Below the salt

[Tannin]

[HAL]

Well what?

[ronrat]

It doesn't matter, The hardest retiontion rate in the RAN is submariners. The bloke who lives next door to my folks is President of the Submariners assciation.He tells me that only a very few can tolerate the constant lack of sunshine, fresh airand fresh food and the constant stench of diesel.

I question why we need so many when none of our neighbours have any and the nearest ones are probably Singapore or Thailand (yet to get them). I suspect this is more of what employment can we give Adelaide.
I worked in Defence Procuremnt for 30 odd years and anything over a certain dollar value is referred to cabinet. Not only are the technical and logistic reports put forward so is details of what electorates will benefit, short and long term, and where the money will be spent. ADF personnel do not always get what they wanted, needed or lobbied for. The senior officers retire and go and work for who ever wins the contract and the footslogger gets left with it. The buyers get blamed. They never wanted the Steyr but wanted the cheaper and readily available US weapon but when the Austrians offerred to build them in Lithgow the result was over.

The Australian Ground based Defence Air Defence capability was based in the Adelaide hills and I think still is. Logic told everyone it should be moved to Tindal or Darwin. But the artilley bods didn't want postings to Katherine. Hahndorf is much more pleasant for family. So when Ian MCLachlan was Defence Minister they dusted off the proposal and sent it forward for consideration that the ARA component would move to Katherine. McLachlan was member for Mount Barker and was not going to see a few hundred votes disappear plus the local businesses suffer. So he vetoed it it and stated it was not to be rebsubmitted for years. Legend has it it he would not read any brief over a page long. A one line political implications statement would have sunk years of planning. I had to travel to Adelaide once a month instead of Katherine and spent 4 years touring factories in Salisbury, Holden Hill and Elizabeth. Would have much preferred Darwin where I could have kick started holidays to SE Asia.

Can I add. The proposal concluded that the reserve could move to Adelaide and the 100 or so homes and the Barracks being crown land could be handed back to the local Indigineous tribe as a ready made community with sporting fields, roads, gym, bars etc and they could be employed fruit picking.

[think positive]

The last idea is a great one.

As for the subs, so we are committed almost to buying a new model not fully designed yet!
So why not look at alternatives?

[watt price tully]