Jafo knows the true Oz meaning behind 'Wombat' but in my case it is the reuslt a long and mostly insane career.
I've had it from my days as a 'Troon' OCC .... mostly as a result of a relentless pursuit of 'Toorak Tarts'!
Later .... the 7th RAR version of a 'Tunnel Rat' was a 'Wombat' .... natural selection!
Even later ... the infamous 'Wombat Incident' occured during a training exercise when an FNG from a regional 'friendly' force proceeded to 'land' a Caribou loaded with my platoon and a Land Rover armed with a 105mm Carl Gustaf, known 'Officialy' as a Wombat .... a foot below the edge of the strip at Oakey!!
Needless too say, the 'Boo lost both main oleos, the rate of deceleration increased sufficiently to break the hold-downs and accelerate the Landie rapidly toward the forward bulkhead, at which point the entire platoon ascended the fuselage sides and proceeded to give very passable impression of a group of Three Toed Sloths hanging upside down complete with a very twitchy junior platoon commander who was a trifle worried that the ready round loaded in the 105 (not a practice looked upon with any favour by senior staff) might really screw up his day.... while above the grinding and thumping noises given off by a Caribou demolishing itself and a pair of unfortunate (but empty) Medical Landies the CWO Instructor (who it seems, was a tad unhappy with the fixtures and fittings on 'his' side of the bulhead being belted around by the errant Landie smacking it a glancing blow!) the could be heard mildly berating the FNG in colourful but politically incorrect terms ....
Much later ... due to a metabolic quirk I work through the night and sleep during daylight hours .... as does a 'Wombat', which is nocturnal, grumpy, chunky and hairy .... I'm going to die with the tag.
And if you've read all of this you must have too much time on your hands!
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