BLAST FROM THE PAST.... KAPOOKA 1RTB!
OMG.... that is what I looked like back in the day....
Note: Had a real rifle, "elephant gun" SLR... no plastic what so ever....
This photo was taken after the 5k run... man carry, riffle range, obstacle course... and then when cleaning our rifles some photographer comes around and takes our photos..... bloody hell......
Many, many, many moons ago when I was a young dumb c#nt... now I'm an old dumb c#nt.... remembering things from the past and not regretting much... except for the time that I could have spent with my wife and kids..... but no... I had to go and do my own thing, thinking that the money was worth it!
ohhh well.... would do it all over again... just not at the hard core full steam ahead tempo that has gotten me all my wrinkles and baggy eyes!
;)
Ha ha . Nice photo mate. What year.did you do your recruit training? I went thru in 1994
You're a young fella!
Did you guys even have the SLR's as a part of your training?
SFMG course... with M60's on tripods... and then the "Bloop ers" (think it was M79), any of that?
I still wake up yelling VINSON..... the buggers made me attend a signalmans course in and around about 1991 or 92.... hated it.... fkn VINSON..... ishhhh..., that was the closest I came to the equipment that your generation was accustomed to.
I got out in 1995, so I was never actually issued the Steyer, luckily I guess, never had a liking for the 5.56 "BB guns" (air rifles).
I'm an old codger now.... just packing up some stuff here, boxing it all up and came across a memory stick, low and behold this was one of the photos on there.
Just put it up because I couldn't recognize myself in the photo, too fkn long ago for anyone to remember, let alone a senile bugger like myself.
Went to Pucka a couple of times, they had the old shooting range with the video screen, where we'd modify our SLR to a .22 calibre... what a joke that was... jam, jam, jam... but it was kind of neat to experience that...
I guess that is something that most of the younger guys never got to experience.
Bugger it... times have changed.
Will never forget watching a demo of the AusSteyer being washed out under a hose... I mean.. WTF was that all about.
In redgarrds to the new Gat. I admit, generally people like mostly what they know. So you telling me the benefits of an SLR & me telling you the practicality of the AusSteyer, would probably be pointless.
But for me I found the weapon easy to disassemble & reassemble, light & easy to carry, plus with more plastic parts, less chance of metal parts rusting or wood decaying. If you can wash the rifle out with a hose to clear a stoppage, then keep firing. Pretty efficient, I say:)
Like I said, times have changed, but a lot of the old school knowledge helped me out in my future employment abroad, saved my ass more than once.
It is kind of funny how life leads us all down different roads, if things hadn't changed in South Africa, I would have been a coppa down there. A guy I knew, good bloke, was an ex coppa and he was willing to set me up with a good paying job. 10 grand US a month and everything taken care of. That was where he made his money before going back home, but in some way I'm glad it didn't work out.
Wouldn't be able to sleep for the wrong reasons I guess, at least this way I know I was on the right side.
I was 19 when I joined. Did my cooks course in Pucka. Did wild dumb shit as an IET in Seymour. Plenty of nights out in Melbourne. I di 9 years & 4 different postings. And a handful of Timor trips:)
I really loved my time & would do it all exactly the same again. I feel I got out also at the right time for me.
I hear ya bro.
great content!
Nice throwback...thanks for following...upvoted, resteemed and followed back👍
Thanks for the follow @jackmiller. Followed back.
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