Mark Stevens

@Raymartin55 By the way, Rod Margetts was our battlefield tour guide - my CO in 1990 at 5/7RAR. He was fantastic.

@MastSydney Well done for getting there Mark. Must be so moving. A lifetime goal of mine as well. My visit called off in 96 due to unforeseen circumstances.

At ANZAC Cove in Gallipoli for the dawn service and at Lone Pine for the Australian Memorial. Lifelong goal achieved.

@Raymartin55 Hi Ray. Everything that you would hope for and more. Wasn’t going to be forestalled by events in the MEAO. Hope you had a good ANZAC day

Great crowd, solemn and respectful

@RightisRight___ @MarkWIL23282039 @PatConroy1 @DefenceAust @AustralianArmy Hi Ted, check my profile. I’m a Veteran, qualified to comment and not hiding my identity like a shameful coward.

@MastSydney @MarkWIL23282039 @PatConroy1 @DefenceAust @AustralianArmy I admire your courage to speak in the absence of knowledge

From enlisting as a soldier in 1987. To commanding at every rank she has held across her Army and Joint staff appointments. Lieutenant General Susan Coyle is Australia’s next Chief of Army.

@RightisRight___ @MarkWIL23282039 @PatConroy1 @DefenceAust @AustralianArmy Ted, change your handle to @tyrannosaurusrex because you mate are the worst kind of dinosaur. Out of date, out of touch and no idea.

@MastSydney @MarkWIL23282039 @PatConroy1 @DefenceAust @AustralianArmy That means nothing when said by a spastic 🤦‍♂️

@RightisRight___ @MarkWIL23282039 @PatConroy1 @DefenceAust @AustralianArmy Oh Ted, you have now joined the team called fucking morons. Well done

@MarkWIL23282039 @PatConroy1 @DefenceAust @AustralianArmy Signal Corps IT desk jockey

@GrumpyOLSoldier Disagree

So NOTHING relevant to her job. Got it

@breakfast_dogs @AustralianArmy Nothing happens in land operations without space

@Dr_M_Davis @AustralianArmy Sure, but these are niche capabilities - a couple of hundred people, makes sense that they're joint. Not the main role of an army tho.

Lt Gen Susan Coyle is a superb choice for Chief of @AustralianArmy . I know her personally and I have the greatest respect for her deep military knowledge and vast operational and policy experience. As head of Joint Capability Group, she's been instrumental in elevating thinking on new operational domains such as 'Space' and 'Cyber', and emerging technologies, to a new higher level. She'll be a fantastic 'CA' for the ADF and for Australia. A good choice for @DefenceAust .

@GrumpyOLSoldier @AustralianArmy Sorry mate, but you don’t know what you are talking about. I agree with Malcolm. I’m a veteran and know her personally. She is a great choice who has plenty of combat arms command and operational service experience.

@Dr_M_Davis @AustralianArmy What crap

@MrRexPatrick @JAParker29 Rex, I’m sorry but as soon as you became a mouthpiece for Michael West, a Defence nihalist, and criticised @JAParker29 in the way you did, you lost me. I’m a veteran and I’m embarrassed for you.

@JAParker29 I am keen to be the counterweight to your strategic views that are unfortunately divorced from reality. I welcome your challenging my views too. michaelwest.com.au/rudd-talking-t…

After multiple personal attacks on me across platforms this morning, @MrRexPatrick has now followed me on Twitter. Perhaps he’s keen to learn more about #AUKUS? 🤷‍♀️

@hf_222222 @MichaelS_SAA @defence_wonk @JAParker29 That’s true Scott

@MichaelS_SAA @MastSydney @defence_wonk @JAParker29 To be fair, UK industry/MoD struggles, are hardly limited to just nuclear subs. They extend to pretty much to all areas of defence procurement.

I despair of the quality of defense analysis. (If you think subs purchased to provide sea denial are expensive, I promise what you'd need to spend to guarantee sea control is so, so much more. And you'd still need the subs for that as well lol).

@MichaelS_SAA @defence_wonk @JAParker29 @hf_222222 In the UK case Michael, it’s entirely budget driven. Yes it’s complex but this isn’t new. The US is the most efficient and effective operator of nuclear assets. Again it’s not just a complexity issue. There is a capacity issue in its supply chain.

@MastSydney @defence_wonk @JAParker29 @hf_222222 The practical effect of the US sustainment backlog is the same, even if you say it’s capacity, not funding, driven. And the underlying cause of the US and UK problems is the complexity of nuclear submarines.

@defence_wonk @JAParker29 @MichaelS_SAA @hf_222222 You can’t compare the US and UK availability issues. The UK’s situation is due to a lack of sustainment funding. Their reduction in sustainment spend looks a lot like what we are doing right now. The US challenge is a volume one - insufficient sustainment capacity for the task.

@JAParker29 @MichaelS_SAA @hf_222222 Fair enough, a surge is certainly possible if there's enough warning of an imminent crisis, though a crunch will surely follow. For steady-state planning purposes I think 2 on patrol is correct. (Again, I'd prefer nine, as I think peaks and troughs are inevitable with eight.)

@OMGTheMess #thebestofus

Jungle George Mansford has died What a loss RIP Brigadier, your duty is done.

@Mr_Andrew_Fox 👋

Any veterans from NATO countries following me? If you served and you’re a Danish, Australian, Canadian, Estonian or a veteran from any country that served in Iraq or Afghanistan, please wave at me in the replies? I have a great idea.

@MickamiousG @Whats_Newsss @scottwa80184192 Yes that’s correct. A worrying trend is the militarisation of police forces but without the deep and specialised training the ADF does for those roles it undertakes.

@MastSydney @Whats_Newsss @scottwa80184192 Yes, but not this quick.

The ADF were seen arresting a car full of what looked to be Middle Eastern men this afternoon in Liverpool, Sydney. I guess the government has finally decided to pull their fingers out for a second to investigate their 10 year old list of terrorist sympathisers.

@Whats_Newsss @scottwa80184192 No you are right. Following the Lindt Cafe siege commonwealth laws were amended to enable the ADF to be called out quickly and simply to deal with terrorist threats.

@scottwa80184192 Thought the government had the ability to bring them in for counter terrorism. My mistake.

I am not young. I don’t use TikTok (have an account/don't use). I listen to NPR Morning Edition and other podcasts, read the WSJ/NY Post/Newsweek/Telegraph/NYT and others daily. I’m a war scholar, over 35 years of experience. I spent 25 years active duty in the military, 2 x year long deployments in combat in Iraq, have been a scholar in specifically urban and underground warfare for over 10 years to include studying Israel's wars before October 7. I have conducted 7 research trips to Israel since October 7th, 6 times embedded, researching, collecting data with the IDF inside of Gaza. The evidence I’ve seen and collected show Israel has executed it's war against Hamas in Gaza above an beyond requirements of the law of armed conflict, implemented more measures to prevent civilian harm and provided more aid and services to an enemy population in enemy controlled territory than any military in history. There is conclusively no genocide in Gaza.

@GemmaTognini #thebestofus