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Posting under a throwaway account. This is story I actually know something about. I knew Shane personally and attended many BBQ's with him and the various othe

Posting under a throwaway account. This is story I actually know something about. I knew Shane personally and attended many BBQ's with him and the various other people that made up the explosives team. I have for obvious reasons not had any contact with him since the incident. I can even provide what I am very confident the reason for why he did it. He fully knew what he was doing, and indeed the reason was for money. However not for selfish reasons. A captain salary is not that fantastic in the army and his wife at the time, whom I suspect he is separated from now liked to live fancy. In fact I am 100% confident it is because of her that he did it. Probably without her being involved, but I cannot be sure of that. I do know she overextended their finances which would have been a good motivator. Any claims he made to forget destroying them are a horrible attempt at deception to reduce his sentence. For what its worth he was ostracised from the explosives community over this. It was a very small group of people, and Shane's appeals to have them speak on his behalf were ignored by them all. The group is very tight and for one of their own to betray was seen as a massive abuse of trust. Honestly I was very sad to hear it. Selling out your country for the low amounts he did is such a sad thing. I don't think he needed to be in the super max prisons he spent his time in as I don't believe him to be a dangerous person. Certainly a very stupid mistake, but not a dangerous person. I suspect most of his being incarcerated in such was as a message. Personally I remember him as a fun person at a party enjoying a few beers and telling amusing stories of which there were many. As for if other weapons are missing. That is possible. Shane was tasked with destroying them. Its much harder to steal from stores due to them being tracked quite well but those to be destroyed are much harder to keep track of. Usually there would be several people involved to help avoid this sort of incident.

senectus1 7y ago
|Honestly I was very sad to hear it. Selling out your country for the low amounts he did is such a sad thing. yeah he def should have sold his country out for a lot more.. 0.o
- rmtech 7y ago
  They should pay the military decent money. And he should have found a legal way to make more money, and he also should have been in control of his wife's spending (easier said than done in the modern age though...). Selling the weapons was dumb because there was almost no way they wouldn't be tracked back to him.
  - tjscott 7y ago
    A captain in the Australian Army in 2018/19 earns between AUD$70,334 and AUD$130,704. Armed services salaries are tax-free, so that's not a terrible salary compared to the median in Australia of ~AUD$85k before tax or ~$65k after tax. https://www.defence.gov.au/payandconditions/ADF/Resources/WRA.pdf https://www.defence.gov.au/payandconditions/ADF/Resources/WR... https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6302.0 https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6302.0
    - ajdlinux 7y ago
      > Armed services salaries are tax-free In Australia, only reservists get tax-free pay, and only when they're not on full-time duty. I think some of the additional military allowances are tax free for full-timers, but not base salary.
  - phs318u 7y ago
    > he also should have been in control of his wife's spending Or, you know, divorced her.
  - hos234 7y ago
    Well I have no idea what Australia has an Army for. What are they defending with rocket launchers anyway?
    - irrational 7y ago
      Have you not heard about the wildlife in Australia? From what I've read, every step you take outdoors, something is trying to kill you. I'm surprised every Australian school child isn't packing a rocket launcher.
missosoup 7y ago
> Selling out your country for the low amounts he did is such a sad thing Our politicians have sold out to Chinese influence for sub-100k bribes. It's par for course. I understand that most people have a price, but taking a year or two worth of salaried income for a move that risks ending your career just doesn't make sense no matter how I spin it. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/dec/12/sam-dastyari-quits-labor-senator-china-connections https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/dec/12/sam-d... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-12/alp-invoice-reveals-expenses-payment-to-chris-minns/11191042 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-12/alp-invoice-reveals-e...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
chris_wot 7y ago
Did the guy seriously not consider what would happen if they were fired into the CBD, and the massive and tragic consequences if that had happened? I'm not at all surprised that he has been shunned. What he did was treacherous and could have caused terribly casualties.
- Sendotsh 7y ago
  He sold rocket launchers to bikies. He bloody well knew exactly what he was doing. He got off light.
- wyldfire 7y ago
  > what would happen if they were fired into the CBD This apparently refers to the Central Business District of Sydney [1]. I was trying to sort out what this had to do with Cannabidiol but it just didn't fit. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_central_business_district https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_central_business_distri...
  - NamTaf 7y ago
    CBD is by no means Sydney-specific, just FYI, it’s a commonly used term in the English-speaking world. Due to the new-world situation of Australia’s cities, the CBD and downtown/city centre basically always overlap (I.e: there’s no ‘old town centre’ separate to the highrise district), so Aussies just refer to it all as ‘CBD’.
    - loeg 7y ago
      The term CBD isn’t used in the US, as far as I’ve ever heard. That’s probably why some commenters will be confused. I am only familiar with it because of a former coworker from Melbourne. (Seattle is sort of similar in that there isn’t really an old town center, or rather it’s directly adjacent to the downtown highrises (Pioneer Square).)
      - twic 7y ago
        It's not used in the UK either. Or rather, it's a technical term in human geography, probably used by geographers all over the world, but it's only in Australia that it's used in everyday language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_business_district https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_business_district
amiga_500 7y ago
Australian anecdote > Shane personally and attended many BBQ's Checks out.

senectus1 7y ago

|Honestly I was very sad to hear it. Selling out your country for the low amounts he did is such a sad thing. yeah he def should have sold his country out for a lot more.. 0.o

rmtech 7y ago
They should pay the military decent money. And he should have found a legal way to make more money, and he also should have been in control of his wife's spending (easier said than done in the modern age though...). Selling the weapons was dumb because there was almost no way they wouldn't be tracked back to him.
- tjscott 7y ago
  A captain in the Australian Army in 2018/19 earns between AUD$70,334 and AUD$130,704. Armed services salaries are tax-free, so that's not a terrible salary compared to the median in Australia of ~AUD$85k before tax or ~$65k after tax. https://www.defence.gov.au/payandconditions/ADF/Resources/WRA.pdf https://www.defence.gov.au/payandconditions/ADF/Resources/WR... https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6302.0 https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6302.0
  - ajdlinux 7y ago
    > Armed services salaries are tax-free In Australia, only reservists get tax-free pay, and only when they're not on full-time duty. I think some of the additional military allowances are tax free for full-timers, but not base salary.
- phs318u 7y ago
  > he also should have been in control of his wife's spending Or, you know, divorced her.
- hos234 7y ago
  Well I have no idea what Australia has an Army for. What are they defending with rocket launchers anyway?
  - irrational 7y ago
    Have you not heard about the wildlife in Australia? From what I've read, every step you take outdoors, something is trying to kill you. I'm surprised every Australian school child isn't packing a rocket launcher.

missosoup 7y ago

> Selling out your country for the low amounts he did is such a sad thing Our politicians have sold out to Chinese influence for sub-100k bribes. It's par for course. I understand that most people have a price, but taking a year or two worth of salaried income for a move that risks ending your career just doesn't make sense no matter how I spin it. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/dec/12/sam-dastyari-quits-labor-senator-china-connections https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/dec/12/sam-d... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-12/alp-invoice-reveals-expenses-payment-to-chris-minns/11191042 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-12/alp-invoice-reveals-e...

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

chris_wot 7y ago

Did the guy seriously not consider what would happen if they were fired into the CBD, and the massive and tragic consequences if that had happened? I'm not at all surprised that he has been shunned. What he did was treacherous and could have caused terribly casualties.

Sendotsh 7y ago
He sold rocket launchers to bikies. He bloody well knew exactly what he was doing. He got off light.
wyldfire 7y ago
> what would happen if they were fired into the CBD This apparently refers to the Central Business District of Sydney [1]. I was trying to sort out what this had to do with Cannabidiol but it just didn't fit. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_central_business_district https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_central_business_distri...
- NamTaf 7y ago
  CBD is by no means Sydney-specific, just FYI, it’s a commonly used term in the English-speaking world. Due to the new-world situation of Australia’s cities, the CBD and downtown/city centre basically always overlap (I.e: there’s no ‘old town centre’ separate to the highrise district), so Aussies just refer to it all as ‘CBD’.
  - loeg 7y ago
    The term CBD isn’t used in the US, as far as I’ve ever heard. That’s probably why some commenters will be confused. I am only familiar with it because of a former coworker from Melbourne. (Seattle is sort of similar in that there isn’t really an old town center, or rather it’s directly adjacent to the downtown highrises (Pioneer Square).)
    - twic 7y ago
      It's not used in the UK either. Or rather, it's a technical term in human geography, probably used by geographers all over the world, but it's only in Australia that it's used in everyday language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_business_district https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_business_district

amiga_500 7y ago

Australian anecdote > Shane personally and attended many BBQ's Checks out.