**British Armed Forces Discussion Thread**

I was lucky enough to spend most of H19 in Bastion. On Christmas day they put on a quiz/games/movie night and food ordered from the pizza shop Bastion 0. I wasnt so fortunate, I was working late shift in TFH HQ (PTDS LNO, huge Yank aerostats) so couldnt hang about for the festivities. IIRC I think the Battle Capt ordered in a load of Pizza's from the same Pizza shop, so I got a few slices in the end, I always remember that pizza tasting so damn good, it was a quiet shift as well as I dont think there were any Ops ongoing so we had xmas movies on in the ops room etc.

Thats one thing I sorely regret, not taking more photos during my tours!
Blue PX :D
I watched Hurt Locker outside it on a projector screen and thought it was an odd film to watch in that location
 
Steve45, 100% agree you are preaching to the choir on defence.

We been chilling since HERRICK ended. Seemingly thinking Ops are going to be small scale in and out SF style…Always assuming … the Americans have all the kit so we will be fine. Eroding away the foundations and corporate knowledge of the Army ever since I’ve been in tbh (2010). As a buckshee bod, I’ve seen this time coming and like you say most in work see the obvious and have done for a while.

Unfortunately, spending on defence needs a bit of a PR spin to convince average bod it’s worth giving up something else … like a bit of welfare.
 
I joined in 1992 and left in 2014. The decline was starting way back when I joined.
I remember the first load of redundancies thinking, what the hell are they doing? We've just fought in a major war.

I did the full 22 years. The last 7 or 8 years i only did for the pension. I saw it getting erroded too whilst I was in. Luckily I stayed on the old 1975 pension. If I hadn't I'd 100% have left earlier.
I still work with the MOD and as I see it now. There's really no incentive whatsoever to do more than 10 years.

On a side note. Can we not start any wars till May 2027. That's when my reserve commitment ends :D
 
Unfortunately, spending on defence needs a bit of a PR spin to convince average bod it’s worth giving up something else … like a bit of welfare.

Yeah, put the triple lock plus on defence spending. If we don't do it we will be spending twice that or more. There is little point in pensions and welfare uplifts if there is nothing to spend it on.

A pensioner.
 
Top Guns on channel 4 tonight, Ep3.

It was a good one tonight! This one was all Coningsby, but a tough watch as it deals with Sqn Ldr Mark Longs death - the spitfire pilot who crashed last year. T'was a fitting tribute to a top guy.

Mac and Cheese - lol.
 
Last edited:
En vogue and “ally” is now modern crye or basically trying to look like a US navy seal …

Silk short shorts. MTP crye caps… sunglasses and any t shirt that has some gym/coffee/war style graphic/slogan

Shooters belts and Salomon speed assault 2 boots
 
Top Guns on channel 4 tonight, Ep3.

It was a good one tonight! This one was all Coningsby, but a tough watch as it deals with Sqn Ldr Mark Longs death - the spitfire pilot who crashed last year. T'was a fitting tribute to a top guy.

Mac and Cheese - lol.
I knew Schlongy quite well, we got on well together at MPA and I was friends with his wife. That was a tough watch indeed, RIP.
 
A question to you all, if I may. I've been personally involved in high-level activity with regards to arming Ukraine in support of their war, and I've no doubt that many of you will also have been involved in some way. I work with US troops every day and while I have no doubt that most are harmless, the US is now a deeply divided country. Where one US soldier may be no threat, the other could hold a radically opposing view.

Given the dramatic shift of US policy away from Europe and towards our principle, long term enemies, at what point can we no-longer tolerate an unchecked US presence within our military establishment? I'm not suggesting the time is now, and that we should kick out the Americans today, but I think we should give some consideration to where exactly that line in the sand is.

On one hand, we have A400's taking off to deliver aid to Ukraine, and in the hangar next door we have pro-kremlin and increasingly anti-European spectators. The two cannot and should not co-exist.
 
Last edited:
The anti-Ukraine stance is the new government one, not the individuals. If they’re ordered to pull out then they will, it’s not down to the local commanders or boots on the ground.

I’d wager around half of them probably support being there and half of them may not agree with it, but they’re there to do a job and 99% of the time that’s what we in the military do.
 
The anti-Ukraine stance is the new government one, not the individuals. If they’re ordered to pull out then they will, it’s not down to the local commanders or boots on the ground.

I’d wager around half of them probably support being there and half of them may not agree with it, but they’re there to do a job and 99% of the time that’s what we in the military do.
I totally understand that and I'm yet to meet a US military person who I'd consider to be a threat, however Trump represents the people and has significant backing in his country. We must therefore conclude that at least a significant proportion of his voters views are in-line, or soon to be in-line with his own.

Given Trumps performance yesterday and the fact that Europe now has a serious decision to make regarding further military aid to Ukr, I don't think it's too extreme to at least consider the risks posed by right-wing US personnel moving forward. If not today, then we must have a clear view in our minds as to what we will not tolerate. I supposed what I'm getting at, is that the US "good guy" mentality that is deeply ingrained within our armed forces can no longer be taken for granted.
 
Last edited:
Worked with US and Afghan troops on Herrick a few times - that was scary. US have a habit of blue on blue, but with the Afghans, it was a case of who was paying more that week. One week they were supporting the bad guys, the next fighting, against them.

It wasn't just a case of looking forward for bad guys, you could quite as easily been brassed up by the US or Afghans in your team :(

There's a few disturbing videos floating around of a US soldier setting himself on fire because he didn't agree with some of the politics. You have Snowden, Manning etc. US have strict vetting, as do we, but there will always be those who slip through, or their views change later in Service. But like it or not, we are balls deep in with the US.
 
Last edited:
Top Guns on channel 4 tonight, Ep3.

It was a good one tonight! This one was all Coningsby, but a tough watch as it deals with Sqn Ldr Mark Longs death - the spitfire pilot who crashed last year. T'was a fitting tribute to a top guy.

Mac and Cheese - lol.

I knew Mark through a previous job but haven't seen this episode yet. I heard there were two tribute pictures on the fence that were shown, they were done by my partners neices. They are an aviation nut family, have a youtube channel etc and were there when it happened. They organised some aviation badges to sell and raised £7,000 for the scholarship in Marks name for disabled pilots.


As a thank you the brass at Coningsby invited them down to the BBMF and gave them a red carpet tour round the Lanc, which blew them away!
 
Last edited:
Tunnocks tea cakes cleared for take off:


Chocs away!
50743309342_f2ff8e8c04_o_d.gif
 
Back
Top Bottom