Diddums gets feelings hurt

"There was one main soldier on the side of the car closest to me that was pointing his gun around, aiming like they do in the movies to check if there's any bad guys around," Mr McMillen said."At one point the guy was pointing the gun directly at me, which at first I thought it was an impressive show of what the Army can do."

The stark words of Brisbane student, 19 year old Stuart McMillen, from St Lucia. Stark words that would ring in his ears, for Stuart has faced the horror that is Being Pointed At. Allegedly. Let's revisit that moment, that moment when a young, carefree, devil-may-care university student who had the world at his feet, stared death in the face. And survived. Stuart, can you tell us what happened?

Stuart says he was walking along High Street in Toowong with his girlfriend yesterday when he saw at least one soldier point a gun in his direction.

"But then I realised that that was an Australian Army soldier pointing their gun at an Australian citizen in Australia, where there's currently no wars happening, so I thought that was a bit inappropriate."
He added, "There was one soldier that clearly sticks out in my mind but I think there was at least two that were sort of aiming their guns around the streets. I think they were probably just having a little bit of fun, pretending they were driving through the streets of Baghdad or something like that."

A little bit of fun. Or something more sinister. Several ASLAV's, 'cars' in McMillen parlance, move along the convoy route from Enoggera to the Centenary Highway. They are armed. Heavily. The assault variant is fitted with a 25mm Bushmaster cannon. The troops have machine guns and assault rifles. Admittedly, they are the Australian Army, and they do have a habit of doing things like carrying weapons around.

But NOT in Australia! The Australian Army should now go around unarmed. Unarmed I say! How dare they frighten innocent university students. They should know that Stuart may have developed a cure for cancer, but is now virtually comatose due to maybe, possibly, quite difficult to tell really, had a weapon pointed in his general direction, by a soldier in the back of a moving vehicle.

Deployment training in realistic conditions be damned! When there is the chance that Stuart and his girlfriend may find this type of training inappropriate, then it's time to stop! Call Bob Brown! We want an inquiry! I for one am pleased that the ABC has taken the moral high ground on this issue. They should be commended for their quality journalism, highly principled, impartial reporting.

Crossposted at Bastards Inc.

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