Here's a tale I just shared with some former 208 MB regulars on email:
My Vietnamese nephew Tony lives in Australia these days (his mum sponsored him over after she married a VN Aussie) and he told us on one of our visits downunder a few years ago (we live mostly in VN these days to care for our 11yo niece) that he'd applied and been rejected for the ADF (Aussie army). I had a look at the case and realised that both sides (him and the ADF) had made several misinterpretations at various stages of his application, so we lodged four separate appeals (3 medical, 1 education) and he won them all. He's now been a grunt in 5 RAR (Adelaide and Darwin) for nearly 5 years (his graduation from basic training at Kapooka was an incredibly emotional event for the family!).
Anyway, life continued for all of us and then he surprised us about 6 months ago by saying he'd been selected for jungle warfare training near JB (Malaysia) with British special forces - and that's where he is as I type this post, hence my comment about this being a 208-related story! Linh, me and our niece (Tony's 11yo sister, Sunny, who lives with us in VN) are all heading over to Singapore to catch up with him next weekend - but he's staying at the Marina Bay Sands (the Oz army always did pay well, as I recall!) and we're staying on Orchard Road so Linh and Sunny can go shopping!
How did that old saying go? Certa Cito, sh*t or bust, if heaven doesn't getya, the devil must!
