Don Tate.....Poor Don.....Nobody Has
Had It As
Tough
Donald Tate is one of
the most
obnoxious and blatantly
mercenary
veterans to pop
up in
the
veteran community in
recent
times. He is
about to
launch another
book selling
campaign
and true to
form has
launched
another timely hate session
to
raise
his
profile
and
sell
his
book.Read the email he
sent on
19
Feb
2009.
"From: Donald Tate
To:
Allen
Petersen
Sent: Thursday, 19 February 2009
3:41
PM
Subject: a note for "Noel
McLaughlin"- Armoured Corps, I
suspect
This is a message for a "Noel
McLaughlin" who hides
in one of
the
Armoured
Corps' web
sites and makes
snide
little
comments from the
safety of
the
group:
On
July 5th 2008, you posted a
comment
relating to a Sergeant
Stones I'd
met briefly
whilst in Yeronga
Military
Hospital
almost 40 years
ago.
Because he was
in the
Queensland
hospital, I
figured
he
was a
Queenslander. I think that
was
a
fair enough comment at
the
time.
But
no, an
arsehole
like
you
calls
me a
"clown" who should've
got his facts
right (I was 20
at the
time,
you
idiot,
and
recovering from
war
wounds....what
were YOU doing at
the
time?)...
As
far as I'm concerned, the facts
WERE
right.
Secondly, you also commented on the
"pseudo 2nd
D&E Platoon".....well, given that the
platoon is now
FORMALLY
recognised
in the histories
of the
war as a
legitimate platoon
and
its combat
record
"enshrined in the
histories" now- by
former
Army
officer,
Mike
Kelly MP
no
less,
doesn't it make you
look
like
the
jackass you
are?
Come out into the open, McLaughlin,
and make your
comments on the wider veteran web- if you're
half
a
man,
and
I
don't
suspect you
are. I'll be out
and
about
during the year-
grab a
few
mates
to hide
behind,
and introduce
yourself.
Don Tate
Don
Tate
author, "The War
Within""
Tate is the jackass in this matter
because ex Legal
Officer
and now
politician
The Hon
Mike
Kelly MP has erred
in
his comments
about the "2nd
D&E
Platoon". The
Australian
War
Memorial
(AWM)
has
different
ideas
about what Kelly
said on the 29th
May 2008. A senior
AWM
official
wrote
on
the 2
Jul
2008:
"AWM 2 Jul
2008
Sent: Wednesday, 2 July 2008
18:53
To:
Subject: Re: 2nd DE Pl and Official
History
1. The combined
infantry-armour night ambush
near Thua Tich on 29/30 May
1969
(during Operation
Garry Owen)
by
soldiers of the
D&E Platoon
and
2 Troop, B
Squadron, 3
Cavalry
Regiment is
comprehensively covered
in the final
official
history
volume,
Fighting
to
the Finish (expected
release in
2009). This
was a
significant
action
for a
number of
reasons and
warrants such
an
extensive
coverage
and
analysis.
The
official
history notes that a
group
of
D&E
Platoon soldiers
involved in that
action later
called
themselves,
unofficially:
"Second
D&E
Platoon".
2. An exhaustive
search of
relevant records in the
Australian
War Memorial
collections
(roll
books,
commander's
diaries,
establishment tables, etc.)
found
no
documentary
evidence
of
the
formation or
existence
of a
"Second
D&E
Platoon".
A
single
D&E Platoon
was
recorded as a
sub-unit under command of
Headquarters Company
in the
1ATF
order of battle and
establishment
records.
The
existence of
the D&E
Platoon and
its actions
has never
been in
doubt. It is
well
documented in unit and task
force
operational records as
well as
the
official
history
to
be
released in
2009.
3. Given the advice
supplied
by the Australian War
Memorial and
the Army
History Unit,
I
cannot account for
the
announcement
on
29
May
2008
by
the Hon Dr Mike
Kelly,
Parliamentary
Secretary for Defence
Support,
confirming
that
the
government and
the Defence
Department
have
been
able
to
determine
that the
2nd
D&E
Platoon
"did
indeed
exist
and
engaged
in a series
of
important
actions in
Vietnam
as
part of the
Australian
Task
Force."
4. The order of battle,
compiled
from official records, will
remain
unchanged
in
the
army
volumes
of the official
history.
Regards
Xxxxxxxx"
Tate has said he
enlisted into
the Army after
watching news of the
1968 Tet
offensive,specifically
requesting to
serve with
Royal
Australian
Infantry
in
Vietnam.
He
got
his
wish,
was
enlisted and
following
training was
dispatched
to
Vietnam
as an Infantry
soldier.
Tate was
severely wounded in action
after
around
seven
months in
Vietnam and his
career as
a soldier
ended.
It is notable that in 95% of
his
emails he reminds
everybody
that he
was wounded. There were
around 2025
other
men Wounded in
Action in
Vietnam
none of
these seem
to
advertise the fact
as
strongly or as often as Tate.
Tate's traumatic experience
in
Vietnam has dogged him all his
life
as it has many
thousands of
other
uncomplaining
soldiers.
Tate
has
exhibited bizarre
behaviour
over
many
years; however his
greatest
sin
has been to wrongly
accuse
many
hard
working
Army
Officers of
being grossly
corrupt and dishonest
in
the
discharge of their
duties in
Vietnam.
Tate has
all
the
experience of a very
junior
Private
soldier,
and without
any
proof he charges the
Commander of
his unit as being
corrupt and
having
deliberately
expunged and changed
military
records
and
individual
soldier's service
records
to cover
inherent
dishonesty in the Armed
Forces
during the Vietnam war
and
in
modern
times.
He sensationalised his book
by
claiming that details of a "unit"
he
served
with
in
Vietnam
for
about
six weeks
had been
corruptly
expunged
from Military
records. The
media
and some
gullible
veterans and a
couple of politicians
believed
Tate's
stupidity.
The
accused
ex
Army
Officers
being
too
polite
to
enter
into
such
a
ridiculous
argument have
remained
silent.
One apparent renegade ex
Brigadier
chose
to
directly
support
Tate's
quest, in
doing
so, he is
supporting
the
assertions
of corruption by his
peers in
Vietnam. Brigadier
Neil
Weekes
went
as far as
being
photographed at the Australian
War
Memorial
with
Tate
and his
mates.
See
the
photo.
Brigadier Neil Weekes is
on
the left then
ex
Privates
Bigwood, Colmer, Tate
and
Lloyd-Thomas.
All
except
Weekes
were members
of the
D&E Platoon
at HQ 1 Australian
Task Force, Nui
Dat in 1969.
The
hirsute
Stetson bedecked
cowboy in the photo
is
Ted
Colmer
a
particularly
vicious ex copper and
member
of the Mad
Galahs and
Tate's
Brigade of villains.
(Colmer
may feature
on these pages
in the
near future.)
Five
members of
the 2nd D&E Platoon
-
4RAR's 'lost platoon' - from
left:
Neil Weekes; Richard
Bigwood;
Ted
Colmer; Don Tate;
Kevin
Lloyd-Thomas,
who met with The
Hon Mike
Kelly MP,
Parliamentary
Secretary for
Defence
Support,
at Parliament
House. After
extensive
investigations, Mr Kelly
formally
acknowledged
the
existence of the 2nd D&E
Platoon, and
is in the
process
of
ensuring
that it is
correctly
recorded
in all the
historical
accounts,
along
with its
membership,
leadership, and
the historical
record of its actions
against the enemy in
Vietnam
39
years
ago.
Weekes must have known when the
photo was
taken that these cowboys were wrong about the
formal
existence of a
2nd D&E
Platoon
and that they
were all part
of the
one and only
D&E
Platoon.
The
Task Force
Commander simply
split his force as
best suited the
tactical
situation. The name
2nd
D&E
Platoon was
bestowed on
the
group as a
nick name
only, and
required no
formal or separate
listing by the
Task Force
Commander.
Tate is part of the Mad Galah group
who have
said over
and
over
that the
Military is
innately
corrupt
and controlled
by a
consortium of
current and ex
Senior
Defence
Officers who
are also
Freemasons. He
and
his
mates
refer to these people
as the
"Generalissimos". His
and his
mate's
assertions are
straight from
Disney
Land;
however
they have
convinced
the less
erudite veterans that
it is
true.
It is a fact that Tate and
the Mad
Galahs are steered (if not
controlled) by at least
two
retired
Brigadiers whose
motives
are beyond
comprehension. On
instructions from his
"Brigalissimo"
mates Tate has shut
his
gob in
recent
times, however
his
impending
second
book
selling
tour
has restarted
his
insulting
carping.
We
ask
the
"Brigalissimos" to
please
control
their troops.
Tate's book marketing
campaign for
his autobiographical
book depends on
his
sensational
and
tawdry
false
disclosures
of
corruption
and
dishonesty
among
Army Officers.
Here are some of the
accusations
made by Tate and, by
association,
supported by
the
"Brigallisimos"
.
"about being an infantryman
in
Vietnam - one of the most
unpopular
wars this nation
ever
fought-
of blatant
army
incompetence, and
medal-grabbing
by
officers,"
"There's something
dreadfully wrong
with a system that
encourages
officers to
lie, that
encourages people to make
false entries in historical
documents."
"The records of the men in this
platoon were falsified, leaving no official record of the
Platoon's
existence."
Tate also said
in
an
email
on the
8
April
2008:
"If that's
being a
"community
trouble-maker",
the
author of
that
letter has
led a
very sheltered
little
life"
"I suspect
that my
desire to
have the truth
about the 2nd D&E
Platoon
revealed
has
ruffled a
few
feathers,
as to my
campaign to
get
Jim Riddle
repatriated."
Inducing Jim
Riddle to
come to Australia
was a
dishonest and
cynical
habeas
corpus move designed
only
to
secure publicity for
your
book.
You did not
repatriate
Riddle, he was
never
an
Australian
citizen,
you
convinced the dills in the
Mad
Galah
movement to
lobby
politicians to get Riddle over
here to claim a medal
or
two and
solely to publicise to
the veteran community your
autobiography,
which
without
the
Riddle move and your
disgraceful
conspiracy
theories
no
veterans would ever
have
bothered
to
read.
Riddle is now
being
repatriated back to his
home in
the United
Kingdom
after your
money
grubbing
mercenary sales
campaign almost
killed him.
You are indeed
a
"community
trouble-maker"
and
all
your
trouble
is made
to
the
veteran
community
and
all
in
the
name of
your self
enrichment
through
the
sales of a
book.
Tate you are full of crap, however
you are
admired for your evil malicious yet skillful
manipulation
of the
"Brigallissimos"
politicians
and
the
Group of
misfit
conspiracy
theorists
known
as the
Mad
Galahs, well
played, but the
play is so dirty the
stink
will
follow
you
for
the rest
of your
life.