British Military Current Events

[daftandbarmy]

Been there, had soldiers who did that, charged them..... geez, doesn't anything change in 20 - ish years?

Soldiers amok in the buff

A group of drunken British soldiers went amok in a bar in northern Norway earlier this week, stripping off their clothes and ultimately urinating on the floor and each other.
The decidedly un-gentlemanly like behaviour shocked other bar patrons, many of whom had been harassed by the soldiers before they launched into their striptease.

Cecilie Kleppe, age 29, told newspaper VG that the soldiers had been bothering several of the female patrons in the bar before they suddenly shouted "naked bar" and stripped off all their clothes.

"Some of them even started waving their private parts at the other guests," Kleppe told VG. "Two of the Englishmen urinated on a fellow soldier who was lying on the floor. It was disgusting."
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2285603.ece

Update: Not soldiers but Royal Marines... naughty boys!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=524553&in_page_id=1811

 

[daftandbarmy]

Correction: Commando Engineers. 59 Cdo are an excellent bunch. Worked with them alot, fully clothed though, in various parts of the globe.

 

[The Bread Guy]

As for troops will be troops.....

Ayia Napa seeks to extend squaddie ban
Andreas Avgousti, Cyprus Mail, 5 Mar 08

THE AYIA Napa Mayor and the Sovereign Base Authorities (SBA) appear to share different perspectives regarding the issue of extending the boundaries of the area British military personnel are barred from entering.

Following a decision by Ayia Napa Municipality, any club or bar located in the popular tourist resort’s town square was already off limits to British military personnel.

Yesterday, Ayia Napa Mayor Antonis Tsokkos gave the impression that discussions for extending the no-go area were imminent, whereas spokesman for the Sovereign Base Areas Captain Nick Ulvert pleaded ignorance as to Tsokkos’ claims.

“I have made this proposition publicly, but I have yet to discuss it with officials from the SBA,” Tsokkos told the Mail.

“It is to their credit that the SBA have taken the initiative to get into contact with me. “They want to help and we will soon be setting a date for a meeting to discuss the issue,” he added.

However, Captain Ulvert had this to say:  “To the best of my knowledge, I am not aware of an initiative on our behalf to get in touch with the Ayia Napa Mayor.  A formal approach is necessary before we can embark upon a dialogue, but until then there is nothing to say.”

Last month nine soldiers from the British Bases were charged in connection with a brawl in an Ayia Napa bar, which left five soldiers and two Greek Cypriots injured. The men had just returned from duty in Iraq.

“Unruly behaviour and causing unrest is a perennial issue,” Tsokkos argued.
The ‘out of bounds’ law applies to a specific category of cadets: it does not apply to all SBA personnel,” Tsokkos specified.

He went on to make specific reference to Tefkros Anthias street, which is currently not covered by the out of bounds law: “We have been receiving complaints by residents and business owners there because of the unrest.

“They demand we do something about it.”....


http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=37961&cat_id=1

 

[daftandbarmy]

I once did a dive onto a 300ft long British anti-aircraft cruiser that was sunk by Stukas near Harstad about the same time as this ship. It was a shore dive in about 70ft of gin clear, 42 degree F water. If you like wreck diving, the Luftwaffe sure did a good job setting up dive sites for you in this area, unfortunately...


Sunken WW2 warship found in fjord


The wreck of a Royal Navy destroyer has been found in a Norwegian fjord, 68 years after she sank during battle.
HMS Hunter has remained undisturbed since April 1940 when she sank, killing 110 people during the Battle of Narvik.

It was found 305m (1,000ft) under water by a Norwegian mine control vessel on a multinational training exercise.

The site will be marked as a war grave on Saturday. Major General Garry Robison said finding HMS Hunter had been a "poignant moment".

HMS Hunter was one of two Allied destroyers lost during the first Battle of Narvik - the Germans lost four destroyers.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7280215.stm

 

[daftandbarmy]

RAF personnel ordered not to wear uniforms in public after suffering abuse in the street

By MICHAEL SEAMARK and IAN DRURY

They serve their country with pride and are ready to put their lives on the line.

Yet RAF personnel have been repaid with volleys of abuse in the street.

So bad is the problem that servicemen and women from RAF Wittering have been ordered not to wear uniform in public.

They were told to keep a low profile in nearby Peterborough following seven months of verbal attacks.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=527848&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

 

[Yrys]

Fury at uniforms ban for troops

PM Gordon Brown was outraged last night after hearing that the Royal Air Force is BANNED from wearing uniform in a British city — in case the locals hurl abuse.

 

[daftandbarmy]

I suggest they post a PARA company there for a week of walking out in uniform, and send the police home. That should solve the problem.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Highest number of Military Crosses awarded since second world war

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/07/military.afghanistan

One was a woman pilot who made a decision to fly her helicopter using night vision goggles into the middle of Basra city to save a soldier who would otherwise have died. Another was a Territorial Army soldier in Afghanistan who, despite being seriously injured, provided covering fire for his colleague and in the process was shot again. Yesterday, they were among 184 members of the armed forces to be told they would receive medals for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the highest number of medals listed since the invasion of Iraq five years ago.

The honours, to be awarded by the Queen, include the largest number of Military Crosses to be given since the end of the second world war - 28 - as well as five Conspicuous Gallantry Crosses, five Distinguished Service Orders and three Distinguished Flying Crosses.

The Mercian Regiment, which lost nine men during its six-month tour of Afghanistan last year, was awarded 13 medals, including a posthumous MC for Sergeant Craig Brelsford, who died while trying to retrieve the body of a fallen comrade, Private Johan Botha, lost in no man's land after a ferocious firefight with the Taliban near the town of Garmsir in Helmand.

The honours provide sharp evidence of the intensity of operations that British troops face in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan at the end of 2001, 89 British service personnel have been killed on operations there.

When he was defence secretary, John Reid said he hoped British forces would leave Afghanistan "without firing a single shot" and the hope was that troops would mainly help Afghan authorities extend their control. Instead, they were drawn into a revived conflict with the Taliban.

Lieutenant Simon Cupples receives the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross - the country's second highest medal for bravery - for leading his men back into that same "killing zone" six times through the night in an attempt to retrieve Botha. "For the fifth time, he crawled forward in an attempt to recover the last casualty but the remorseless intensity of the enemy fire forced him to withdraw," the citation said. "He was utterly determined not to leave his soldier behind and subsequently commanded a rescue team who successfully recovered the soldier."

His platoon sergeant, Michael Lockett, is to be awarded the MC and 2nd Lieutenant Rupert Bowers, who at 19 had finished training just before arriving in Helmand province the week before the attack, was mentioned in dispatches after he carried two men from the battlefield on his back while being shot at. Their officer commanding, Major Jamie Nowell, was given the MC.

Flight Lieutenant Michelle Goodman, of the RAF, becomes the first woman to be awarded a DFC after she chose to fly into an extremely dangerous area of Basra under heavy fire to extract a casualty who would have died within 15 minutes. Her citation said: "Despite extreme pressure, whilst in the face of the enemy, she made the right decision."

Another member of the RAF, Corporal David Hayden, becomes the first airman to receive the MC. His citation read: "In a particularly ferocious battle against a determined group of insurgents, involving a fully dismounted patrol in Iraq, [he] repeatedly showed the most outstanding courage, selflessness and personal example. With absolute disregard for his own safety he repeatedly risked his own life in order to rescue a wounded comrade and extract his combat team."

Since the invasion of Iraq almost five years ago, 175 British troops have died there on operations.

Six soldiers from the Royal Anglian Regiment, known as the Vikings, are to be decorated with MCs and Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Carver, their commanding officer, is to be awarded the DSO. Nine Anglians were killed in more than 350 engagements during their time in Helmand.

Three more awards were made posthumously. Captain David Hicks, of the Royal Anglian Regiment, was awarded the MC after leading his company "during an extremely demanding eight days which ultimately cost him his life". He was killed during an attack on his patrol base north-east of Sangin in Helmand .

Major Paul Harding of the 4th Battalion The Rifles, was mentioned in dispatches. He was killed in Iraq last year, in Basra, and was described as a soldier who "constantly exposed himself to danger".

Corporal Rodney Wilson, also from 4th Battalion The Rifles, was mentioned in dispatches. He was killed by sniper fire during a search and detention operation north-west of Basra last year after he ran out into heavy gunfire to pull a colleague to safety during a fight with insurgents.

Last night, Pte Luke Cole, 22, the TA soldier in Afghanistan who, despite being seriously injured, provided covering fire for his colleague and in the process was shot again during the night when Botha and Brelsford were killed, said of his MC: "I am amazed. I was just doing my job."

The private, a forklift truck engineer who was on a TA attachment with the Mercian Regiment, added: "I didn't think I was doing anything special. I was helping my mates out like they would do for me."

 

[geo]

RAF personnel ordered not to wear uniforms in public after suffering abuse in the street

By MICHAEL SEAMARK and IAN DRURY

They were told to keep a low profile in nearby Peterborough following seven months of verbal attacks.

Might I suggest to the RAF personnel that they should just stop purchasing and spending their hard earned pay in that / those towns.  The MoD should stop buying from local merchants AND, if such is the wish of the local population, then the RAF should consider moving their airfield to another county....

 

[geo]

BZ to all our Brit comrades for their well deserved Gallantry medals.

CHIMO!

 

[Yrys]

Our heroes deserve respect

SELDOM has the sacrifice of so many been so sneered at by such a worthless few.

Barely a week goes by without one or more brave members of our Armed Forces giving their lives in Iraq or Afghanistan.

We at The Sun SALUTE our heroic Boys and Girls – and today declare the ban on them wearing their proud uniforms in public an INSULT.

Last night PM Gordon Brown slammed a barmy order that 2,000 RAF personnel must don civvies on a city’s streets to avoid confrontations with “antiwar” thugs.
The same cowardly minority of hooligans have spat at and abused children attending cadet meetings.

"Outrage ... the student union at UCL has banned forces' recruitment"

Yesterday it emerged students in London – whose idea of hardship and sacrifice is getting out of bed before lunchtime – have voted to ban all military personnel,
including cadets, from their university campus.

Today The Sun calls on our army of readers to show our servicemen and women we truly value them.

Next time you see a member of our Armed Forces in uniform – and we urge them to wear it with pride – please give them a PAT on the back, SHAKE their hand and
OFFER your support. Tell them you are grateful for what they do and that the thoughtless few do NOT speak for the vast majority of British people.

Yesterday the RAF commander who ordered her staff not to wear uniforms off base was accused of “losing her bottle – and the plot”.

Rest of article on link

 

[benny88]

Yesterday it emerged students in London – whose idea of hardship and sacrifice is getting out of bed before lunchtime – have voted to ban all military personnel,
including cadets, from their university campus.

  This is getting out of hand on campuses. At least at UVic (http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/66411.0.html) and Fanshawe (http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/70998.0.html) these clowns' protests fell upon mostly deaf ears. The situation in the UK must be pretty bad for the students to actually vote them off campus.

    It upsets me that the threat would be that great to even make one consider banning uniforms. Citizens of that town oughta give their heads a collective shake. Disagreeing with the mission is one thing, being a stupid redneck (or whatever the British equivalent it, hooligan?) is another.

 

[geo]

I would guess that Universities in the UK are subsidiezed the same way as they are in Canada.
FINE, if they don't want a uniformed government presence on campus, let the students pay the full shot for their education.  No point having them dirty their hands with all that BLOOD MONEY.

 

[benny88]

FINE, if they don't want a uniformed government presence on campus, let the students pay the full shot for their education. 

 
  'Tis a fine idea!

 

[daftandbarmy]

Soldier 'filmed girls undressing' 


A sergeant major secretly filmed teenage girls getting undressed in their dormitory at a military camp, Cardiff Crown Court has heard.
Richard Brown, 42, was in charge of a careers course to give schoolchildren a taste of life in the Army.

He is accused of filming through a gap in the curtains as girls went to bed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_east/7288530.stm

 

[geo]

Aargh!  The shame of it all.

Idiot!

Talk about flushing a career down the drain.

 

[a_majoor]

Hardly needs any more comment; well done!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3511901.ece

British soldier awarded the Military Cross for fighting off 150 Taliban
Military Cross for hero of ambushMichael Smith
A BRITISH soldier who almost single-handedly took on 150 Taliban after he and his 50-man convoy were ambushed in Afghanistan has been awarded the Military Cross.

Fusilier Damien Hields used his grenade machinegun to destroy seven Taliban positions before his ambushers realised he was their main threat. After peppering his vehicle with bullets, they hit the 24-year-old soldier. He had to be dragged off for treatment by his driver after he tried to continue fighting.

“Fusilier Hields showed extraordinary courage under intense fire,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Huw James, his commanding officer. “I was astonished at the state of his vehicle. There were so many holes in it, it was like a teabag. The Taliban did everything in their power to neutralise [him] and Fusilier Hields was having none of it. His actions allowed his patrol to come out of the ambush in which they were outnumbered by three or four to one and probably saved a lot of lives.”

Hields was awarded not only the Military Cross, the third highest award for gallantry, but also the Nato Meritorious Service Medal for his actions, which were part of a Nato operation.

However, he will not be allowed to wear the Nato award because army rules do not permit soldiers to wear non-British medals - an anomaly that has upset his commanding officer. “We think he has earned this decoration for gallantry and that it is only right that he should be allowed to wear it,” James said.

Hields was one of 28 Military Crosses announced last week. There were also five Conspicuous Gallantry Crosses, the second highest award after the Victoria Cross.

From Denby in north Wales, he joined the army at 16 and is married with a four-year-old son. Last summer he was posted with the 1st Battalion, the Royal Welsh to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. One mission, 100 miles north in Uruzgan province, was to help Dutch troops disrupt the movement of Taliban fighters and drugs smugglers.

They were on their way back to Kandahar on June 3, driving south in a valley, when the Taliban attacked. One of the Land Rovers hit a landmine and was flipped upside down by the blast. “There were Taliban dug in all around and they started hitting us with AK47s and mortars. We could not see where they were at first.”

Hields followed the trail of RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades coming towards him and started firing grenades one at a time, trying to home in. “Then I switched to automatic fire,” he said. A grenade machine gun has a box with 32 grenade rounds. “I emptied a box onto that position and you could see all the dust and smoke flying about where they hit.

“After that no fire came back from that position and I moved on to the next one. One or two rounds until I got onto the target, and switch to automatic and empty the box.”

Realising that Hields was the main threat to them, the remaining Taliban fighters homed in on him with their RPG7s, Dushka heavy machineguns and Kalash-nikov rifles. Hields was undaunted and continued firing.

“I got through six boxes in about 15 minutes and we were winning the fight,” he said. “They started it. We were going to finish it.”

One of the Taliban rounds finally hit home as he was bending down to reload. “I felt a sharp punch in the kidneys on my right side,” he said. “It knocked me into the bottom of the [Land-Rover]. I looked down and saw a hole in my body armour and a bit of blood.”

Hields was dragged out of the Taliban fire and back about 20 yards where Lance-Corporal Carley Williams, the female medic attached to the troops, had dashed through enemy fire to set up a first aid position.

“The lads were screaming at me to get into cover,” said Williams, 23, from Llanelli. They saw one round actually pass between my legs.” She was awarded the Joint Commanders’ Commendation for her bravery.

Hields said: “It turned out the bullet had smashed a rib and gone out of me again without touching any internal organs which was very lucky. It was just a flesh wound really.”

He and the other wounded were evacuated by helicopter. After treatment and recuperation, Hields was back taking part in operations in Afghanistan in July. “Obviously I’m extremely proud but I’ve got friends still recovering from injuries and it’s them I’m more worried about.”

 

[geo]

BZ to Fusilier Hields for a job well done.  150 TB opponents?  eat you heart out Rambo! 

WRT the non UK medal he has been awarded but not allowed to wear... Might I suggest that, in WW2, there are many Senior officers who received UK, French, Dutch, Belgian, etc, etc, etc decorations for something that was also recognized by their own country... Those old double standards come up and bite you on the arse all the time, don't they?

 

[benny88]

WRT the non UK medal he has been awarded but not allowed to wear... Might I suggest that, in WW2, there are many Senior officers who received UK, French, Dutch, Belgian, etc, etc, etc decorations for something that was also recognized by their own country... Those old double standards come up and bite you on the arse all the time, don't they?

  I think because he was also decorated for this actions by his own country, not wearing the NATO decoration is not as big a deal. However, if his actions were done say, while on exchange with another country's armed forces, and he was decorated by that country and not his own, would he be allowed to wear that decoration?

 

[geo]

There is ample example where a campaign star or such medal as issued by the UK will do for the tour... No NATO medal to go side-by-side with the UK gong BUT, WRT a valour decoration, it should not matter if the country has recognized the incident.  As stated before, there are more than enough incidents in WW2 where medals of valour were presented to servicemen by the countries being liberated. 

Do you realize how many French & Belgian "croix de guerre", Legion d'honeur, bobbles and whatnots were handed out to our soldiers»?