Vol 62

Jun  2018

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Opinion.

Most of our readers were proud to have served Australia in one of her Armed Services, be it in the Army, Navy or the Air Force. Some did the minimum term, a lot stayed on for a lot longer, and of those that did serve, the vast majority remember their time in uniform fondly, they made life-long friends and at the drop of a hat they get together in large numbers to chat, keep old friendships alive and to recall those “great times.” If they had the chance, they would do it all again.

While in uniform they worked on some of the ADF’s latest and in some cases very sensitive equipment, they had access to and either flew, sailed, drove, operated or fixed its aircraft, its ships or its machinery, some sent and received sensitive messages, some typed and read secret correspondence. As promotions were obtained, some made decisions that determined the safety and security of the Nation.

Some made the ultimate sacrifice for the Nation they loved, some were terribly injured while serving in some thankless land, some saw and were involved in terrible and never to be forgotten events, yet all did it willingly as it was “our job” and we were proud to wear the Nation’s uniform.

And then we discharged and were scrapped.

One day we were an important and essential part of a very sophisticated Armed Service, the next day we were pariahs, outcasts, a not to be trusted forgotten people.

It’s disgraceful!!!

But, why is it so?? – Try and get back onto a Base the day after you take off the uniform – you’re treated like a potential criminal and even though you might have spent 20 years of your life serving the nation and in some cases, having spent many years on the very Base to which you’re trying to access, you have to get special permission, sit through a 10 minute safety video, be photographed and once on, be escorted at all times. Most ex-Service people would have spent more time on a Base than those showing the video – it’s degrading.

Do the hierarchy think we all turn terrorist the moment we take off the uniform. Do they think we are hell bent on causing damage to Base personnel or equipment? If we were of that mind, we had 20 years or more with unlimited access in which time to do it.

Readers will know that over the years we’ve been able to access several ADF Bases across Australia and have written on the social, accommodation and messing facilities on these Bases. We don’t include anything of an operational nature as we have served and we’re fully aware of the security issues involved. Each of our stories are very well received as they are nostalgic, they bring back fond memories for our many readers who like to compare today’s facilities to what they enjoyed years prior.

We’re providing a well received service.

Since February this year we’ve been trying to gain access to the Army Aviation Base out at Oakey (west of Toowoomba) on which to do a story. Some will know that Oakey started its life as a RAAF Base back on 1943 and housed Number 6 Aircraft Depot (6AD). After the war it became the civvy airport for Oakey then in 1969 was handed over to the Army. We’ve sent written requests for access to RAAF PR and to ADF Media in Canberra from whom we can’t even get a confirmation of receipt. We’ve rung both many times only to be told “We’ll get back to you” – they never do.

It’s not good enough.

In desperation we recently wrote a letter of complaint to the Defence Minister, Marise Payne, who at least had the decently to acknowledge receipt of our letter.

It's being looked into, we’ll let you know the outcome.

Another sticking point is the access to course photos. For some years we’ve being cataloguing course photos which are of great interest to our readers. To date, we have had over 227,000 hits on the site and although the site is of interest to our readers, it is not complete, we are missing many many photos. In order to copy and display the missing ones, we have been requesting access to the RAAF’s collection of these photos since the end of 2013 only to be fobbed off with one excuse after another.

We’ve been treated disgracefully.

Once again, in desperation, we have had to approach Minister Dutton for assistance.  We’ll keep you posted on that too.

We shouldn't have to do that!

All this is completely unnecessary. In the UK, the Government now recognises those that have served the nation. Ex-Service people will have their driver’s licenses stamped with the letter “V” to distinguish them as veterans and this will give them easier access to specialist services and to offers, including retail discounts (See HERE). Our Government should do something similar, our Politicians are only too ready to be photographed with Military personnel when it’s beneficial to them, they espouse praise on service personnel in front of the camera but it’s all snake oil. Hollow promises.

It would probably not be possible to emboss our drivers’ licences as they are State issued, but a card similar to the Proof of Age card would do perfectly well. These could be issued by the relevant Service as part of the members’ discharge procedure. You get a discharge certificate, why not a "Proof of Service" card as well?

It wouldn’t be hard to make ex-Service men and women feel “special” – make them feel as though their lives weren’t wasted. There are far too many ex-Service people “doing it tough,” these are the forgotten people, they live on the street, in solitary, some take their own lives. A little bit of recognition would go a long way.

Although not its only requirement, some form of ID would also make it easier for Ex-Service men and women to access a Defence establishment. It is not as though every ex-Service person wants to get onto a Base every 5 minutes, but if and when they do, having a form of recognition would make it much easier and wouldn’t make that person feel he/she was a nobody.

We’ve a long way to go when it comes to looking after our ex-Service people. There are several splinter groups, the RSL, Defence Community Organisations, Welfare, Legacy etc. even DVA, all with the best of intentions but there isn’t a national “symbol” that an ex-Service man or woman can produce to show that he/she has served. The general public would get right behind it, look at the turnout on ANZAC Day – the public are appreciative of the sacrifice their defence men and women have made and businesses could and would direct their marketing to Ex-Service people.

The UK have done it, we should follow. The UK even has a Military based radio network, and it’s good, listen HERE.

If you agree or disagree with this, please click HERE and let us know. We’ll pass on your remarks to DVA.

2021 Celebration.

Our preparations are going well, if you haven’t already let us know you could or would like to be a part of the celebration, please click HERE and do so, the more numbers we have the easier it is when we discuss our plans with venues and sponsors.

You can see what's planned HERE.

As we’re celebrating the 100^th Anniversary of the Air Force, we’ve decided to throw it open to anyone and everyone who has served or is still serving in the Air Force – it’s not now just for Radschool people.

We must stress though, this is not an official Air Force event, it is being organised by the Radschool Association.

Remember, the Sunday Concert event will be open to all in Melbourne and could look like this below, if you’re on the list you’ll get a reserved seat down the front. Another good excuse for filling in the FORM.

If you’re an ex-WRAAF and you would like a “Girls-own” night on the Thursday 25 March in the Officers Mess at Laverton, we’re pretty sure we can arrange this, it will all depend on whether the RAAF has plans for the night – which at this stage looks like they don’t. You’ll need to fill in the FORM though.

We’ve also arranged to hold a “Sleep Rough” night to be held in the Melbourne Showgrounds to honour and remember those that went before us and fought in WW2. A lot of those brave men and women were billeted or worked at the Showgrounds during the war and this will be our way of remembering them. If you want a rough night out, we ask that you get sponsored as we would like this to be a fund raiser event for the RAAF Association.

Early in 2020 we’ll need you to commit and fill in another form with all names, shirt sizes etc and soon after that you’ll need to make a payment – but more on that later too. Remember, the cost to everyone will be minimal as we’re down the road aways with sponsors and it’s looking good.

We’ll be asking for volunteers later too, people to help with set up, team leaders, crowd management, waiters etc, more on that later too.

Remember, keep an eye on our UPDATE page for the latest info.

Early Editions.

We’ve fixed the early editions that had “dropped off”, you can now access every edition from number 1 (back in May 1999) onwards. And the index has been updated too.

Cisco.

If you’re using Cisco “Advanced Malware Protection” (AMP) I would strongly suggest you dump it and get a program that actually works. Cisco issue false positives, they will brand a web site as containing Malware and even though they know it to be incorrect, will not amend their branding. If you’re using Cisco and you try and log onto the Radschool Site, you will get the message below.

We’ve been onto them trying to get that false warning removed and this is their answer:

“Thank you for your email.

I was able to open your website (see attached screenshot) and I see nothing suspicious in it. However if any user of Cisco Security equipment faces any issues with accessing your website, he should directly contact us to verify why the website has been added and if it was added by mistake to be removed from there.

To open a case with Cisco we must be contacted by owner of Cisco Security equipment. If you own such you may open a case with us. If not, you should advise whoever send you the screenshot from your first email to contact us directly (tac@cisco.com) with a request for your website to be removed from the Suspicious list.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.”

Kind regards

Garo

Cisco.com support.”

Even though they acknowledge their warning is wrong, they won’t remove it unless/until we are a paid up user.  Well, news for them, we wouldn’t give them a cent and we suggest you don’t either, switch over to a proper and reputable program, such as Malwarebytes and you’ll be far better off.

Membership.

We’ve decided to go with the following membership.

·                1 year’s full membership for $12.00.  (now till 30 June 2019

·                Full membership for $40.00 to 30 June 2021.

Annual Membership will run from July one year to June the next, with this year’s annual membership now expiring in June 2018. As we’ve said, full membership is not compulsory, you can still receive the RAM which will remain open, free and available on the net.

So, if you’d like to contribute and help us with the ever increasing costs, please join as a full member.

If you are already a member (ie: if your name is on this LIST), please fill in the form below and send it to us, if you haven’t already joined (if you're not on the list), please use the form HERE.

BSB: 124-021       Account number: 1048 7401      Title:  RAAF Radschool Association.

Bank:  Bank of Queensland.

and include your name in the "Remarks" window on the deposit.

You can of course pay more if you wish!!

AND!!  If you work for or know of a firm that would be kind and generous enough to sponsor the Radschool Association, please get in touch.

Reunions.

If you're having a reunion and you would like us to cover it and publish it, let us know and we'll see what can be done.

Errors

Our aim is to have this site error free – but that’s probably impossible. But with your help I reckon we can get pretty close. If you see any errors, be they punctuation, spelling, links that don’t work, facts wrong etc, (no matter how small) please let us know so we can fix them.

You can download the full magazine in PDF format HERE.

It is a very large file, contains 328 pages and will take a while to download.

The margins have been set so you can print on both sides of the page.

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