"East Timor. At what cost freedom?"

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Pencil scribblings in a notebook dated 31/3/08 with a series of paper scraps pasted in.
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Now, I was browsin in tha Library fer some way ta pass tha time, ya know, in between naps and time in Tha Haven in fronta bar or behind it. I came across this page, right? Well it was in a magazine, that just sorta fell off tha shelf when i asked out loud "i wonder if they got anythin on me in here . . . . and all of a sudden, this mag drops to tha floor, open to a page. Its an article on what's happened in Timor.
"East Timor. At what cost freedom?" So I got to thinkin, wonderin if my part got a mention. Well, tha answer was, 'kinda'. Not that I expected much, mind, it's not like we were on tha radar or nothin, well under it, subterranian even. Yet it got me ta thinkin, how different was tha published history from my bit was. So here goes.


TORN OUT PASSAGES PASTED INTO A NOTEBOOK, WITH CHILDLIKE PENCIL HANDWRITING UNDER IT

*****A detailed statistical report prepared for the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor cited a lower range of 102,800 conflict-related deaths in the period 1974-1999, namely, approximately 18,600 killings and 84,200 'excess' deaths from hunger and illness.*****

Ah, so, some background in case ya missed it or if ya government decided ya didn't need ta know about what was goin on in a far away island just north of Australia. 'course hardly anyone did till it finally hit tha news what had been goin on up there. That’s a lot of bodies, but even then, it only counts tha ones it counts, i'll get ta that later. Our briefins gave us tha numbers up till when we went in, military estimates that is. It was still a big assed number, even before we went in. I'll try not puke next time someone tells me how hard their people had it. Think of tha poor Timo's. That number was only half that when they sent us in.

*****Indonesian rule in East Timor was often marked by extreme violence and brutality; estimates of the number of East Timorese who died during the occupation vary from 60,000 to 200,000,*****

The Indo's had been doin a number on tha Timo's fer 20 odd years before we got sent in, and givin it hard. Now, ya gotta hand it ta tha Timo's, they been fightin off folks since tha Dutchies landed there in wooden sailboats, tha Spanish and Portugese hard hats took it off them and they kept it till tha Japo's gave them tha flick in Dubbeya-Dubbeya Aye-Aye. Tha Timo's faught with our mob then ta give tha Japo's tha boot. Then tha world kinda fergot about Timor till tha Indo's looked at all tha nice land and stuff they had down there. Took a leaf outa history's book and kinda just took tha place over whilst tha rest of tha world was busy doin other stuff. 1974 just like in tha book. I wouldn't know, I was littered in '92.

*****One promising long-term project is the joint development with Australia of petroleum and natural gas resources in the waters southeast of Timor.
Woodside Petroleum and ConocoPhillips began development of some resources in the Timor Gap on behalf of the two governments in 1992.*****

That’s tha Aussie and Indo governments, by tha way. Good fer them, got all chummy when they founœ there was oil down there. How nice fer them. Indo's needed ta buy oil fer their poppin-at-tha-seams population, and we needed new things ta exploit. What a pitty all those tough little Timo's were livin there and clutterin up tha place, and tha advancin 600 million Indo plebs kept spreadin. Got in tha way of progress apparently. What they needed was some way ta go in and get modernised on their asses.

*****At least 250 East Timorese were killed in the massacre. John Pilger cites a total of 400 killed and missing as a result of the protest killings and an alleged second massacre the next day.*****

Well, how bloody convenient is that? Now, tha only thing new about this is that there musta been some talkin between tha Aussie government and tha Indo government, cause we were all set ta go before this all went down, all kitted up fer tropical jungle and mountin bush combat. See, this particular massacre happened ta get caught on film, and some Western journo's got in tha thick of it, one didn't make it but that just makes it all a better sell, right? Tha two-leggers amongst us that still kept in touch with tha Fleshie World caught it on tha News, so when tha word came down ta line ta ship out, we just needed ta know what we were doin there. Turns out that our mission was a "screech an' sweep", we were gonna go in ta destabilize and terrify tha Timo's inta fleein permantly. Inflict maximum psychological damage and leave no trace. Just killin 'em all woulda brought down tha UN, or worse, tha US. That didn't work out too good in Somalia, but our lot only got trialed there, that was a US show, fer tha most part. Now it was all over tha news, and tha Aussie government was all in arms about protectin tha poor Timo's from tha big mean Indo's, no one would bat an eye when a bunch of RAR Hercules took off from Darwin with heavy loads of ground-pounders and "gear". Except that was us, my unit, tha 7RAR-L, and it weren't no mission of mercy.

*****The Commander-in-Chief for the Indonesian forces, said two days after the massacre: "The army cannot be underestimated. Finally we had to shoot them. Delinquents like these agitators must be shot, and they will be...."*****

Now, see, this guy, fer all intents and purposes ya'd just think, "bastard of a guy, blood thirsty war criminal" well, you'd be right, more right than ya might know, cause we weren't tha only supernatural forces in tha field there, turns out that tha Indo's had their own brand of non-human troopers about. I never met that guy, but by all accounts, his nickname of "La Diablo" wasn't just fer show. Kinda set tha scene fer all our time in Timor. Always somethin else no one told us, always another twist ta tha story. We flew in, got dumped in tha jungle, and got given our orders, tha Regular Army, was gonna be doin tha publicity thing, and keepin tha streets safe fer tha cameras, they didn't know wee were there too, and it was supposed ta stay that way. Last thing we wanted was a bunch of Aussie Troopers coming inta contact with us lot, would be bad fer moral. They probably woulda shot at us, and then we'd have likely ett some of them. Bad for moral.

*****a UN-supervised popular referendum was held on August 30, 1999 to choose between Special Autonomy within Indonesia and independence. 78.5% of voters chose independence, but violent clashes, instigated primarily by elements within the Indonesian military and aided by Timorese pro-Indonesia militias broke out soon afterwards.*****

Bugger that, we had specific orders about that kind of thing. Disrupt and terrify. It helped that tha Indo troopers were startin ta dislike havin Aussie soldiers on their turf, and had some well armed "militia" ta work through, our Fleshie Troopers got some action, whilst we did our thing in tha boonies. When they say violent clashes, what they mean was runnin street battles like ya see in tha movies, all very exciting, lots of lead flyin about, meat catching it, all that good stuff. It also kept tha cameras on tha
leshies, so we could get down ta tha dirty work. And dirty work, we did.

*****In late 1999, about 70% of the economic infrastructure of East Timor was destroyed by Indonesian troops and anti-independence militias, and 260,000 people fled westward.*****

Yer welcome, we did that. They may say it was the Indo's, but they were just sorta randomly smashin stuff. We took that place apart. Trashed buildin's, torched crops, broke dams, and systematically obliterated whole villages. We'd move into an area, cutting off the routes in and out, at night, circle, prowl, and then hunt down and kill every living thing in the perimeter. Man, woman, child, goat, chicken, pets. Everything. We'd hit two villages, then leave the next one, wait for them to work out what happened to their neighbors , and bugger off. Then we'd harry them, pickin off stragglers on tha trail. We;d let them get ta tha next village, then take tha village ta one side or tha other. We did this fer a good couple of years, up and down tha countryside. Sometimes we'd get some actual resistance, either Freedom Fighters, er Indo patrols. Maybe we'd have a bit of a skirmish, maybe we'd fade and hit them at night and kill every second guy as they slept.

*****A peacekeeping force (INTERFET, led by Australia) intervened to restore order.
The militias fled across the border into Indonesian West Timor, from which sporadic armed raids were attempted.*****

Yeah, so, eventually, it looked like relations between tha Indo's and us got ta be a bit strained, maybe they worked out just who and what had been dropped inta there laps, and we started facin stronger and stronger resistance. Regular Indo patrols started turnin inta Platoon sized movements. When they started goin missin, they got air and artillery support. They weren't ready fer tha kinda war we brought with us, lead and shrapnel will drop a Fleshie were it'll just piss off a Shifter, unless its a LOT of metal . . . They also started sendin in their own Supernaturals, and it was then i got my first non-human kills. I ain't tha best fighter, its not really who i am. But i work well with my Family, and a well coordinated attack will take out most buggers. Then again, a well placed artillery shell will blow a Shifter ta shit. Thats what happened ta me. One night-fight, we were advancin on a ridge, and givin a fair account of ourselves, well, not that it was too rough, us bein who and what we were. Still, like i said, tha Indo's were gettin wise, and knew their best bet was ta shell us, so, they did. Shelled us ta shit. We were in tha thick of it, takin out a raidin party of militia, our usual, close quarters, brutal and bloody. It was a trap, and we were in a spot of trouble. I was in tha process of making some extra holes in a couple of militiamen, when a 90mm shell landed at my feet, and thats all she wrote. I got blasted almost in two, my webbing was holdin me tagether as much as my spine was, and tha next thing i remember was wakin up in a Field Hospital, in a cage, recoverin.


*****INTERFET was replaced by a UN force of International Police, the mission became known as UNTAET, and the UNTAET Crime Scene Detachment was formed to investigate alleged atrocities.*****

Ok, so, while i was out, it looks like we had reprisals, big bad reprisals. Our lot really stuck it to the Indo's, ad the Timo's. The Timo's fought back as hard as their Fleshy bodies could, but what got nasty was that tha Indo's brought in their own Supernatural troopers. Shifters, both Canines and Felines, Demons, Fallen Angels, Muties, tha lot. Guess they had finally gotten their own equivalent to tha 7RAR-L. It looked pretty bad. In tha end, tha UN stepped in awright, and tha atrocities were real, just that they had ta give it a good spin, ta keep it from spillin ta full-on war. Thats when i got my first taste of where we were headin. Before I got blown ta shit i had done some pretty heinous stuff. Done it and called it a job. After, when it got really dark, and all tha faces came back ta wake me in tha night, and all tha cries. Guess bein on tha brink of death made me remember my place in tha world. I had ta go though a bunch of physio and rehab, even after natural Shifter regeneration, and they kept me in tha cage till i was fit ta get back into my Unit, fer my own protection and tha Medics.

*****In April 2006, riots broke out in Dili following rivalry within the military and police; 40 people were killed and over 20,000 fled their homes.*****

I got better, got back inta tha field, and started lookin out fer my Kin better, part of my physio was gettin my mind off tha trauma, so i took up Medic's skills, got myself trained up, and by tha time i was ready ta hit mud again, i had my cert's and tha "Pole and Snakes" badge on my chest. Each time we went out it seemed that we were just either feedin meat inta tha machine, or bein fed into it ourselves. It wasn't just huntin and houndin anymore, like they always told us it was. It was beyond nature, it was wrong. My CO didn't see it that way, big Timber-wolf stock he was, got tha Gift when he got bit when he was backpackin in Canada whilst on leave from tha Reserves. He figured I had gone soft, and that it was our Goddess given right to stick it to anyone we could. Well, all tha killin was beyond huntin, beyond predation. Beyond natural. We were doin tha biddin of others, who just wanted us ta clear out land ta let them dig fer oil. We were just tha extention of their greed, their teeth and claws. So i wanted out, i got out.


*****Fighting between pro-government troops and disaffected Falintil troops broke out in May 2006. Upon the invitation of the Prime Minister, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Portugal sent troops to Timor, attempting to quell the violence.*****

Now, tha way i got out was a bit messy, thats fer sure, and they DID kinda tear tha place apart lookin fer me, but i can't take all tha credit, it was just at tha right time, when everythin else was fallin apart. I ditched them bu goin in tha river, slogged and swam most of tha way ta tha coast, and hitched a ride on a bulk freighter. Ok, so, maybe hitched ain't tha right term, i hid fer dear life, but i was free. Free and alone. In tha wide wild world. I saw a few places on my way, tha Fleshies on board never got wise ta me bein there, infiltration and stealth bein part of tha package, and eventually, they stopped near Tox, and i jumped ship.

So here i am, and here i've stayed. With some notable excursions when tha 7RAR-L came lookin fer me . . .

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OOC The excerpts included here are all from Wikipedea, i've put a very nasty spin on them for RP purposes. I have friends who served in the ADF peacekeeping deployments and am very proud of them and their dedication and devoion to making the world a better place.