This needs no explanation – and is a fun read, no matter your gender. Men Are Just Happier People! What do you expect from such simple creatures? Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park.

Car mechanics tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don’t have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress – $5,000. Tux rental – $100. People never stare at your chest when you’re talking to them.

New shoes don’t cut, blister, or mangle your feet. One mood all the time. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. You can open all your own jars.

You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend. Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack. Two pairs of shoes are more than enough. You almost never have strap problems in public. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.

Everything on your face stays its original colour. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your face and neck. You can play with toys all your life. One wallet and one pair of shoes – one colour for all seasons. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.

You can ‘do’ your nails with a pocketknife. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a moustache… You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes. No wonder men are happier!

NICKNAME · If Laura, Kate, and Sarah go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Kate and Sarah. If Mike, Dave and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Snow, and Macca.

EATING OUT · When the bill arrives, Mike, Dave and John will each throw in $20, even though it’s only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want change back. When the girls get their bill, outcome the pocket calculators.

MONEY. A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs   A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn’t need but it’s on sale.

BATHROOMS · A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel   The average number of items in the typical woman’s bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items.

ARGUMENTS · A woman has the last word in any argument.   Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

FUTURE · A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband   A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

MARRIAGE · A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t. A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change, but she does.

DRESSING UP · A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the trash, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail. · A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.

NATURAL · Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed · Women somehow deteriorate during the night.

OFFSPRING · Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favourite foods, secret fears, and hopes and dreams. · A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY. A married man should forget his mistakes. There’s no use in two people remembering the same thing!

Forces News – Navy

The head of the Royal Navy has apologised after an investigation found misogyny, bullying and other unacceptable behaviours had taken place in the Submarine Service.

The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Ben Key, said he had accepted all 37 recommendations of the investigation in full.

Adm Sir Ben apologised to the whistleblower who raised the alarm about alleged sexual harassment and abuse on board the UK’s submarines.

• Senior Royal Navy officer speaks about her experience of gender prejudice in service
• Minister acknowledges Royal Navy ‘recruitment challenges’
• US Navy welcomes first submarine built for mixed-gender crew into the fleet

He ordered an internal inquiry into the claims made in a newspaper interview in October 2022 by Sophie Brook, a former naval officer, and other women about their treatment while serving in the elite Submarine Service.

Adm Sir Ben confirmed that misogyny, bullying and other unacceptable behaviours did happen and described it as intolerable.

He accepted all of the recommendations in the report including the formation of a new Head of Culture team and a review of submariner leadership training.

The First Sea Lord also commended the courage of Ms Brook in coming forward.

‘We must be better’

Adm Sir Ben said: “As the Head of the Royal Navy, today I also offer a public apology, both to Ms Brook and to any personnel – past or present – that have been subject to any form of unacceptable behaviour during their time in service.

“I am truly sorry.”

The Royal Navy chief alluded to how the service would go forward to improve the experiences of personnel in the Royal Navy while understanding “there is more to be done”.

He added: “Poor practices and behaviours in the past that may have been normalised in some quarters should never have been considered acceptable, and they have no place today.

“We must institute a culture that does not allow space for this behaviour to exist, and we must deal with perpetrators swiftly, without fear or favour, which I can confirm we have now done.

“Internal action has been taken against a number of individuals, up to and including discharge from the service.”

Adm Sir Ben concluded his statement by saying: “We must be better than this and do better than we have.”

The allegations

BFBS Forces News understands some of the allegations were reported to the MOD’s serious crime unit, but there was insufficient evidence to bring prosecutions. However, it is also understood that three people were discharged as a result of the investigation.

The investigation’s report has now been published, but much of it is heavily redacted.

The allegations included several reports of sexual misconduct, including the assault of a woman in her bed by a man of higher rank who tried to kiss her. She was then discouraged by the XO from reporting it.

Another of the allegations made was that a “crush depth rape list” is common across the service in which women and men are marked in the order they would be raped in a catastrophic event.

The specific allegation made to the investigation, their consideration of the evidence and their conclusion on the balance of probabilities were all redacted.

But the report does say the allegation led to several recommendations, one of them being administrative action as a result of the findings.

Another allegation was that bras were stolen from the laundry, leading to a recommendation that personnel be given the resources to wash their own underwear.

William D. Rubinstein – QUADRANT – Aug 29, 2024

” The total failure of pre-contact Aboriginal society to advance in nearly all significant areas of the economy and technology is indicative of what Aboriginal society was actually like. To put the matter bluntly, pre-contact Aboriginal society consisted of 65,000 years of murderous, barbaric.”

CLICK LINK to read the Quadrant article – 10min read

Telling the Truth about Pre-Contact Aboriginal Society – Quadrant

It’s August 1942. On the night of the 30th Japanese forces made their move on number 3 airstrip at Milne Bay. The heavy rain and muddy trails being the first enemy they faced. Defending the airstrip are the men of the 25th and 61st Battalions of the Australian 7th Infantry Brigade. A militia unit, with little training and even less combat experience.

Having never before experienced this style of combat, the inexperienced Australian units adapt quickly to jungle warfare. Developing genius, yet simple tactics that not only decimates the Japanese forces at Milne Bay but will become the catalyst of the tide finally turning against Japan in the Pacific War.

Australia Askes – Andrew McDowell

New York Times

On October 4, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered a rare and highly charged Friday sermon, defending recent missile strikes on Israel and hailing the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on southern Israel. In his address, Khamenei declared that Israel’s existence “won’t last long,” while labelling the actions of Iran-backed militant groups as both “logical and legal.”

The sermon, delivered at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque, marked Khamenei’s first Friday sermon in nearly five years. Addressing tens of thousands, the Supreme Leader spoke in Arabic, focusing on the endurance of the so-called “axis of resistance” against Israel. Standing with a rifle in hand—a powerful symbol of defiance—he emphasized Iran’s unwavering stance. The crowd frequently erupted in chants of “death to America,” a recurring slogan in such gatherings.

Khamenei celebrated the October 7 attack on Israel as a rightful and proportionate response. He called the invasion and subsequent missile strikes “logical and legal” under both international and Islamic law. The assault, which escalated the ongoing Gaza conflict, was described by Khamenei as the “minimum punishment” for what he viewed as Israeli aggression.

The Supreme Leader’s speech also resonated beyond Iran, with direct calls to countries across the region, from Afghanistan to Yemen, to take action against Israel. Khamenei specifically praised Hezbollah, Hamas, and other allied groups for their “fierce defence” of Palestinian territory, mentioning the commemoration of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Khamenei’s rhetoric centred on the idea that Israel would never defeat Iran-backed groups, regardless of recent setbacks. His words were designed to boost morale among both domestic supporters and regional allies. However, this defiant tone has deepened concerns of a broader, more destructive regional war that could involve multiple countries beyond Israel and the Palestinian territories.

• A staggering 99% of people born between 1930 and 1946 (GLOBALLY) are now dead.
• If you were born in this time span, your ages range between 77 and 93 years old (a 16-year age span) and you are one of the rare surviving one-percenters.
• You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900’s.
• You are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.
• You are the last to remember ration books for everything from tea to sugar to shoes.
• You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into cans.
• You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the morning and placed in the “milk box” at the front door.
• Discipline was strictly enforced by parents and teachers.
• You are the last generation who spent childhood without television and instead, you “imagined” what you heard on the radio.
• With no TV, you spent your childhood “playing outside”. There was no city playground for kids.
• The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was like.
• We got “black-and-white” TV in the late 50s that had 3 stations and no remote.
• Telephones (if you had one) were one to a house and hung on the wall in the kitchen (who cares about privacy).
• Computers were called calculators; they were hand-cranked.
• Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon. INTERNET and GOOGLE were words that did not exist.
• Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and your dad would give you the comic pages after he read the news.
• The news was broadcast on your radio in the evening. The radio network gradually expanded from 3 stations to thousands.
• New highways would bring jobs and mobility. Most highways were 2 lanes and there were no Motorways.
• You went to the city to shop.
• You walked to school and back.
• Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into working hard to make a living for their families.
• You weren’t neglected, but you weren’t today’s all-consuming family focus.
• They were glad you played things like Fiddle Sticks, Grab, Monopoly, Marbles, and Jacks by yourselves. They were busy discovering the postwar world.
• You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed yourselves.
• You felt secure in your future, although the depression and poverty were deeply remembered.
• Polio was still a crippler. Everyone knew someone who had it.
• You are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our country. World War 2 was over and the cold war, terrorism, global warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life.
• Only your generation can remember a time after WW2 when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.
• You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better.
• More than 99% of you are retired now, and you should feel privileged to have “lived in the best of times!”
• If you have already reached the age of 77 years old, you have outlived 99% of all the other people on this planet. You are a 1% ‘er!

Story by Tim Barlass – SMH

Many families are feeling the current financial pressures but such is the state of the economy that Victoria Cross recipient and Afghanistan veteran Daniel Keighran has decided to sell all his medals.

“A man selfless in the face of threat. Courageous in the face of terror. Generous in the face of suffering. And humble in the face of an honour bestowed.”

Words used by former governor-general Quentin Bryce to describe Corporal Daniel Keighran when she pinned his Victoria Cross for Australia on his army uniform in 2012.

But just 12 years later, Keighran, aged 41, has decided to sell his medals to pay for schooling and finances for his growing family. Sydney auction house Noble Numismatics will catalogue the group of 12 medals in its November auction with an estimate of $1.25 million. The sale is expected to attract international interest, although the VC will not be allowed to leave the country.

Keighran worked in Kalgoorlie in Western Australia in the mining industry in 2015 after his military service. He now lives in Brisbane with his partner.

“We are a family of five – me and my partner who has a 13-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old boy from a previous relationship, and my boy, aged seven, with my ex-wife. It’s a little blended family.

“It hasn’t been a decision [to sell] made lightly, my partner and I had a discussion. There’s a few family members whose health wasn’t amazing. My mum is 80 this year. I am fortunate in that I earn a pretty good wage, but things are pretty tough out there.

“I managed to buy her a place. The reason for getting rid of the medal is to look after my own family. It would afford the opportunity for schooling and for a place for us to live as a family as well. Times are tough, things are hard, especially for a family of five, as others out there could relate to as well.”

Of the estimate of $1.25 million, he added: “It is three-quarters of a house, it depends on where you buy in Brisbane, paid off straight away. I thought if I put it up for auction I can take my foot off the accelerator pedal a little bit and I can spend some quality time with the people I care about the most.”

And plans to marry his partner of two years? “Yeah, one day. Let’s not announce anything yet. Don’t give her any ideas! We will, without doubt, get married. We have spoken about it, but not yet.”

The VC has been on permanent display at the Australian War Memorial since 2012. Keighran wore it once two years ago at a Remembrance Service in Canberra because he forgot his medals and the War Memorial loaned it to him for the morning.

The citation for the VC says: “For the most conspicuous acts of gallantry and extreme devotion to duty in action in circumstances of great peril at Derapet, Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan, as part of the Mentoring Task Force One on Operation SLIPPER.”

Keighran deployed to Afghanistan in February 2010 with the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, and on August 24, 2010, he was a member of a patrol that came under sustained machine-gun attack.

The auction catalogue states: “Corporal Keighran’s acts of the most conspicuous gallantry to repeatedly expose himself to accurate and intense enemy fire, thereby placing himself in grave danger, ultimately enabled the identification and suppression of enemy firing positions by both Australian and Afghan fire support elements. These deliberate acts of exceptional courage in circumstances of great peril were instrumental in permitting the withdrawal of the combined Australian and Afghan patrol with no further casualties.”

Keighran’s wasn’t the first Australian VC. It was preceded by Mark Donaldson (2008) and Ben Roberts-Smith (2010), but it was the first awarded to a non-special forces soldier.

There is speculation that philanthropist Lord Ashcroft, former Treasurer and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party in the UK, who has a collection of some 230 VCs could be among those bidding. Jim Noble of Noble Numismatics said: “It is a great opportunity for someone to own something very special – and it was won by someone who didn’t end up getting killed in the process.”

Of the decision in September by Defence Minister Richard Marles to strip distinguished service medals from commanding officers who held senior roles during the war in Afghanistan as recommended by the Brereton inquiry into alleged war crimes by Australian troops, Keighran said he was “a little surprised by the timing”.

“The timing was pretty poor in relation to the timing of the announcement by the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. I found it quite bizarre I must admit. I know a couple of individuals because I served with them. Those that did the wrong thing should rightly be pursued and prosecuted but, my goodness, the veteran community has been treated bloody terribly by some.”

Keighran added of receiving the VC: “It upended my life. It changed my life immeasurably, from the direction of I suppose my life was heading in working in the mines to then have the opportunity to go and do my masters in business through knowing people and now I am working at an executive level for a multinational [in the defence industry].

Would he change what he did on that day in 2010? “I’ve got a son now and you look at things differently from a risk perspective, but I would like to think I’m still the same person,” he said. “I saw my team in need and I acted appropriately. I thought I’d do everything I possibly could to save their lives and I think I’d probably do the same to this day.”

And of the future ownership of his VC? “The AWM is the right place for it. Knowing that that is where it has spent its entire life, obviously with it going to auction I would like it to go back there, but I have no say on that.”

During the Vietnam War – following the June 1969 engagement at Binh Ba village (in which the 33^rd NVA Regiment and the D440 VC Battalion engaged 5RAR/1 ATF armour and RF/PF/PSDF), in excess of 50 NVA/VC dead were buried in a pit/grave dug by a 17 Construction Squadron (RAE) D2 bulldozer near the village school – see AWM photograph P08610.009 below. On 8 June 1969, at the grave site, Major Rex Rowe (1 Fd Sqn RAE) spoke some “simple words of final committal” in the presence of his sappers of 1 Field Squadron and 17 Construction Squadron before a small D2 bulldozer covered the bodies.

Post-War – in 1986, the Vietnamese authorities disinterred bodies from the Binh Ba “school” burial pit, and the recovered remains were reburied in the Baria Cemetery.

Recently, the Vietnamese “Ban Chi Dao (515) Baria-Vung  Tau” (“515 Guidance Group Baria-Vung  Tau”) began a search for other June 1969-era grave sites/pits in Binh Ba in which NVA/VC bodies were buried following the June 1969 battle. They are seeking information from Australian Vietnam veterans on graves/burials in Binh Ba in June 1969 – additional to the “school site” burial – including any dug by Vietnamese RF, PF, PSDF, RD Cadre etc in Binh Ba.

If possible, Ernie Chamberlain (1969-70 Vietnam veteran – who is providing information to the 515 Guidance Group), would also like to identify and contact the 1 ATF officer – carrying an M-16, (?) in the left foreground of the attached AWM photograph P08610.009.

If you can assist with information, please contact Ernie Chamberlain at:  [email protected]  .

Frontline – Ray Payne OAM

I can’t believe that in our country, we’re seeing terrorist symbols, such as the Hezbollah flag, being waved openly on our streets, and nothing is being done to stop this criminal behaviour. It’s outrageous. We have strong laws in place to prevent this, laws that specifically make it illegal to support or display symbols associated with terrorist organizations. Under the Criminal Code Act 1995, it is an offense to be associated with or provide support to a listed terrorist organization, which Hezbollah undeniably is. Section 102.1 of the Act makes it clear that such acts are punishable by law.

But where is the action? Where is Anthony Albanese, our Prime Minister? His leadership is nowhere to be seen when it comes to enforcing these laws. His reluctance to take a firm stance and condemn the public display of terrorist symbols is dangerous for all Australians. Is he too afraid to act because of political considerations? Is he more worried about losing votes from the growing Muslim political movement than protecting our national security?

Albanese’s failure to send a clear and strong message to the Australian people is unacceptable. He should be out there, front and centre, making it known that we will not tolerate any support for terrorism in our country. We need a leader who isn’t afraid to uphold the law and protect our communities from the influence of extremist ideologies.

Albanese is failing us all. It’s time for real leadership, and Australia deserves better.