[Setekh]

Fantastic drawing, Turnsky. The mood's just perfect.

Originally posted by Black Wolf
Damn right they were. Aussies were, and still are generally regarded as some of the best infantrymen in the world. It started in the Boer war, but WW1 was where the reputaion really got proven.

*nods* And the tradition continues, too. Our SAS troops are among the finest elite unit in the world. Pretty amazing how much of our budget is spent on defence, actually.

[mikhael]

It has more to do with the way you train and maintain your troops overall, Steak, than how much you spend of your budget.

The US (and many other Western militaries) could learn some very good lessons from the Aussie military administration.

[Black Wolf]

It's got a lot to do with quality over quantity. It's most easily recognized in fighte rpilots - we can't afford dozens of brand new fighter planes, and we can less afford to lose the ones we have. So we train and train and train our pilots before we let them control one. Same with the SAS - we can't afford to pay for a thousand regiments, so each soldier has to be trained to perform the equivalent job of the 1000 regiments.

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by Black Wolf
It's got a lot to do with quality over quantity. It's most easily recognized in fighte rpilots - we can't afford dozens of brand new fighter planes, and we can less afford to lose the ones we have. So we train and train and train our pilots before we let them control one. Same with the SAS - we can't afford to pay for a thousand regiments, so each soldier has to be trained to perform the equivalent job of the 1000 regiments.

one that note:

 A large group of Taliban soldiers are moving down a road when they hear a voice call from behind a sand-dune.

"One Australian SAS soldier is better than ten Taliban".

The Taliban commander quickly sends 10 of his best soldiers over the dune whereupon a gun-battle breaks out and continues for a few minutes, then silence. The voice then calls out "One Australian SAS soldier is better than one hundred Taliban".

Furious, the Taliban commander sends his next best 100 troops over the dune and instantly a huge gunfight commences. After 10 minutes of battle, again silence. The Australian voice calls out again "One Australian SAS soldier is better than one thousand Taliban".

The enraged Taliban Commander musters one thousand fighters and sends them across the dune. Cannon, rocket and machine gun fire ring out as a huge battle is fought. Then silence. Eventually one wounded Taliban fighter crawls back over the dune and with his dying words tells his commander, "Don't send any more men, it's a trap, ...there's actually two of them."

[karajorma]

I'd heard the joke previously about the british SAS but it's a good one

[Setekh]

Originally posted by mikhael
It has more to do with the way you train and maintain your troops overall, Steak, than how much you spend of your budget.

Oh yes, I totally agree. It remains that Australia still spends a large amount of money on defence.