coming from a forces family i have always supported our troops in everything they do maybe blindly not really understanding why they are wherever they are at any given time but feeling that they must be there for a good reason maybe i'm just too trusting of the powers that be that make these decisions but i now find myself feeling more and more disillusioned with why our troops are in afghanistan can anyone explain to me how it can be justified that our sons and daughters are still there or even why they were there in the first place
i ask this as our youngest son intends to join up in the future and i am trying very hard to be fully supportive of his choice. i am clinging onto the fact that he still has a year of A levels to go and then hopefully uni and then sandhurst for officer training then he will hopefully train to be a helicopter pilot which will mean it will be 8 years and make him 25 before he has to see any action and hopefully no longer in afghanistan by that time although i'm sure they will of found somewhere else to send our troops i know i could never b lucky enough for him to only serve during a time of absolutely no conflicts whatsoever and this is only plan A, plan B is to just join up if results aren't good enough so worst case senario is he could be out there this time next year which frightens the life out of me
it was brought crashing home to me when i found out on sunday that one of the guys injured (shot 6 times but thankfully doing ok) in the shotting that killed 5 of our lads last week was a lad that is my sons friend from cadets it has brought it way too close to home for me and now all i want to do is beg my son to forget joining up and find a new career choice
i just want to see our troops all come home i don't want to see another killed out there or anywhere else
am i being unrealistic would them coming home put us at risk? would it make all the lives lost so far meaning less?
i guess i'm looking for reasurance here, should i still be fully supporting our troops and those that put them there or should i be shouting fromm the rooftops to bring them home?
bouncy, first of all, you have to come to an informed opinion of your own. you are bombarded everyday by all of the media with the justification for our forces to be in afghanistan and why they were sent. so you must research alternative veiws outside the mainstream media and make a judgement for yourself. all i would ask you to consider first is :- in whose intersts does it serve ? does it serve the interest of you or anyone else paying for it ? is it to catch the bogey man osama bin liner ? is it to defeat the taliban (afghans) and stop worldwide terrorism? or is it to pacify (terrorise) the locals to servitude while an oil and gas pipeline is built from yhe caspian sea to the gulf ? are there geopolitical interests at stake instead of the lies and bullshit we are fed on ?
Should we bring our troops home?
What a hard question to answer in this house.
As many of you know mrs777's son will probably be out there sometimes next year at 18 years of age. The army has turned him into a man in 12 months, and his whole attitude is different.
He loves the army life but realsies the dangers that may lie ahead. He is ready for the challenge.
As for us the fear and trepidation that lies ahead, we try not to think to hard about it, for obvious reasons.
It seems this Government have lost their way in this tragic conflict. They seem to have lost their long term objectives, and their initial aims.
There was an ex army Major on the radio the other day, who said the main reasons we are out there, is to stop the training camps on the Afghan/Pakistan borders, from training terrorists who will in time bomb the west. He said that is a major reason why we must stay until that region is safe.
That to me seems a logical enough reason, but the time scale could be years, if at all.
The whole region was/is in a dreadful mess. Pakistan have launched their own offensives against the Taliban, but as this Major stated....the Taliban will never win on the ground. They neither have the man power or the resources, but they have one advantage and that is fear over the Afghan people.
Until that fear has been eradicated which could take years, the slaughter of our troops and the American troops will continue.
I am in two minds over this issue. Before our Son joined the army I was 100% in favour of going in, but obviously now we have someone close to us going there, it changes your viewpoint.
But on the whole I am in support of our actions, and support the armed forces 1000%.
All I prey for is that a minimal ammount of our superb troops lose their lives.
I only wish there could be some kind of timescale to bring them home, but at this stage nobody knows how long we will be there.
Most of the troops out there think they are doing a worthwhile job, and it will change things for the better, I hope so for the sake of all those who have /will lose their lives.
Keep them safe.
I think now we're out there and the "damage" has been done so to speak by the troops of all countries involved we have to stay untill the job is finished but FFS lets equip them properly......
Those brave boys and girls who sign away the best years of their lives do so to serve Queen and Country, not to be transported thousands of miles and be ordered to risk their necks fighting in some foreign field, in a war that us nothing to do with us, as an invading force against people who are not even a threat to Great Britain.
Meanwhile this country is in a permantant state of alert because the threat of terrorism looms constantly, not from Afghans but from people born in Bradford and Birmingham.
As per bloody usual the best of our young people are going to be killed, maimed, or mentally and emotionally scarred for life, just to please a bunch of greedy self seving meanderers called politicians.
Bring them home now!
Those brave boys and girls who sign away the best years of their lives do so to serve Queen and Country, not to be transported thousands of miles and be ordered to risk their necks fighting in some foreign field, in a war that us nothing to do with us, as an invading force against people who are not even a threat to Great Britain.
Meanwhile this country is in a permantant state of alert because the threat of terrorism looms constantly, not from Afghans but from people born in Bradford and Birmingham.
As per bloody usual the best of our young people are going to be killed, maimed, or mentally and emotionally scarred for life, just to please a bunch of greedy self seving meanderers called politicians.
Bring them home now!
One person commented - As per bloody usual the best of our young people are going to be killed, maimed, or mentally and emotionally scarred for life, just to please a bunch of greedy self seving meanderers called politicians. Try asking my grandfather whos 92 about his time on the Burma Railway 3 years he spent as a POW hes seen more sick things in his life than any of the troops will see today and what support did he get for his mental and emotional state none. I've heard him at night crying out in his sleep as hes again having nightmares about his time there, sometimes he will talk (and some of what he has told me has made me physical sick), but most of the time he says people arent interested. As my grandfather says if we werent in Afganistan where would we be? These people have signed up to fight for Queen and country so that is what they are doing. They have a choice, if they dont like it they can get out.
I have seen people putting in requests to go to Afganistan when they have just done a 6 months tour there. I had 2 friends injured recently 1 of them lost his arm, but he says he wants to go back out there as soon as he gets the all clear.
My son is due to go out within the next year and hes looking forward to it, say hes not spent all that time training to sit around doing nothing. My daughter is only 10 she has wanted to sign up since she was 5 years old and she is gutted that she wont be able to be on the front line as shes a female. I didnt stop my son from joining up and I definately wont stop my daughter.
I also have friends in the American Marines who have to do 18 months tour, 20 of them went out only 15 have returned. I'm due to go over to see them all next year before they are sent out again for another 18 months, as it might be the last time I get to see them all together.
Kaznkev you did not actually answer the question, not all "soldiers" carry guns.
All police officers carry handcuffs, does taht mean they are just there to arrest people nothing else?
Do the people who drive ambulances only do it as a taxi service to and from hospital, being in the forces is so much more than killing or being killed.
Sorry incorrect, an ambulance driver is and i quote "a trained paramedic able to administer a high level of first aid and advanced treatment, with regards to physical injury or bodily breakdown often life saving"
The people you are referring to have a different job title to "ambulance driver" i just cant find the exact title at the moment, it is something like " hospital day care and out patient driver opperative".
I mix quite frequently with Paramedics and Technicians and Ambulance drivers so I do know what I'm talking about.....
Clearly not as i quoted from the NHS website, i mix quite alot with bomb disposal technicians this does not however make me a bomb expert.
Now lets get back to the topic instead of hijacking this one so rudely, and my apologies to bouncy332 for being part of the hijack.
In answer to you though bouncy no we should not be pulled out until the mess we created and are involved in is cleared up to some sort of satisfaction.
I am sure your son once come the time will be focused and intelligent enough to decide what he wants to do, and really all you can do is hide your true feelings and love and support him whatever,which i am sure you will.
My mum found it very difficult i know but she always supported me and hid her fears and anguish ever so well so as not to affect me.
Thankyou Sarah :-)
I hold an RACMSA rescue license and we are trained in many aspects of rescue from motor-vehicles and also in the application of non-invasive procedures....
We also have to have a knowledge of invasive procedures in order to assist the Doctor/Paramedic in carrying out those procedures should the need arise....
Yes I think we should bring them home.
the war on terror is a hoax and i'm suprised that many more people dont realise it.
9/11 was carried out supposedly (according to the findings of the 9/11 commission report) by a saudi called mohammed atta and seventeen other saudi nationals, trained in the u.s. the fbi knew this as they had been following them and within 24 hrs of 9/11, mohammed atta's green saudi passport was found at ground zero. (unsinged). there is up to now, no american warrant for the arrest of osama binladen. no afghans were involved either but the americans found a way round that by saying osama binladen organised it from a cave in tora bora afghanistan and the taliban wont give him up so they were going in to get him ! just like weapons of mass deception, it's all bullshit !
