Give every resident a diary which can be read and signed every day by a member of the nursing staff and the administration staff in the presence of the resident. Nobody could slip through the care and treatment cracks. If a resident was to be unable to complete a daily entry, they should be under closer observation anyway. Visiting friends and relatives would also be able to follow the care trail by reading the diary.

I've done a lot of communications work in aged care centres, and never left a job without seeing the lighter side of their lifestyle. Our elderly built this nation, and we owe them the best in care and consideration.

Dave Cox, Corrimal

Many of us still marvel at what a great place the Illawarra is.

I reluctantly was transferred by 'The BHP' to the Illawarra many years ago at a time when the Illawarra attracted a lot of negativity. The region has grown and a lot of work done by local government, BHP/Bluescope, politicians etc to transform the Illawarra.

I have a disability like many people, that restricts me from enjoying the whole of what this region has to offer. There needs to be a review of what is available in the region to assist the disabled and what else can be done to foster infrastructure for the disabled.

There also needs to be an easily accessible database of what is available. This would encourage more disabled visitors.

Peter Corkish, Wollongong

Just as Armstrong as about to set foot on the moon 50 years ago, a Viet Cong bullet smashed into my right hip and disabled me for life. That wound is a permanent reminder of the consequences of incompetent leadership and the horror of jungle warfare, when your platoon walks into an ambush during a monsoonal downpour and you get hit by machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

To this day I still see the cauterised hole in my hip the size of a saucer and the shattered bone and and the foot-long sausage of minced bone and minced meat hanging from it. And I remember the the stupidity and waste of it all.

I ended up spending more than two years in military and repatriation hospitals. Six months in traction; a year in a full-body plaster from chest-to-toe. The best years of my life lost forever.

And from that day, it would be a life of compromise, of making the best of things. Most importantly, the honour and respect one might have expected would come from war service and combat, didn't.

First, it was swept away by a wave of adverse public opinion where cowardly politicians led moratorium marches. And then by being reliant on Defence and the Department of Veteran Affairs to honour your service and sacrifice, neither of which eventuated.

... And that's the crux of the festering sentiment seen today in the nation's veterans. Men and women at the hands of politicians and bureaucrats who have never seen a battlefield and turn a blind eye to the plight of those who served, lest they be embarrassed to the core.

Don Tate, Albion Park Rail