CHQ AMBUSH (PART 2) By Noel Huish, CSM-D Coy 4 RAR/NZ
It’s very interesting to hear a story about the same event from different people, from their perspective and how they remember it with the passage of time. Here is Noel’s version of the same event.
For what it’s worth, one of the best anecdotes I recall was of a CHQ ambush. You will recall that CHQ was often greater in numbers than the platoons were. On one op it was decided that CHQ was big enough to put out an ambush consisting of odds and sods, each night. These would be commanded in turn by Support Sec/Comd Warren Dowell and alternatively by myself.
On this occasion the ambush was all set. The rear protection party was at the RV point; Claymores and flares were out. It was just on last light and we were all settled in for the night. Then there was noise, movement – a large group – but behind the ambush position and getting closer really fast. There was no time to do anything but try to turn around. Suddenly, out of the scrub came the biggest damn monitor lizard I’d ever seen. I swear not all Komodo dragons live on Komodo. The ambush went to pieces of course – diggers diving in all directions as the beast walked straight over the top of us. I recall trying to restore order. I think I said, “Settle down, the bloody thing is more scared of us than we are of it.” The instant response from somewhere down the line was, “You want to f’n bet.”
The final result: ambush totalled. We went to 50% and had a good night’s sleep.
Quote!
It’s not the one with your name on it; it’s the one addressed “to whom it may concern” you’ve got to think about.
