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British Military Current Events

Armed RN Skypilots... Having worked with them in the RM, I'm all for that.

(And they don't do a full 32 week commando course. They do the All Arms Course, which is 8 weeks in total - 3 weeks beat up and the 5 week course itself)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=495281&in_page_id=1811
 
Here's an idea for New Year Day festivities for you. Ice Breaking Drills: Rule number one - wear neoprene gloves if at all possible!

brrrr....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfAxJUrI7i8&feature=related

 
Basra Not a Retreat or Defeat


Friday, December 21, 2007

Source: MoD


Following the transition of Basra Province to Provincial Iraqi Control at the weekend Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup has challenged claims that the Iraq mission has been a failure.

In an interview with BFBS Television broadcast last night, Wednesday 19 December 2007, Sir Jock discussed a number of issues including the handover of Basra, the UK's military commitment to Afghanistan as well as his hope that a reduction in troop levels on deployed operations will ease the demands on the armed forces.

Referring to the handover of Basra Province on Sunday 16 December 2007 in Basra Sir Jock said: "Would we have liked to have seen better economic development and improved infrastructure faster? Of course we would. But all of these things have to be moved forward together."

Sir Jock was frank in his response to suggestions in the media this week that, with Sunday's handover, British forces had left the Iraqi people in control of a province in chaos and disorder. He also believes that only the people of Iraq have the power to resolve their country's troubles:

"I come back to the point that only the Iraqis can deliver this," he said. "We can't move into somebody else's country, take it over, rebuild it and hand it back and say, 'there you are now get on with it', that's never a realistic prospect. And if there was a failing, then perhaps it was not explaining that clearly enough at the outset."

Regarding the issues of infrastructure and economic development, the training of the police force and militia infiltration he added:

"The challenge of developing a police system in Iraq was always going to be massive. It's absolutely right to say that over the past two or three years infiltration of police by the militia has been a substantial problem; a problem which we have done ourselves a great deal about.

"You don't need to think back very far to recall the rather controversial raid on the Jameat, which we staged as part of that process. The training that's gone into the various police stations throughout Basra, an enormous amount of UK effort. But, in the final analysis, it comes down to the same point - that only the Iraqis can take these issues forward to a satisfactory and lasting conclusion."

Sir Jock was also asked to respond to claims that the UK mission in Iraq is now one of 'retreat and defeat':

"It's about delivering success. To those who regard Basra as a defeat, I don't agree with them - I think they are completely and utterly wrong - I'd ask them how they would characterise victory, and I think you will find you'd get some fairly preposterous answers to be honest, but answers that were clearly never deliverable.

"So it's a question of defining your terms in the first place, and as I've said, our definition of military success in Basra was to get the place and the people to the stage where the Iraqis could take over the running of that part of their country, and that's what they've done."

Turning to Afghanistan, Sir Jock was asked to explain how the UK military can reconcile the necessity for a long-term committment in Afghanistan with the need of the Armed Forces to regenerate, consolidate and train following such an intense period of operations with committments in Iraq and Afghanistan:

"We can only solve that problem through reducing the overall operational tempo," he explained. "Afghanistan is a long-term committment, but it's a long-term committment for the international community on a broad front of economic, social, infrastructure and governance development.

"The military contribution is certainly not going to be short-term, but one would expect the Afghan security forces, particularly the Afghan National Army which has been performing very well recently, to take on an increasing share of the military burden.

"In Iraq, of course, we are reducing the number of people deployed there; we already have reduced over the course of this year and we expect to be able to reduce further next year. We have withdrawn our combat forces from Bosnia, so overall we have started to reduce the number of our military deployed on operations and we expect that trend to continue, and that is the key to restoring the training base here within the UK and more widely."


 
Royal Marines fight Christmas day battle with the Taleban, then march back to base in Santa hats... typical (sigh)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=504515&in_page_id=1811
 
To the boys of the RM, Best wishes for the season
Strap on that helment & balistic vest night & snug.  Take it to the TB and come home safe.

Best Wishes

CHIMO!
 
New Years Honours List


http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/HistoryAndHonour/2008NewYearsHonoursForServicePersonnelAndDefenceCivilians.htm
 
More whining about uniform changes at airports. I dunno. I'm trusting that the intelligence services in the UK know what they're talking about when they suggest this kind of stuff.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=505864&in_page_id=1770
 
AN RAF ground crew man has become a video star — break-dancing as he directs £25million Tornado jets. Why are we not surprised?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article643231.ece
 
First British Muslim soldier KIA

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=393878&in_page_id=1770
 
Granny shows that old gang haterds die hard...

Not strictly military, but when you're dealing with the Scots, it's a fuzzy grey line....


http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/opinion?articleid=3644846
 
Well... isn't that a whole lot of hooey!
All new recruits come in thinking that the world is at their feet and that they are invincible.
As young recruits they will learn their 1st real lesson in life AND THEN they will make their 1st educated response as an adult.... either decide that this IS or this ISN'T for me.
 
Prince William learns to fly, and some heckling about that (goodness me):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7174849.stm 

http://www.hecklerspray.com/prince-william-believes-he-can-fly/200811698.php
 
Bishops, RAF Pilots and Pole dancers have the same salary.

What about navigators?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=507086&in_page_id=1770
 
OK Andy, you're heading towards the bottom of the barrel now.


AN SAS hero will ABDUCT Big Brother housemates tomorrow and try to “break” them under tough interrogation in the most controversial reality TV stunt yet.

Sun security adviser Andy McNab, who led the famous Bravo Two Zero patrol in the Gulf War, will stage a special forces-style raid at 5am.

The ex-SAS sergeant will storm in with a team of former comrades. Contestants will be dragged from their beds, blindfolded, bundled into a van and driven away.

 
Pardon our noise, it is the sound of zipper headed freedom!

Village shaken by GPS-driven tank invasion - Sat nav panzer army
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/14/tank_satnav/

The Shropshire village of Donnington has suffered repeated invasions by transporters bearing 70-tonne tanks because the drivers' sat navs have mistaken the "picturesque" enclave with a nearby barracks of the same name.

The correct destination for the heavy metal is 15 miles away close to Telford, the Times reports, but residents say "tanks and other armoured vehicles arrived on their doorstep as many as seven times a week".

David Strefford, 60, told the paper: "It's like an invasion. We had seven tanks up the tiny lane outside my farm once.

"Their mapping systems must be a right mess. There are only six houses down here, so it looks nothing like an army base."

The army, however, says that private contractors are at fault. An official offered: "Military drivers would know where the Donnington barracks is."

 
Just in time for Burns.....


Jacobite rebels may yet seal victory

http://heritage.scotsman.com/heritage/Jacobite-rebels-may-yet-seal.3586729.jp

By STEPHEN MCGINTY

WE ARE no longer to be crushed as rebels. The government is considering rewriting the national anthem on the grounds that the historical third verse, which refers to the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, is not "inclusive".
The words, which refer to Scots as seditious, rebellious characters who should be crushed by British forces with the assistance of God Almighty was described as "not actually that inclusive" by Lord Goldsmith, the former attorney general. He is leading a citizenship review, ordered by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown - a Scot, though not a seditious one.

The Labour peer, who is responsible for discovering ways to bind the United Kingdom together and promote Britishness through a new "statement of values", said he had encountered a number of people who argued that the lyrics, written in 1745 by an unknown author, should be polished in the interests of political correctness.

He said: "There's some problem with part of it, absolutely. Part of it is not that inclusive. Some people have suggested we might think about whether there are different words that might be put in place which would be more inclusive."

God Save The King (or Queen) was first sung in 1745 at two London theatres, the Theatres Royal at Drury Lane and Covent Garden, to rally public spirits after the Jacobite rebellion, led by Charles Edward Stuart, defeated King George II's troops at the Battle of Prestonpans.

The commander-in-chief of Britain's forces was Marshal George Wade, who was born in Ireland but had served the king in "North Britain". The controversial third chorus goes: "Lord grant that Marshal Wade/ May by thy mighty aid/ Victory bring/ May he sedition hush/ And like a torrent rush/ Rebellious Scots to crush/ God save the King."

Unfortunately, the Lord did not grant any such favour to Marshal Wade, who was sacked after he failed to counter the Jacobite's march into England and was replaced by Prince William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland, who went on to win the decisive Battle of Culloden in 1746.

This particular verse was abandoned soon after and long before the song was accepted as the British national anthem in the 1780s and 1790s, where it has remained by tradition alone as it has never been formally adopted by a royal proclamation or an act of parliament.

Last night, Professor Ted Cowan of Glasgow University's history department, said: "I don't know of any other national anthem that celebrates the defeat of one constituent part of the nation. But I think this wretched song has been with us too long to get rid off."

But Andrew Roberts, the author of A History of the English Speaking Peoples since 1900 said: "I'm a pretty patriotic bloke and I think I've sung the national anthem more than anyone else my age - 45 - and I have never once sang the third verse. It ... has not been sung since the 18th century. We shouldn't change it, we should just ignore it as we have done for so long."
 
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