No Angry Shots ...
Big Picture
There is always a Big Picture, the Army view, the Unit view.
But this story is told through one Digger's eyes.
Greens. Training. Exercises, Fitness. Sections. Mates. Barracks. Living In. Soldier's Mess. Guard. Discipline. Drill. Deployment Checks. Jungle. Major Exercises. Senior Digger. Cams. Section Commander. Exchange Postings. Marksmanship. Leadership. Mentoring. Weapons Instructor. Mechanisation. Sergeant Major.
Discharge.
Looking Back. Remembering the characters we served alongside. Our mates who served full careers and mates who have passed.
No Angry Shots is a unique story about soldiering.
Training a Digger
From signing a Contract to serve, through to Basic Training and Infantry training; stories fill the void. The thrill of first haircuts, needle parade, lessons on how to shave, or first range practises with military weapons. The training is detailed, and so are our recollections from training.
A battalion
After six months of intense training, Private soldiers are posted to their first unit, in my case an Infantry Battalion, filled with Vietnam veterans. Our Unit is on 14 days notice to deploy.
The Diggers are now the lowest common denominator, a Jube or new Dig. Enjoying all the training required of the unit, but owning every bad job in barracks and the field.
Living in a unit with 500 other diggers, in an area 300m x 200m, diggers join the brotherhood of their Battalion. Whilst Training for War.
2 Section
1 PL A COY
Once Diggers leave the safety net of being a Senior Digger, they are promoted and lead an Infantry Section of up to 9 men. Responsible for Training in barracks, leadership in barracks and the field and developing both the team, but also the soldiers into leaders.
Probably the best job in the Army, the Section Commander manages, trains and leads men training for war.
Senior Years
After leading a Section and completing promotion courses, Corporals are promoted to Sergeant. A role that manages administration, discipline and mentoring for a young Officer and junior NCOs. A leadership role with a difference, where Influence and Management are learnt and used to direct the performance of a Platoon of up to 30 men.
After Sergeant postings, Sergeant Major roles provide the opportunity to manage Sub Units or Units, i.e. Rifle Companies or Battalions.
Looking Back
As the years tick down, it is important to capture critical lessons from service life. Looking Back at Leadership, Training and Transition from the Army. Lessons we learnt through our career delivering quality training, and developing strategies to train both diggers and sections effectively.
Lessons that have the same authentic ring today as it did 30 years ago.
Separation
And the final message is about People.
Supporting them in uniform, through discharge and post service. Because that is what leaders do, they invest in personnel, develop their personnel and support them in or out of uniform.
Funerals are the wrong time to share our feelings of respect or admiration.
It's always about the People.
the last word
There are plenty of times I look for the humour in a situation, the funny anecdote, laughing at the clusterfuck we cannot forget. That's how Diggers survived tough situations. It's how it has always been - the Anzac larrikin digger.
This book brings our journey to life, the language is honest and authentic. In trawling these pages or buying the book I hope you appreciate what it means to be committed to the profession of soldiering. The leadership qualities that we tried to learn and then instill in our troops.
We trained for War. In a time of Peace. As a 19 year old, we were trained to deploy within 7 days to fight outside our borders.
We were proud to serve. No Angry Shots is our story.