I’m reading an interesting article by an Australian fellow named Michael Jericho. Did you know that Australia is the only country to have fought by our side in every conflict we’ve had over the last 100 years? And has sent a higher percentage of its male population to fight than even the U.S. itself?
As they’d say: “Good on ya, mate!”
Before someone jumps in and excoriates them (or me for wrongheadedness, I’m not defending the rightness or wrongness of the fights that they jumped into on our side. I’m only thanking them for being with us when we went into these conflicts.
Britain sat out Vietnam. We provided intelligence to them during the Falklands War and one of our submarines tracked the Argentine naval warship “General Belgrano” and sent targeting information to a Brit sub, which then torpedoed the vessel and sent it to the bottom with complete loss of Argentinian life.
I think apart from recent shameful history, the Kiwis are not shy of getting into a scrap either when it comes to bloodying the nose of the bad guys of this world.
Australia is a fabulous country that I wish I understood better. They are a blend of contradictions, but they are certainly an ally I would want by my side in tumultous times like now, or the last 100 years for that matter.
Yes, I did know they were the only country that has been at our side in every war in the last century.
I hope Howard wins. Australia will pull out if Labor wins. Can anyone explain to me why Kerry’s sister is in Australia trying to defeat Howard and bring about Australia’s withdrawal from the coalition?
Historically, the “colonials” - Kiwis, Aussies, Canuks, etc. were front line cannon fodder for the British high command. All had a history of coming thru against the odds on occasion.
Yes, there is a fine NZ military tradition of going into battle alongside much better equipped allies with very poor, out of date, hand me down hardware. This means that the Kiwi soldiers are mostly frontline grunts. It has really helped to lift NZ casualty rates since war went techo from WW1 onwards.
You may be pleased to know that under our current feminocracy this policy has reached a new apogee. The theory goes that we are such a nice bunch of people who would ever invade us? So, because we can’t conceive of a credible threat, we do not prepare for one.
Myself, I happen to believe that the best way to deter folks with bad intentions is really, really good weapons, and the stomach to use them. But I am a bit of an anachronism in peace loving NZ.
Australia is a fabulous country that I wish I understood better. They are a blend of contradictions, but they are certainly an ally I would want by my side in tumultous times like now, or the last 100 years for that matter.
Yes, I did know they were the only country that has been at our side in every war in the last century.
I hope Howard wins. Australia will pull out if Labor wins. Can anyone explain to me why Kerry’s sister is in Australia trying to defeat Howard and bring about Australia’s withdrawal from the coalition?
"I am a bit of an anachronism in peace loving NZ. "
From reading some of your previous political posts I would have to agree. At least you seem to think different from most other Kiwis I’ve talked to. Nobody is going to invade NZ. If a super power did what could a small population like you have do about any ways? And you’re not #1 on Bin Laden’s hit list.
I’ve never been to NZ but it’s on my list. I hung out with a bunch of Kiwis when I lived in England for a couple of years. Us “colonials” tended to gravitate to each other. That was quite a few years ago when I was in my 20’s.
Kerry’s sister lives in Australia. I surmise that she moved there when Bush won the presidency in '00.
But I could be mistaken about that part. I can’t see why she’d move to a country with a government that actually backed us up, and earned the everlasting enmity of the appeasement wing in the leftist Labour party over there. It seems that they are willing to throw away over a century of ANZUS cooperation in order to gain a Neville Chamberlain-esque “peace in our time”. Hmmmmph
Senator Kerry’s sister is heading up his get out the American citizen vote effort in Australia. She is saying such things like Australia is at great risk from the terrorists because it is helping the US while her brother is at home calling Australia and everyone else helping in Iraq as “the coalition of the bribed or coerced”. Now, that is the way to get your allies to help you out.
Could you imagine what would have happened if Thomas Dewey’s sister had been telling Australians in 1944 not to vote for President Roosevelt because they were at greater risk from the Japanese because they were fighting with the Americans? There’s a word for that during wartime. I think it begins with a “t”.
I don’t think so. That was over way to fast to get any help. The US couldn’t even mobilize. By memory, some seven hundred troops were diverted at the last minute to handle the situation. They had essentially no back up and they had a very tough go against a Cuban contingent for a while.
The Cubans gave an excellent account of themselves in that battle. They were very impressive as I recall.
you hit the nail on the head. But at least if we concentrated our resources on having a world class shallow water navy, good patrol boats, and a kick ass SAS regiment (actually I am told we do) then we would be able to hold our own with our allies and ensure that no one would fuck with us.
I mean, in all likelihood, we are too remote and too unimportant to be a target. But I find our govts approach to defence spending just so optimistic. I honestly think the theory is that Kiwis are generally well thought of, so who would bear us ill will? Real head in the clouds stuff, IMHO.
The Cubans were mainly around the airport’s landing strip. They had lightly-emplaced triple-A (anti-aircraft artillery batteries that, fortunately could not traverse below 600 feet. The main bulk of the Army’s airborne battalions (I don’t remember exactly how many as I was over near a different part of the island) parachuted in from there. Pathfinder units and other associated special ops-type units helped set the conditions for airborne insertion.
The airborne guys jumped from about 500 feet. As I said, they were able to come in from below the AAA and took relatively fewer casualties than would’ve happened had they came in slightly higher.
We mixed it up with two Soviet-made BMPs (“bimps”) manned by Cuban crews, but had to egress because we had no backup air or armor support at the time, and what AMTRAC presence there was had gotten caught up in a little traffic jam trying to get onto the beach. Really nothing too serious, though.
The army footprint was from units as far away as Fort Bragg and Fort Benning. Navy and Marine help was gotten from an embarked Marine expeditionary unit, which was retasked to go to Granada, as it was originally slated to go over to Beirut and relieve the MEU that was over there. The Air Force flew in heavy hitters from bases in Florida and elsewhere.
You’re right that it was basically thrown together in a hurry. VADM Metcalf was the CATF (Commander, Amphibious Task Force) and I can’t remember who among the Army ground pounders was overall coordinator. We had the advantage of much better numbers. I don’t think, from what I remember, that there was more than a reinforced battalion of Cuban troops on the island. The local Grenadian defense forces were a joke.
for wrongheadedness, I’m not defending the rightness or wrongness of the fights that they jumped into on our side. I’m only thanking them for being with us when we went into these conflicts.