Please, please, please, please, please, please don't be an idiot this holiday period. Please, don't get behind the wheel of a car if you've had even one drink. Christmas/New Years is one of those periods that the police, fire crews and ambulance crews dread for a very good reason.
Please, don't drink and drive. Please, don't take that risk. Please, don't take the lives of not only yourself and your passengers, but every other person on the road into your hands.
Trust me when I say that even if you don't think it's going to happen to you, one day it will.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Gotta wonder sometimes
I've recently read a very fascinating book- The Originals, The Secret Birth of the SAS in their own words. It's a recount by the surviving Originals, of the first intake of the Special Air Services.
They started up in Africa in WW2. The first draft for them was written by the man who would be their commander, David Stirling. He wrote it while partially paralysed and convalescent in a hospital bed. The name he got after talking with a chap who specialised in feeding disinformation to the enemy. One of his favourite things was the invention of a faux elite parachute troop- weighted handkerchiefs dropped at night to simulate paratroopers- and he was more than happy to give the name 'Special Air Services' in exchange for his help.
Stirling knew that he could never get through the 'layers of fossilised sh*t' that was the bureaucracy, deathly afraid of anything new or innovative, so he decided to go directly to the top.
Still on crutches, he went to HQ, climbed the fence using his crutches as a ladder, ran inside with the guards on his tail, and managed to duck into the office of the aide of the general he wanted to see. The aide vetoed the idea, so Stirling ran across the hall and into the general's office. The general liked the idea and gave him the green light just minutes before the guards caught up with him.
So, armed with a letter of approval, Stirling went out headhunting, collected the men he wanted, only to find out that the base camp they'd been promised was a patch of desert with a sign stuck in it. The bureaucrats had retaliated against the maverick.
Undeterred, David sent his men out on their first 'mission'- go to the nearest camp, raid it, and don't get caught.
They found a New Zealand army camp, stole mess tents, marquees, supplies, tents, equipment, a piano and a couple of trucks, came back and set up shop.
Nobody really remembered what happened to the piano.
Stirling deliberately broke many hallowed traditions when forming the SAS. One for example, was his instigation of the 4-man patrol- big enough to do real damage, and small enough so that they would all be inter-dependant, there could be no rupert (officer) leading the 'herd', an idea that he had always hated.
Also, he made sure that the SAS were always covert ops, never to be used as an assault team like regular commandos.
Finally, he made sure his men were humble. There was no elitist air among them. I watched a TV special on the NZ SAS, and for the first year, after they've been on selection, the newbies are the ones who do the cleaning around the base. They're simply not allowed to get cocky, just handed a broom and told 'sweep'.
But in any case, after a very rocky start and constantly afterwards having to fend off attempts by every man and his dog to either shut down, absorb or take over the original SAS, they became one of the most effective special units in the military.
Looking at ourselves, I have to wonder, which would we be? A maverick like David Stirling, an Original out at the edge, one of the 'regular' troopers longing to be an SAS, the army's bureaucrats, or one of the men like the general who had enough vision to see that this crazy idea might just work.
They started up in Africa in WW2. The first draft for them was written by the man who would be their commander, David Stirling. He wrote it while partially paralysed and convalescent in a hospital bed. The name he got after talking with a chap who specialised in feeding disinformation to the enemy. One of his favourite things was the invention of a faux elite parachute troop- weighted handkerchiefs dropped at night to simulate paratroopers- and he was more than happy to give the name 'Special Air Services' in exchange for his help.
Stirling knew that he could never get through the 'layers of fossilised sh*t' that was the bureaucracy, deathly afraid of anything new or innovative, so he decided to go directly to the top.
Still on crutches, he went to HQ, climbed the fence using his crutches as a ladder, ran inside with the guards on his tail, and managed to duck into the office of the aide of the general he wanted to see. The aide vetoed the idea, so Stirling ran across the hall and into the general's office. The general liked the idea and gave him the green light just minutes before the guards caught up with him.
So, armed with a letter of approval, Stirling went out headhunting, collected the men he wanted, only to find out that the base camp they'd been promised was a patch of desert with a sign stuck in it. The bureaucrats had retaliated against the maverick.
Undeterred, David sent his men out on their first 'mission'- go to the nearest camp, raid it, and don't get caught.
They found a New Zealand army camp, stole mess tents, marquees, supplies, tents, equipment, a piano and a couple of trucks, came back and set up shop.
Nobody really remembered what happened to the piano.
Stirling deliberately broke many hallowed traditions when forming the SAS. One for example, was his instigation of the 4-man patrol- big enough to do real damage, and small enough so that they would all be inter-dependant, there could be no rupert (officer) leading the 'herd', an idea that he had always hated.
Also, he made sure that the SAS were always covert ops, never to be used as an assault team like regular commandos.
Finally, he made sure his men were humble. There was no elitist air among them. I watched a TV special on the NZ SAS, and for the first year, after they've been on selection, the newbies are the ones who do the cleaning around the base. They're simply not allowed to get cocky, just handed a broom and told 'sweep'.
But in any case, after a very rocky start and constantly afterwards having to fend off attempts by every man and his dog to either shut down, absorb or take over the original SAS, they became one of the most effective special units in the military.
Looking at ourselves, I have to wonder, which would we be? A maverick like David Stirling, an Original out at the edge, one of the 'regular' troopers longing to be an SAS, the army's bureaucrats, or one of the men like the general who had enough vision to see that this crazy idea might just work.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Rant
You know the world's in a sad state of affairs when friggin' unarmed ambulance officers and volunteers have to be taught by ex-SAS how to approach a scene.
That's how I spent most of my Sunday today.
On station, learning how to approach a scene, the legalistics of what I can and cannot do in terms of self-defence and what constitutes as abuse, learning how to watch for body language danger signals, listening to the stories told of what has happened to others, and finally spending a few hours up on the roof/patio doing door-approach drills, practicing how to block a grab/shove, a knife attack, and how to use your first response kit as a shield/battering ram.
I know this sounds incredibly callouse, but these days ambulance officers have to be trained to run away at the first oppertunity if they come to a scene and someone threatens them. They have to put their safety above the patient, even if they're lying there bleeding their life away. We have to put ourselves before the patient, and it's a bitter pill to swallow because our first, trained instinct is to tend to the patient.
People out there will see a uniform and immediatly go on the offensive because it's a representation of authority. And when you've been raised in a culture that encourages everyone to do what's right for them and they come across a symbol of imposed authority they often react violently to it.
Or when you've got someone who's hyped on P or blotto on cheap booze or on some hellish cocktail of who knows what mixed with whatever was at hand, it's a bad situation for the poor bloke or shiela who gets sent in to deal with it.
Ten years ago we didn't have this problem. In this 'great society' of ours, what has changed in ten years? Moral standings have gone down. The family unit has been broken down. People are encouraged to go on the dole (unemployed benefit) rather than go out and get jobs. There has been a culture shift against respect for authority.
It's become a culture of self, what's best for me, and **** anyone who disagrees. Especially anyone in a uniform.
There was far, far greater respect for others and for self back then. Ten years ago, abductions and murders were big news because they were so rare. Now, murder is fairly common.
Not too long ago, an ambulance officer turned up to a farm up north, knocked on the door and was greeted with a shotgun to the chest. Stabbings of ambos are on the rise, along with the police. Fire crews are spared the worst of it 'cause they get called out less often but they still have to deal with alot.
Unless there's a major change in society, the day will soon come when frontline ambulance get stab-proof vests as standard issue and volunteers have to include them in their kit for certain events.
Veering off track for a moment, personally I am all for conscription. It gets the youths off the streets and away from the gangs and welfare, puts them in a place where there is discipline, where rules are enforced, where there are consequences and rewards are earned. It teaches them self-respect, pride, dignity and honour, and it teaches them a trade. One of our Members of Parliament was a right little bastard, in his own words. A foster kid who got bumped around from home to home and finally thrown into the army. He loved it and it straightened him right out.
And quite frankly, a place where there is actual discipline and punishment is something sorely needed here. That and military prison-styled prisons where you get the necessities of life and that's it. Prisons with underfloor heating, three-choice dinner menues that you can order the night before, flat-screen TVs and gaming consoles is not what's needed. Prison is for punishment, not pleasure.
If only people would stop squawking on about the 'poor criminal' who started off on his or her life of crime because they got bottle-fed or fell off their trike or didn't get that cool toy when they were little and instead think about the poor woman that they and a couple of mates gang-raped, or the elderly man who was beaten to death by a 13yr old for a few dollars or a kindy teacher stabbed just because she looked at someone wrong or the little girl who was almost dragged into a car by a paedophile. Maybe then we can get this backwards world of ours into shape again.
Simply put, this society needs God back in the main picture. Ten years ago, twenty years ago, Christianity was the mainstay. Now in this increasingly liberal age, God has been pushed aside, along with the internal restraint, moral foundations, consequences, personal guilt for doing wrong things and responsibility that He teaches.
Considering the before and after- one a society raised on rules, respect, guidelines and things like 'love your neighbour as yourself', the other a society founded on Constructivisim and 'do what is right for you and I'll do what's right for me', 'we're all just higher-order animals', reject authority and anything else that imposes someone else's truth on you, is it really that surprising that society is now so degraded?
That's how I spent most of my Sunday today.
On station, learning how to approach a scene, the legalistics of what I can and cannot do in terms of self-defence and what constitutes as abuse, learning how to watch for body language danger signals, listening to the stories told of what has happened to others, and finally spending a few hours up on the roof/patio doing door-approach drills, practicing how to block a grab/shove, a knife attack, and how to use your first response kit as a shield/battering ram.
I know this sounds incredibly callouse, but these days ambulance officers have to be trained to run away at the first oppertunity if they come to a scene and someone threatens them. They have to put their safety above the patient, even if they're lying there bleeding their life away. We have to put ourselves before the patient, and it's a bitter pill to swallow because our first, trained instinct is to tend to the patient.
People out there will see a uniform and immediatly go on the offensive because it's a representation of authority. And when you've been raised in a culture that encourages everyone to do what's right for them and they come across a symbol of imposed authority they often react violently to it.
Or when you've got someone who's hyped on P or blotto on cheap booze or on some hellish cocktail of who knows what mixed with whatever was at hand, it's a bad situation for the poor bloke or shiela who gets sent in to deal with it.
Ten years ago we didn't have this problem. In this 'great society' of ours, what has changed in ten years? Moral standings have gone down. The family unit has been broken down. People are encouraged to go on the dole (unemployed benefit) rather than go out and get jobs. There has been a culture shift against respect for authority.
It's become a culture of self, what's best for me, and **** anyone who disagrees. Especially anyone in a uniform.
There was far, far greater respect for others and for self back then. Ten years ago, abductions and murders were big news because they were so rare. Now, murder is fairly common.
Not too long ago, an ambulance officer turned up to a farm up north, knocked on the door and was greeted with a shotgun to the chest. Stabbings of ambos are on the rise, along with the police. Fire crews are spared the worst of it 'cause they get called out less often but they still have to deal with alot.
Unless there's a major change in society, the day will soon come when frontline ambulance get stab-proof vests as standard issue and volunteers have to include them in their kit for certain events.
Veering off track for a moment, personally I am all for conscription. It gets the youths off the streets and away from the gangs and welfare, puts them in a place where there is discipline, where rules are enforced, where there are consequences and rewards are earned. It teaches them self-respect, pride, dignity and honour, and it teaches them a trade. One of our Members of Parliament was a right little bastard, in his own words. A foster kid who got bumped around from home to home and finally thrown into the army. He loved it and it straightened him right out.
And quite frankly, a place where there is actual discipline and punishment is something sorely needed here. That and military prison-styled prisons where you get the necessities of life and that's it. Prisons with underfloor heating, three-choice dinner menues that you can order the night before, flat-screen TVs and gaming consoles is not what's needed. Prison is for punishment, not pleasure.
If only people would stop squawking on about the 'poor criminal' who started off on his or her life of crime because they got bottle-fed or fell off their trike or didn't get that cool toy when they were little and instead think about the poor woman that they and a couple of mates gang-raped, or the elderly man who was beaten to death by a 13yr old for a few dollars or a kindy teacher stabbed just because she looked at someone wrong or the little girl who was almost dragged into a car by a paedophile. Maybe then we can get this backwards world of ours into shape again.
Simply put, this society needs God back in the main picture. Ten years ago, twenty years ago, Christianity was the mainstay. Now in this increasingly liberal age, God has been pushed aside, along with the internal restraint, moral foundations, consequences, personal guilt for doing wrong things and responsibility that He teaches.
Considering the before and after- one a society raised on rules, respect, guidelines and things like 'love your neighbour as yourself', the other a society founded on Constructivisim and 'do what is right for you and I'll do what's right for me', 'we're all just higher-order animals', reject authority and anything else that imposes someone else's truth on you, is it really that surprising that society is now so degraded?
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Saturday, June 30, 2007
eep
I've realised that I've somewhat neglected this thing. Ok, time to make up for it
I've noticed that so often personal sacrifice really pulls a heartstring in movies. That someone would give up life, liberty or some personal thing for another, often selflessly, really touches audiences. It's almost like we have hard-wired into us the words Jesus spoke- 'there is no greater love than a man who would lay down his life for another'
Something else that occured to me this morning. A few years back while I was Youth Leader with St John, the Sargent came up to me quietly and said that there'd been a few complaints about the little cross I wore under my uniform and could I please not wear it.
Back then I was still young and didn't really think anything of it so I stopped wearing it. But now I've realised a few things. One- why'd they get the Sargent, who was both lower-ranked and younger than me to deliver the message. Two- I kept it under my uniform. Who exactly was looking for it? To see it you'd have to be looking down my shirt. Three- The request was discrimination. Jewelry was fine as long as it was subtle and in the case of necklaces, under the uniform. Cadets often had necklaces and the like on. So why was my cross any different?
Ah well, hindsight has 20/20 vision and all.
I've noticed that so often personal sacrifice really pulls a heartstring in movies. That someone would give up life, liberty or some personal thing for another, often selflessly, really touches audiences. It's almost like we have hard-wired into us the words Jesus spoke- 'there is no greater love than a man who would lay down his life for another'
Something else that occured to me this morning. A few years back while I was Youth Leader with St John, the Sargent came up to me quietly and said that there'd been a few complaints about the little cross I wore under my uniform and could I please not wear it.
Back then I was still young and didn't really think anything of it so I stopped wearing it. But now I've realised a few things. One- why'd they get the Sargent, who was both lower-ranked and younger than me to deliver the message. Two- I kept it under my uniform. Who exactly was looking for it? To see it you'd have to be looking down my shirt. Three- The request was discrimination. Jewelry was fine as long as it was subtle and in the case of necklaces, under the uniform. Cadets often had necklaces and the like on. So why was my cross any different?
Ah well, hindsight has 20/20 vision and all.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Hmm....
I created this blog specifically to express opinions somewhere 'safe' that wouldn't get me in trouble for spreading views that are contrary to popular opinion while still having them out there and expressed, yet I've been told off because my opinion didn't fit with someone else's opinion. Funny that.
Shades, signing off.
Shades, signing off.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
John 1: 1-14
John 1: 1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Joy to the World, the LORD has come. Merry Christmas everyone, may your day be blessed.
Shades.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Joy to the World, the LORD has come. Merry Christmas everyone, may your day be blessed.
Shades.
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