Above - Home, sweet home
Below - QM UNSWR annual stocktake 1987
46 | APRIL 2017
Anne had discharged in 1980, having lost patience
with the Army when, with a newborn baby, she
was refused permission to take leave and go home
to her parents while Merv was away on a course.
In theory, Merv should have been zealously
guarded as a quarter master and never allowed to
leave that stream, but after fi ve years in the role
and faced with a posting to 49RQR in Brisbane,
Merv was debating whether to continue or not.
He was so undecided he didn’t notice time
slipping by and towards the end of 1990, received
a call from the Commanding Offi cer 49RQR
asking why they had not received the customary
introductory letter from their new quarter master.
“Actually, Sir, I am thinking of
getting out,” Merv told the CO.
The local Defence Support Group, then
a diverse group of logisticians and service
organisations - military and civilian - including
psychology, lawyers and physical training
instructors among others, was headed by COL Neil
Weekes (who eventually retired as a brigadier).
COL Weekes snapped him up and CAPT Dicton
became a staff offi cer at DSG in personnel.
Behind COL Weekes’ back, the DSG
was known as “10RAR” because he
ran it like an infantry battalion.
“Three times a week, we had PT parades
beginning at 6.30 in the morning,” Merv
said, smiling at the memory.
And his new boss wasn’t afraid to give
talented offi cers more responsibility,
sometimes even exceeding their worn rank.
Merv remembers with a grin, as the offi cer in
charge of all “the cooks and bottle-washers”,
he could, if he thought it warranted, over-rule
a major’s recommendation that a particular
soldier not be considered for promotion,
something he found particularly satisfying.
He was in HQ DSG-NQ for two years, and
left on promotion to join the newly-formed
BASC which replaced the DSG structure.
Those two years, however, left a strong
impression on him, and even 25 years later,
Merv said he would follow his old boss “over
the parapets and into hell” if he was asked.
At the beginning of 1995, he fi nally left the
regular Army and took on his current job.
But, although Anne thought he would fi nally
give the uniform away, he stayed in the Reserves
where he became involved in helping the Army
Cadets and last year COMD 3Bde BRIG Chris
Field presented him with his Defence Long
Service medal with six clasps (Two Federation
Stars) for 45 years service to the Army.
Merv is proud of his service, but insists the only
thing he ever did of note was as a member of an
infantry battalion on operations in Vietnam.
Everything after that is, apparently, a footnote.
Merv and Anne have four children - sons
Paul, 37, Ben, 34, and Tim, 39 and daughter
Kelly, 32 who have made them grandparents
fi ve times over, with two more on the way.
Family, and perhaps a stint as grey nomads
will occupy the immediate future when Merv,
68, fi nally does pull the pin next summer.