Full Circle for Mick - E-book - ePub

Michael Lampman lied about his age when he joined the Australian army in 1967. He was 20 years old but he needed the written permission of his parents in order to join the army as he was under the age of 21. That permission was not forthcoming, so he altered the year of birth shown on the back of his Australian Naturalisation Certificate by changing 1947 to 1946. He now found that he was in the army and on his way to the Officer Cadet School at Portsea in Victoria.
He went on to serve with distinction in the Vietnam War and was finally dicharged from the army after being found to be suffering from chronic PTSD. He was told that the best way to manage that condition was to apply himself totally to the positive and this resulted in him being advised to do tertiary studies which resulted in him becoming an engineer. I have often felt insulted by those who think that just because someone may have PTSD, that the person so affected is in some way inferior to everyone else in the community.  Indeed, that problem is so bad that an "Us and them" attitude quickly develops within veterans who rightly feel that the only ones who can full understand them is another veteran who may be from any country of the world.
Now, fastforward to 2010 when Michael Lampman and his wife were at the Albury Post Office for the purpose of obtaining passports. Carolyn's application went through immedaitely, while Michael's application dragged on forever. After some time, he said to Carolyn, "This is just taking too long, there must be a problem." Sure enough, the clerk returned and told Mick, "Mr. Lampman, you application has been rejected by DIAC because your gender is not mentioned on your Nationalisation Certicate." In response, Mick pulled down his pants and said, "So, you want to know if I am male of female? Well take a look at my prick and balls, and while you are at it, look here at the Naturalisation Certificate.
It says, Michael Gerard Kasper Fritz Lampman presnted himself before me at the Millicent Council Chambers to swear alleigence to Queen Elizabeth 2, her heirs and successors. So, please tell me when the fucking English lanuage changed? Since when can "Himself" mean anything but a male?". That was followed by the clerk again talking to someone at the Sydney Offices of DIAC. After a long time, the clerk returned and he now said, Mr.
Lampman, DIAC has stated that they are now cancelling your Australian Naturalisation Certificate and with it, your Australian Citizenship. This is the penality for you falsifying an offical document  then you joined the army in 1967. The year was now 2010, it was 41 years after Michael had returned to Australia as a decorated hero of the Vietnam War. Now began a three year long struggle against bureacracts which was finally sucessful.