Guest 658- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 660
Bern i wish your son in law well and hope he returns fit and well.
beer the food of the gods
Thank you guzzler, and well said BarryW.
Guest 658- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 660
Funny thing is only one poster has not expressed any regrets for the loss of six brave lads, or wished Berns son in law well. Who could that be ,i wonder.
beer the food of the gods
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i thought that it was agreed that we keep this thread to condolences tom.
Guest 658- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 660
Sorry Howard getting a bit wound up
beer the food of the gods
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
The loss of a soldier is always cause for grief and sorrow and my thoughts are with all the family and loved ones of those who have died in this most recent outrage. May they rest in peace and may the bereaved be comforted.
And may the politicians who send our brave boys out there suffer a thousand sleepless nights. And may the fleas of a thousand camels infest the armpits of the Taliban and their supporters.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
Guzzler, Tom, I'll try to bring this to conclusion with decency.
In post 47, I wrote these words: God bless the souls of these young men. God help their loved ones through the dark years of grief and sorrow that lay ahead of them.
Please believe me, I have expressed my condolences, and it is evident to see that you do not understand the entity of my sore feelings for the terrible losses of these young men and so many others.
I have the impression that a number of other posters have overlooked this too, and have made themselves a different view of my feelings.
As the son of a soldier, I will bear the injustice that is done to me with bravery, after all I am not a coward.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
Bern, I only read your post this evening after coming back to Dover.
I do wish your son in law well, I wish he would not be sent out there, but I sincerely wish he remains well.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
We shouldn't be getting close to falling out on here; we all send our condolences to the families of these very brave men and hope that the new guys there, or going there soon, come home safely too - including your son-in-law Bern.
War bring inevitable deaths - everyone knows that and none better that the young men and women who join up.
For that simple act of joining up, they are very brave; they fight in the most exemplary way and we must support them in all they do.
God Bless them.
Roger
Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
Despite the thread going off at a tangent (as they all do) it is clear that we all send our sympathies and thoughts to the families of those young men who have lost their lives. Whatever views are expressed on the reasons for the war or the politics behind it it there is one thing we are all together on, our respect for the British forces doing the job they have been given.
Bern, a friend of mine was in Kuwait and came back with a broken bone from a trip after a "celebration" on reaching Kuwait City. I hope your son-in law will return with as many stories (and without the break). He will be with the best so you know he is in good company that will look out for him.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
It is the very essence of parenthood: To have and to hold from this day forth... and the most-cruel fact of life that the yawning gap between that first part of the sentence and it's final few words is bridged by a fine thread of hope and with the certain knowledge that there is an end to all beginnings.
Human nature demands from each of us that there be meaning and merit in death as there is in life, the search for such meaning is ever the clawing scramble from a deep pit to light and air that we feel revulsion to see and resentment to breathe. It is this primordial drive upward to the light and air that will not be denied, however much we wish it were otherwise.
Kings, Politicians, loud-mouths...no matter! If we fight and when we fight we fight for the right to disagree. To do otherwise is to yield.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,883
Bern, I know two men who have been to Afghanistan recently and the relief we all felt on their safe return was immense so I fully understand how all of you must be feeling. I wish every soldier going over there a safe and productive tour of duty.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 667- Registered: 6 Apr 2008
- Posts: 919
I know how you must feel Ian, it is hard and hurts deeply when a Regiment or Corps loose one of their own for each is a family and I respect how you must feel with the loss of six, my heart goes out to each of their families.
Our armed forces are the Best and they should all have our total respect they are doing a dangerous but professional job for Queen and Country and like others I long for the day when that job is done and they can all come home safe.
Best wishes and a safe return to your Son in Law Bern.
Thank you Harry - and I want to echo those thoughts that you have articulated so well.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
bern,i hope and pray thatyour son/inlaw comes fit and well after his tour of duty.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
People who think the Afghan war is wrong are not being disrespectful towards our armed forces. Far from it. We have the utmost respect for these young lads who overcome their fear to do their job professionally on a daily basis. During the first Gulf War I met many young soldiers who were waiting to go into battle. Some of them feigned bravado but deep in the eyes of all of them you could see the fear that they would not be coming home. They still went and did their duty; doing your job in the face of the likelihood of being killed or maimed shows courage of the highest order and I salute each and every one of them.
The risks in Afghanistan are of a different order. It's not conventional warfare, it's against a rabble who play by no rules. The current euphemism is 'asymmetric warfare'. Special forces excepted, our troops are not adequately trained to counteract this type of guerilla attack. Also our troops do not have the correct vehicles to protect them from IEDs and similar dirty tricks. Yet another aspect of this war that makes the courage of our boys all the more remarkable.
Yes we all feel genuine sorrow at the loss of so many of our finest. And some of us also feel a deep burning anger at the politicians and faceless bureaucrats who put them in harm 's way without the tools to do the job.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
It reminds me of the events so touchingly summed up in the final scene of WWI Blackadder.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Actually Peter - they now have the best state of the art equipment but nothing can be 100% proof against a bomb. I also think that you are wrong in reference to their training - you just need to see what they are doing on operations to see the superb training they have had. This is an operation that are troops are well qualified to do but, in the past, did not have the numbers needed and initially poor equipment. Very different to now. This operation has moved on as it clear from the several recent documentaries.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I appreciate all that Barry (I'm sure they do too) and it is very good for them (and us) that they are receiving the best state of the art equipment and training, but please forgive my ignorance, but with all this they aren't making much head-way.
The bravest men in the world with the best equipment and training, aren't beating the Taliban, at least to the extent that they would have expected. If I'm absolutely wrong, I sincerely apologise, but they are still locked in Helmand Province and daily face the dangers of IEDs that the Taliban are planting to kill our soldiers.
Either we need more men to blanket-cover the whole area and completely wipe them out, or, or what ?
Roger
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
I have to say that i agree with many of the comments of howard/peter/chris
but rest in peace those brave soldiers who lost there lives
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS