Malakor: You just make it worse for yourself don't you? Your sense of entitlement is a mile wide. A National emergency and somehow this is a major sacrifice above and beyond, etc.....?
What a disgracefully childish statement, you should be embarrassed.
In a year when the RAAF and wider ADF has been stretched to capacity with civil assistance I find your comments highly offensive and generalised.
Many hours were devoted to bushfire support at the beginning of the year, with leave cancelled for a lot of members in order to recall them (and absolutely no grumbling, people were scrambling to help.) Right now there are personnel (technicians, pilots, logistics officers - people from all ranks and musterings) assigned to covid tasking at hotels all throughout Australia as an ongoing task,with leave again cancelled for a lot of members over Christmas. Furthermore additional personnel placed on standby for bushfire assistance again this year.
Despise the people who pay for us? Most people join because they want to serve the community.
Perish the thought that the Chinese might attack over Christmas......
But seriously, there were many others who cancelled their leave voluntarily, tens of thousands of them. They were the despised civvies your mate Bodie sneered at. Then there were the police, ambos and professional fire fighters as well. They got no Christmas leave either. What makes you so special? It was a national emergency after all and you claim some special kudos for doing what you were paid to do out of hours? Aren't you supposed to be available 24/7?
I guess I am being a bit harsh. The RAAF gave me a lift home from Coffs Harbor in a C17 a week or two before Christmas. The webbing seats brought back memories. I didn't get to celebrate the New Year either. Yet I'm not complaining.
However its Wednesday afternoon, aren't you supposed to be playing cricket?