It has been a relatively quiet start to the new year. We presented prizes to graduates from the Christmas RMC courses at the start of the year.
Several Association members attended the QUR Anzac Day ceremony at Toowong, but as the Regiment still had not been able to use the depot the usual breakfast was not available.
As the return to the depot was soon to occur the Association decided to wait till that time to conduct the annual “Back to the Regiment” function, but as usual in life the return was delayed making it impossible to conduct the function at a suitable time. It is understood that QUR will conduct an all ranks dinner to celebrate the return to the depot.
I would remind members that the AGM for the Association will be conducted on 7 September 2012 at the United Service Club. Please enter it in your diary. We are awaiting confirmation of our guest speaker but he promises to be very experienced and interesting. You won’t want to miss this one.
A very important part of the AGM and dinner is the appointment of the executive management committee who will oversee the operations of the Association. The current committee has been in place for quite some time. As usual it is always beneficial to renew the committee to bring new enthusiasm and ideas to the Association. Even though the AGM is a few months off I appeal to members to consider nominating for the positions within the executive management committee. Should you consider that you could serve on the committee please contact me so I can arrange for the appropriate nomination procedure to be completed. On a personal note I would be very happy to hand over the office of President of the Association.
The work on the preservation of the history of QUR continues. Currently I am waiting on recent Commanding Officers to contribute to the updated version of the published history of QUR so an updated version can be published.
We are slowly contacting lost members to ensure that we have their current contact addresses. It is a slow job but an important one.
I am pleased to present my second update as CO of QUR.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate my predecessor COL Tim O’Brien on his promotion and appointment to the new ‘Colonel – Capability’ role within Headquarters 11 Brigade. This will be a challenging role and he will have responsibility for overseeing substantial change in the Brigade in implementing PLAN BEERSEHBA initiatives.
QUR’s mission is “To deliver specified Individual Training in accordance with the Directed Training Requirement in order to support 2 DIV force generation”. In the last four months QUR has achieved this mission through the conduct of 11 course types, in 17 sessions, over 143 days of training to about 400 trainees. I have been very impressed by the application, diligence and commitment of the QUR team in delivering this quantity of training in such a short time.
In February it was my pleasure to attend the commissioning of 7 QUR graduates at RMC. These officers performed well on their final training block and all received their first or second Corps choice (five to Infantry and two allocated to Signals). LT Condon, from NQ Coy, won the Tactics Prize for the graduating class. I wish them well in their careers.
March saw QUR the subject of a Unit Establishment Review (UER). In 2011 HQ 2 DIV initiated a UER process for all of the University Regiments (UR). The intent was to standardise the structures of the UR, to align resources to the mission of each UR and to identify opportunities to redeploy resources to meet the PLAN BEERSHEBA targets. Over a period of a week each UR has participated in a detailed review with the Army Headquarters UER Team and HQ 2 DIV staff that critically reviewed every position and every piece of equipment allocated to the unit. The result of this is a UE proposal for each UR that has been refined before presentation to the Chief of Army for approval. There will be some changes to QUR aimed at ensuring it is properly structured and resourced. These changes will be in place for 1 January 2013. Overall, QUR will remain the second largest UR behind SUR.
QUR was again heavily engaged in supporting ANZAC Day activities. We were pleased to support the Toowong RSL Sub Branch service and were delighted at the large turnout and their appreciation of our honour guard and catafalque party. QUR also had 92 members in the 11 Brigade contingent for the Brisbane march. Notably QUR’s colours were paraded alongside the colours of 25/49 RQR and 9 RQR.
We celebrated the Regimental Birthday on 1 May with a unit potted sports activity and a BBQ. This informal occasion, attended by MAJGEN Pearn, marked the 80th anniversary year of the first raising of the Queensland University Detachment and the 62nd anniversary of the official raising of the unit in 1950.
• SGT Elona Drain was awarded a Bronze Commendation for her significant contribution to QUR through her years of work in Jacka Coy.
• Mr Paul Andersen was presented an Australia Day Award for diligence and performance during his work in the unit Q store.
After some unanticipated delays we expect to be able to reoccupy the St Lucia Depot in June. We will reschedule our major regimental and social activities to allow maximum participation.
On this morning, on the 97th anniversary of ANZAC day, Australians remember with pride and sadness the bravery and sacrifice of our soldiers who landed at Anzac Cove on that first ANZAC day.
Throughout Australia and across the world, groups of Australians are doing the same. In this early morning light we gather to commemorate our darkest hours, our bravest moments, our most tragic losses.
This morning’s ceremony is not about the glory of war. Nor is it about military triumphs. It cannot be. Gallipoli, the wellspring of this day, was no military triumph, even if it endures as a triumph of the human spirit.
ANZAC Day, this ceremony, is first of all about remembering.
The first dawn services sprung up spontaneously and informally, in the trenches on the western front in 1916, in London and in Australia, as comrades remembered their mates who had fallen the year before. As we gather here today, we are connected to our past, as we remember the sacrifice and achievements of our servicemen.
We remember the ANZACs for demonstrating incredible fortitude, mateship and bravery, which inspires us still.
We remember the debt we owe to the generations that came before us, people who did things so extraordinary that they test our powers to imagine.
We remember that the sacrifice required in war is not merely borne by those who serve in uniform but is shared by families and communities.
We remember that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance and we thank those that have served and are serving in the Australian Defence Force.
On this day, we can pause to recognise the sacrifices that this current generation of Australians is making. Today, our servicemen and women in Afghanistan, Timor Leste, Solomon Islands and many other places around the world will take a pause from the busy operations, gathering in small intimate dawn services, and feel a strong connection with their mates, their Australian history and with us here in Australia.
I assure you that they deeply appreciate your support, and take great heart knowing that they are in the thoughts of so many Australians here.
Sadly, they will unveil 10 new names, on the monuments in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan and Dili, Timor Leste, that have been added to the honour roll in the last year.
May all these brave service personnel rest proudly in the knowledge of their achievements, and may our successors and we prove worthy of their sacrifice.
It is the duty of all of us to ensure that those who lost their lives in service to our countries did not do so in vain.
A poem to read on ANZAC Day!
And perhaps a pension - small.
God-fearing country for an amount "up to and including my life".
That is Honour, and there are way too many people in this WORLD who no longer understand it.
you may care to list it in the next newsletter for QURA.
I have confirmed today (24 May) that QUR are still not back in the depot. They now expect sometime in June.
They still intend conducting an all ranks function sometime after they take up residence.
It's not possible to understand Engineers. They are strange!!
Ninth Battalions Association members are invited to attend the Battle of Milne Bay 70th Anniversary Commemoration Service.
(2) location - Milne Bay Memorial Library and Research Centre, 61 Kittyhawk Drive, Chermside, Brisbane. The Library and Research Centre building is the old Sandgate Drill Hall. It is in the Chermside Historical Precinct, near the Kedron-Wavell Services Club.
Her Excellency Ms Penelope Wensley, AC, Governor of Qld, will unveil a commemorative plaque and present medallions to surviving veterans of the Battle of Milne Bay.
Your family and the public are also invited to attend the service. Car parking is available in the Kedron-Wavell Services Club car park.
If you know any Battle of Milne Bay veterans, who are not members of our association, please reply to me with their details. A Milne Force Reunion is also planned.
Please share this email's contents with other interested people.
Some photos from The National Infantry Centre Anzac Day service that Lt Col Michael Ahern conducted at Fort Benning Georgia USA. Michael is writing a short comment on Anzac Day Dawn service ceremony that he conducted at the memorial at the Infantry museum at Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia. They had a showing of the movie gallipolli and small reception the evening before.
Attended by 120 pers, including retired 3 star, 2 star and 1 star generals who served with aussies.
The Americans found the dawn service moving – they don’t have a dawn service associated with any of their remembrance Day activities.
They were served coffee, tea, milk and Bundy rum, etc (more than what we had).
What a wonderful man and example for us all.
I regret I will be unable to attend the funeral.
Could there be anybody who didn't like and respect this man?
This is a news article about Campbell Newman and Denis L published in Sunday Mail 25 March 2012.
Thanks for keeping me in the loop on happenings back in Brisbane.
At present I am at the Multi-National Base in Tarin Kot, Uruzgan, Afghanistan where I am the Interpreter Manager for Combined Team Uruzgan (CTU) which is the formation headquarters for operations in Uruzgan Province.
I've been here just on six weeks and am due to redeploy with our rotation in Oct. The job is an interesting one looking after some 210 interpreters stretched across the AO. It has its ups and downs, but on the whole it makes for long days but short weeks. The rest of the team here are good so it has been a good place to work.
Attached find list of names etc of graduates QUR/RMC for March 2102.
Presented letters and prizes Cocktail Party , Enoggera, 3 March 2012.
Hopefully photos will be taken.
You probably have to have a few years under your belt to really appreciate this message.
Hope you find this as informative as I did.
A British Royal Navy landing craft on D-Day.
Landed in Normandy with the U S.Army on D-Day.
Lt. Colonel of the British Commandos in Normandy ..
As a private and worked his way to the rank of Colonel.
Taking part in hundreds of air strikes during his tour of duty.
Cross, France's Croix de Guerre,and 7 BattleStars during World War II.
A private in the AAF on Aug. 12, 1942 at Los Angeles.
Miami Beach , Fla.and graduated as a second lieutenant on Oct. 28, 1942 .
Where he flew operational missions over Europe in B-17s.
Own request, since he was over-age for combat.
Air Corps Sergeant in Kodiak.
Ernest Borgnine was a U. S.
Charles Durning was a U. S.
Earning a Silver Star and awarded the Purple Heart.
Island of Tarawain the Pacific Nov. 1943.
Japanese on Rabal in the Pacific.
Wounded earning the Purple Heart.
Enlisted in the Marine Corps where he received a battlefield commission and was wounded and highly decorated for valor at Guadalcanal ..
Who served with the O. S. S. In Yugoslavia .
Movie star when Pearl Harbor was bombed) joined the U.S. Marines, was a pilot flying supplies into, and wounded Marines out of, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
Most Decorated serviceman of WWII and earned: Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, 2 Silver Star Medals, Legion of Merit, 2 Bronze Star Medals with "V", 2 Purple Hearts, U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, 2 Distinguished Unit Emblems, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with One Silver Star, Four Bronze Service Stars (representing nine campaigns) and one Bronze Arrowhead (representing assault landing at Sicily and Southern France) World War II Victory Medal Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar, Expert Badge with Bayonet Bar, French Fourragere in Colors of the Croix de Guerre, French Legion of Honor, Grade of Chevalier, French Croix de Guerre With Silver Star, French Croix de Guerre with Palm, Medal of Liberated France, Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 Palm.
The Back to the Regiment function for QURA is usually held in March. Due to the uncertainty of when QUR will be returning to the Walcott St depot , the QURA Executive has decided to postpone the Back To the Regiment function to a date to be advised. Details of the function will be emailed when available.
I thought that it would be of significant interest to members of the Queensland University Regiment Association (QURA).
While all events are open to the Association, I thought that the dinner and the seminar might be of particular interest to your members.
Please find attached a copy of Brochures providing details for Dinner Registration and Seminar Registration together with a short Media Brief. The Key Note Speaker for the Dinner is the Hon Tim Fischer AC, Former Deputy Prime Minister. Invitations have been extended to Her Excellency the Governor, The US Ambassador, The Hon the Premier and the Lord Mayor of Brisbane. The Seminar is being hosted in partnership with the Royal United Services Institute and has an array of interesting speakers with the Key Note Address by Professor David Horner, Head of the Army History Unit.
I would appreciate it if the Association would be prepared to support the Celebrations by promoting the 20 – 23 July 2012 period to its members and by assisting the MacArthur Museum to distribute the attached information.
I look forward to any assistance you might be able to give the Museum in this regard. If there is any additional information you would like to have in relation to this important activity please don’t hesitate to contact me personally, details below.
Even in theory the gas mask is a dreadful thing. It stands for one’s first flash of insight into man’s measureless malignity against man.
I was too weak to defend, so I attacked.
War to the castles, peace to the cottages.
The wagon folk of the seas.
Countless and inestimable are the chances of war.
The British soldier can stand up to anything except the War Office.
As long as man dwells upon the globe, his destiny is battle.
Communications dominate war; broadly considered, they are the most important single element in strategy, political, or military.
To be at the head of a strong column of troops, in the execution of some task that requires the brain, is the highest pleasure of war.
Pointed bullets are better than pointed speeches.
It is not merely cruelty that leads men to love war, it is the excitement.
Without war the world would sink into materialism.
He always wears two pairs of pants to golf, in case he gets a hole in one.
The smoothest thing about a used car is the salesman.
I’ve just returned from my pleasure trip. I’ve just taken my wife to the airport.
Be nice to friends. If it wasn’t for them you’d be a total stranger.
I am a success in one way. I started out with nothing and still have most of it.
We learn nothing from history, except that we learn nothing from history.
If your surname is Pipe, don’t call the baby Dwayne.
Middle age is when you would like to stand up and give your seat to the lady, but can’t.
Do not resist growing old. Many are denied the privilege.
He took her for better or for worse. She took him for everything.
A contented husband is one who is on listening terms with his wife.
Confucius say man who eat prunes get good run for money.
Confucius say man who run in front of car likely to get tired.
The first scientists who studied fog were mystified.
The four most important words in any marriage – I’ll do the dishes.
The hypothalamus is one of the most important parts of the brain involved in many kinds of motivation. Among other functions the hypothalamus controls the “Four F’s”: fighting; fleeing; feeding; and mating.
One in every four people is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they are okay, then it is you.
What is a free gift? Aren’t they all free?
Television has done much for psychiatry, by spreading information about is as well as contributing to the need for it.
Don’t be afraid to take a big step. You cant cross a chasm in two small jumps.
I have always found paranoia to be a perfectly defensible position.
Nine tenths of all existing books are nonsence.