No Angry Shots ...
FoUR WHITE
GRID SQUARES
Alpha company had deployed successfully to Wewak, a reinforced Company. Reinforced by Spam.
We were greeted at Moem Barracks similar to the return of Macarthur to the Philippines. Floral necklaces placed over every soldier’s neck. And children lining the march into barracks, with young pikininis tugging at our greens, eyes pleading - did you bring Spam?
Our Cooks were treated like Gods in Moem. Village Chiefs from across the northern villages offered their daughters to the Cooking Gods.
And now word has spread - the whole village knows we've brought over the Australian Army war stocks of Spam. And the cooks are desperate to use as much as possible in the first week. Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch, Afternoon Tea, Officer’s canapes, Dinner, Officer’s evening mints - all Spam.
We had been in Wewak for a couple days, met our local Pacific Island Regiment guides. And prepared for Dougal's first test. From Langoru to the ocean. A 3 day trek across the highlands of PNG, through the Prince Andrew Mountains.
A welcome relief from the base cooking, although I was starting to enjoy Chicken ala King alternative, made from Spam.
Lost World
We set off to Langoru, trucks taking up to our drop point. I had some idea of what we were about to trek across after studying the map. Ever since the expedition of '82, when we left our shores seeking war treasure and family heirlooms for the Smidmore National Trust, I became thorough and studious in my analysis of terrain.
SPURLINES
We trek for a few hours and realise the Battle School marketing department need to spend some time in the highlands. Little Heartbreak - seriously overrated. Big Heartbreak - overrated. Imagine Mt Stuart, but steeper and twice as long.
And the humidity is overwhelming. We get to a local clearing used as a nursery for bananas and pineapples. They obviously lived on pizzas during monsoon season.
RONALD ...
The Porters appeared over the Village, and one of the RAAFies started to drop the heliboxes from the plane.
The heliboxes spun through the air. A clearing of 300m by 150m next to the river. But Ronald had other ideas. Half dropped in the village, half in the river. Ronald took out 4 huts. The heliboxes spearing through thatch roofs like mosquitoes biting through greens. The boxes disintegrated, with condensed milk exploded through every orifice of our ration packs.