The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

DaveB wrote:I met an American in Cambodia in the mid-90s, up around Battambang. He had the behaviour of somebody who had been there a long time (I believe the phrase is that he had 'gone Asiatic'). I asked him how he came to be there and he told me he had deserted the US Army in Vietnam, and had been kicking around SE Asia ever since. Didn't feel too good about it. I was a soldier for 40 years and have no time for deserters.

Hmmm that's interesting, up in Canada I've met a couple of guys who were what the Americans call draft dodgers from the Vietnam war. I confess I had mixed feelings towards them. On the one hand I could understand where they were coming from but on the other, well it was a case of when your country calls and that. One chap I know came up through the ranks of the USMC to reach the rank of Major, he served in Vietnam and he reckons one of the biggest mistakes they made was using conscripts.

Blu

The former District Council building in my home town has a decommissioned nuke bunker underneath it, the building is due for demolition in October so it'll be interesting to see what they do with the bunker

There were a series of bunkers built in Canada during the cold war. Called 'Diefenbunkers' after the PM (Diefenbaker) who ordered their construction, they were a well-kept secret for many years. The largest in in Carp Ontario, which was intended to house the Federal Government in time of crisis, is now owned by the local council and open a few times a year for tourists. There were others built in every province, like the one in Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden in Ontario, which was supposed to house the provincial government, and later was used for overflow accommodation. Don't know if it's still used at all now, or they just locked the doors. There was a small one in CFB Penhold Alberta that was for sale after the military base closed, until the local Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club tried to buy it, and then it was removed from sale and demolished.