“A Voice for the Men Australia Forgot”
Nasho’s Yarns & Jokes
Life in the army was different from anything we Nashos had ever experienced before we were conscripted. Even during the most arduous times, there were funny, quirky occurrences that the Aussie sense of humour seized on, especially during basic training. Here are a few Yarns and a Nasho Joke or two. If you have a contribution, please email it to
NASHO FIRST INTAKE 1965
What a change in life for a young bloke being taken from his everyday enviourement and thrown into Dads Army. Why do I refer to the conscription period in 1965 of the Australian Army as Dads Army, well you may ask? The first intake of National Servicemen arrived with...
Dress Etiquette
4/ 71 Intake at the Victorian Resort of Puckapunyal. It must have been day 2 when they marched us into one of those dome tin huts to get issued with our greens. I am first in line and front up to a wire mesh screen with a barking dog demanding " what side do I dress...
Was It Really in the Tea?
Everyone knows that basic training was bloody hard work, and it really drained all our energy. It seemed to affect all of us in a particularly private way. There was even talk that all those cups of tea being laced with certain chemicals. The whole barracks was very...
Memory Lane
Never Volunteer
“Any man who can ride a motorbike. One pace, forward, march”. “You men fall out over here”. “We still men need a few more for this special training we’re going to hold”. “Any man who would like to ride a motor bike. One pace, forward march.” “Very good. Fall out with...
Seek & Ye Shall Find
As keen as the government of the day was to conscript young men into the army, the army was keen to get complete nutters out. They weren’t good for discipline, hard to intimidate into compliance and a distraction. A Nasho recruit was observed spending all his spare...
The Mess Hall & Yellow Death
The mess hall at Kapooka was an impressive building. It could feed 1,200 men at a single sitting on 30 tables of 40 men. Our first encounter with it, as recruits, was when we were marched in for the evening meal on our conscription day. There we were. 48 rag tag...
Sympathy in Bereavement
Sadly, a young National Serviceman’s mother died suddenly while he was undertaking basic training. The unit Commanding Officer called the Regimental Sergeant Major and asked him to break the news to recruit Jones. The RSM advised Jones’ Platoon Sergeant that he would...
Basic Training – Day One
1 Recruit Training Battalion, Kapooka, is where I did my army basic training. It’s just out of Wagga Wagga in southern NSW. 1 RTB is where all regular non-officer soldiers do their basic training. Between 1965 and 1972 it also trained National Service conscripts from...