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CONTACT magazine

By George Mansford

Poets Corner 

God, Please Don’t Strike Our Military Purple

02/09/202327/11/2023 Posted by Brian Hartigan 7992 Views 1 Comment By George Mansford

Always has been personal pride of warriors wearing military thread Confident and firm stride, be it off duty or on

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Australian National Flag. Courtesy PM&C.
Poets Corner 

Our Flag is Not For Sale

27/08/2023 Posted by Brian Hartigan 6547 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

Our proud flag, flying high above, is me and you Speak evil of her and she will in time bid

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Members of the 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Infantry) participate in the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at Talil, Iraq, 2008. Photo by Brian Hartigan.
Poets Corner 

Leave ANZAC Day Alone  

03/05/202303/05/2023 Posted by Brian Hartigan 7187 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

A very special sacred day to salute our fallen from the first to the last To reflect on glorious deeds

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Australian National Flag. Courtesy PM&C.
Poets Corner 

YET ANOTHER CHALLENGE IN OUR HISTORY 

14/04/2023 Posted by Brian Hartigan 10243 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

        1939–A war and its trials we did not seek  Can you recall far distant drumbeats of

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Members of Australia's Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) prepare to fly into Oruzgan's Baluchi Valley and Chora regions in support of an MTF1 mission, in 2010. Photo by Lieutenant Aaron Oldaker.
Poets Corner 

Duty and Consequences

05/04/202305/04/2023 Posted by Brian Hartigan 7275 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

. What strange rules for combat wrapped in white flags we use To placate political masters far distant from arenas

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Blake, Shay and family friend Petty Officer Physical Training Instructor Tamara Prins wait for Petty Officer Combat Systems Supervisor Joseph Muckenthaler to arrive home as HMAS Anzac returns from deployment to Fleet Base West in Western Australia. Photo by Seaman Richard Edwards.
Poets Corner 

The Family Trenches at Home

15/02/2023 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2417 Views 1 Comment By George Mansford

Remember those farewells, strong hugs and comforting hands The sounds of blaring busy airports, and perhaps military bands Or a

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Australian National Flag. Courtesy PM&C.
Poets Corner 

Australia Day

20/01/2023 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2386 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

The night before the historic day, campfires were well alight Burning with true blue flickering flames so bright Creeping warmth

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Poets Corner 

The Misery of War Never Ends

12/12/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1585 Views 1 Comment By George Mansford

Soldiers are trained to kill and endure battle din No second chance, no shoulder shrugging or apologetic grin They bayonet,

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Australian Army Sergeant Tarese Heath (operating ventilator) and US colleagues transfer a wounded patient from a medical evacuation helicopter to the Emergency Department of the Air Force Theater Hospital at Balad, Iraq. Photo by Major Patricia Anderson, US Army.
Poets Corner 

Space Age Angels

14/11/202214/11/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1584 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

You ask this old soldier where I’ve been Oh, to see the space age medics and their teams So many

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Placing a poppy on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial. Photo by Corporal Nunu Campos.
Poets Corner 

DO WE REALLY HONOUR OUR PAST?

14/11/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1422 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

Stand tall and proud for all those yesterdays When our flag of unity was first flown to lead the way

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Australian National Flag. Courtesy PM&C.
Letters to the Editor Poets Corner 

Get Rid of the Fool in Green

03/07/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1678 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

I know this scribble is a touch repetitive but it’s very difficult to ignore such a slur directed at our

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Frank Moffitt Australia Day in Brisbane with 1RAR, 1959.
Poets Corner 

Many salutes to our cobber, Frank Moffitt

03/07/202203/07/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1611 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

It is nearing 68 years since I returned late at night after leave in WA, and reported to the orderly

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Photo by Warrant Officer Class Two Gary Ramage.
Poets Corner 

THE ANZACS ARE WATCHING

16/04/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1458 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

Amid constant gloom and distant frowns Increasing debt, and heads drooping down Comes a time when a youngster will ask

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Australian Army soldiers from the 5th Engineer Regiment use earth-moving equipment to clear debris from a flood-affected house in Lismore, New South Wales, during Operation Flood Assist 2022. Photo by Corporal Jonathan Goedhart.
Poets Corner 

Tomorrow we will

21/03/202221/03/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1823 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

Faith, Hope, Unity and Purpose are Powerful National Weapons When you hear Mother Nature is about to tear us apart

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Major General Ron Grey inspects members of the 5th/7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment on parade at Holsworthy in 1981 – and at a social function in 2012. Uniformed photo by Sergeant Craig Murphy. Social photo by Brian Hartigan.
Poets Corner 

Caesar Still Lives 

23/01/202224/01/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2778 Views 2 Comments By George Mansford

Major General R.A. Grey AO, DSO – a salute from all his centurions, living and dead Find me the soldier who

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Poets Corner 

Keeping the Home Fires Burning

01/01/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1566 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

I watched as the young widow laid her wreath. I wanted to tell her I was with her husband shortly

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Major (read) James Joseph 'Jock' Smith MC and Bar – RIP 12 November 2021 aged 83.
Poets Corner 

Until we are all together again

15/11/202115/11/2021 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2243 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

In the mist of time, Jock’s fond familiar image reaches out Fleeting frames of determination, duty and a heart so

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Australian Army soldier Private Clayton Baird from 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment, ready for a vehicle-mounted patrol during a training exercise in the Townsville Field Training Area. Photo by Major Al Green.
Poets Corner 

Soldiering in the 51st 

19/09/202119/09/2021 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2295 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

Born on the sands of Egypt, christened with rum, then issued 303s Your sacred Cloths now stitched with proud deeds

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Poets Corner 

The Squadron will never stay buried 

09/09/202109/09/2021 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2000 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

Can you hear the stirring sounds of band and drums? As ghosts of Two Squadron’s many generations march as one

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Take a Deep Breath – poem by Brigadier (retd) George Mansford
Letters to the Editor 

2 Squadron SASR must be reinstated

26/08/2021 Posted by Brian Hartigan 4631 Views 4 Comments By George Mansford

Along with so many others, I will never understand the decision by Canberra to remove 2 Squadron SASR from the order of battle.

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CONTACT Air Land & Sea plus COMBAT Camera magazines were past publications of this business. Digital copies of both magazines can be viewed or downloaded via our Archives (see menus).

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