This is Jocco Podcast number 28 with Echo Charles and me, Jocco Willink.

He was a mate, a real good mate. He was a friendly sort of fella like the joke.

And if it had to happen, it's a shame it had to happen to such a decent bloke.

But ah, fair dinkum, don't it make you wonder what God and Heaven's thinking about up there?

The way he chooses who to sacrifice to me, it doesn't quite seem fair.

You'd think he'd want a bloke to take a bloke like me, who'd be no lost to no one here on Earth.

But no, he always seems to pick the best, whose life amounts to ten times what mine's worth.

Now there's a sort of aching here inside. I can't quite put my finger on what's wrong.

But a soldier can't afford to feel this way, he's got a grittest teeth and carry on.

So how's a bloke supposed to deal with this? I know they train me well, I can't complain.

But this is something you don't learn about when they teach you how to play the soldier's game.

They teach you how to shoot and how to kill. You even learn which enemy to hate.

But nowhere in their training do you learn how to live with the loss of a real good mate.

Good evening, Echo. Good evening.

That is an excerpt from a poem called, He Was A Mate by a man named Lacklin Irvine.

He was an Australian guy served in Vietnam as part of the three RAR, the third battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.

And you know you look at the Vietnam War and there was definitely some major advances in terms of technology

because they had now things like helicopters and better radios and they had the beginning of night vision

and they had jets and better communication. But even with all those technological changes, the basic principles of combat remain the same.

They always do. Covered move. Keep things simple, prioritize.

Next, acute decentralized command.

But in addition to those technological changes, there was differences now with the people.

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