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The Shameful Way The British Army Supports It's Troops ...
We recently wrote regarding the terrible treatment some American soldiers have suffered (and in certain cases still are), courtesy of their own country's army.
Well, surprise, surprise; similarly sickening and equally shameful stories of British soldiers' suffering at the hands of the British Army have suddenly surfaced in the press.
Here's an example as seen in the Sunday Mirror.
4 February 2007And that's not all -- nor, it seems, is it anything new.
EXCLUSIVE : INJURED TROOPS SCANDAL
By Kate Mansey
A YOUNG woman soldier has told how she was left homeless and abandoned by the Army after suffering a mental breakdown following a tour of duty in Iraq.
Private Shirley Lumley, 23, was severely traumatised by a rocket blitz on her barracks. The attack shook the room where she was sleeping and seriously injured two of her comrades.
On her return to the UK she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and agoraphobia, and was unable to work. She also became pregnant, but miscarried.
Now she claims the Army failed to help her in any way.
The revelation comes after a Sunday Mirror investigation revealed thousands of soldiers who put their lives on the line have been left without pensions or adequate medical care.
Wounded Brit soldiers being handed 'the shitty end of the stick' by their bosses looks to be a long standing practice.
Witness what happened to another 'war surplus', wounded soldier from Gulf War 1.
DAVE Corrigan, a TA soldier injured in the first Iraq war in 1991, claims he had to hitchhike 200 miles home from the RAF base in Bucks where the Army left him on his return to the UK.
We wonder why British politicians haven't insisted that the British Army should support their own troops?
Couldn't be just another clear-cut case of cold blooded ''cos it ain't cost effective' crap -- could it?
Or that they simply could not care less?
Our preceding three questions, of course, are completely rhetorical.
But we both bet you knew that.
*
posted by Richard at Monday, February 05, 2007
9 Comments:
"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice."
*Attributed to Albert Einstien.
It would be interesting to know what shameful ways these soldiers treated others in their time. Or doesn't that matter?
Jeez -whose side you guys on?
O/T to this I'm afraid Richard, but I think you'll want to read it:
The price of this corruption may be years in opposition
The smell from No 10 increasingly resembles a stench. No one knows whether the cash-for-honours affair will end up with charges, and of what kind, or a decision by the police not to proceed. But even if it is the latter, the stain will remain; the overriding feeling that Tony Blair's premiership was tainted with wrongdoing will persist. It will be like Harold Wilson's lavender list, but far, far worse: the whiff of corruption will be manifest, even if the police can't make charges stick. The chances of any Brown administration lasting very long now surely look even slimmer. The legacy of New Labour, already damaged beyond redemption by the debacle in Iraq, threatens to be defined by malpractice and malfeasance.
Three words spring to mind.
Shame, disgust and anger. I hope many more feel the same - and literally "persecute" their individual MPs into pressurising those who need to be pressurised - over this and many other things, into pressurising those at the top.
While we meekly accept everything they pile on us, why do we naievly think they'l change their ways of their own accord?
(That's another rhetorical question)
Albie, not withstanding the source of that quote, I simply detest Einstein's contemptuous, subversive remark.
Under International Law the military has a legitimate role, to defend its home country in case of an actual, (not imagined) attack.
Granted, the political leadership greatly abused those people's noble commitment to their country, which we have to keep reminding the public every day, but that shouldn't take away from the accoladed attributes of those who serve.
I have just one question to you, and please ponder your answer honestly and carefully. Would Einstein made that same loatsome comment about the heroic defenders of Fortress Masada too?
Anonymous, for me the interesting question is not what you have asked, but how did you thought that your comment and question is suitable for the story provided?
Unlike you, most people doesn't cherish the idea, to kick a person, who is already down.
And now my main message: I agree with the author, that it is simply abominable what happened with this servicewoman. That a modern state, with all the obscene and flaunted accumulated wealth, is not willing to provide a modest living for its veterans, which something even much less wealthy states in earlier historical periods could accomplish, is simply despicable and it testifies for the low, egoistic morals of our time.
THIS is the full transcript of the cockpit video from call sign POPOV36 during the disastrous friendly fire attack on the Household Cavalry patrol. Lasting just over 15 minutes, it begins just before the A-10 Thunderbolt pilot spots the four British vehicles.
Link to video
BBC Radio 4 (You need realplayer for this)
Today's Top Story The cockpit recording of a 2003 "friendly fire" incident, in which Lance Corporal Matty Hull died, has been leaked by the Sun. Were the US right to try and keep it secret?
IMO the Independent has the best summary:
Cockpit tape exposes US friendly fire blunders By Nick Hodgson and Aislinn Simpson, PA Published: 06 February 2007
A cockpit recording of a US pilot opening fire on UK forces in Iraq was leaked today, exposing the errors that led to the death of a British soldier. In the recording, the pilot of one of two US A-10 Thunderbolt jets involved in the attack says, after they realise their mistake: "We're in jail dude". The other pilot, who opened fire, weeps, saying: "God dammit." The Sun newspaper today published the transcript after obtaining a tape of the recording of the moment that one of the jets launched two devastating attacks on a British armoured convoy, killing Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull. The Ministry of Defence initially told L/Cpl Hull's family the recording did not exist, but it found its way into the hands of Oxford coroner Andrew Walker, who is hearing the inquest into the soldier's death. Today the MoD refused to comment on the contents of the videotape. Last week Mr Walker adjourned the inquest in frustration at the MoD's failure to get the permission of the US authorities to use the recording in evidence. The transcript reveals as many as six errors immediately before the attack near Basra in southern Iraq on March 28, 2003......
The Guardian has this:
Bitter tales of combat mistakes There is a long military history of deaths at the hands of 'friends', Peter Walker notes
and this:
The pilots clearly see orange panels on top of the vehicles, an indicator of coalition troops, but attack when ground controllers say there are no friendly forces nearby. But at the same time, the video gives little sign that the unnamed pilots, believed to be reservists with no previous combat experience, are the gung-ho would-be Top Guns of popular myth.
Richard you might like to take a look at this:
MoD refuses to hand over video to Coroner
From the Army Rumour Service forum. Note to those who don't know what that is. ARRSE is the British Army's UNOFFICIAL centre of military and civil current affairs, news, discussion, humour, jobs, photos and bullshit.
I missed this one - sorry about all the links:
A coroner who demanded the release of a cockpit video showing a US plane attacking a British convoy in Iraq will not have his contract renewed. Andrew Walker criticised the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for failing to clear the video to be shown at an inquest.
Albie you miss the point - those you hold in contempt - men and women who bought the right for you to say as you wish with their own blood. I take it you would have been happy under the reich. However, it is your belief!
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