marcus300 interview Older lifter
marcus300: Where about's in the world do you live and how do you like living there?
Older lifter: I have a place in Thailand and a place in Lao and also get to Vietnam quite a bit. I also have a home back in Queensland
marcus300: Which part of Thailand do you live?
Older lifter: In the North, not much for big cities, but know I need the services so close to one.
marcus300: What are your stats?
Older lifter: 45 years old 6’1 was around 245lbs a few months ago but an accident took me out of the gym for awhile and I know I have lost weight but don't want to check it yet. Bf around 13%, I am happy around 245lb, feels good and does not hinder other things I like doing.
marcus300: Are your married and do you have any children?
Older lifter: Never married and never will, No kids and I don't want any
marcus300: Why would you never get married or have any children?
Older lifter: It’s an understanding about myself really and the world I know, I have lost faith in people, not in a religious way or anything like that as I don’t believe in religion. It’s more in a way like “just who do we think we are” sort of way. I think we have lost our way and I know we can never get back. It seems everyone lives in there own world, a world created usually by themselves, and what’s important is all too often not what we really need…. Arr it’s really hard to say this right. I don't feel that I have any love to give, it’s gone but I am ok with that. When I want company from the opposite sex I get it, I don't want to talk or express feelings that I am supposed to have but don't. At times when I was working I had steady girlfriends, I would be away for about 3 months usually and have 2 weeks back. At times I would come back from very high stress areas or a couple of days before I might have been clearing a place where there had been an accident and all of a sudden I'm supposed to want to go shopping, or being asked “what do I think of this dress” etc. It just seemed so unreal, and so un-important. I know that is not fair but also knew I would be acting if I pretended to be interested.
So, I am very honest with the ladies I meet, I tell them from the beginning that I don't want any kind of relationship and this is just for fun and if it’s ok at that level fine. I know I will die alone but in my experience we all do anyway.
Kids, well 1, as you can read from above it would not be right and 2, I believe in sustainability, there is a limit to the amount of people that are supposed to be in each area, balance etc, we are way past that, most of the problems in this world come from people, it’s simple, more people the more the problems get worse. For every person in the US or OZ that makes a saving trying to save the planet there is a 1000 people in developing countries coming up hungry for that car (in places like these there are car companies producing and selling cars etc with no emission testing for as little as a few thousand dollars), the air-con, making more rubbish, wanting fuel, gas, electric and the all important Money etc etc. I remember many years ago (before people learned what to say) I asked a bloke in a isolated village why they kept having kids when they had no food (he had lost 7 through starvation) he said “we need a kid there when a good season arrived and that one would survive to take over the farm”, to me that made sense, kind of the same way nature does it, then in come the western charities, No!! every kid must survive, give food etc, the villager keeps going the way they always have and keep popping out kids, there surviving, they now have no way to feed them the land won't support them and hey they need aid all the time (now times that by 1,000’s). Stupid if you ask me.
Anyhow, I have seen the bad side too much, and it ways out the good side, why would I want to bring a new life into this?? Sorry if this offends the people with kids, I don't mean too this is just my opinion, and it doesn't really matter, you be happy with what you have.
marcus300: What was it like growing up and do you have a big family?
Older lifter: The early part of my life was fine, normal I guess, I am from North Queensland but grew up on the Gold Coast, surfed a lot, wagged school if the waves were good, just normal. I have no family now, my mother developed cancer when I was 16 and I looked after her but she died when I was 18, at the time my mother and I were in England at a cancer hospital (at that time the best one was in the UK, think it was called “Cristie’s”) and while I was there my father and brother had a car accident and also died, at this time I realized how expensive it is to bury someone and all the things you have to do, I had to ID the bodies so I did my mother first, but I was broke and before getting back to Australia to see to my farther and brother I ended up sleeping in a hedge for a couple of nights before my flight time. No time to morn, things were in kind of a spin. When it was all sorted and the depts paid I ended up with nothing so number one was surviving.
marcus300: How did you cope dealing with the death of your whole family in such a short period of time?
Older lifter: It might not be what many expect to hear but, I just coped, you do. When I saw my mothers body she was ashen grey and I looked at her and saw that she was not there anymore, she was gone. It got very busy, I was alone in a foreign country, there was a lot that had to be sorted, I never got a death certificate for her as they cost money (I never knew) I just got a registration of death. Anyhow there was a huge amount to get sorted and I just got to it. Things went in kind of a blur I guess, one thing after another, I knew nothing of the depts my family had and all that stuff so the learning curve was very steep. In one way it might have been worse if I had the time to sit and dwell, of course I miss them, esp my mother who was very kind and good. I have only one picture of her but I keep it safe.
marcus300: What was your first job and what kind of career do you do now ?
Older lifter: Well.. as you can see from above I was in a bit of a spot, I needed a home and money and food would be nice,,, the Army, everything in one. I joined (maybe they weren't the best reasons to join but it seemed a good idea at the time) Its funny, I don't really like being told what to do but I quite enjoyed the Army, I went to “Kapooka” for basic training and ended up winning the “best shot” and “most outstanding solider” awards, this basically meant that I got my first choice in what corp to go to,, I picked the engineers. It was in the engineers that I found I had a real knack with explosives and that became my specialty. Booby traps, IED’s and demolitions were my area, (the other side of this is that you also have to disarm the same stuff) anyhow I did the courses and pretty much planned for staying in the Army for awhile. But fate what ever had another idea, on one of the parachute jumps when I hit the ground I just crumpled up in pain, and on investigation the doc’s found I had spinal bifida. Not a real bad level but enough to mean I could not stay where I was in the Army, I opted to get out.
Shortly after getting out and while wondering what to do next a mate got in contact, he was working for a company in Africa and told me they would give me a job, Ok I went. During this time there was a lot of shit going on in central Africa and the company I worked for was clearing the rebels out of areas and my job was to clear the booby traps and IEDs from the infrastructure (Mines, housing etc) and get rid of the mines etc from roads and tracks. Most of the traps were simple tripwires and pressure plate stuff with a few trapped mines here and there. Enjoyed the job but had quite a few hairy moments, Every now and then the rebels would hit us at night, usually just hit and run but there was a few all out attacks. One time we got hit at around 23:00 hrs, they got through the main fences and where basically around the bottom of the buildings we were living in, got into one of those surreal type things, with us on the roofs shooting down, guys throwing grenades down the steps to stop them getting up and everyone keeping an eye out for the ones with rpg-7’s, it was real dark as the generator had been taken out, anyway they must of figured that they were losing to many and they pulled back taking what they could carry with them, it was a good job too because we had nearly ran out of ammo. The place was in a mess in the morning and took some cleaning up, the good thing was they had tried to get to our explosive bunker but had failed, I was happy with that as if they had got some my job would have gotten a lot worse.
We constantly came across the rebel persuading techniques, they would hit a village and being “big” men do what they wanted to intimidate the villages in not helping the government and take the younger lads away for brutal brainwashing and training. We came across one village I will always remember, they had made 2 baby pig sticks, shoved re-bar through 2 babies arses and out there mouths and cooked them over a fire, leaving them there for all to see how “big and powerful they were and they could do anything” I stood there looking at them for awhile and I guess I started to change inside, I had always kind of believed that we are all equal etc etc, now I was starting to see first hand that we are not, no way was the guys that did that equal to me. “Pocketing” was another common way they left a message, they would cut 2 slits in the lower torso and shove the guys hands in there so it looked like his hands were in pockets, they tie him up like that so it a slow death as infection or blood loss took hold. Anyhow to cut a long story short I was there for about 5 years, made some great mates, real characters, lost a few and was changed forever.
The UN had started trying to sort things out in there usual inept way, they had “peace keepers” with a mandate that did not allow them to keep the peace unless they were fired upon directly, so the rebels quickly learned this and carried on as usual right in front of the UN’s eye’s, we laughed in sadness when a rebel leader came in and just took the peace keepers hostage one time and these “soldiers” just let them do it, they were then given food and weapons to let them go,,,, haha what a joke, I new then and they have only got worse that the UN was a complete waist of time, It is just run by academics and they will always go for the political option which included talking to Rebel leaders and offering them positions of power in newly formed governments, the same guys that have been committing atrocities, I guess anything goes if they can say “look we stopped the fighting” (for a little bit and lets not report the stuff going on that no one see’s). UN “United Nothing” I learned about there stupidity and criminality many times more in my carrier. Anyhow I left that job and started working for NGO’s and commercial companies clearing bombs and stuff all over. Now I still work with bombs as a consultant, but most of my time is with my own business that takes me to Thailand, Lao and Vietnam.
marcus300: Tell us some of your hair raising stoires?
Older lifter:I worked in Kuwait when Iraq had invaded, that was interesting, there was this hill right near the Iraq Kuwait boarder and the Iraq’s had set up anti-air missiles (French ones) there and we were getting rid of them, Man we had a good laugh what we found just cracked us up (and I heard from other guys the same thing) The missiles had not been fired, the guys had just ran away, one closer inspection (in case they were wired) we found out a possible reason, the instruction book for the missiles was in French, and what they were doing was trying to translate using dictionaries from French to English and then from English to Arabic,, we laughed at how the guys must have been shitting themselves as the planes came in and flicking through these books trying to figure out how to turn the missiles on.
Trying to keep this short, lets see, got stabbed in Kenya, an ar$ehole wanted to rob me and pulled a knife, I'm not going to risk getting hurt over a bit of money but when I went to take out my wallet the prick went at me with the knife, he went for my gut but I moved back and managed to block it a bit but it went right into my right knee. He got no money.
Got stabbed again in Somalia, this time I got it in the head, bit of a story there too.
Shot in Kenya, we were working near lake Victoria and avoided travelling at night but on this instance we had no option, Some of the villages try and ambush cars at night and we had learned how they do it, so we were on guard, anyhow sure enough there was a tree across the road (they want you to slow down and they can jump out of the bushes and get you), a mate was driving and I was in the passenger seat, we saw the tree and my mate put his foot down and drove through the biggest bush at the side of the road, I think we got some as there were some big bumps as we went through, and all of a sudden all hell broke loose, we were getting peppered by heaps of round and we’re bouncing all over the place, how he got back on the road to this day I still don't know, but he did and we got away, but we were both hit.
Was in Iraq 3 weeks after the war (ended), landed in Basra (controlled by the British at that time) We need to find somewhere to stay and we ended bunking up at the Sheraton,, lol it had been burned out and looted so no it was not luxury. We had Zim guys with us and they were the de-mining teams, the first night they were really nervous with all the gun fire (the locals were shooting up in the air about some shit and the local ladies were egging them on with that funny sound they make) Anyhow I was doing the boss thing and I leaned in to the room (by room there was no roof or windows) and told the guys not to worry there not shooting at you when “thump” one of the rounds that they had shot into the air came home, missed my head by about 2 inches and got one of the guys in the leg. I though just typical ,,,lol After a couple of days we found a base out from town and started work. Had some great days, the bombs were mostly new and we did some huge demolitions in the vast open spaces.
We worked well at the start as there was little trouble and cleared quite a bit, there was a few nasty jobs, one that I wish I never had to do was a kid and a pregnant woman, seemed that the kid had pick-up something (probably a rockeye) and it had gone off, the kid was in bits and the force of the explosion had hit the woman in the stomach, opened her right up and spread it out, the father didn't dare go into the area and when we got there was quite a few people around not that happy, I cleared a lane in and had to pick up all the pieces and make sure there was nothing under them before allowing them in to get the bodies, always harder when it’s kids.
Another time we were clearing an area between 2 villages when they started having a shit fight, I don't know why but we were in the middle laying behind these humps at the side of the road with the rounds whizzing just overhead, lots of stuff like this. Things started to change with the local population, some say because the mullah’s started coming in, some say the rebuilding was too slow, whatever but things got hotter.
I was clearing an cluster strike when these pricks rocked up looking for water, then they pulled out guns and you guessed it pointed them at us, as the only westerner I was the main target and ended up with 5 AK’s pointed at the back of my head, the interpreter was waffling on like hell and I guess he said something right because they stopped poking my head with the nasty end, but then they put a knife to my throat, again a lot of banter and they ended up nicking the truck and all our stuff. But I owe my life to the interpreter, but if I ever see one of those guys again……..
Got ambushed 2 more times there but by then we had kitted ourselves out and that felt better as I don't want to go out like a pig on a stick. Got shot at a few more times and then the order came to pull out, the security situation was getting too bad and we moved into Kuwait for a while.
While waiting in Kuwait I was sent to Laos, I worked with the big bomb program there, good fun, no one shooting at you and some nice big bangs. Then back the Africa, this time into the Congo, by this time I was running all the technical operations, did a hard job right in the centre of the Congo, a place that you can only get too via helicopter, nice spot but we had to basically live on dried monkey and bush rice, this was the place with the RPG stuck in the tree picture you can see in my profile.
Another area I had to deal with the local Militia group the “My My” (not sure how they spell it but that’s what it sounds like) You often have to deal with groups like this in the areas where you work but this was an interesting one, through the interpreter we did the deal and they allowed us to work there, but all through the talking I was drawn to a double strand of something around his neck, in the end I just had to ask, they where testicles he had taken from his enemies. Had some shit here too, again thanks to the UN, The UN came into the town where we had a base and they wanted our base, we told them to F-off so they went to the local Army Captain and paid him to get us out, this guy had been a problem for us before, he was a drunk and often beat and abused the villages, anyhow this “guy” came to us and yes he was drunk and told us to get out, we said no, we have a contact, it was a private home etc etc, guns again, he pulled a pistol out and said he would shoot us all and take the place,, a mate of mine told him to shoot himself first and then us,,, this got him really mad (probably was not the best thing to say) and he started jumping around and shooting in the air, at the end of the day he got to the owner of the house and we moved out,,,,, nice one again UN. I can't say just how many terrible things are done by the UN, not just the total level of incompetence but also by the so called soldiers from African countries they use. In one year there was over 700 rapes allegedly committed by UN peace keepers just in the Congo. By this time my body was getting tired I guess, I had malaria 9 times in a year including cerebral malaria, had a worm get into my head, and to top it all off I got cancer. Was sent out of there for treatment and lost a nut from the cancer, had the radiation and stuff then back to work. There is a funny story there too but I think this is getting too long and no one is going to read it anyway.
Back in Lao and my time working for NGO’s was near a end, to many ex-UN people now running things, effectiveness has gone down, paperwork way up, (had to fill in 13 papers just to buy a tin of paint etc) then I was told I can't hire anyone without a woman’s perspective, I have been hiring teams for over 17 years and suddenly I needed a woman’s perspective, this is not social sciences, this is bomb disposal. All this coming from someone that would not go into the field and only knew about it from Uni, an office and meeting room,,,, great,, Arr, you get the picture, ended up telling them where to go and walked away from a carrier that had seen me work all over the world, doing the smallest to some of the biggest explosive devices, suicide bombers to complex IED’s etc,, Bit sad.
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