This from Rudd, currently making Defence Personnel drag dead
bodies out of the ocean because of his failed policies.  His troops are right now
risking their lives on the front line in Afghanistan.

I served like many others for more than 20 years, in fact 24 years, and
whilst serving I was proud of the job we did. Possibly the best years of
my life were given to the cause.  I now feel very guilty for what I made
my family endure.

Because of my career and postings my wife and family were dragged for more
than 21 years from not only all over Australia but also overseas. My
eldest daughter was forced to attended 10 different schools during her
education.  My wife, forced to change employment 9 times again because of
my career and at one point was not allowed to work for 4 years because of
an overseas posting.

I spent more than 11 years of my career at sea away and out of touch from
my family. This we endured as it was what I  had signed up for. The one
shining light (or carrot ) that was always held out to us was that our
military super would compensate for the hardships.

On retirement a lot of members find it difficult to find employment as
there is not a lot of calling for, in my case a Weapons Engineer or at
worse if you are an infantry man or bosuns mate.

For me, I had a very supportive wife and we were able to make a career for
ourselves after the Navy in our own business that led to a lucrative
contract as a Team Manager of a large V8 Supercar team. I was certainly
was one of the lucky ones. Not all have been as fortunate and many are
struggling to keep their head above water (and that isn't a pun).

One young widow I recently had contact with is now forced to make do on
only 62% of her partners pension to raise her young daughter.. If she was
Tim Matherson she would be entitled to 89% of a much larger pension that
neither he nor Gillard contributed 1 cent to. We on the other hand were
forced to pay more than 6% of our gross salaries into government revenue
and pay tax on it. Then pay tax on our pension entitlement. The government
Double dipping.


Now that I have retired that super payment has now diminished to less than
the Age pension. This for all the hardships hardly seems fair. Whilst the
history of military super is long and clouded because of smears that both
sides of politics have tried to perpetuate let me just say that those who
served in the Military have been dudded and betrayed.  Current members on
the new MSBS scheme are also being conned in the same way and no side of
politics is doing any thing to address it.

Enough is enough. Someone has to stand up for the Military members both
current and retired. Unfortunately our numbers are too small to carry
weight or favour and whilst serving you are gagged.

Just as a side issue to highlight my feelings. My home was broken into a
while back and my medals, including the Conspicuous Service Medal I was
awarded in 1993 were stolen. The Police attended, however they were never
recovered. My kids have been at me to have them replaced. I just don't
have the feeling inside anymore for their worth considering how I, like
many have been treated. I know this may seem strange to some, however as I
said above the feeling of guilt toward my family is real. Maybe in years
to come I may change that attitude.

Thank you Michael for your work,

Regards

Garry