Recognising The Cost Of Bravery...
Unlike our American cousins during the Vietnam war, we, the British public have always been decent enough (in the main) to recognise that, whilst we at home may not always support the principles of a conflict in which our servicemen and women are embroiled, we do not have the callousness to take that fact out on the servicemen themselves.
Whatever your political stance on Iraq, Afghanistan or even the Falklands war, we have generally accepted that those who have done their duty and served their country do so regardless of personal opinion, because we understand that someone has to be prepared to fight, be wounded and sometimes die for their country without having the option to make a specific political decision about the conflict as an individual. That is why we have the best troops in the world.
A combination of discipline and courage.
So it is particularly galling to see the MOD still conducting a court case in an attempt to reduce the compensation for two soldiers injured doing the essential job that most of us simply would not have the stomach to do.
Those responsible for continuing this insult to the bravery of every member of the British Forces should be thoroughly ashamed, as should we for allowing such a a circumstance to arise.
Whatever your political stance on Iraq, Afghanistan or even the Falklands war, we have generally accepted that those who have done their duty and served their country do so regardless of personal opinion, because we understand that someone has to be prepared to fight, be wounded and sometimes die for their country without having the option to make a specific political decision about the conflict as an individual. That is why we have the best troops in the world.
A combination of discipline and courage.
So it is particularly galling to see the MOD still conducting a court case in an attempt to reduce the compensation for two soldiers injured doing the essential job that most of us simply would not have the stomach to do.
Those responsible for continuing this insult to the bravery of every member of the British Forces should be thoroughly ashamed, as should we for allowing such a a circumstance to arise.
posted by Stevie at 7:53 am
12 Comments:
I'm not surprised in the slightest at the government's position. Those in power, of all parties, view soldiers as nothing but cannon fodder to be exploited when they want to launch another power game that they would never be brave enough themselves to fight. What you should be calling for is governments to stop sending our citizens to needless wars in the first place, then there's be no compensation claims at all.
The point is, in any conflict there will be those who see it as entirely neccesary, and those for whom, like you, it seems pointless. Nonetheless, those who are brave enough to stand up and face the dangers most of us never would, regardless of our opinions, should be given the respect and support they deserve.
I'll take the liberty of deciding for myself what I 'should' be calling for mate;-)
http://www.theage.com.au/world/the-soldier-who-didnt-want-to-fight-20090804-e7p0.html
Hurrah for this guy.
Agree about support and respect, I never said otherwise. I just find it amazing you think the government cares about soldiers in the first place that's all.
Shaun, when will you understand that a government is not in fact a two dimensional sentient evil being but a rather large group of human beings, often many of them with less than admirable qualities undoubtedly, but all with the same feelings, emotions and motivations as you and I? There will never be a government you can be happy with mate because whatever decisions come from their collective minds you can't get over seeing them as the enemy.
It is any government's role to make decisions for what it considers to be the long term benefit of the nation as a whole. Often a large proportion of the population will disagree with those decisions, but that's how it works. Since time began, one of the functions of any form of government has been to make a decision on what conflicts a nation should be involved in. That is not going to change. It does not automatically follow that those individuals who make up any given government do not care about the lives of troops, it is simply a case of those troops being a tool that the government has at it's disposal to use. All of the troops in the British army are volunteers and therefore accept that they will give up their right to say no to being used to enforce whatever the government of the time wants them to. That is the deal. There is no con, no force is used, no press gang, no conscription. They agree to fight, when-ever and where-ever they are told. My piece was to point out that for doing so, they should be treated with dignity and respect. It was not yet another opportunity for you to cry about the demon government or the pointlessness of any given war.
I'm not happy I'm become so cynical about politics but I just do not believe any of the crocodile tears shed by politicians when they proclaim to care about our boys whilst at the same time sending them to their deaths in wars that are nothing to do with defending this country. If they really valued their lives they would use them in war as a last resort and in Iraq in particular this was manifestly not the case.
The loss of human life to resolve a conflict never has been and never will be a last resort option. Stop living in a dream world. Indeed it has often proven to be the first resort.
You cannot possibly hope to influence human behaviour unless you understand some basics about it's nature.
Humans will kill one another. Fact.
They are particularly fond of killing one another over territory/wealth/power.
Fact.
We are finally at a level of civilization where we have the ability to try to sway ourselves and our fellow man away from this behaviour, but 50 years of being able to see the folly of constantly killing one another means very little when weighed against 40'000 years of human tribal attitutes.
Every single time a war starts, thousands of extra young men rush to sign up, with no particular dislike of the enemy, no particular political agenda and often no clue what the fight is about. But they take an OATH!
It's tribal and instinctive. Better it be channelled into a conflict the nation is prepared to accept than let it flow onto our own streets frankly. If you don't like the games our team has decided to play in mate, go play for another team. When you find a nation not prepared to use force under any circumstances that you'd be happy to become a citizen of instead of British, let me know and I'll find you a comprehensive list of reasons why you'd still be wrong.
This comment has been removed by the author.
lol!
I didn't realise I had to agree to every war our leaders start in order to be considered patriotic. Silly me. From now on I'll abandon my beliefs and support needless killing because that's what 'my team' does.
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