as our history evolves, and I don’t think it should be 30 years later on, I think it should be told as soon as possible, and as accurately as possible; the good and the bad. Today, Daniel’s photograph and citation are on display in the barracks at Kapooka, and his medals are on display in the Hall of Valour at the Memorial. It’s nearly a lifetime ago now, and there I am on the wall with the other Victoria Cross recipients, he said quietly. I still look at it, and I don’t believe sometimes that it is there a great mugshot of me with the red hair and that, on the wall with the citation. I’ve got more used to it as much as you can, I suppose as the years have gone on, but a tremendous honour like that changes your life, and it continues to change my life. When you go into an RSL even, and there’s your photo on the wall with the citation; I’ll never get used to it, I don’t think I really won’t. It is one of those things; you should be dead for an action like that, and we all say the same thing, for what we did we probably shouldn’t be alive. I never regret anything, and I’d do it again, but I tell you what, I really wish my grandfather had been around to see that because he really was my hero my mentor and I really looked up to him as a kid. I often think about how he would have reacted and how he would have felt, but he would have been extremely proud without a doubt. I think he would have been absolutely over the moon, and I know he would have been so proud of me. Daniel Keighran's medals are on display in the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial. His book, Courage under fire, written with Tony Park, is due to be published by Pan Macmillan Australia in October 2020. Photo 1 Corporal Daniel Keighran VC at the Australian War Memorial. Photo 2 Albert Jacka was the first Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross in the First World War. Photo 3,4,5,6 Corporal Daniel Keighran VC Photo 7 Corporal Daniel Keighran VC at a Last Post Ceremony at the Memorial Photo 8 Corporal Daniel Keighran VC was awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia at an Investiture Ceremony at Government House in Canberra on 1 November, 2012. Photo 9 Corporal Daniel Keighran VC reads excerpts of letters and diaries of Australians who experienced the First World War firsthand prior to the commencement of the Anzac Day Dawn Service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra in 2015 See more

24.01.2022 A very well done to our newly qualified Junior Leader Candidates on completing the 52 Battalion Junior Leaders course this weekend! All the students completed a... number of command tasks that saw each of them take charge of their sections during realistic and challenging scenarios. Each of the students also had to demonstrate their navigational ability and delivery of a lesson at the section level. A special mention to our very own CDTLCPL Winter who was the top student of the course and received the 52 Battalion JLCs Dux award. She was presented at the conclusion of the course with a Commanders Bronze Commendation for her achievement. The course brought together students and cadet instructors from across the state. A big thank you to the cadet instructors the Bn CUO Allen, CDTWO1(Temp) Abbot, CUOs Imlach, Tonkin & Steele and CDTSGTs Akkari & Robinson. It was also the first chance that the two incoming senior cadets of the battalion got to be presented to the battalion and saw the new Battalion RSM being presented with his pace stick (Points for those who can guess the pace sticks name?).

23.01.2022 Get along to a service in your area today

22.01.2022 International Men’s Day (19 November 2020) On International Men’s Day 2020 we salute the Lads in the Drums and Pipes. To Alasdair, Calum, Cameron, Charles, Denn...is, Doug, Eamon, Hamish, Jack B, Jack G, Jacob, Myles, Peter, Rhogan, Sam, Trent, William and Carlo, Jack T, Keith, Liam, Fergus and Stuart, we say thanks and appropriately to complete the salute we play The March of the Cameron Men. See more

22.01.2022 A truly great Australian war hero, who carried 12 wounded American soldiers to safety down the slopes of Mount Tambu, New Guinea, during the Wau - Salamaua camp...aign, in WW2. Corporal Leslie ‘Bull’ Allen MM, a stretcher bearer in the 2/5th Australian Infantry Battalion, was awarded the US Silver Star for his bravery. The highest honour possible for a non-American. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt was one of many to write him a letter of gratitude. During the American assault against the Japanese on Mount Tambu, more than 50 American soldiers were wounded. Two medics were killed trying to retrieve them. What is truly extraordinary, Australians were not supposed to be involved in the fighting, but Corporal Allen, who became aware of the many American casualties, was determined to do what he could. He decided to go up and start carrying men out one at a time over his shoulder through the rough terrain, facing enemy machine guns, snipers and mortar fire. I have read that witnesses told his family that he saved 18 American soldiers who were wounded that day, more than the 12 officially recorded. Corporal Allen was born in my hometown of Ballarat, Victoria, and the incredible photograph on this post was taken on the 30th of July 1943, of him carrying a wounded American soldier. This very brave soldier previously received a Military Medal (MM) for a similar act of bravery involving Australian wounded on the 7th of February 1943, at Crystal Creek, Wau. Corporal Allen had earlier served in the Middle East. He had come to notice there for determination and bravery as a stretcher bearer, recovering wounded men during battles in Libya and Syria. He was revered by the men he served alongside. He was said to be one of the very few who never showed fear. Later though, he became so traumatised by the experience of war that he retreated to an uncle's farm, having lost his power of speech, and took many months to start to recover. He had a tough childhood. He and his sister were raised in an orphanage, and at about the age of 12, he had to start earning a living. He died in Ballarat in 1982, aged 63 years. Being a Ballarat boy myself (born and raised there from the early 1950s), our paths would have crossed. It is sad that the focus for young school children, like myself, in the 50s and 60s, was not on great hometown war heroes like Corporal Allen. I think that during these trying and uncertain times, we should remember people like Corporal Allen and focus on our wonderful heritage of determination, courage, and mateship. I did a very large painting of the photograph on this post in 2015, being the 100th anniversary year of the landing at Gallipoli. It was great to paint such a brave home town war hero and I will put a photograph of the painting in a comment below. Lest We Forget. Photograph came from the Australian War Memorial. Image file number AWM 015515.

20.01.2022 Today on #InternationalDogDay, we remember Sarbi. Selected as a Special Forces Explosive Detection dog for her curiosity and focus, she was sent to Afghanistan ...to sniff out explosives. She went missing when a rocket exploded near her during a Taliban ambush the same incident for which Mark Donaldson was later awarded the Victoria Cross. Sarbi was listed as missing in action, but 14 months later, she reappeared, to a wave of media interest and the great joy of her handlers. The story of Sarbi the Explosive Detection Dog has become a talisman of the war in Afghanistan. It speaks of survival, mystery and the deep bonds between animals and their handlers: bonds that fascinated artists Charles Green and Lyndell Brown on their visit to Afghanistan as official artists commissioned by the Australian War Memorial. Sarbi passed away in 2015, aged 12, and is forever memorialised in this beautiful painting, on display in the Galleries of Remembrance. Pierrot (Sarbi) 2014 Lyndell Brown, Charles Green and Jon Cattapan Shrine of Remembrance collection

19.01.2022 Nine young women recently graduated from the Army Cadets program at Banksia Hill Detention Centre. This graduating class was just the second all female cadet cl...ass. The program offers the young people a hands on learning environment. Coordinator of Youth Custodial and Re-entry Programs and Services Ben said it was a great opportunity for girls at the facility. "They develop skills and learn discipline, commitment, teamwork, self-determination, respect, confidence, trust, leadership, resilience and courage," he said. The program engages in a variety of theory, practical, physical and skills-based objectives aligned to the Australian Army Cadets. This includes drill (marching, forming ranks, dress and bearing, self-awareness), reading maps, preparing uniforms and equipment for parade, radio and verbal communication, team building exercises, camouflage and concealment, field survival (preparing sleeping areas, field equipment and movements), and learning the history of the AAC and the Australian Army.

19.01.2022 Awesome work by 515ACU Bunbury Cataflaque Guard Party at Sandakan Memorial on Tuesday 8 September

14.01.2022 Today is R U OK?Day, a reminder to start a conversation that could change a life today, tomorrow and any day it's needed. Learn what to say after R U OK? so you... can keep the conversation going when someone says they're not OK. Visit www.ruok.org.au/how-to-ask #RUOKDay #theresmoretosay #RUOK See more

14.01.2022 In commemoration of National Police Remembrance Day, police, their families and community members will pause on Tuesday, September 29 to pay tribute to fallen o...fficers. National Police Remembrance Day is held every year to honour police officers across the country who have lost their lives and ensure the integrity, courage and bravery of their ultimate sacrifice is never forgotten. #TPE

14.01.2022 Ben Pullin is a contributing artist to the exhibition ‘Between Two Worlds’. During his service, Ben was deployed overseas twiceRwanda in 1994 and East Timor in... 1999. Requiem 2020, pays homage to several young men who lost their lives in Afghanistan in August 2010. Like a film still, the work captures the movement and action of the battlefield. These are moments in time from the lives of real soldiers. A nod to their sacrifice, comradery and the physically and psychologically demanding work they did. Learn more about this exhibition and listen to artist interviews: http://ow.ly/MMqf50Bt4HE #shrineathome #betweentwoworlds Image: Requiem 2020

13.01.2022 Respect for all rhe diggers in WWII

11.01.2022 Today, on Australian Peacekeepers’ and Peacemakers’ Day, we honour Australian military, police and civilian personnel who have served as part of United Nations ...and other multilateral peace and security operations. Australians first deployed in a peacekeeping role in 1947 and has continued to be involved in more than 70 separate missions. These peacekeeping commitments have generally comprised small numbers of high-level and technical support troops including signallers, engineers, medical personnel, military observers and police. We salute you all. Photo: CAPT Craig Ashburner is a UN Military Observer to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO), deployed on Operation Paladin. Within UNTSO, CAPT Ashburner is part of Observer Group Golan Tiberias (OGG-T) based in Israel. They are one of many teams responsible for monitoring the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria. POIS Yuri Ramsey Commonwealth of Australia.

10.01.2022 As a 17-year-old army recruit, Corporal Daniel Keighran VC would stand to attention outside his room each morning and stare at the portrait of Albert Jacka, one... of Australia’s most famous Victoria Cross recipients from the First World War. I have a vivid memory of getting off the bus at Kapooka on my first day in the Australian Army and being assigned to 32 Platoon amid much yelling and screaming, he said. In our barracks was the Hallway of Valour, funnily enough, so every morning when we’d run into Hallway 32, with your bed sheet over your shoulder, there was Albert Jacka across from me, and I would stand there reading and rereading his citation, or the others around it, as we were doing roll call and I was waiting to hear my number yelled out. Little could he have imagined that one day his photograph would appear alongside that of Albert Jacka’s. But that’s exactly what happened. Ten years ago, on 24 August 2010, Daniel repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire during a three-hour battle in the village of Derapet in Afghanistan, identifying targets and drawing fire away from his mates who were trying to save the life of a mortally wounded comrade. For his actions that day, Daniel became the 99th Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross, the pre-eminent award for acts of bravery in wartime and Australia’s highest military honour. I look back and think I was just doing my job that day, he said. I probably should have been killed doing what I was doing. I could see the bullets strike the ground in front of me and behind me, and I could hear them fly past my head And then the Victoria Cross came along and changed everything; how could it not? Read Daniel's full story: http://ow.ly/pU7I50B6XtL Image: Corporal Daniel Keighran at the Australian War Memorial in February 2013 Photographer: Kerry Alchin PAIU2013/018.27

10.01.2022 79 years ago - 19th November 1941, HMAS Sydney II sunk & her entire complement of 645 was lost. Lest we forget

09.01.2022 Next week is the start of SPRING. Drop Bears wake from hibernation and the magpies are cranky. Good luck out there, Aussies. If you don’t know about Drop Bears, here’s a link on our Mythic Australia website: https://mythicaustralia.com/drop-bear/

09.01.2022 #OTD The Battle of Long Tan On the 18th of August 1966, 6RAR participated in the most recognised Australian battle of the Vietnam War the Battle of Long Tan.... Following the artillery attack the morning before, D Company 6RAR was directed to patrol along the Vietcong firing positions and engage with any enemy in the area. Their patrol led them into a rubber plantation near the abandoned village of Long Tan. It was in this rubber plantation that the famous battle took place. As the Company advanced, the lead element, 11 Platoon, came in contact with a small group of Vietcong. After a short engagement, the enemy fled eastward with 11 Platoon in pursuit. Little did they know that they were about to collide with a major enemy force. Just after 4pm, 11 Platoon came under heavy fire from an enemy of unknown strength. 10 Platoon was ordered to move forward to assist but were also stopped after coming under intense fire. As the skies opened and the heavy monsoonal rains fell, the visibility was further reduced by the rain and resulting ‘mud mist’ which rose when the earth was splashed up by the force of the drops. With the Company now separated and outnumbered, the situation was becoming dire. Ammunition was running low, and casualties were mounting more than half of 11 Platoon had been injured during the first 20 minutes of the engagement. A unified defensive position had to be established to give the Company the best chance of countering the enemy attack. After further fighting, the 13 surviving members of 11 Platoon were finally able to withdraw to the rest of the Company’s position at 6pm. Half an hour later, they were joined by 12 Platoon and a proper Company defensive position was established. For the next half an hour, D Company faced relentless assaults by a numerically superior and determined Vietcong force. The fire support from three batteries of 1 Field Regiment at Nui Dat, 161 Battery Royal New Zealand Artillery, and a battery of American artillery from the 2/35th Artillery Battalion were crucial to preventing the Australian position from being overrun. The Allied gunners fired almost 3,500 rounds and are estimated to have killed at least 50% of the attacking enemy. As darkness fell at 1900, relief finally arrived with the arrival of B Company’s APCs which had been dispatched from Nui Dat. Their .50 calibre machineguns decimated the advancing enemy and forced them to retreat. The battle was finally over. D Company suffered 18 killed and 24 wounded during the battle. The Australians counted 245 enemy dead still in the plantation the following day, but there was evidence that others had been removed from the battlefield. It was only after the battle that it became evident that D Company had faced some 2,500 Vietcong during the battle from the 275th Regiment and D445 Battalion close to ten times their number. For their bravery, 6RAR was awarded the US Presidential Unit Citation on the 28th of May 1968. 6RAR and 3rd Cavalry Regiment were also awarded the battle honour ‘Long Tan’, one of only five presented to Australian units during the war. Their courage is testament to the bravery of Australian soldiers. Given the odds 6RAR faced, it is clear why the Battle of Long Tan is considered one of the defining moments in Australia’s military history. --------------------------------------------------------------- If you spot an error, please send me a message. Join our group here: https://business.facebook.com/groups/2626189084317964

09.01.2022 #OTD Bangka Island Massacre On the 16th of February 1942, 22 Australian Army nurses and 60 Australian and British soldiers who had survived the sinking of th...e SS Vyner Brooke were massacred by Japanese soldiers on the beach of Bangka Island after they had surrendered. On 12 February 1942 the royal yacht of Sarawak Vyner Brooke left Singapore just before the city fell to the Imperial Japanese Army. The ship carried many injured service personnel and 65 nurses of the Australian Army Nursing Service from the 2/13th Australian General Hospital, as well as civilian men, women and children. The ship was bombed by Japanese aircraft and sank. About 100 survivors reunited near Radji Beach at Bangka Island, in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), including 22 of the original 65 nurses. Once it was discovered the Japanese held the island, an officer of the Vyner Brooke went to surrender the group to the authorities in Muntok. While he was away army matron Irene Melville Drummond, the most senior of the nurses, suggested the civilian women and children should leave for Muntok, which they did. The nurses stayed to care for the wounded. They set up a shelter with a large Red Cross sign on it. At mid-morning the ship’s officer returned with about 20 Japanese soldiers. They ordered all the wounded men capable of walking to travel around a headland. The nurses heard a quick succession of shots before the Japanese soldiers came back, sat down in front of the women and cleaned their bayonets and rifles. A Japanese officer ordered the remaining 22 nurses and one civilian woman to walk into the surf where they were machine-gunned. All but one nurse, Sister Lieutenant Vivian Bullwinkel were killed. Wounded soldiers left on stretchers were bayoneted and killed. Shot in the diaphragm, Bullwinkel lay motionless in the water until the sound of troops had disappeared. She crawled into the bush and lay unconscious for several days. When she awoke, she encountered Private Patrick Kingsley, a wounded British soldier from the ship who had survived being bayoneted by the Japanese soldiers. She dressed his wounds and her own, then 12 days later they surrendered to the Japanese. Kingsley died before reaching a POW camp, but Bullwinkel spent three years in one. Bullwinkel survived the war and gave evidence of the massacre at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal) in 1947. Lest we forget. Image: Group portrait of the nursing staff of 2/13th Australian General Hospital in Singapore, September 1941. Six of these nurses, including Vivian Bullwinkel, were in the group which was massacred on Radji beach at Bangka Island. Another died in Japanese captivity and one drowned when the Vyner Brooke was sunk. Bullwinkel is standing sixth from left --------------------------------------------------------------- If you spot an error, please send me a message. Join our group here: https://business.facebook.com/groups/2626189084317964

07.01.2022 Blast from the past Northam Cadets in 1966.

07.01.2022 On the 23rd-25th October 2020, 52 Battalion participated in our largest yet battalion exercise in Merredin, 3 hours East of Perth. The camp consisted of 4 cour...ses; first responders, reconnaissance, advanced communications and recruits course. Depending on what course the cadets chose, activities ranged between putting out fires and addressing injuries, using night vision goggles to spot OPFOR players, gaining extra WACE points through a challenging radios course or learning the basics of the AAC on their very first camp as a recruit. The camp also saw the open day for 510 Merredin ACU, where the unit numbers successfully doubled in size after! Thank you to all senior cadets who volunteered to instruct, and to all ACS members and Army reservists who volunteered their time also. Thank you to LT(AAC) Panetta for the photos - you can find many more photos with the following link; https://www.aacassociationwainc.com/merridan-images

07.01.2022 On This Day 15 Nov 1860 Formation of the Corps of Royal Australian Engineers (RAE)... The Corps of Volunteer Engineers (recognised as the forerunner of the RAE) was founded on 15 Nov 1860, at a meeting at the 'Duke of Rothesay Hotel' in Melbourne. Captain, later Major General, Sir Peter Henry Scratchley is recognised as the Founder of the Corps. The Corps of Australian Engineers was officially formed on 1 July 1902. The Colonel-in-Chief of the RAE is Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. The Sovereign's Banner was presented to the Corps on 1 July 1992 (90th Birthday Parade). The banner was presented by the Governor of NSW, His Excellency Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair, on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Today the RAE Sovereign's Banner is secured at the School of Military Engineering in Sydney. Sappers The Royal Australian Engineers also adopted the Royal Engineers practice of calling their private soldiers "Sappers", in recognition of the fact that the very earliest engineers had been primarily concerned with driving saps (tunnels) both towards the enemy lines, and underneath fortifications. The RAE has four Motto's Quo Fas et Gloria Ducunt - Where right and glory leads. This appears on the Royal Coat of Arms. Facimus et Frangimus - We make and we break. This is the original motto of Australian Engineers adopted at Federation and appearing on the engineer hat badge up until 1947. It now only appears on the Corps Cypher. Ubique Everywhere. This motto was originally bestowed on Engineers and Gunners by King William IV in 1832 in recognition that Sappers and Gunners were not entitled to carry Regimental Colours. This was because at most times they served as small detachments and rarely as entire units. Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense - Evil to he who evil thinks. It may also be understood as Shame be to him who thinks evil of it, or Shame on him, who suspects illicit motivation. This motto, which appears around the Garter on the Corps hat badge, is also the motto of the Order of the Garter. It supposedly originated when King Edward III was dancing with the Countess of Salisbury. Her garter slipped down to her ankle, causing those around her to respond with sniggers at her humiliation. In an act of chivalry, Edward placed the garter around his own leg, saying "Honi soit qui mal y pense", and the phrase later became the motto of the Order. It was bestowed on Australian engineers in 1947 in recognition of service by the Corps during WWII. Corps titles Over the course of its existence, the corps has held the following titles: July 1902 to September 1907 "Corps of Engineers" September 1907 to January 1936 "Australian Engineers" On 31 January 1936, the corps was given Royal Assent, and was subsequently renamed the "Royal Australian Engineers". Waterloo Dinner The Australian official history of ANZAC, records that the chief facility at the ANZAC base Gallipoli was a pier constructed by a party of the 2nd Australian Field Coy under LT S.H. (Stan) Watson RAE. On 18th June 1915 at a daily gathering of the sapper "Brass" for coffee, LTCOL (later BRIG GEN) C.J. Foott RAE, noted the completion of the pier; the first of serviceable capacity at ANZAC, and suggested that a dinner be held in his dugout that evening to celebrate both the completion of the pier and the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. At the celebration that evening it was decided the pier would be named Watson's Pier. The dinner was attended by six Australian Engineer officers, six Royal Engineer officers and one non-sapper officer (one of the normal occupants of the dugout). The years of significance in the development of the tradition would seem to have been 1924 and 1925. The first known RAE Waterloo Dinner to be held after 1915 was held in Melbourne in 1924 with over 70 officers present. In early 1925 the Directorate of Engineers, AHQ Melbourne, suggested to engineer officers' messes in all states that they may hold similar dinners. It would seem significant that COL C.H. Foott RAE was on QMG Branch Staff in Melbourne in 1924, and that other states were encouraged to celebrate Waterloo Dinners; shortly after, he assumed the appointment as Director of Engineers (on the 1st Jan 1925). It therefore seems probable that the Annual Corps Dinner in 1924 was programmed on Waterloo Day on his suggestion, as a result of his attendance at the original Gallipoli Dinner and of his recognition of the significance of that first gathering of RAE officers on active service. Despite local variations in the conduct of the dinner, One generally common feature has been to toast or to stand in silence in memory of fallen comrades. A point of interest at Waterloo Dinners is the attendance of signals officers. At the 1915 dinner, four of the six Australian Engineer officers and one of the six RE officers were signals engineers. For many years, even after the formation of the Corps of Royal Australian Signals in 1925, Waterloo Dinners were held as engineers and signal officer's reunions. Even as recently as the Waterloo Dinner in Lae (PNG) in 1945, the Royal Australian Signals was represented in strength. The tradition of having the signal corps represented at Waterloo Dinners is still observed as a reminder of the close association between the RAE and the Royal Australian Signals. Royal Australian Engineers can be proud of their Waterloo Dinner tradition, a purely Australian event stemming from the recognised birthplace of Australian military tradition: Gallipoli. Roles. The Corps of Royal Australian Engineers offers great diversity in roles including (to name a few): * Combat Engineer * Explosive Hazard Reduction * Explosive Ordnance Disposal * Explosive Detection Dog Handlers * Army Working Diver * Combat Rescue * Carpenter * Electrician * Plumber * Surveyor * Draftsman * Plant Operator * Works Supervisor * Combat Engineer Officer * Technical Engineer Officer. RAE is the only Corps outside of Infantry to have a Special Operations unit. Happy (actual) birthday Sappers. For further information see following link/s: https://www.army.gov.au//army-c/royal-australian-engineers https://alchetron.com/Royal-Australian-Engineers YouTube link/s: Special Operations Engineer Regiment - https://youtu.be/CpDkSCztDk0 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment - https://youtu.be/MaoOiI6lgJA School of Military Engineering - https://youtu.be/gIagEOpwj5E Dry Support Bridge - https://youtu.be/qnaPbqeYWbM AACAP - https://youtu.be/f44VfRkeSdk 5th Engineer Regiment - https://youtu.be/Rffi4oXyx8U

02.01.2022 Sale Now on https://www.cadetshop.com.au/collections/sale-items

01.01.2022 Today is RUOK day. A pretty important message, especially is today’s climate. Its a really important time to be checking in on family, friends & colleagues. You... don't need to be an expert to reach out - just a good friend and a great listener. Always check on your mates. You could be the glue that holds them together. #TPE #matecheck

01.01.2022 HISTORY ALL AUSTRALIANS SHOULD KNOW Today, 19th February is the 77th Anniversary of the bombing of Darwin, but many Australians do not know, that the Japanese b...ombed as far south as Katherine in the NT and parts of WA and QLD as well. Curriculum material only filtered into schools for the 50th anniversary, after the Government's 50 year media censorship had expired. Many servicemen who were stationed in these areas were not recognised as having served in a War Zone and missed out on benefits because of this. The Government's reasoning was to stop panic of the Australian Public but also to hide how grossly unprepared they had been. MAP Australian War memorial See more