You’re looking hungry cobber, here plant your arse down mate
would you like some mashed potatoes with that burger on your plate?
it’s been another long shift here at the Cooper Pedy mess
but if you’ve got a minute I’ve got something on my chest
The 24th of August back in 20 10
I was working out of Tarin Kowt with a squad of 20 men
The Dutch had pulled the pin leaving Uruzgan for good
It fell to us to fill the void to the west in Deh Rawud
It had been a lethal summer starting back in June
We’d lost Smithy, Snowy, Palmer, Aplin, Chucky and then Bewes
August took down Jason Brown then Kirbs and Thomas Dale
On the morning of their service, we set out on Route Whale
I was carrying the Maximi a thumping belt fed gun
With an action like a jackhammer, the weapon weighed a tonne
We drove south of the Tangi to an RV where we met
With two brick of boys from Anur Joy and we turned for Derapet
Lance Jack MacKinney – the boys all called him ‘Crash’
He was the fastest bastard we all knew for distance or for dash
A soldier’s bloody soldier and the fittest man I’ve met
I was proud to walk beside him on approach to Derapet
60 clicks out in the sticks to the west of Tarin Kowt
The sappers saw the FAMS move in and the women all clear out
A TIC was what we wanted, a TIC was what we’d get
It was only a matter of when and where in the fields of Derapet
Me and Crash were partnered in reserve back at the rear
Although we weren’t at point that day I felt and smelt the fear
The boys kept probing forward through the aqueduct and sluice
Till from a nearby tree line I could see all hell break loose
They’d had hit a complex ambush of about a 100 men
The chattering of AKs and the thud of PKMs
The rounds were whistling around em but we couldn’t tell where from
Cause the Talibs had concealment from the tree line and the corn
A call came on the ICOM to come forward from the back
They needed my machine gun at the front of the attack
So me and Crash we hoofed it as the rounds around us cracked
Running with that weapon and my armour and my pack
We’d come 600m through the muddy aquaduct
By the time we reached the front line, frankly I was fucked
My mind said just said keep going but my body just said nope
And I collapsed back on my pack at the bottom of the slope
Crash grabbed my Maximi and hauled it up to the crest
That’s why he was where he was when the round burst through his chest
I looked up in that instant and I never will forget
As he spun around and crashed facedown in the dust of Derapet
Wooly called for dust off we were too far from the cars
We worked on Crash for an hour taking turns on CPR
The chopper came and medevac’d him back in to TK
Where the Doctor at the Role 2 declared him DOA
Meanwhile, Keighran broke cover dancing dangerous and strange
A hundred Talib muzzles flashed untill the Aslav’s found their range
Between those Guncars the Apache and the M777
Many Talibs became martyrs with their virgins up in heaven
The battle soon was over they had lost their will fight
They left their dead and dying they’d pick em up that night
We walked back to the Aslavs and crawled into the FOB
I remember sitting quietly with Langer, Sean and Rob
Fanners ran the section through an after action brief
I tuned in though exhausted I was numb with shame and grief
The BDA said by the way there’s 30 of them dead
and so they say we won the day and the Battle of Derapet.
«»
Beckie’s waters broke at the crematorium
Just a few hours later, she gave birth to a son
The boys help out with mowing and she got some compo cash
Helps pay the bills but it wont fill the hole where once was Crash
Langers won selection, Daniel Keighran got a gong
Abbott won the election, and Fred Smith got his song
Those who get these accolades deserve all they get
But Crash did not deserve to die at the Battle of Derapet
I came back to Brisbane and got out on ‘civvie street’
Now I’m working in this mine, mate, in this mess we’re miners eat
I’m married now with children to a woman named “Regret”
It’s the price you pay for a summer’s day in the fields of Derapet