Life in the Australian army.

angel · Joined: 28 Jun 2006 Posts: 4751 Location: essex

>
> LIFE IN THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY
>
> Text of a letter from a kid from Eromanga to Mum
> and Dad. (For those of you not in the know, Eromanga is a small town
west
> of Quilpie in the far south west of Queensland)
>
> " Dear Mum & Dad,
>
> I am well. Hope youse are too. Tell me big
> brothers Doug and Phil that the
> Army is better than workin' on the farm - tell them to get in
bloody
> Quick smart before the jobs are all gone!
>
> I wuz a bit slow in settling down at first,
> because ya don't hafta get outta bed until 6am. But I like sleeping
> in now, cuz all yagotta do before brekky is make ya bed and shine
> ya boots and clean ya uniform. No bloody cows to milk, no calves to
feed,
>no feed to stack - nothin'!!
>
> Ya haz gotta shave though, but its not so bad, coz there's
>lotsa hot water and even a light to see what ya doing!
>
>At brekky ya get cereal, fruit and eggs but there's no kangaroo
>steaks or possum stew like wot Mum makes. You don't get fed again
> until noon, and by that time all the city boys are buggered because
>we've been on a 'route march' - geez its only just like walking
> to the windmill in the back paddock!!
>
> This one will kill me brothers Doug and Phil
> with laughter. I keep getting
>medals for shootin' - dunno why. The bullseye is
> as big as a bloody possum's bum and it don't move and its not
> firing back at ya like the Johnsons did when our big scrubber bull
got
>into
> their prize cows before the Ekka last year! All ya gotta do is
> make yourself comfortable and hit the target - its a piece of cake!!
You
>even load
> your own cartridges - they comes in little boxes and ya don't have
to
> steady yourself against the rollbar of the roo shooting truck when
you
> reload!
>
> Sometimes ya gotta wrestle with the city boys and I gotta be real
> careful coz they break easy - it's not like fighting
>with Doug and Phil and Jack and Boori and Steve and Muzza all at once
> like we do at home after the muster.
>
> Turns out I'm not a bad boxer either and it
> looks like I'm the best the platoon's got, and I've only been beaten
by
> this one bloke from the Engineers - he's 6 foot 5 and 15 stone and
> three pick handles across the shoulders and as ya know I'm only 5
foot 7
>and eight stone wringin' wet, but I fought him till the other blokes
>carried me off
> to the boozer.
>
>I can't complain about the Army - tell the boys to get in quick before
word
>gets around how bloody good it is.
>
>
>Your loving daughter,
>
>Sheila
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