Did they get their 20c/hour extra for being super grunts? That's all I got for my trade skills, and I can't quite remember if it was even that much. My pay disappeared in a flash with no chance of saving anything. The pay was far less than I got from my job in civilian life.
Us Nashos should have formed a union to fight for better pay and conditions. I remember a barracks we stayed in, at Broadmeadows Vic, it had no glass in the windows. Mosquitoes swarmed in, even getting under our sheets. They were so thick, I got up one night and lit four mosquito coils to fill the donga with smoke. We breathed that for the rest of the night.
The Public never knew it, but new barracks were built only for Basic training camps. Parents visiting to see Marching Out parades at basic training camps couldn't miss seeing those brand new buildings and fooled into thinking that their conscripted sons were getting a good deal - like hell - all other camps were dilapidated WW2 wooden or corrugated iron shacks. A pig farmer wouldn't keep his pigs in them.