Pete Monks

@petemonks.bsky.social

2975 Followers 279 Following

Boring Australian suburban dad. Recipient of participation awards for Kosovo, East Timor, Afghanistan and a few other things and places. Mark 8:36

A hardcover copy of the book “Early Roman Warfare: From the regal period to the First Punic War”, by Jeremy Armstrong. The cover features an image of a battle on a Roman urn from the second or third century BC.
A colour photo from the Australian War Memorial of the Australian base at Nui Dat, South Vietnam, in 1966. An M113 armoured personnel carrier is at the left of the photo, while a L5 105mm howitzer in a dug-in and sandbagged fighting position is to the right of the photo. The L5 is from the 105th Field Battery, Royal Australian Artillery.
A screenshot of a BlueSky List named ‘The “Pay No Mind” List’, which seems to include categories drawn from across most of the political spectrum. It appears to come from a far left viewpoint, but I’m honestly not sure.
Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott about to chomp into a raw union. I can’t really explain why
Actor Alan Rickman playing the character of criminal / terrorist in the movie “Die Hard”
A paperback copy of “The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution”. The cover features a painting of Haitian resistance leader Toussaint L’Ouverture wearing an elegant red uniform and hat of the Napoleonic era.
A scoreboard showing the results of the FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match between the USA and Belgium (which Belgium has just won 4-1)
A sunset over the North Queensland outback
A paperback copy of “Italy Reborn: From Fascism to Democracy” by Mark Gilbert. The cover features a black and white photo of a large crowd in the late 1940s listening to a political speech in Rome.
A hardcover book, “Inside the Regiment: The Officers and Men of the 30th Regiment during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars” by Carole Divall. The cover features a reproduction of a contemporary print of British Army recruiting party appealing to a group of drinkers outside a pub.
A view of the Isa Hotel with Mount Isa Mines in the background.
A group of about 20 British soldiers (and one Australian, in a lighter coloured uniform and wearing a slouch hat) sit on a Warrior armoured vehicle with a lake and snowy hillside in the background. The red flag of D Battery, 3rd Royal Horse Artillery, is flying from the top of the vehicle.
A British 2-pounder Anti-Tank gun mounted on a truck is under fire in a battle in the desert. This oil painting illustrates the engagement for which 2LT Ward Gunn of 3 RHA was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
A paperback copy of the book “Cairo To Berlin: The 3rd Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery, 1939-1954” by J.H. Dey. It has a white cover with a blue and gold border, and features the regimental cypher (badge).
A bright red Macchi MC72 (a highly streamlined Italian racing seaplane from the 1930’s) flying over a mountainous coastline.
A copy of the book “Hells Battlefield: To Kokoda and beyond” by Phillip Bradley. The cover is a black and white photo of an Australian WW2 soldier in jungle uniform carrying a casualty over his shoulder.
The cover of the book “London Falling: A mysterious death in a gilded city and a family’s search for truth” by Patrick Radden Keefe.
A Korean-American man wearing a red polo shirt and holding an automatic rifle stands on a rooftop in LAs Korea Town during the 1995 LA riots. He looks like he is thoroughly enjoying himself.
A screenshot of a result from an online “Find My Politics” quiz that describes the respondent as a centrist / pro- institution technocrat, who: - thinks complex policy problems should be handled by qualified experts using evidence - is economically centrist and socially libertarian - broadly trusts democratic institutions - leans globalist on foreign policy
The cover of the book Didion & Babitz by Lili Anolik. The cover has black and white portraits of authors Joan Didion and Eve Babitz
A paperback copy of the book “How Football Began: A global history of how the world’s football codes were born”, by Tony Collins. The cover features an old print of a football game in the 19th century, with a bearded man in the foreground in 19th century working clothes (long trousers and a red overshirt) about to kick a round ball on the ground.
A scene from the black and white movie “The Battle of Algiers”. A French paratrooper Colonel - wearing a camouflage uniform, medals, sunglasses and a beret - leads a parade down an Algiers street. A cheering crowd waving French flags is on the left hand side of the road.
A dark blue Jaguar C Type sports car (of early 1950s vintage)
The regimental memorial of 1st Regiment, RAA, (Gallipoli Barracks, Enoggera) before the start of the Regiment’s 2026 ANZAC Day Dawn Service.
A paperback book by Michael Axworthy titled “Iran: What everyone needs to know” The cover is a photograph of a small Shia shrine on top of a grassy green hill, with a man and a woman in traditional Iranian dress walking along the ridge to the shrine.
A hardcover copy of the book “The Rise and Fall of the British Army 1975-2015” by Ben Barry, sitting on a wooden table. The cover features British soldiers (from the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, judging by their berets and badges) wearing combat jackets, on parade in the snow.
Officer Eddie (one of Chief Wiggum’s subordinates in the Springfield Police Department on “The Simpsons”) making a radio call from his police car using a made-up and ridiculous phonetic alphabet: “Licence Plate: Eggplant - Xerxes - Crybaby - Overbite - Narwhal”
The cover of the book (the Kindle edition) “After Henry” by Joan Didion. The cover features a close-up black and white photograph of the author.
The scene from the 1968 movie “Planet of the Apes”, with the character played by Charlton Heston discovering the ruins of the Statue of Liberty and crying out “You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”
A view of Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane from the stands before the start of a NRL match between the Brisbane Broncos and Redcliffe Dolphins
The cover of the book “Goodfellas” by Nicholas Pileggi, which has photos of the characters played by Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, Paul Sorvino and Joe Pesci on the cover
A close up photo of a bald man with stubble staring into the camera - the photo from the meme “the worst guy you know made a good point”
A cartoon in two frames. In the first frame a cartoon man with a neat haircut and a moustache takes a long sip from a cup of tea. In the second frame he places the cup back on his saucer and says “bloody hell”
A hardcover book by Michael Knights titled “25 Days to Aden: The unknown story of Arabian elite forces at war” The cover features an image of two inflatable boats full of special forces soldiers that have just been dropped into the ocean from two CH-47 Chinook helicopters
James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and a somewhat unlikely nuclear scientist Dr Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) in the James Bond movie “The World Is Not Enough”
The meme of a woman looking disgusted in the first panel, then interested in the second panel. The caption for the first (disgusted) panel reads “Saudi Arabia persecuting journalists” and DC the second (interested) reads “Saudi Arabia persecuting Andrew Tate”
A black and white photograph of Australian soldiers (combat engineers) covered in mud after breaching obstacles for an amphibious landing. About half are shirtless, and they are relatively lean compared to modern-day western soldiers.
The character portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the TV show “True Detective” leaning on the roof of a car telling his partner “I just want you to stop saying odd shit”
A poster promoting the movie “The Battle of Algiers”. The poster features a stern-looking bemedalled French colonel in a beret and sunglasses, and a backdrop of a crowd protesting for Algerian independence
Promotional poster for the 1981 Australian movie “Gallipoli”, with actors Mel Gibson and Mark Lee dressed as Australian soldiers in WW1.
A paperback book - Nigel Townson’s “The Penguin History of Modern Spain: 1898 to the Present”. The cover features a colour photograph of a Spanish street scene in the 1960s or 1960s
A four-panel cartoon from The Simpsons of Homer and Bart pursuing a BBQ pig that is alternately rolling/floating/flying further away: “it’s just a little dirty, it’s still good, it’s still good!” “it’s just a little slimy, it’s still good, it’s still good!” “it’s just a little airborne, it’s still good, it’s still good!” “It’s gone” “I know”
Homer Simpson telling Lenny and Carl that he knows they are members of the secretive “Stonecutters”, and that he knows the Stonecutters do “weird, strange, sick, twisted, eerie, godless, evil stuff. … and I want in.”
An Emu just outside a country town in western Queensland
A hardcover copy of the book “The Team: Australian Army Advisers in Vietnam 1962-1972”. The cover features a black and white photo of an Australian soldier (wearing a beret an carrying an M16 rifle” advising two South Vietnamese soldiers in 1969.
A screenshot of a relationship map of BlueSky users (appearing as clusters of tiny green dots on a black background) which places the users account (@petemonks.bsky.social) an the fringe of a cluster labelled “Ukraine Support & NAFO Community”
A scene from the 1964 movie “Zulu”. Three British soldiers standing in red coats and white helmets with the following dialogue in subtitles: Why is it us? Why us? / Because we're here, lad. Nobody else. Just us
A scene from the movie “Zulu”. A British soldier - (Colour Sergeant Bourne) - wearing a red jacket, medals, a white helmet and an impressive moustache - brandishes a rifle and bayonet in the middle of a melee between British soldiers and Zulu warriors
The book “Panzer Commander: The memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck”. I do not approve.
The cover of a Peter Fitzsimmons book “Fromelles & Pozieres: In the trenches of Hell”, with a black and white photo of Australian WW1 soldiers in a trench.
A copy of the book “Alfresco Flight: The RAAF Antarctic Experience” by David Wilson. The cover features four RAAF members, an Australian flag, and a light aircraft (an Auster) painted orange on an icy Antarctic landscape.
A black challenge coin featuring the emblem of 105th Battery, Royal Australian Artillery. The emblem features a tiger and a palm tree (copied from the logo of Singapore’s Tiger Beer) on a blue shield.
A view of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu from near the top of Bob’s Peak
A screenshot of a post on Twitter by @TheDemocrats: A photo of Renee Nicole Good in her car moments before being shot and killed by an ICE agent. A verbal exchange is included: Renee Nicole Good: “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” *gunshots* ICE: “Fuckin’ bitch.”
A paperback copy of the book “War and Power: Who Wins Wars - And Why” by Phillips Payson O’Brien
Two paperback books side-by-side. The book on the left is “Patria: Lost Countries of South America” by Laurence Blair, and on the right is “Ancient Africa: A Global History, to 300CE” by Christopher Ehret.
A paperback copy of “The Men Who Planned the War: A study of the Staff of the British Army on the Western Front, 1914-1918” The book cover features a black and white photograph of seven British Army officers conferring in a trench.
Four books arrayed on a grey rug: 1. Ancient Africa: A Global History to 300 CE by Christopher Ehret 2. Afghanistan: A history from 1260 to the present by John Coates 3. Patria: Lost countries of South America by Lawrence Blair 4. An Atlas of Australia’s Wars by John Coates