Defense Funding - Nothing for the Troops

Australia has a very poor history of supplying its troops, the ones who do the real fighting, with decent weapons and equipment.

From the days of the Piat anti-tank round up until today the Australian troops are the poor cousins to groups like the Germans, Israelis and US soldiers.

Consider Afghanistan. The troops there have little or no air support, no unmanned vehicles spotting their path and the result has been deaths by ambush time and time again. They have a field rifle that is hardly used by any other nation. Web sites that used to review Aussie equipment were harassed until they shut down.

The next big budget, that has no funding details, is once again focused on big ticket items like planes and ships. I am all for an increase in the spotting area though, too many crafts of all types get close to or reach Australia without them being spotted or spotted too late.

Of course the biggest problem with the Australian Defense Forces is that they are managed by public servants. People who have never been to a boot camp, never fired a weapon and never even been camping are the ones deciding what the troops get and how much of it. It is a sad time to be soldier in this man's army.