The next Defence scandal - Homophobic attack on uni students

DaveB said :

A couple of things.

First it was a foreign cadet that allegedly filmed the lady in the shower, not an Australian.
Secondly they are told to be on their best behaviour at all times.
Thirdly if you call up or send a letter to the Defence Minister’s office or the Vice Chief of the Defence Force or Commandant of ADFA or RMC Duntroon or where-ever they were from then it will be investigated. Putting a post on Riotact complaining about it is not the right way to go about getting things done.

I don’t suppose you got any names?

OMG they’re told to be on their best behaviour! And they certainly adhere to that….And putting a post on RiotAct is exactly the best way to get things done….at least the powers that be won’t be able to cover anything up.

mareva said :

If this qualifies as a “scandal” then I think ADFA are doing pretty well.

yeah I spose it’s only thugs standing over innocent people …..no biggy.

Unless it’s “non uniformed” thugs, then we should lock those kind up, or lynch em, or flog em, or better still hang em……now there’s a scandal for the rednecks…….yeehaw!

If this qualifies as a “scandal” then I think ADFA are doing pretty well.

Mr Waffle said :

“the best and finest this country has to offer”

Well, compared to the glassings on offer at Mooseheads down the road, I’d say they’re a step up from your average young Australian male out in Civic at night…

A fairly substantial proportion of the violence at mooseheads actually does involve defense force personnel. It’s not that unusual for groups of them to pick a guy and set out to instigate a fight – if he’s dumb enough to respond in kind to provocation, he can be up for a pretty savage beating.

From working there a few years ago I got the impression that this sort of behavior was basically condoned and encouraged among younger cadets by the older ones – after a particularly nasty incident where a guy had his head bashed on the concrete outside I overheard an older ADFA/Defense/whatever guy talking on his mobile, saying something along the lines of “yeah don’t worry, just cadets. It’s all cool, they did a good job”.

…the things you hear while hosing blood off the pavement.

These violent thugs should not be allowed to walk the streets and either locked up or sent off to Afghanistan to learn how to be respectful citizens…..oh and their parents are to blame!

Really Morgan, that’s your contribution to this issue??

I too am surprised that these people haven’t been subject to many lectures about appropriate public behaviour recently – they appear to believe the hype that they are the nation’s best and finest! Sadly, this type of behaviour is all too common.

“the best and finest this country has to offer”

Well, compared to the glassings on offer at Mooseheads down the road, I’d say they’re a step up from your average young Australian male out in Civic at night…

So how do you know these individuals were defence personnel? I’m guessing they weren’t going around in dress uniform..

They sound like drunken idiots, but no different to most other drunken idiots. Your description of the incident sounds a bit of a non-event if all that happened was kicking some chairs and name calling. Also curious why they would pick the ANU bar for their antics, it’s not exactly a mecca for gay people.

But hey, next time I see some drunk ANU students do the same, I’ll be sure to write 4 paragraphs about it..

How do you know they were defence students/personnel? Surely they would not have been in uniform, and surely not telling the world they were?

Unfortunately, not everywhere is as sensitive to the feelings of gay people as the ANU is. The reality is that people get called names all the time in the real world (fatty, wog, coon, fag, chink, etc) and I’m pretty sure that this “homophobia” would just be considered relatively harmless name-calling by the majority of folks unless it is connected to violence. It’s offensive, for sure, but nothing particularly unusual, and I think that any apathy would be due to the fact that people get called names by drunken tools all the time, rather than any distaste for gays in particular.

Also, expecting ADF members to observe the rules of political correctness? You might as well wait for Godot.

I would presume that by these antics that the people involved were either Duntroon or ADFA cadets rather than actual soldiers. If that is the case it’s perhaps apt to remember that the cadets are effectively trainees and are a lower rank than a private. They don’t represent Defence as an organisation any more than a trainee at mcdonalds represents that organisation.

It might be worth mentioning the time and date of the incident, so that Defence HR can track down the people involved.

A couple of things.

First it was a foreign cadet that allegedly filmed the lady in the shower, not an Australian.
Secondly they are told to be on their best behaviour at all times.
Thirdly if you call up or send a letter to the Defence Minister’s office or the Vice Chief of the Defence Force or Commandant of ADFA or RMC Duntroon or where-ever they were from then it will be investigated. Putting a post on Riotact complaining about it is not the right way to go about getting things done.

I don’t suppose you got any names?

Can you please stop saying “in terms of”, it doesnt add anything to the meaning of your sentence. Try leaving it out completely or simply say “for”.