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British Military Current Events

jollyjacktar said:
Yes, I believe that is the man.  The face and name seem familiar.  Also the time frame is correct as dad was still active with the army in Calgary in the 50's, so I am sure they would have crossed paths.  Dad knew a great many interesting chaps.  When we were watching The Great Escape, he was able to point to several of the names in the roll listed at the end of the film as men he knew.  He was also on a first name basis with a MND back then as well as they served together during the war.  He said that he used to giggle at seeing Generals literally scurry away in fright from dad because of this association.

Roy Farran attended Calgary Highlanders Officers' Mess dinners well into the 2000's (he passed in 2006 if I remember correctly), and I was privileged to meet him on a handful of occasions.  He came off as an extremely humble man considering his accomplishments both inside and outside of the military.

An outstanding account of his World War II exploits:
https://www.amazon.ca/Winged-Dagger-Adventures-Special-Service/dp/0304350842
 
Nailed it...

UK armed forces 'could not withstand attack by major power like Russia'

Gen Sir Richard Barrons, recently retired chief of joint forces command, gives scathing assessment of UK military

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/17/uk-armed-forces-could-not-withstand-attack-by-major-power-like-russia
 
Loachman said:
One of my high school woodworking teachers was LRDG, although I did not find that out until it was too late.

Shame, the stories he could have told. 

There was a WW1 veteran of the Black Watch where I grew up, a friend of the parents and uncle.  Unfortunately (at the time) I wasn't mature enough to have the time or the smarts to sit down and listen to his stories.  Even more sad to me now is that he wanted to tell them to me.  I was a rotten kid at times.

I did have an instructor in college who was in the RAF and was seconded to MI-6.  He spent the remainder of his time with the British working with them in the middle.  Ed would tell us some of his tales from the 6 Day war or the fall of Aden etc.  Some of it real James Bond scale excitement.
 
“The Real IRA cell had the ATM at a garage under surveillance because soldiers from the nearby St Lucia army barracks in Omagh were using it to draw out cash. We had the team under surveillance and thanks to one our listening devices we had hard intelligence the Real IRA were going to use a motorbike to carry out a drive-by shooting as squaddies left the base to take out money at the ATM.

“I was told the plan was to surround the garage with undercover soldiers and open fire as the motorbike team turned up and the pillion passenger drew his gun. But at the last minute, the attempted hit on the soldiers didn’t take place because the Real IRA team couldn’t get their motorbike started. If the machine had started up these two men would be dead today.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/23/army-bugged-sinn-fein-members-ira-ceasefire-soldier-northern-ireland
 
Eye In The Sky said:
Is that all starting up again?  (I haven't had much time to follow the news recently it seems...)

It has never really ended, but is not crazy enough to make it into the papers these days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhfgQOLSrTQ


 
daftandbarmy said:
It has never really ended, but is not crazy enough to make it into the papers these days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhfgQOLSrTQ

Umm the link you included is from the 80's...and a very strange incident that doesn't really speak to the current situation.
 
rnkelly said:
Umm the link you included is from the 80's...and a very strange incident that doesn't really speak to the current situation.

Well, the current situation is pretty Effed up too, except the Police are fully in the lead now so it doesn't get the same level of press coverage and drama.

People are still getting killed and injured though:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/northernireland/12194681/Northern-Ireland-car-bomb-Prison-officer-dies-after-Belfast-blast.html
 
Uh-oh

https://www.rt.com/uk/361179-trident-submarines-sailors-drunk/

Royal Navy officers returning from a three-month patrol on a nuclear submarine have been ordered to turn themselves in after devastating a bar and cinema in a drunken rampage.

The senior Trident submarine crew trashed the Faslane naval base Neptune Cinema after a civilian who manned the bar clocked off, leaving an ‘honesty bar.’
 
Soldier weighing 28 STONES is kicked out of the army as female squaddies close the fitness gap on their male comrades

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3829194/Soldier-weighing-28-STONES-kicked-army-female-squaddies-close-fitness-gap-male-comrades.html

According to The Sunday Telegraph almost 18 per cent of troops, more than 11,000, failed one or more fitness tests between January and September 2016, compared to nine per cent in 2013.
The figures also show that although 18 per cent of women failed at least one assessment, it was a rise of just six per cent on 2013, while 17 per cent of men failed, up from nine per cent three years ago.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/09/army-fitness-slips-but-women-close-the-gap-on-men/
 
daftandbarmy said:
. . . Soldier weighing 28 STONES is kicked out of the army . . . 

Why is a soldier trying to determine the weight of 14 pairs of testicles?  Oh . . . his weight, not that of his squaddies' junk.  Why don't the
Brits speak proper English?  By the way, 28 stone equals 392 pounds.  But the important question is "how does he wear his beret".
 
Blackadder1916 said:
Why is a soldier trying to determine the weight of 14 pairs of testicles?  Oh . . . his weight, not that of his squaddies' junk.  Why don't the
Brits speak proper English?  By the way, 28 stone equals 392 pounds.  But the important question is "how does he wear his beret".

Well, the language is called 'English' after the country where it was invented, so you could argue that we have it wrong.
 
daftandbarmy said:
Well, the language is called 'English' after the country where it was invented, so you could argue that we have it wrong.

Ad my Grand-Dad would say - "I'm speaking my native language, you're the one with the accent"

MM
 
An army colour sergeant has been jailed for eight years for a “horrifying” machete attack on a fellow soldier, as it was revealed he had previously served time for the culpable homicide of his uncle.

A jury at Portsmouth crown court convicted John Norwood, of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards, of the wounding with intent of L/Sgt James Warnock at Mons barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire, on 11 July last year.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/oct/10/sergeant-jailed-horrifying-machete-attack-fellow-soldier-john-norwood
 
So much for this soldier's regiment looking after him or for the courts to provide remedy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3828842/Give-medal-says-Harry-s-hero-fought-Taliban-Prince-soldier-face-eight-year-battle-award-Army-LOST.html

Give me back my medal, says Harry's hero: He fought the Taliban with the Prince. But this soldier has had to face an eight year battle over award the Army LOST
⦁ Sergeant Deane Smith had been due to be presented his medal in 2008
⦁ He served alongside Prince Harry in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan
⦁ Mr Smith, 44, was told that his medal had been lost - but he contacted police when it turned up at a memorabilia fair
⦁ This week a court ruled against returning it to him

By Mark Nicol And Nick Constable For The Mail On Sunday
Published: 22:36 GMT, 8 October 2016 | Updated: 07:57 GMT, 9 October 2016

He repeatedly risked his life for Queen and country while serving alongside Prince Harry in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Yet Sergeant Deane Smith has yet to be given the medal he should have received eight years ago after it was lost by the Army.

And now he has been left in despair by the decision of a court to deny him his honour.

Mr Smith, 44, served alongside Prince Harry on a six-month tour of duty with the Household Cavalry that ended in 2008. He operated as an improvised explosive device locator in Helmand province.

After the tour, Mr Smith learned that Princess Anne would present his Operational Service Medal in a ceremony in May 2008 at Combermere Barracks near Windsor, with Prince Harry among other recipients.

Yet on the day, while the Prince received his honour, Mr Smith’s name was not called, nor that of a dozen other comrades, he says.

Mr Smith said: ‘A couple of days beforehand, the regimental sergeant major called us into his office to show us our medals. But on the actual day we never received them.

‘When we queried this the next morning our commanding officer said, “Look lads, the thing is, they weren’t there.”

Mr Smith, whose unit was singled out for praise by Harry as it dealt with a ferocious Taliban bomb offensive, later pressed commanding officers to find his medal.

Although an official inquiry accepted he’d never received it, Household Cavalry records simply list it as ‘lost’.

Mr Smith went on to serve two further tours in Afghanistan before leaving the Army in 2013.

The medal surfaced in February 2014 at a military memorabilia fair in Farnham, Surrey. Mr Smith was alerted and offered to buy the silver medal, which is engraved with his name, rank and military number.

But he became suspicious when the seller, Dorset militaria dealer Richard Tigwell, 43, would not meet him, insisting a go-between handled the handover.

Mr Smith then reported the medal stolen. When police collected it as evidence of a ‘suspected offence’ he assumed it would inevitably be given to him. But last week Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court ruled that under the Police Property Act 1897 Mr Tigwell was entitled to keep it.

‘I can’t believe that decision,’ said Mr Smith. ‘I was asked to provide evidence that it was my medal. What further evidence do they need? It’s got my name on it. Month after month I would go to see whoever was my commanding officer and enquire whether it had been found. I’d get dismissed with a wave of the hand.

‘These awards are hard won. Prince Harry knows that on one occasion I saved him when I refused to drive over a culvert until it was properly searched.

‘We found an IED and ended up in a firefight with the Taliban. I have no doubt that I saved the lives of soldiers, including Harry.’

In 2013, Mr Smith, 44, of Calne, Wiltshire, said the Army provided a replacement which, according to the Ministry of Defence, can only be issued ‘where the loss is completely outside the individual’s control.’

Mr Smith, who now provides close protection security for civilians in war zones, added: ‘The replacement is not my medal. It doesn’t carry my name, rank and military number. It was never presented to me. Frankly, it means nothing.’ The Ministry of Defence confirmed that his medal was issued to the Household Cavalry but never presented to him.

The Mail on Sunday has established that Mr Tigwell bought the medal for £215 from another dealer, Mark Bryan, in November 2013.

Speaking from his market stall yesterday, Mr Bryan said: ‘It was probably among several items bought at a car boot sale in Aldershot. I certainly did not know it was stolen.’

Mr Tigwell said: ‘I have the utmost respect for anyone who serves their country. I would never knowingly handle stolen goods. The court decision vindicates me.

‘I agreed to sell the medal back to Deane at cost but I later felt threatened by him.

‘No doubt he’d endured considerable stress in Afghanistan.

‘I run a business and can’t just give it away.’
 
George Wallace said:
Looks like their legal system is a little FUBAR.

In the past, there have been incidences where 'honourable sojers' have sold their medals, then claim they were pinched etc in order to get another one issued. Not saying that this is the case here, but it makes you wonder.
 
Apparently it sounds like they were pinched before they were awarded, in which case an investigation is started and then the army pays to have a new one struck. Sounds like the regiment was CYA for someone.
 
Colin P said:
Apparently it sounds like they were pinched before they were awarded, in which case an investigation is started and then the army pays to have a new one struck. Sounds like the regiment was CYA for someone.

Good point... a very interesting case indeed.
 
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