When in the Army I had the opportunity to work at West Coast Relay in Davis, California. One of our strategic long lines we maintained by radio was a shot to Australia. I spent a lot of time shooting the bull over the teletype order wire with folks at the Australian communications center.

When in Viet Nam in 1968, I was stationed at the satellite communications station at Tan Son Nhut AFB, just outside Saigon. On our little communications site, well removed from the rest of the air base, we had about a 1/2 dozen Aussies. Mostly what I remember of them is that they were bloody fanatics with their kangaroo stencils and cans of red spray paint. There wasn't a physical object remaining without a #@*% kangaroo on it. Eventually the Aussies left, but their kangaroos remained.

In November 1968 I took R&R to Sydney and spent the week in Kings Cross eating lamb chops and drinking Victoria Bitter. A Great week. I'll remember it forever.