| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 3/9/2008 9:42:06 AM | 1968? I think I was just coming home then from The yemen, I was a seasoned veteran of 3 years then and had fought in several arab countries and malaysia, Aug 68 we were the first troops into Northern Ireland under active service conditions. and all I can say. is if you dont want to do the job you are paid for, then stay at home and hide up your mums skirt.
And whoever thought 68 was the year no forces were killed were very very WRONG, I lost a lot of mates that year in several countries | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 3/9/2008 9:50:08 AM | And whoever thought 68 was the year no forces were killed were very very WRONG,
I didn't quite believe it myself until I sat down this morning and did some research and according to the Defence News, it's infact not wrong but true.
Also troops were sent to NI on the 14th august 1979 to restore law and order.
"It follows three days and two nights of violence in the mainly-Catholic Bogside area of Londonderry. Trouble has also erupted in Belfast and other towns across Northern Ireland."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/14/newsid_4075000/4075437.stm
A piece quoted and the url for you.
"It is a sobering fact that 1968 has been the only one of those 62 years in which we have not lost a member of the British Armed Forces on Operations. And it is a powerful reminder to all, if it were needed, of the price of freedom. "
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/HistoryAndHonour/theBurdenStillBorneCdsSendsRemem | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 4/11/2008 12:59:18 PM |
However,looking at the pictures of old Harry over there....he seems to have thought its worthwhile . And I suggest they send him back and do a proper stint like everybody else.I am pretty certain they don't just do 10 weeks.................do they ?
It can be anything from a month to 8 months (marines usually do 8 months) I have a friend who went out last week with the RAF but he is back in 4 weeks, However I write to guys who are out there for 6-8months, My ex husband longest time out there was 6months...
I support the military and if I had kids I would encourage them to join up if they started to think about it, Its not easy and being married to man in the military was a tough job in itself and takes a strong woman but I'd certainly go out with a guy in the military again. | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 4/11/2008 1:33:59 PM | | if i was young enogh and fit enough to go yes i would if i had a chiled old enough and they wanted to enlist i would not stop them | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 4/11/2008 1:54:04 PM | I did 5 years in the RAF (unique in the way it's the only service to send the Officers out to get shot at!  ) and even though I didn't enjoy my term, I always encourage youngsters to join the Cadets and the RAF.
I would never advise people to join the infantry! | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/3/2009 1:41:24 PM | | you should always go with what your child seems happy with. i have been in the army for 7 yrs now and i joined when i was 16 my mum cried everyday god bless her, but my dad was happy i was doing something positive in my live. im not saying that joining the forces is the only think to do , but its an option that your child should/ would make on thier own. i have served in these places and yet take up another task of going to afgan in march . you are right if anyone joins the army they will indeed go overseas to places like these, but 9 times out of ten this is what we sign up for. | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/3/2009 1:44:02 PM | | reference to 1968 sorry to bring this up but did your friends die in active service i.e frontline or in a accident of such ?? | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/3/2009 1:45:16 PM | | I'd prefer it if my kid didn't join the forces, but if they really wanted to, then i'd advise navy, not army, and OTC, not enlistee. | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 1:09:40 PM | Good on you lino85. Far too many people forget that our armed forces are all volunteers. Its what you join to do - the job. I spent three and a bit years in the army, did the minimum I could. I spent nearly two and a half years 'over the water' and subsequently ended up with PTSD, although it wasnt diagnosed for nearly ten years. But I knew Id have to go there, its a job you 'have' to do. Anyone who's served will know what I mean
During my time it was Ireland and Bosnia, now its Iraq and Afghanistan. The forces are overworked, overstretched, underpaid and underequipped. But thats nothing new, its always been the way. When I joined I was issued with the same kit my dad had been given nearly thirty years before. Penny pinching is the name of the game where the services are concerned.
As for the pay, a couple of years back, I worked out how much a private soldier would get IF he/she was paid the national minimum wage - it came to nearly £90,000. About ten times more than they were actually getting at the time.
Make the politicians fight the wars they start - there would be a lot less fighting going on I assure you. If your kid wants to join up, encourage them, support them, if you feel you really have to - try to change their minds. If they really want to do it (they have the 'need' to do it) you wont change their minds anyway. But to everyone out there - give them your support and help when they get back, they will need it. | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 2:08:48 PM | in a word yes, told my boy the truth about the army
crap pay, never enough equipment, what we have is old fasioned, latest assault rifle is crap, been modyfied so many times over the years through faults, contracted through a friend of an m.p. labour
all the military hospitols closed down, wait your turn on the n.h.s.
using personell mobile fones in the falklands as army radios were out of the ark and crap
and they are not serving this country, they are serving the u.s.a. and its still about oil, taliban exporting there islamist extremes to all the oil rich countrys
im talking personell knowledge here not fantasy
but while our boys and girls are there, they deserve our full support
maybe send some goodies in a parcel for the lads to share, a lot join up, as they have no family | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 2:55:22 PM | I have an old school friend, he has been in the Parachute Regiment since he was about 18/19?. I recently got talking to him again, on FB, he is currently in Afghanistan, having done a tour of Iraq in 2007. After talking to him one day, I inquired about enlisting in the TA, I disclosed my pre -cons, but was told that I had absolutely no chance of ever joining the Territorial Army!
In a way I was gutted, and if I was now a school leaver I would be down the Recruiting Office tomorrow, in the hope that I saw active service. | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 3:19:24 PM | | I'd do all i could to stop my kids joining up..........lightening does strike in the same place twice................ | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 3:56:43 PM | | I must be mad but yes I would support and be very proud of my children if either of them joined the forces.... as a young 18 year old I joined the RAF and went to The Falklands, Belize and Etheopia on the food drops (Remember the original live aid) Now at a ripe old age of nearly 45 I have joined the RauxAF (Like TA but only 1,200 of us) Beacuse i left the RAF 19 years ago !!! they deem me as ex services and put 8 of us through a fast track 3 day course instead of doing basic training again. Now within 12 months I am off to sunny Afghanistan working from the FOBs supporting the helicopters in the field with tactical fuels and all because they cannot get enough young recruits and lots of us mid life crises males are volunteering and going back in part time. Did u know the oldest guy from my squadron in Afghanistan is 53 !!! he left the RAF over 25 years ago !!! so if anyone from my family or anyone i know wanted to do it yes I would consider the risks but i would be so very very proud of what they did and hopefully dont suffer in later years from the same mid life crises as me :-) | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 4:12:18 PM | Sorry Me Again...... having now read through lots of the other posts some about RAF etc I just wanted to say that I joined the RAF with no qualifications whatsoever ! zilch, non ! i landed at SANcarlos in the Falklands as part of a RAF team to set up a battlefield fuel supply so our helicopters could get forward and support out guys.... Yes we got bombed. In Etheopia there were 3 aircraft about 70 of us and we worked 18 hour days for a month solid but we know we helped save ten of thousands although yes some were killed by accidents. Now I own my own business, propertys and employ 15 people
(I am the least qualified) and i put my success now down to the time I joined the RAF the work ethic it taught me, the discipline, money was crap but had a fantastic time and it taught me so much that i now missing...... anyone who joins any of the services should be fully supported !! the crappy boys secondary modern i went to was pulled down as half the kids there ended up in prison with no qualifications and i was nearly included........ | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 4:12:38 PM | | I don't have children (I'm 19...), but if I ever did, and they wanted to join the army, I'd certainly try and deter them. However, if they did join, then my feeling of pride for them would rest solely on their reason(s) for signing up. It's not just, you know, knowing the fact that they could be physically/mentally destroyed - or killed - that would give me restless nights, but the fact they'd been mislead by the government and now kill whoever they've been told to. | |
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AlmaM
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Joined: 3/20/2008
Msg: 41 | |
| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 4:24:19 PM | | Oh my son is that type of a boy, with self discipline, sporty, enormous energy, he is brave, well balanced, even his teacher said he is like a little soldier, and his astrology chart ( Leo/Aries) is of a typical soldier/hero and who would go in first to set an example.. plus from his dads side, excluding his dad his family were soldiers .. this thing terrifies me in his personality .. hope he would never think about joining the army.. as he is also very academical.. | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 4:36:02 PM | Believe it or not Alma, there are academics within the army ;) unfortunately we are thought of as mindless drones but where would we all be without our boys and girls fighting on our behalf?
Army, Navy, RAF believe it or not, do fight for your freedom of voice, someone has to do the job! | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 4:45:16 PM |
Army, Navy, RAF believe it or not, do fight for your freedom of voice, someone has to do the job!
No they're not. The men and women in WW2 fought for our freedom, but voluntary soldiers fighting in countries which have nothing to do with our freedom aren't.
We need soldiers, but we don't need them getting sent abroad to die in pointless conflicts. | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 4:53:37 PM | dan666666,
Your more than entitled to your opinion which I respect, what I don't like is your tone, your basically saying the job we do is pointless and all the men and women who have died, have died for absolutely nothing?
If there were no armed forces, Mr Taliban would soon strip away your pleasures that you hold so dearly in life.
Thanks for making us soldiers feel so much better about what we do, so you can play on your xbox all day. | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 5:02:40 PM | | id rather blow me own foot off than encourage my son or daughter yo go to afganistan not for any political reasons i ****in worry about them here let alone out there ........ its not a war for justice or as far as i can see no afgan has made a serious attack on this country maybe i dont know enough but to my mind most of this and any other war has been about money or some insane dictator ie hitler trying to enforce his will upon a nation to the detrement of all ........world war 2 made me proud of this country it had a purpose after that i dobt know | |
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AlmaM
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Joined: 3/20/2008
Msg: 46 | |
| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 5:08:38 PM | I am actually glad that young people like Dan exist who would think about the points of a war.
Re soldiers being sent abroad, let me remind you, there were 2 mill people on the streets of London protesting against the Iraq war. Me included.
I have met some old people/ old soldiers there who came from far away to voice their opinion.
I clearly remember and old gentleman with his wife and him waiving his stick, they were holding each other as they hardly could stand, shouted really loudly that this is not the country they both fought for.. this is a picture that is often in my mind.
And this old man is what I see as a perfect British gent !
My son was with me and he had a poster which read 'DO NOT KILL KIDS LIKE ME'
I am of opinion that the Iraq war did more damage to the Iraqi people than Saddam ever did..
Plus if he never started selling oil in EUROs he'd be still be there, sitting in his golden chair
I am very much doubting that the modern wars as we see them now are in interest of the any wider society rather than the interest of few powerful figures, them being either big companies or the individuals. | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 5:09:47 PM | Your more than entitled to your opinion which I respect, what I don't like is your tone, your basically saying the job we do is pointless and all the men and women who have died, have died for absolutely nothing?
If there were no armed forces, Mr Taliban would soon strip away your pleasures that you hold so dearly in life.
Thanks for making us soldiers feel so much better about what we do, so you can play on your xbox all day.
No, that's not what I'm saying. I was referencing to Iraq and Afghanistan in particular. I happen to think these conflicts are/were pointless, therefore the deaths of the troops are/were needless. I therefore happen to think that that's quite awful.
I doubt Mr. Taliban would be stealing my freedom (or my Xbox) if there weren't any troops deployed in the Middle East, either. They could make imaginary WMDs again, though. | |
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AlmaM
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Joined: 3/20/2008
Msg: 48 | |
| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/6/2009 5:46:18 PM | | Would advice anyone to watch Michael Moore documentary 'Bowling for Columbine' where it has been shown how the young boys from the rough areas have been recruited for the Army in US and they mothers say they'd rather send them to Army as they have no money for a holiday ! | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/7/2009 2:54:00 AM | Maybe I am missing something here...... Afghanistan was invaded after the ruling Taliban government refused to stop and expel Muslim Extremists who in their view read the Koran as meaning they are honour bound to destroy the infidel (Non beleiver) us in other words....... ie this is why the extremists flew the planes into the world trade centre....... to destroy the infidel. If the Taliban government had continued to harbour, fund and faciliate such extremeists (very small proportion of muslims) what was the democratic world supposed to do ?? stand by and let it continue ?? Also in their reading of the Koran democracy does not exist neither do X-boxes, beer, wine oh and all women are 2nd class citizens. It is a tough choice but do we ignore them in the hope that they go away ??? It has already officially been put to Parliament that some muslims would like Sharia law to be practised in the UK !!! How mad is that ??? chopping off the hands of shoplifters, stoning of adulterers.
It is not a ok but something should be done and the Taliban are a evil minority that should be fought and removed. | |
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| join the army and go to Afghanistan
Posted: 1/7/2009 3:48:29 AM | | I thought Afghanistan was only invaded after they stopped the planting of 70% of the worlds opium and heroin supply. | |
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