A Strathalbyn veteran is joining fellow former Australian Rifle Company Butterworth members in a march in Canberra today, calling for their service in Malaysia to be recognised as warlike.
Les Smith served two tours at RMAF Base Butterworth, in 1975 and 1979, and says veterans have spent 50 years fighting for recognition of the dangers they faced.
The Australian Rifle Company Butterworth was based at the Malaysian air base between 1970 and 1989, with veterans campaigning since then to have their service reclassified from non-warlike to warlike.
Smith says troops were operating in a war-like environment, with communist insurgent activity in the surrounding area and soldiers deployed with live ammunition to defend the base.
“We had rules of engagement to shoot on contact, shoot to kill, shoot to do anything, defending the airbase at all costs,” he said.
“All around us there was trucks getting blown up and ambushes and police stations getting blown up all around us.”
Smith says the classification does not reflect the conditions troops faced during their service.
“How can we be training with live ammunition and there is an enemy and there is a war going on all around us and you won’t recognise it?” he said.
A reclassification could provide eligible veterans with access to additional Department of Veterans’ Affairs benefits, including the Veteran Gold Card.
The campaign has involved reviews, appeals and a 2022 inquiry, with the resulting report submitted to the Veterans’ Affairs Minister’s office in 2023.
Smith says formal recognition would correct a longstanding injustice for those who served at Butterworth.
“It would turn a wrong into a right,” he said.
He will join other surviving Australian Rifle Company Butterworth veterans at Federal Parliament today to urge the Government to reconsider the classification of their service.
