Shadow Seal is an adaptable and extremely capable lightweight Tactical Diving Vehicle (TDV) able to transport a pilot, navigator and two passengers in surface, semi-submerged and submerged mode with a range of 80nm.

Shadow Seal offers unparalleled underwater manoeuvrability to Special Operations Forces required to covertly cross the expanding offshore and littoral water gap. Adaptable to suit a variety of ISTAR and combat requirements, the platform provides sophisticated protection to complex, high-value platforms and critical infrastructure.

A strategic partnership with BTM was announced in March 2022 as part of JFD’s commitment to expanding its US presence and subsea maritime capability. BTM subsequently purchased the first production model of Shadow Seal to provide local demonstration and training services – significant milestone in JFD’s journey towards a full turnkey US capability, inclusive of TDV provision and follow on support services throughout the product lifecycle.

Shadow Seal was first developed by Ortega Submersibles in The Netherlands which was acquired by JFD in 2019 and has since undergone further development and rigorous trials. JFD has combined 40 years’ experience within the subsea domain with proven technology; found within JFD’s Carrier Seal which is in operation with a number of the World’s Navies. Recent upgrades included in the latest Shadow Seal include expansion of available battery power enhancing range and endurance capacity of the craft.

Anyone born around 1930-1950 had plenty of experiences with this architecture, especially the long drop in rural towns –

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The Aussie Outhouse

Attached is our May 2022 Update.  It can be viewed by clicking here.

Kind regards,

Herb

The Government is investing an additional $328.1 million in the 2023-24 Budget to support the more than 340,000 veterans and dependants accessing services through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA). This builds on the $537.5 million invested in the October 2022 Budget as part of the Government’s commitment to ensuring a better future for veterans and their families.

The 2023-24 Federal Budget makes significant investments that will further reduce the veteran compensation claims backlog.

This includes:

• $64.1 million in 2023-24 to retain more than 480 DVA staff who are working to deliver frontline services to veterans and families.
• $254.1 million over four years to modernise and sustain ageing IT systems and ensure more timely payments and access to services for veterans and families through DVA.

These investments support the Government’s response to the interim recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

The Government is also expanding eligibility for the Acute Support Package (ASP) introduced in the October 2022 Budget to include grandparents who are full-time carers of children of veterans.

This expansion acknowledges the different challenges experienced by families and provides services such as childcare, counselling, household assistance, education support and financial aid for veteran families in crisis.

The Government is also funding critical support capabilities and programs including $2 million to continue important mental health awareness and suicide intervention training for volunteers supporting veterans.

The measures announced in this Budget are in addition to important reform work that is currently underway. We are investing to improve access to support services now, while developing a pathway to simplify and harmonise the complex, century old, veteran compensation system into the future.

Australia’s Defence Force personnel and veterans make a solemn commitment to serve and defend our nation.

Their families also make significant sacrifices to support them.

It is our duty to repay this in kind by providing effective transition, health and wellbeing support.

 

When the shearing sheds are silent and the stock camps fallen quiet,
When the gidgee coals no longer glow across the outback night,
And the bush is forced to hang a sign, ‘gone broke and won’t be back’
And spirits fear to find a way beyond the beaten track.

When harvesters stand derelict upon the wind swept plains,
And brave hearts pin their hopes no more on chance of loving rains,
When a hundred outback settlements are ghost towns overnight,
When we’ve lost the drive and heart we had to once more see us right.

When ‘Pioneer’ means a stereo and ‘Digger’ some backhoe,
And the ‘Outback’ is behind the house. there’s nowhere else to go,
And ‘Anzac’ is a biscuit brand and probably foreign owned,
And education really means brainwashed and neatly cloned.

When you have to bake a loaf of bread to make a decent crust,
And our heritage once enshrined in gold is crumbling to dust,
And old folk pay their camping fees on land for which they fought,
And fishing is a great escape; this is until you’re caught.

When you see our kids with Yankee caps and resentment in their eyes,
And the soaring crime and hopeless hearts is no longer a surprise,
When the name of RM Williams is a yuppie clothing brand,
Not a product of our heritage that grew off the land.

When offering a hand makes people think you’ll amputate,
And two dogs meeting in the street is what you call a ‘Mate’,
When ‘Political Correctness’ has replaced all common sense,
When you’re forced to see it their way, there’s no sitting on the fence.

Yes – one day you might find yourself an outcast in this land,
Perhaps your heart will tell you then, ‘I should have made a stand’,
Just go and ask the farmers that should remove all doubt,
Then join the swelling ranks who say, ‘don’t sell Australia out’.

Author unknown

By Stephen Kuper

One of the key announcements of the government’s Defence Strategic Review (DSR) is that our surface fleet would be subject to yet another review into its force structure slated for release later this year, but have we asked ourselves, what sort of fleet do we need?

Whether it is for our raw resource or agricultural exports, or the critical import of liquid fuel or consumer goods like cars, as an island nation, Australia’s future prosperity and security is intrinsically linked to our unmolested access to the global maritime commons.

This reality is critically important in the light of mounting regional and global naval build ups and is the driving force behind the nation’s pursuit of the trilateral AUKUS agreement which will deliver the nation’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet, which has drawn extensive attention both at home and abroad.

Meanwhile, the Albanese government’s long-awaited Defence Strategic Review has shed light on the long-term direction of the nation’s defence posture and ensuing capability development pathways in the context of what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explains, “We confront the most challenging strategic circumstances since the Second World War, both in our region and indeed around the world. That’s why we’re investing in our capabilities and we’re investing, too, in our relationships to build a more secure Australia and a more stable and prosperous region.

“It is the most significant work that’s been done since the Second World War, looking in a comprehensive way at what is needed. It demonstrates that in a world where challenges to our national security are always evolving, we cannot fall back on old assumptions,” Prime Minister Albanese said at the formal announcement of the DSR in late April at Parliament House.

A key pillar for delivering this is the Royal Australian Navy and its surface and submarine fleets respectively, in recognising this, the DSR identifies the need to establish: “An enhanced lethality surface combatant fleet, that complements a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine fleet, is now essential given our changed strategic circumstances … Australia’s Navy must be optimised for operating Australia’s immediate region and for the security of our sea lines of communication and maritime trade.”

To this end, the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles, articulated the need for a “short, sharp” review into the make-up of the Australian Navy’s surface fleet, to reshape it into a flexible, future-proofed force capable of meeting the tactical and strategic operational requirements placed upon the service by the nation’s policymakers.

Explaining the logic behind the need for this review, the Deputy Prime Minister explained: “We do feel, as the review has recommended, that there is merit in having a short condition check at this moment in time about the future shape of our surface fleet. And there are a couple of reasons for that. The first is that the surface fleet, as it’s currently constructed, was determined at a time when Australia was still pursuing a diesel electric-powered submarine.

 

CHAIR’S UPDATE

Last month we were grateful for a visit by the new Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Queensland Deputy Commissioner. We held our very first Finance Expo, which was very well attended. National Volunteer Week is on this month, and we are very grateful for all our volunteers who add capacity to our operations. We have nominated for the PM Employment Awards. We will name another hut, this time after an NQ indigenous soldier who served in WWI and WWII. We are holding the next handicraft market on Saturday, 17 June, and the weather will be beautiful in Townsville by then. We’ve been improving our management of clients, participants and subscribers, but there will be a few glitches as we change over. We have been running a popular competition involving social media and coffee at Dirty Boots Café.

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May 2023 edition of ONtarget… (theoasistownsville.org.au)

 

In September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a History teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal, and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks in her classroom.

When the first-period kids entered the room, they discovered that there were no desks.

‘Ms. Cothren, where are our desks?’

She replied, ‘You can’t have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.’

They thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s our grades.’ ‘No,’ she said.

‘Maybe it’s our behaviour.’ She told them, ‘No, it’s not even your behaviour.’

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom. Kids called their parents to tell them what was happening and by early afternoon television news crews had started gathering at the school to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room. The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the desk-less classroom. Martha Cothren said, ‘Throughout the day, no one has been able to tell me just what he or she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom.

Now I am going to tell you.’ At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-seven (27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniform, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place, those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned. Martha said, ‘You didn’t earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. They went halfway around the world, giving up their education and interrupting their careers and families so you could have the freedom you have. Now, it’s up to you to sit at them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don’t ever forget it.

By the way, this is a true story. And this teacher was awarded the Veterans of Foreign Wars Teacher of the Year for the State of Arkansas in 2006. She is the daughter of a WW II POW .