RAAF Taipan Fleet, less than ten years old at only 1.5 billion cheap at twice the price, to be scrapped.
Who was Terry the linesman?
Enigmatic would be an understatement, Terry was a man of few words. Acting as if by instinct and performing a task that he had under-performed these past seventy years you could tell as he activated the levers, (for this conveyance was all levers and toggle switches) that he had practised the operation of this machine for many years.
A man of few words, much to Sophie’s liking, we gleaned this much, he liked it down here, and as fragments of his bio from snippets of dialogue filled in the blanks we realised the depth of strategic thinking that had taken place deep down almost seventy years ago. Way back to a time when Australia was poised on the cusp of being a ‘Nuclear Super Power’ and the future promised everything from ‘ Nuclear farming” to “ Nuclear families’.
“Yup” he said phlegmatically, pointing to his long service badge, ‘started this gig in the late summer of 52, been ere ever since’.
In wet, cloudy, or sunny conditions with a light breeze when the F35’s software package is ‘unstable’, the fighters perform a very valuable function as back-drop to Flag-waving.
‘Unbelievable’ we all sighed, ‘that’s seventy years service, seventy years of doing’?, …. We didn’t like to hurt his feelings, but aside from Sophie we wondered what he’d been doing this last seventy years.
And even though we thought about it, seventy years it seemed wasn’t long enough. It were as if Ces opined: ‘Like it was yesterday’! And that was eerily true. It was as if the last seventy years had been compressed and we were still fighting or preparing for the same wars, and we’d forgotten about what the last one was really about.
Terry conversationally filled the gaps in our line of questioning; ‘We think the last one might have been about fascism. About corrupt business and military conglomerates tied to unstoppable State based power over-riding ordinary defenceless nations and democracies and exerting their arbitrary will to plunder and rape them for natural resources’.
Abrahams tanks at a trifing 1 billion help Queensland farmers clear open forest for cropping.
“Like East Timor’? Quent enquired of Terry.
“No, well,….. yeah sort off, yeah but nah but East Timor was different. That was after we’d let Indonesia rape and plunder them on our advice and then we thought we’d have a go for saving them. ‘For saving them what’? Quent enquired. “Well helping take away their oil and gas resources for their own good’. ‘Own good? For the people of East Timor? No silly, where’ve you been this last seventy years, Terry chuckled, smacking his forehead for emphasis; ‘For the shareholders of Australian companies’!
‘You see Quent, we can’t let the Yanks have the gravy all the time, that’s the important part of a strategic alliance. Occasionally as a consequence of paying billions for antiquated second rate materiel from our favourite ally we can help ourselves and deserve to because of the inalienable right’!
RAN decision to re-float and re-fit AE2 from Sea of Marmara based on sound advice and strategic forward thinking. ‘Cheaper than buidling a new type locally”. ( P. Dutton)
“Inalienable right’? said Quent timorously, (get the joke). Well it’s our inalienable right to do as we please because of the spiritual and unquestioned God- head of Anzackery and the nobility of Gallipoli to never question as a matter of principle either the procurement of weaponry at horrendous cost, or the strategy of minds immeasurably greater than ours who like to dress in khaki, shout orders, and have shiny boots. That’s what civilisation is all about, and that my dear fellow is what China wants to take from us. And that’s why THEY MUST BE STOPPED!
So what… er…. the next war is about is it gonna be all Chinas fault?
In actual fact China is completely responsible for EVERYTHING’!
‘Everything’? Yup, if there’s another war let’s make one thing perfectly clear. In the final analysis, taking everything into consideration, whichever way you look at it, taking Australia’s national interest if there’s a war beyond all reasonable doubt it’ll be ‘THEY’ who started it.
And from my analysis of pan-global strategic studies that’s the only one way you can look at it’!
Decision by RAN to re-float and retro-fit HMAS Australia 1, is based upon sound advice from the Pentagon. And cheap at only 15 billion
‘Isn’t that a bit presumptive’? Ces enquired tactfully.
For a taciturn tram-driver Terry had a lot of insights. Perhaps he’d been locked in a think- tank all these years. One thing was true, it proved Australia was wise to spend up big on tanks that wont work, helicopters that wont fly and submarines that’ll be decades outta date. As a deterrent it gave China the middle finger. And proclaimed we ‘re not scared of your bluster and if you think we don’t care we’ll do a ‘Maginot Line’ on you. It’s way more emphatic as a signal than diplomacy. And we knew with our leaders that diplomacy with China wouldn’t work and , why?
A great tradition. RAAF Brewsters ready to defend Malaya from the rampaging Tiger Yamashita.
The truth was in Terry’s reply to Ces about the nub of the problem.
“China’s in deep trouble for changing the world order! And, (he paused for further emphasis ) for getting way too UPPITY”!!
The very same aircraft awaiting ‘systems upgrade’ one week later.
Is China too uppity? Where’s Opium as a diplomatic tool when you need it? Is AUKUS all A and not a lot of UKUS? Find out in our next compelling episode, “Materiel well-being aint diplomacy” or ‘Diplomatic Tools can go KRudd!!! very quickly’!