Australian soldiers are leaving Iraq as of Sunday, June 1, which fulfills the election promises of the current government. This comes on the heels of an interesting article in The Times last week, where Australian soldiers said they were ‘ashamed’ at their lack of frontline role in both Afghanistan and Iraq. The article comes from an extended article written by Major Jim Hammett (who is serving in Iraq) in the Australian Army Journal entitled “We Were Soldiers Once”. "Many within its ranks suspect that the role of the infantry has already been consigned to history . . . the on going inaction [in Iraq] . . . has resulted in collective disdain and at times near contempt by personnel from other contributing nations," he said. I have attempted to find the piece, but have cannot find a link. If you Google the title and ‘Australian Army Journal’, you can get a link to the pdf of the issue that the article appears in.
