Just a thought for all the guys out in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Just had news today of a 20 year old from my little town in Cornwall, UK who lost his life on Sunday fighting in Helmand Province.
God be with them all.
Peter
I apologise for the signature at the bottom of my previous post, totally inappropriate but it appeared on my posts all of a sudden without my knowledge and I don't seem to be able to get rid of it?
regards
Peter
The members of this club are better suited than most to make every day Remembrance Day. Every day I think about my grandparents in WW2, and the young men and women fighting now.
Earlier today I had a very pleasant 2 1/2 hours drive down (and back)to our Naval Air Station, to attend a memorial dedication tied in today with the usual Remembrance Day ceremony. Lovely warm day, parade, usual stuff which the RAN always does without fuss and a "missing man" formation perfectly in synch with the completion of the "Reveille" after the minutes silence. The best part was as always seeing old comrades, old friends, and getting to chat...maybe exaggerating a tiny bit.... with some of the wonderful young people who defend our country, and its values, of which more and more seem to me to be vanishing.
I joined, in 1964, a Navy which was in many ways very different fom todays', yet I feel much more at home with these kids than I would with many of my own age.
A lot of "corporate speak" has been imposed on the ADF over the years, much of which has rightly disappeared, but some I do like...in particular the RANs' formal values...
COURAGE, HONOUR, HONESTY, INTEGRITY, LOYALTY.
That to me is not a bad basis for a decent life.
My prayers for the family of the fallen. They bear the heaviest burden. Today as the US remembers its veterans, say a prayer for the families.
It can be a hard and unforgiving profession, unfortunately it is also a very necessary profession that needs good people to step forward for the good of us all. We can go about our lives because hard men and women stand watch on the ramparts.
KKR - I'm not quite as pessimistic because I see this generation stepping forward in a big way. I ignore the TV and look at what I see with my own eyes. To voluntarily join the military in a time of war, speaks volumes to me about the quality of their character.
Our Armed Forces are not perfect. I see the imperfections on a daily basis, but there are just some great people to work with following in a long tradition.
Remember!
Jim vK
Well put, Jim. As George Orwell said........"Nice people sleep safely only because rough men stand on guard, ready to violence on their behalf".
I will add nothing further here, as any discussion on this subject might well lead into the realm of politics, which is absolutely inappropriate for this forum.
Seigfried Sasoons' poem Aftermath ended with a line we might all keep in mind.
"Look up, and swear by the green of the Spring, that you'll never forget."