Russell Crowe

I'm surrounded by older people who fought in the war in World War I. And then there's another generation of guys who still appear to be young and they fought in World War II.

And now I'm watching Australia at war because we've been through Korea and now Australia is at war in Vietnam.

I'm seeing that on the nightly news.

So at the age of six, seven, eight, I believe I'm going to be a soldier.

And everybody at school believes they're going to be a soldier because that's what we do.

You know?

Because our parents' generation are connected to the Second World War.

Our grandparents' generation is connected to the First World War.

And here it is.

We've now got this new war.

Right.

So...

It was very definitely part of the cultural upbringing.

I mean, I was in army cadets in high school.

So, you know, that was a couple of days a week.

You dress up in an army uniform and you go to school instead of in your school uniform in jungle greens.

Just get you ready, man.

They're putting SLRs in the hands, which is like it's not an unusual thing for this country.

But it definitely is for Australia.

Put a self-loading rifle in the hands of a 13-year-old and teach him how to use it.