> Behalf Of Kevin Tarr > Outstanding post, I read the whole thing and learned a lot. Never knew > anything about aussies in the wars. The way the top people rise > through the > ranks, that is still being ignored in, probably, most all armed forces. Do > they still have this command structure?
Nowadays our defence forces are about as professional as anyone elses. Most officers go through the Australian Defence Academy at Canberra, where they do full degrees as well as military training. However, there are definitely still people who get commissioned through the ranks. Surely all armed forces do that? One of the recruitment ads going at the moment has a bloke talking about how he joined the air force and did his trades apprenticeship, then decided he wanted to be a pilot and so now he's a Flying Officer or Flight Lieutenant. Movement through the ranks was much more common, as it always will be, in wartime because there is an inevitable loss of officers that has to be filled through casualties and where some officers are found not to be fit for active service. Plus, natural leaders turn up in the ranks. It was quite common to have people in WW1 like Capt G D Mitchell, MC, DCM (MC = Military Cross, an award solely for officers, DCM = Distinguished Conduct Medal, an award solely for NCOs and other ranks). In fact Mitchell was one of those soldiers who'd get promoted to sergeant, demoted back to private or lance corporal, promoted again, demoted and then commissioned. He was one of the ones Haig wanted shot occasionally because he went AWL when out of the line. > > I have one question. I had an uncle who was in the south pacific area but > this may have been in Africa. He said they had aboriginals with them who > would be in camp during the day and go out at night. He described > that their > camps were not organized and the aboriginals would go to the enemies camps > and kill them while they slept. One problem was allied soldiers who had an > axis helmet, for example as a souvenir. The aboriginal would feel the axis > helmet in the dark, assume the owner was an enemy, and kill him. > > Have you read anything like this? Haven't read anything particular on it. It is possible in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) which included New Guinea, or in the Philippines. Native Papuans and New Guineans were usually employed as bearers, but there were the New Guinea Rifles and similar units that acted as guides. Certainly the natives tended not to like the Japanese because of how they were treated, and blood debts still mean incessant revenge attacks. There were still active headhunters and cannibals in those days. It sounds more like the Philippines, though, or maybe Guadalcanal or Guam to me, because I think the US forces relied more on the locals there than they did in New Guinea. It doesn't at all strike me as not being possible. However, how you could tell an American helmet from a Japanese one in the night I don't know! At least an Australian helmet felt like a dish bowl (same as the British type). See if he's got a samurai sword - that was usually the clincher for fighting in the Pacific. And if he bought it from an Aussie, just don't tell him it's probably really a Jeep spring that's been reshaped for the GI market! Brett
