Tiger-pie

Weather sets in as vehicular patrol crosses valley floor.

Convoy of reconstruction vehicles.

Hearts and minds.

Keeping watch as Dutch and Australian combat engineers help with reconstruction efforts in Oruzgan Province.

Australian soldier keeps watch as Dutch troops talk to villagers.

Lone trooper in a vast land.

Back out in the open.

Mud-wall alley.

A wary look back.

Moving down to sweep a valley area.

Engineers sweep for mines.

Trooper on foot as Bushmaster crew keep watch.

Local boy chats to trooper.

Trooper watches out over field as local works. I will post a some more when I have the time.

On foot through a village.

Here are a few shots of Australian troops on patrol, including Bushmaster and ASLAVs in a laager for the night. Regards; Johnsy

Iraq Reconstruction Medal, available to both civilian and military personnel, as I understand the rulings. Regards; Johnsy

The GG with designer Justin Graham.

A special coin has been released by the Perth Mint to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Special Air Service Regiment. The coin was unveiled at Campbell Barracks by the Regiments Honourary Colonel, and former Commanding Officer, the Govenor General Major General Michael Jeffery(on the left). The other gent is Peter Unsworth, Chairman of the Perth Mint. Seen below is the unveiling of the over-size replica. Regards; Johnsy

Well...no, but I don't think that Tigers were even on paper when this was first used. This was an early measure to give mobility to the 2 pounder to cope with the demands of desert warfare. Regards; Johnsy

The red badges were generally worn by "duty-men", i.e. duty-watch which were a ships/depot working party. The gold bullion would be generally be worn for ceremonial occasions, though in WW2 would be commonly seen on day to day wear with ribbons (if any). Blue and white badges were worn on working dress and summer ceremonial uniforms. The stars indicate levels of proficiency in ones trade, no stars indicating the lowest level, one star intermediate level, two stars indicate fully qualified tradesman. Two crossed hooks with the crown above is Petty Officer. #33 is Stores-Victuals, we called them "Starvo's" before they were integrated into the one branch of Stores. #24 is a Coxswains badge. #23 is Fire Control, for gunnery. #37 is Signals #38 is RO, Radio Operator #41 is CPO cap badge #42 is a Petty Officers rank badge #54 is UC, under-water controller #53 is a Stores patch, OS indicates a Steward. #22 and others that are similar, are QMG, Quarter-Master Gunner, or in the modern Aussie navy, Bosuns Mate. #10 is Radio Electronics Technician. Some are similar to what we still use, some I have never seen before, and must be specific to the Brits though we still use a similar system. Regards; Johnsy

Here is one of my favourite veh-hi-cles, the venerable old Bren Carrier. These were produced here in Australia, under license I believe, and proved effective in the close country in the Pacific islands. This particular model was used in the highly mobile warfare of North Africa for anti-tank duties and strong-point assaults. Regards; Johnsy

Unlikely Bob, unless I change over to Anzacs (we get "streamed" into different classes of ship). If I do a visit to Melbourne though, I will give you a bell. My tally band is cloth, though I guess that my ID dics were pushing the boundry of the definition of cloth. I do have an old fibre set, thats nearly cloth, isn't it? Despite the rivalries the navy has worked hand in hand with the army in recent years. Since East Timor that relationship has been very close and should increase when we get the new FAT ships to replace HMA Ships Kanimbla and Manoora. Tobruk has a soldier detatchment permanently posted to it also, I will get a phot of their brassard to post here. Now if the army would only learn to tell when they intend to buy new tanks so that we actually have ships that can carry them... Regards; Johnsy

SAS sniper or sharp-shooter cloth patch.

SAS sniper or sharp-shooter? Not sure on this, I will have to do some research on this badge. Whoops, sorry this was supposed to go under Aussie cloth patches. I not sure how to delete a post. Regards; Johnsy