Gnashing of Teeth!

If there was a single news item that was destined to spoil my day it was the interview of the ever popular ex soldier, ex-Lance Corporal Joe Glenton formerly of the Royal Logistic Corps.  This sanctimonious excuse for a former soldier is going to “return his medals” or his “veterans badge”, I’m not sure quite which given the conflicting reports on the television.  In any event if I had my way I would have demand them back the day he was convicted of going absent without leave and disobeying a lawful command which  resulted in this useless article serving a well deserved six or was it nine months military detention.

This is a man who now pontificates on the manner in which the war in Afghanistan was, is and should not be fought.  This is a former logistician who served ONE six month tour in Afghanistan and then refused to go back.  All I can say is that he should not have joined up in the first place if he was going to pick and choose which orders he was going to obey, which oath he was to take and which battles to fight or not.

He brings shame on his regiment, the army and his country as well as on himself for he is NOT a proud example of a man at all.  He is supported by a fringe of left wing unpatriotic wasters who would rather see the world spin out of control in a nice liberal free from control nanny state.

Glenton, stuff your medals and badge where the sun don’t shine and let the real heroes of Afghanistan wear theirs without your slimly shadow casting itself over them.

NOTE:

Joe Glenton was a British Army Lance Corporal and war resister from York. He argued that the war in Afghanistan is illegal under international law and faced court-martial for Absence Without Leave as well as charges related to his protesting the war. After pleading guilty to going AWOL for 737 days at a court martial, on 5 March 2010 Glenton was sentenced to 9 months in the Military Corrective Training Centre,  the UK's military prison in Colchester. On pleading guilty to going AWOL, charges of desertion, disobeying orders and bringing the Army into disrepute, were all dropped.

By way of contrast, Wootton Bassett (Wikipedia)

Recent history

In the early twenty-first century, the bodies of fallen UK servicemen and women from the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places, having been repatriated to RAF Lyneham, usually pass through the town on their way to John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, in readiness for the coroner. This has led to people assembling along the route of the funeral cortège initially from the local area and occasionally some mourners with a connection to the dead. On 12 October 2008, a parade was organised by the armed services to thank the town for their support.^[9]. This drew national attention to the town's salute to the fallen; and relatives/friends not attending the RAF Lyneham ceremony choose to pay their first respects at Wootton Bassett, joined by representatives from their towns and other, unrelated visitors, leading to speculation that the event had become a form of 'grief tourism'^[10][11]. On Friday 29 January 2010 HRH The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Wootton Bassett to lay a wreath at the War Memorial and to meet local people.^[12]

The War Memorial in Wootton Bassett is a simple pedestal topped by a bronze of hands holding up a globe. The erection of the memorial was quite recent, and was the vision of local girl Jay Cunningham who felt that the memorial garden in the cemetery and the memorial hall on Tinker's Field were not a prominent enough memorial.^[13] After a successful five year publicity and fund raising campaign, the memorial was unveiled in October 2004. The design was chosen by public vote, designed by Lance Corporal Alan Wilson of the Wootton Bassett army cadets with the bronze sculpted by artist Vivian ap Rhys Price^[14] from nearby Calne, 10 miles to the south.

In 2009, Wootton Bassett made headlines after radical UK Islamist group Islam4UK suggested the town as the site of a proposed march. The proposal, led by Muslim extremist Anjem Choudary, came under widespread condemnation from British citizens, including Muslims, politicians, and the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Some right wing citizens, mainly from outside of the town, said that they would "defend" the town if they felt they needed to.^[15] However, on 10 January 2010, Islam4UK announced that it decided to call off the protest, claiming that the publicity generated had "successfully highlighted the plight of Muslims in Afghanistan" and so "no more could be achieved even if a procession were to take place in Wootton Bassett".^[16]

In May 2009, the Royal British Legion honoured Wootton Bassett with a special award in recognition of Legion members who turned out to honour hundreds of fallen British servicemen and women being repatriated from Iraq and Afghanistan^[17]. In 2009, it was revealed that the Queen had spoken to Gordon Brown about the possibility of granting Wootton Basset Royal Patronage, making it the third 'Royal' town in the country, after Royal Leamington Spa in Warwickshire and Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent^[18]. However, the news was received with mixed reactions. Whilst over 2,600 people signed a petition on the Downing Street website calling for Wootton Bassett to be 'officially recognised in some form',^[18] Wootton Bassett Mayor Councillor Steve Bucknell stated royal patronage would not be welcome, claiming that whilst local residents were "humbled" by the honour, "we didn’t expect anything...[in return]...and that is still the case".^[19] On 21 December 2009, Wootton Bassett received one of The Sun's "Millie" awards for its tributes to the fallen. The award was presented by HRH Prince William and received on behalf of the town by Mayor Steve Bucknell and British Legion treasurer Ann Beavis and Cross Keys landlady Kirsty Lambert.^[20]

In March 2010, in another example of the national symbolism of Wootton Bassett, there was a mass parade of bikers. Associated charity fundraising is reported to have reached £100,000.^[21] Motorcyclists from The Royal British Legion Riders Branch, many of whom are former service personnel, attend every repatriation held in the town.^[22][23][24]

Goodwood Festival of Speed

There are times when what seemed like a good plan at the time soon becomes clear that is wasn’t such a good idea at all.  This is what we discovered when I somewhat recklessly decided that it would be nice to go, for the first time, to the Goodwood Festival of Speed.  Actually, it was when I said “lets go to to the Festival of Speed this year, it’s a bit expensive but we have never been” and then when I added to that statement the insane idea that we could walk from home.  Why you may ask, “because it’s not far from home after all is said and done”.  A Bad plan !!

It was to prove fortunate however, but for all the wrong reasons, that we didn’t walk there in the end.  The wrong reasons being that on the day we were to set off on this epic walk from home to Goodwood was the day that Val threw a very expensive sicky!  Now no one, least of all me, would have wished the awful state she was in after contracting some vile virus from somewhere that left her completely incapacitated (I won’t go into details here as they are not pleasant). In any event, given her condition and given also that she insisted that I go alone, I decided to rescue some of our outlay and rather than walk I would drive there.  Then at least if I did receive an “emergency"  call I would be able to get back home relatively quickly.

I soon realised that our initial enthusiastic and excited estimates of the walking distance from home to the festival site had been grossly under estimated once I had noted the distance by car as being 3.5 miles.  This was not including the distance we would have to walk from the car park to the actual festival site which I am sure would have added another mile or two at least to the “route march” that I found myself on once I got to the Goodwood Estate.

It was to prove an interesting and tiring day which I have many mixed feelings about but one thing is for certain, it would not have been an ideal day out for the lady of the house!

The highlights of the day  were for me the fantastic flying display by the Red Arrows which until now I had tried to observe from the garden, only to nearly break my neck trying to spot the passing aircraft with little success.  This time though it was "up close and personal” with a commentary and a view on a giant TV screen.  The outcome being an example of one of the many photos I managed to take.

Good Things about the show were I suppose quite personal and therefore not everyone's cup of tea.  However here are my highlights of the day.

• 2 Royal Tank Regiment display of the latest military vehicles and a fine example of their main battle tank.  It was good to chat with them and recall my brief attachment to them in Libya back in the dark old days of 1967.

A bit different from the Centurion I learned to drive!

• The Red Arrows display team put on an incredible display which was all the more exciting given that this year I was actually under it and not darting around the garden at home trying to keep tabs on them each time they flew over the house!

I could almost see the pilot as I took this photo.

• The cars on display were overwhelmingly out of my reach in terms of cash! I simply drooled.
• The Parking arrangements were pretty good and there was a form of rustic transport from the car park to the show fields which was good if you had to wander about looking for a lost car as some unfortunates seemed to have done at one stage.  I on the other hand had counted the rows back to where I was parked (row 52) only to discover that several more rows had been fitted in by the time I came back for the car.  I still found it with ease and didn’t need my GPS phone either.
• The Cuban Cigar roller – Anibal Delgado Gonzalez was a star.  He may not have been a voluptuous Cuban virgin rolling the cigars on her tanned thighs – but he did roll a mean “robusto”.  Yes, I bought one hot off the table NOT his thigh!!

 

Anibal Delgado Gonzalez – Cigar maker, taking a smoke break!

• The “Chunky Chips with Curry sauce – I have no more to say on this other than, even at £2.50 they were great!
• Juliette Lowe the young local jeweller from Singleton who had the perfect gift on hand for the poor sick thing at home!

There were many more “good things” to numerous to mention but there were also some Bad Things that cant be left out from this even.

• Programmes at £12.50 (admittedly with a “free radio”.  I thought this was excessive given that we had already forked out £75 for tickets in advance so a FREE programme would have been nice!
• Food prices were crazy with a Pims at £6.50 as was a sausage & onion roll.  £4.50 for a bacon sandwich and of course my chips at £2.50, but there were good!!
• Walking from the car parks was a bit of an ordeal as the dust got thicker and thicker as you slogged along with the crowd only to find more dust at the event its self.  I came home looking like I had been working on a building site.
• Entry fees do seem very high to me and there seems to be no incentive to buy early.  Not it seems as I have already pointed out, no inclusive programme with the pre-ordered tickets.
• The Dust was a major drawback for the nose, throat and any asthmatics but it wasn’t the organisers fault.  All I would say is just be prepared for it.

All in all a great day out with lots to see and do and some interesting people to watch!

Photos from the day

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The Queens Birthday Parade 2010

As ever I spent a happy time watching this spectacle on TV and recalling that as a young Junior Solider MAD and I spent many a happy few hours practicing left and right forms, marching in line in quick and slow time and for me many hours as a “Stickman” or more understandably as Escort to the Inspecting Officer on parade. 

 

[Left to right: Me as Escort, “Right Hand Man” with my platoon and my platoon marching past the inspecting General – I am the first on the left of the picture] Hill Platoon B Company – Shiny B !!!

Despite having been born in London, lived there for many years and been a regular soldier I had never been to see the Queens Birthday Parade (Trooping the Colour).  So taken with this I thought it would be a good idea to enter an application for entry in the ballot for tickets for the 2011 parade.  I won’t  hold my breath though as I am sure that there are tens of thousands of applications each year, but I can live in hope!

Perhaps Peter White or my friend “MAD”may put in a good word for me?

Obama and BP: White House is not Anti-British?

Hmmm, you do have to wonder don't you?  OK, lets see now what is it that BO has against BP.

• BP is “British” as in British Petroleum
• So What.  In fact the company is INTERNATIONAL and the workers involved in the disaster were AMERICAN!
• OB’s gandpappy was “tortured by the British in Kenya”
• Well who says he was?  IF he was a member of the Mau Mau then he would have been initiated into the group in a secret ceremony which involved eating human white flesh!! Mau Mau were only sort of Freedom Fighters and in 1950’s Britain mistreatment of captured fighters was not typical as at this time they had not met anyone from the American CIA !!
• BP is a successful company in the USA and provides many jobs.. Hmmmm
• The economic and financial destruction of BP by BO would be of benefit to the good old US of A and the Oil industry

Darn me I almost forgot.  BO has a forgotten that Britain seems to be an ally who’s soldiers are fighting themselves ragged in an unwinnable war.  So why don’t we just up and bugger off back home and leave St Barak and his merry men to fight off the Taliban on their own? 

See this little spoof report I found on the internet

Obama and BP: White House is not Anti-British

http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s1i76160

Finally, yes I do love to drive every nail home I can, will we ever stop importing so many American English words and sayings into our own dear language?

Britain declares war on words that snuck into our skedule...
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1284254/Britain-declares-war-words-snuck-skedule-.html#ixzz0q5kLwEjw

Those ‘Buxom Vixens’?

I have to be amused about the number of ‘hits’ my blog has been receiving where the search line includes those fateful words, buxom and vixen!  Now I can only guess at what the hapless searchers are looking for when they enter those two magic words.  Sadly I am still only able to guess at their frustration when they only find my observations of the local fox population (Vulpes vulpes) – Link

Sorry boys from wherever you are!

I am still mystified about who my visitor is from Plano, Texas who visits quite a lot but consistently ignored my small appeal to know more about him/her and Plano. Come on, let me know?

On the subject of buxomness I have to tell my readers, even if they are not interested.  I have been on a diet, in fact I continue to be on a diet and have lost several pounds!  From my 164 ponds in February this year ( I had been heavier prior to then) I am now a mere shadow of myself at ….. drum roll….. a svelte and almost slim-line 151 pounds and still falling!!

How did I do it? No, no fancy diets, not diet drinks and no, not even starving myself.  I have counted calories and reduced my intake of most things.  Yes, even alcohol.  There is a downside though, I have had to have all my trousers altered to suit my new physique but I will not get so thin as to end up looking like Iggy Pop!!  This is to say, NOT not what he is today although in his hay days, that would be OK.

‘IP’ Then                   ‘IP’ Now      Me, Left-Right ?

My birthday is soon so I will be relaxing my diet for at least a day to accommodate my intake of food and booze!

Finally, my pet hate. Poor ‘speeelin’ …..

Will the illiterates who can’t spell or even understand the difference between THERE ( as in over there) and THEIR (as in it’s theirs ) get it right AND remember if they are not too addled that it is spelt THEIR and NOT THIER … heavens it even looks wrong!

They know who they are but they hate me so much they don’t even read my blog. So those who know who they are, please, give them a kick for me!

Spotted: My latest laughable ‘speelin’ (One of so many I’m sad to say) is:-

AMBALANCE

No words necessary.

 

Is it summer?

After several days of clearing the garden shed, cleaning out the garage of empty packing cases left over from our return from Ibiza, planting a new shrub in the garden, feeding the lawn and finally buying some plants for the front of the house. What can it all mean?  I suppose that now I have started wearing shorts and layering on factor 50 to my head, I have to conclude,  it must be summer. 

The clincher must be cutting the grass every week which is now becoming lush and green and the fact that I seem to be thinking plants all the time.

As it’s summer, we have had a short break in Brighton with the obligatory meal at Indian Summer “the only Indian restaurant in Brighton”  We had lunch a few weeks ago at Chilli Pickle in Brighton another fine eatery which I cannot recommend highly enough.  We stayed at “One Broad Street” in the care of the ever humorous, helpful and Queen of Granola making, Ramola!! (and Mary who we have never met).  This is a fantastic little place just far enough away from the busy centre of Brighton and near enough to the sea to be perfect.  The rooms are bright and clean and full of little quirks that reflect the personalities of the owners of this B&B.  We love it there and plan a return visit in the not to distant future.

There was another “first” this visit to Brighton with a visit to the Brighton Pavilion and the current exhibition about the many hundreds of Indian Soldiers who  were treated there during the First World War when the Pavilion was used as a hospital.   I was a little disappointed by the rather small nature of the exhibition but it did have some excellent photographs and a short film showing King George V during a visit to the hospital and presenting a Victoria Cross to an Indian Army Officer, Jemadar (Lieutenant) Mir Dast of the 55th Coke's Rifles ( Frontier Force ).  He insisted on standing to attention to receive his medal despite being very weak after having been gassed.  Much of scene at the hospital was so similar to scenes today of our wounded soldiers recovering and rehabilitating at another “Brighton Pavilion”, Headly Court today.  History does have a habit of repeating itself doesn't it?  We still need the same “Help for Heroes” today!!

Joining The Army

Some time ago I decided to request a copy of my Regular Army records so that I could use the information to help me write my book, “An Uneventful Soldier”. 
So after providing the necessary identification I promptly forgot all about it and carried on with life as normal.  Then one Saturday morning while lounging in bed with an early cup of tea I heard the thump of a large package come slumping through the letter box.  On retrieving the large envelope I saw that at last my records had arrived.
Everything was there, my attestation papers, my interview results and the comments by recruitment officers together with their recommendations for my suitability for enlistment.  It seemed that I was suitable for service in my chosen regiment, the Royal Army Ordnance Corps plus the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers ( I never knew about that!!).  Additionally I would have been able to join any infantry or armoured regiment had I wished to do so. 
Only very recently V and I were going through these various papers when I spotted some points that I had not really noticed in the past, that I was “very keen on rugby and football” and that among my hobbies and pastimes were, Army cadets, Photography and, yes…. “playing rugby and football”.  OK, I don’t suppose that this sounds unusual for a 15 year old getting ready to enter Junior Leaders Training,  as sport is a key element of military training and development. 
What was unusual though must have been the sight of me standing before, first the Medical Officer and then the interviewing Selection Officer because here I was at a towering   5 feet 5 inches and weighing in at a massive  110 lbs  squeaking the words  “ I play rugby and football Sir”.
Imagine this conversation:-
Officer:  Name?
Recruit: Bloggs Sir!
Officer: Why do you want to join the Army Bloggs?
Bloggs: To fight for my Queen and Country Sir.
Officer: Excellent Bloggs, Hmmmm, I see you have had your medical and you are 5 feet 5 inches tall and 110 pounds! Excellent!!
Bloggs: [Squeaking] Thank you Sir.
Officer: Do you play any sports Bloggs?
Bloggs: Oh yes sir, I play rugby and football for my school and for my county [squeaking even louder]
Officer: [Suppressing fits of laughter] Ah yes Bloggs a fine figure of a man! Perfect for the Infantry!
I won’t go on but God how they must have laughed after I left the room to await their verdict, I know I would have done so!  
V and I read on, a few years had passed and I was now a towering 5 feet 6 inches tall and a whopping 124 lbs and still stating in my records at some stage  “ I play rugby and football Sir” The truth was of course entirely different as I hated both sports and in fact excelled in Shooting which never seem to have been mentioned.  I managed to avoid most completive sports (except bizarrely and terrifyingly boxing!!) by opting for cross country running, a solitary sport that we could conduct without interference or supervision!! 
I was ultimately caught our when joining a new unit in Germany I was interviewed by my new Company Commander and in answer to the inevitable question, “and what sport do you do Corporal”? I answered “Squash Sir”.  To my horror he replied, “Excellent corporal, I have been looking for an opponent for some time”. 
One match later I was “outed” and placed properly in the shooting team where I stayed and did actually excel.

Writing a book

Some years ago I set about writing a book about my short career in the army during the 1960’s.  To say it was a labour of love would be a lie as in reality the actual writing was an ordeal.  I never thought for one moment the amount of effort that would go into just trying to recall events during the nine years I had chosen to write about.
For a start I had to figure out the correct order of things, should I write chronologically or should I write about events in some sort of random fashion that suited some ill thought through process.  Of course I decided to start at the beginning, a middle and then have an end! How silly was I to think there was any other way.  My other problem was should I write a squeaky clean version of my near on nine years as a British soldier, no swearing, heavy drinking, mad womanizing and all sorts of other bad behaviour?  I opted for a slightly “sanitized” but honest recollection of how it was and what I did with some minor confessional stuff just slipped in here and there.  Major confessions will have to wait a good number of years I think.
I think it has taken me about 5 years to complete the short work of some 95 pages of A5 text comprising  35896 painfully written words.  I am still not happy with the book in its entirety as there are still silly spelling and grammatical errors discovered every time I read it.   However, I have mastered the chronology now and where possible linked the event in my life to one of “historic” importance at the time I write about.  For example, the assassination of John F Kennedy, the Vietnam Anti War riots at the US Embassy in London and of course our dear old pal Colonel Gaddafi of Libya when he was only a junior army officer in the Libyan army.
Well, the books sits on MyEbook at http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=2532 only waiting for me to take the time to post it on another publishing site in paperback form and see if I can actually sell it.  If only I had a penny for every one of the 27,650 viewings it has had !! 
My short story, “A Summer Affair” ( http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=20876 ) is also doing well with 6648 viewings so perhaps I need to concentrate my mind on my next writing venture!