85 replies to this topic

[Millman]

I have respect and held my silence on a building site at Newark and my last ever duty in the army was to be the No1 on the gun firing the start and finish of the two minutes silence.

I think you will find out that the majority of families who have had a loved one killed doing his/her duty will normally say they died doing what they loved (soldiering) and not many have really winged about their loss even though they are grieving.

Do any of your posts relate to the theme of this thread or are they simply the ramblings of an ex squaddie who hasn't been able to let go?

Edited by Millman, 11 November 2010 - 08:41 PM.

[Marauder]

Do any of your posts relate to the theme of this thread or are they simply the ramblings of an ex squaddie who hasn't been able to let go?

Hmmmmmmmmm getting brave, maybe you will enlist.

[l'angelo mysterioso]

Hmmmmmmmmm getting brave, maybe you will enlist.

I'm sensing you were in the army.
I'm right aren't I.

I've known generations of people many from my own family whop served in the defence services from world war one onwards. Generally you had to drag it out of them. All my grandfather said about paschendaele was 'it were bad',he preferred talkinmg about his days playing in the enorthern union. it wasn't until a couple of weeks before he died that my father told me about his experiences in the asftermath of nagasaki. It was only when I was preparing the eulogy formy uncle's funeral that my cousin told me that her dad woke up screaming every night charging round the house imploring long dead comrades to take cover as he rtelived the horrors of north africa and italy.

they were ordinary people just like you, but in an important other way they were different to you.

my poppy is now in the bin. I'll be buying a new one next year same as every year. There's no glory in war, there's nothing to boast about, people who serve in the defence services are no better than anybody else.

[Severus]

I'm sensing you were in the army.
I'm right aren't I.

I've known generations of people many from my own family whop served in the defence services from world war one onwards. Generally you had to drag it out of them. All my grandfather said about paschendaele was 'it were bad',he preferred talkinmg about his days playing in the enorthern union. it wasn't until a couple of weeks before he died that my father told me about his experiences in the asftermath of nagasaki. It was only when I was preparing the eulogy formy uncle's funeral that my cousin told me that her dad woke up screaming every night charging round the house imploring long dead comrades to take cover as he rtelived the horrors of north africa and italy.

they were ordinary people just like you, but in an important other way they were different to you.

my poppy is now in the bin. I'll be buying a new one next year same as every year. There's no glory in war, there's nothing to boast about, people who serve in the defence services are no better than anybody else.

Good post.

I don't come from a military family but I do know my maternal great grandfather fought at Gallipoli, my paternal grandfather was a tail gunner with the ARAF and my maternal grandfather served with the RAF in north Africa. Growing up I was always under the impression that my maternal grandfather 'just serviced the aircraft' as that was the story I was told. After his death, I learned that he was part of a special unit that wondered around behind enemy lines blowing up grounded German aircraft and generally being a nuisance. Reading his war diary it was shocking what my 20 year old grandfather did and saw. For all of my life he was a quiet genteel man with unnatural intelligence and never spoke of what he experienced. Those young men and the service men and women of today are a cut above IMO.

[Millman]

Hmmmmmmmmm getting brave, maybe you will enlist.

I'm okay thanks. My shoes are shiny enough, my shirts are already nicely ironed. I have no desire to bulk up, start fights in my home town, get tattoos or shout loudly or be shouted at whilst at work.

Anyone that puts their name down to fight deserves respect, however I think it takes a certain breed. I am not of that breed. If conscripted I think I'd be as scared and as brave as the next man. Just because you chose it as your career doesn't make you special; in fact I think you've demonstrated quite well on this thread that you aren't special.

[Andrew Vause]

The reason all of us have the opportunity to express our opinions on an open forum is indirectly attributed, some where along the line, to a Soldier, probably a British one. Lest we forget.