I had the pleasure of being on Kangaroo 1, whereby the RAAF provided support to the Army and others. At the end of each day, the RAAF returned to Rocky and headed off to the motel for a good night's sleep, aided by a few bottles of anaesthetic.
Come time for K2, the grunts had moaned long and hard about the RAAF being in a motel, so this time, we were in tents on the airfield, with Thunderboxes dug just next to the perimeter road, which elicited a few catcalls from passing motorists. Not as good as a motel, but we still slept. But still the grunts moaned.
Eventually, the RAAF choppers were encamped with the army lads. Which was a seriously bad idea. This was the dawning of lots of night ops and NVGs, but sadly, the aircrews could not get sleep in a tent in an active army camp during the day. Result, tired aircrew flogging around in the dark. Result, one Huey smeared over a hillside and lots of dead people.
Lots of finger pointing, but the Streakers Defence was used :
"It seemed like a good idea at the time."
The ADF has pulled the Streakers Defence plenty of times since then, and one person's good idea is another's definition of stupidity.
It has been that way forever, and will probably continue to be.
