Big Bangs Are Us

Big Bangs R Us – (ARMY) – Joined the reserves while at Secondary Colleage. You see we were given a choice of doing sports, (Fencing, La Cross, Basketball) and being the late 70’s teenage skips (Aussies) thought all these sports were for “Pussies or Poofs”. The other option for us was to join the reserves, so me & my 4 mad mates wandered around to the local regiment & joined.

Now, we were the first in the school to take this path. So, no one knew exactly what was expected. Every time there were parent/teacher interviews, school concerts, productions we were “busy” doing ARMY stuff. We got away with murder, citing that if we didn’t go, we’d be court marshalled.

AS IF!

We then left school before the final exams, signed on fulltime in the AIF, and with our previous experience, accelerated through a variety of course. We eventually went into the RAR. 3’s in NSW where I got my “jump wings” & snipper training and later into the 2’s in Townsville in Queensland.

Clocked up a total of 6 years with the AIF, 2’s & 3’s before I left altogether. One of my mates passed away in the service, two went on into the SAS, (one later discharged after assaulting two Police Officers), and one off into the fairly newly created counter terrorism unit. The one who was originally in the SAS went to the Queensland Special Operations Group, the one in Counter Terrorism went to the SAS. The one that did time for assault, later got charged & jailed for growing dope hydroponiclly in the back of his workshop.

I haven’t spoken to my remaining mates for some 20 years. The one dealing drugs was cut very early in the piece, the others, we just drifted away.