The Odd Angry Shot

[Jon Skagfeld]

Having a commercial break during this flick, which has been shown quite a few times, over the years. The comments may be of interest to Keith, Tony, Euan, Max (who did I forget?)

The last scene, before about 20 minutes of bloody commercials, has the SAS guys presenting the padre with the wanking machine.

As the padre marches away, after the presentation, and after having said that this was the best wanking machine that he's ever been presented with, the boys are singing:

"Here's to the padre, here at last
Here's to the padre, he's a wanking ass."

I doubt that 2% of Canadians know that Australians were fighting in Viet Nam. I also doubt that the same percentage knew that as many Canadians also fought in Viet Nam. So much for Commonwealth solidarity! Interesting to see Bryan Brown in a relatively minor role, he of Breaker Morant, Cocktails, and The Thornbirds.

[dougiebarder]

Is that as rude as it sound's?????

[Keith Webb]

Originally posted by dougiebarder
Is that as rude as it sound's?????

Yes, Dougie, it is what you think, but the term 'wanker' is freely used in Australia to denote a pretentious person.

I have to admit, though I've never seen the film, so perhaps I'd better rent it one day.

We sure did serve in Vietnam in a big way.

And, Jon, there are a few Aussies you forgot, including Wayne and Salesman Bob just to mention a couple.

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally posted by Keith Webb
Yes, Dougie, it is what you think, but the term 'wanker' is freely used in Australia to denote a pretentious person.

I have to admit, though I've never seen the film, so perhaps I'd better rent it one day.

We sure did serve in Vietnam in a big way.

And, Jon, there are a few Aussies you forgot, including Wayne and Salesman Bob just to mention a couple.

Keefy.
And don't forget Rocket Roddy D out in the west end...
Rocket Roddy D.....hmmmmmm...sounds like a 60's rock&roll star.....
And the memory slips a little from the excesses of the sixties catch up to us...
See electric lettuce burner below...
http://www.funnyclicks.com/funnyclic...es/smoking.jpg

Hi.

I'm interested in learning more about the controversies regards Vietnam Vets. As you all know what an ignormamous I've been about world events and such. No one has brought up this topic since I've joined, that I'm aware of, but I've always hoped someone would so I could learn some of the reasons for the controversies, and WHY Vietnam Vets have been treated so badly,from ALL perspectives if possible. I'd like to understand more about this for my own understanding.

Thank you

Originally posted by Jon Skagfeld
I doubt that 2% of Canadians know that Australians were fighting in Viet Nam.

Or for that matter that their Cents actually got 15gpm in the jungle and they wanted their 7.62mm SLRs back in a big way after finding some worrying and lethal characteristics associated with the new-issue 5.56mm devices.

R.

[Tony Smith]

Always refer to him as a "wanking arse". Ass is just too American.

The Australians certainly did serve in Vietnam, as too did the New Zealanders as part of the 1 Australian Task Force. Canadians may not also realise that our Centurions fought in Vietnam, with many field modifications finding their way "through the system" to be applied to British and Canadian tanks.

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be much interest in Vietnam period vehicles here being presented in displays in relation to their Vietnam service. Many people own ex-Army Series IIa Land Rovers and International Accos (there's even a few privately owned M113's or derivatives about), but they mostly seem to be presented in their Post Vietnam configurations and markings. There are a couple getting about, though, that look like they just off the "Vung Tau Ferry".

As New Zealand soldiers served as part of the Australian Task Force, much of the Logistics was handled by the Australians with the result that New Zealand doesn't have the same numbers of Vietnam period vehicles getting around. This has led to a curious Trans-Tasman demand in Accos and Landies to trade for WW2 CMP's like Portees and such:idea: .

Regarding the 7.62mm SLR's, Australia retained them as the standard service rifle until 1988 because of their solid dependable reputation (made in Lithgow ). The 5.56mm M16's also been in service since Vietnam, but were not widely issued. They were replaced by the Licenced built copy of the 5.56mm Steyr AUG called the F88 Austeyr (also made in Lithgow )

[John McGillivray]

Last year there was a program shown on History Television that outlined Canadian involvement in the Vietnam War. If I remember correctly it stated that 106,000 Canadians had volunteered to serve there with the US military.

Filipino troops also served in Vietnam. My wife’s father was one of them. The Americans had blackmailed President Marcos to send an Engineering Bn to work on civil development projects, along with an Infantry Bn for security. My father-in-law was a Sr. NCO in the Infantry Bn. The closest he came to combat was with a group of American NCO’s. The Filipinos had invited the Americans over for a meal and a little drink. Everyone had a good time, however just as the Americans were about to leave, one of the Filipino Sgts asked: “Did you enjoy YOUR dog?”

[Rod Diery]

Most Vietnam veterans that I know here in Aus think that the Odd Angry Shot is a bit of a laugh. Simply because the screenplay depicts mostly regular infantry type actions which are nothing like that which the SAS normally carry out.

cheers
Rod

[Rod Diery]

Originally posted by Tony Smith
Regarding the 7.62mm SLR's, Australia retained them as the standard service rifle until 1988 because of their solid dependable reputation (made in Lithgow ). The 5.56mm M16's also been in service since Vietnam, but were not widely issued. They were replaced by the Licenced built copy of the 5.56mm Steyr AUG called the F88 Austeyr (also made in Lithgow )

When I left the Army in 1992, only a couple of infantry companies around the country had been issued with their F88s due to major reliability problems. Not sure whether these problems were Lithgow originated or not.

I would disagree with your statement that the M16 was not widely issued. For most of my 20 years in the Army, a standard infantry section of 10 men was issued with 1 x GPMG M60, 4 x M16A1 and 5 x L1A1 SLR.

I can remember too spending months on the M16 rebuild line in the small arms section at 1 Base Workshop Battalion at Bulimba in Brisbane about 1975. Just about every M16 that the Australian Army owned came through this line. I can remember a piss up on the day that we turned out more than 100 M16s in one day. Not bad for a section about 10 or 12 blokes. I used to spend the mornings stripping incoming weapons then the afternoon helping in the test firing range.

Cheers
Rod

[Wayne Henderson]

Well done Rod, Im sure the Indonesian Army would be glad that their firearms were once handled by experts. They got them cheap enough.