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PRESIDENT’S PONTIFICATIONS
Back from our Ghan
trip, a wonderful experience. If you get a chance, DO IT. Great to be back
home to the floods. I’m sorry that we couldn’t be at Dicky Beach with everyone
but I believe the meeting went well. Thanks to Kevin for filling in for
me and to Peter for arranging the venue. It’s also great to hear that after
covering all expenses we made a profit on the day of $2.
LAST MEETING
Our last meeting was held at Dicky Beach SLSC on Sunday 17th
May. The management and staff at Dickey pulled out all stops to ensure
we enjoyed the day. Lunch was enjoyed in the function room and the raffle
table was well stocked with ‘prizes’. Our bank balance has received a welcome
injection of funds bringing a smile to Treasurer Henrys face. Dicky Beach
has been booked again for May 16th 2010.
NEXT MEETING
Our next meeting will
be our Fish Day get together at Kedron Wavell RSL on Sunday 19th July.
Same deal as before, if we get the numbers we have our own room if not,
we have our meeting and then join the other club patrons at the Buffet.
RSVPs to President Doug or VP Kev (I will be away the week before) by
Wednesday the 15th. Don’t forget to mark your diaries accordingly.
VALE
It is with regret that we inform our postal readers (those with computers
were informed at the time) of the passing of Cruiser man Col Christenson.
Col passed away on Tuesday 28th April. Our condolences to Doris. By email
we have also been informed of the passing of Lieutenant Commander Bob
(Robert) Moule. Bob was Commissioning & 1st Deployment crew. Our
condolences to his wife and family.
NEW MEMBERS
Several ex crew members
of the Hobart have recently joined our ranks. One of them, Greg Mapson,
had the distinction of ‘Commanding the Hobart’ on 3 separate occasions.
If you see a new face at any of our get togethers please introduce yourself
make them (and their partners) feel welcome.
CONGRATULATIONS
Our congratulations
to Cruiser man Jack and Muriel Irvine who recently celebrated their 67th
wedding anniversary.
WEBSITE
New webmaster Leo reports from Rockhampton that he is in
the process of refurbishing our website. Leo expects the ‘new’ web layout
(and provider) to be ready in the second half of this year. Stay tuned.
WARNING
The following was received from our Webmaster Leo.
I got a call last night from an individual identifying himself as a Telstra
Service technician who was conducting a test on our Telephone lines.
He stated that to complete the test I should touch nine(9),zero ( 0),
hash (#) and then hang up. Luckily, I was suspicious and refused. Upon
contacting the telephone company, I was informed that by pushing 90#,
you give the requesting individual full access to your telephone line, which allows
them to place long distance telephone calls billed to your home phone number.
I was further informed that this scam has been originating from many of
the local gaols/prisons.
DO NOT press 90# for ANYONE. PLEASE pass this on to your friends.
BEREAVEMENT
PIN
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has commissioned a bereavement pin
to recognise the valued contribution of all Navy personnel who lost their
lives while in the service of the RAN, and the nation.
The Navy Bereavement Pin is a distinctive 20mm gold lapel pin which has
the crest of the Royal Australian Navy encompassed by wreath 'supporters'.
The Navy Bereavement Pin has been developed to meet an expressed wish by
many families, who have lost a close family member while they served in
the Navy, to have a tangible yet discrete memento of the service of their
loved one.
The Navy Bereavement Pin is a symbol that can assist family members to
commemorate the life and service of a relative who was lost while serving
in the Navy.
It is the Chief of Navy's wish that by prominently wearing it or having
it as a special keepsake, the Navy Bereavement Pin helps you to remember
proudly the family member you have lost and reminds you that you are very
much considered a part of the broader Navy family.
If you are related to a person who has passed away, whatever the cause,
while in the RAN and wish to receive this special pin, please complete
the form, print, sign and send it to the postal address or fax no below.
Please allow up to 5-6 weeks for your nomination form to be processed.
Your Navy Bereavement Pin will be sent through the post.
If there is insufficient information to verify your nomination, you will
be contacted to provide additional detail. Unfortunately, responsibility
cannot be accepted for misdirected applications or lost/misdirected mail.
Enquiries
General enquiries about the Navy Bereavement Pin can be sent to the address
or fax above, emailed or made by phone on (02) 6266 2285. Navy Bereavement
Pin
Director of Military Administration - Navy
CP4-7-040
Campbell Park Offices
Canberra ACT 2600 or fax to: 02 6266 3779
COMPUTER HOAXs
Those members with computers will be aware of the
“spam” that is constantly being sent by email. Unfortunately, some of our
more senior members have recently been caught and have had to spend more
than they need/would like to rectify problems. The old adage “If it looks
too good to be true it probably is” remains relevant today. If in doubt
about an offer received electronically, a site to check the emails bona
fides (amongst many others) is www.hoax-slayer.com.
Members are also requested to check emails before forwarding and if in
doubt, delete it!
NAVY NEWS
For those members with computer access Navy
news is now available on-line - just click on the website http://www.navy.gov.au/Publication:Navy_News
NEW SUB (Yet another Email report). Britain launches massive sub that can
hear
a ship from across the Atlantic. She is four years late and a massive 900
million
Pounds over-budget. But when the Royal Navy's super-sub HMS Astute finally
arrived, she made for an awesome sight. More complex than the space
shuttle and able to circumnavigate the globe without surfacing, the
7,400-ton monster is the largest and deadliest hunter-killer submarine ever built.
As long as a football pitch, at 318 ft, and as wide as four double-decker
buses, HMS Astute is a third longer than any sub which has gone before. Her nuclear-powered
engine will propel her through the water at more than 20 knots, yet the
UK 's first stealth sub makes less noise than a baby dolphin, making her
as good as undetectable by enemy ships.
Astute’s sonar is so advanced that if she was lying in the English Channel
she would be able to detect ships leaving New York harbour 3,000 nautical
miles away. The nuclear reactor will never need refueling, and with an
ability to make oxygen and drinking water out of sea water, the sub could
stay underwater for its entire 25-year life span were it not for the needs of
the crew. Once she goes into operation in 2009, Astute will carry a 98-man
crew and stay at sea for 12 weeks on a routine patrol. She will carry
38 Tomahawk cruise missiles, with a range of 1,240 miles, meaning Astute
could attack targets in North Africa with pinpoint accuracy while sitting off the coast of Plymouth. Spearfish torpedoes
will also be on board for attacking ships and other subs, but Astute will
not carry nuclear weapons.
The UK 's Trident missiles are launched from the Vanguard class of submarines.
The Navy's submarine chief Captain Mike Davis-Marks said: 'The Astute class
of submarines will quite simply be unbeatable worldwide for many years to
come.
'Astute will have a capability that will keep us right at the top of the
premiership of the world's navies, the Manchester United of submarine
nations. With our proud heritage, Britain deserves nothing less.'
Astute is the first of four vessels to be built by BAE Systems at a total
cost of 3.85 billion pounds or 960 million pounds each.
REUNION UPDATE
The latest from the reunion organizing committee (Dick Harrison)
is attached to this newsletter. Those attending who have not indicated
their intentions are requested to do so A S A P so that final numbers and
orders can be placed. (From the Webmaster: This page can be found under
the Re-union Page of this site)
ARMY LEADERSHIP?? It is really quite simple……..
“Dumb civilian”,
I said to myself, but openly I said, “The system is really quite simple.”
You see, all people in the Army are soldiers, all privates are soldiers,
but not all soldiers are privates. Some are officers who are commissioned,
but some are officers who are not commissioned. Obviously if every private
was called private it would be confusing, so some privates are called things
like trooper, driver, gunner, craftsmen, sapper or signaller. Not all of
the drivers actually drive because some of them cook, but we don’t call
them cooks, for that matter, not all drivers are called drivers – some
of them are privates or gunners. Gunners as I’m sure you know are the guys
that fire guns, unless of course they are drivers or signallers in which
case we call them gunners rather than drivers or signallers just to make
it clearer. All gunners belong to the artillery, except that in the infantry
we have gunners who are called privates because they fire a different sort
of gun, for the same reason we call our drivers and signallers private
as well.
A Lance Corporal is called Corporal, unless he is a Lance Bombardier then
we call him Bombardier to distinguish him from a full Bombardier, who is
just like a Corporal. All other ranks are called by their rank for the
sake of simplicity except that Staff Sergeants are called Staff, but they
are not on the staff, some Warrant Officers, who are not officers, are
called Sergeant Major although they are not Sergeants or Majors. Some Warrant
Officers are called Mister which is the same thing that we call some officers
but they are not Warrant Officers. A Lieutenant is also called Mister because
they are subalterns, but we always write their rank as Lieutenant or Second
Lieutenant, and second comes before first.
When we talk about groups of soldiers there obviously has to be clear distinction.
We call them Officers and Soldiers although we know that officers are soldiers
too, sometimes we talk about officers and other ranks which is the same
as calling them soldiers. I guess it is easiest when we talk about rank
and file which is all the troops on parade except the officers and some
of the NCOs – and a few of the privates – and the term is used whether
everyone is on parade or not. A large unit is called a battalion, unless
it is a regiment but sometimes a regiment is much bigger than a battalion
and then it has nothing to do with the other sort of regiment. Sub units
are called companies unless they are squadrons or troops or batteries for
that matter. That is not radio batteries and don’t confuse this type of
troop with the type who are soldiers but not officers.
Mostly the Army is divided into Corps as well as units, not the sort of
Corps which is a couple of divisions but the sort which tells you straight
away what trade each man performs, whether he is a tradesmen or not. The
Infantry Corps has all the infantrymen for example and the Artillery Corps
has all the gunners. Both these Corps also have signallers and drivers
except those who are in the Signals or Transport Corps. Both these Corps
provide a special service and that’s why the Transport Corps provides cooks.
In fact the Signals Corps is not a service at all because it is an Arm.
Arms do all the fighting, although Signals don’t have to fight too much,
rather like the Engineers who are also an Arm but they don’t fight too
much either.
So you see, it’s really quite simple.
THE BACK PAGE!
A young man named John received a parrot, named
'Chief', as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.
Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude and obnoxious. John tried and
tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite
words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to 'clean
up' the bird's vocabulary. Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the
parrot.
The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier
and even ruder. John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird
and put him in the freezer.
For a few minutes the parrot squawked and
kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was
heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly
opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's
outstretched arms and said, 'I believe I may have offended you with my
rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate
transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my
rude and unforgivable behavior'. John was stunned at the change in the
bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a
dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued,
'May I ask what the turkey did?'
And from Jon Rumel.
A Cool Grandpa
A woman in a grocery store happens
upon a grandfather and his poorly behaved 3 year-old grandson. It's obvious
to her that Grandpa has his hands full with the child screaming for lollies
in the lollie aisle, bikkies in the bikkie aisle; same for fruit, cereal
and cordials in their respective aisles. Meanwhile, Grandpa is working
his way around, saying in a controlled voice, "Easy,
Albert, we won't be long -- easy, boy."
Another outburst, and she hears Grandpa calmly say, "It's okay, Albert,
just a couple more minutes and we'll be out of here. Hang in there, boy."
At the checkout, the little terror is throwing items out of the cart, and
Grandpa again in a controlled voice says, "Albert, Albert, relax mate,
don't get upset. We'll be home in five minutes; stay cool, Albert."
Very impressed, the woman goes outside where Grandpa is loading his groceries
and the boy into the car.
"You know, sir, it's none of my business, but you were amazing in
there. I don't know how you did it. That whole time, you kept your composure,
and no matter how loud and disruptive he got, you just calmly kept saying
things would be okay. Albert is very lucky to have you as his grandpa."
"Thanks, lady," said Grandpa, "I'm Albert -- the little
bastard's name is Steve."
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