angelwithabullet
Trust female - 46 years
Blog / Tags / soldiers
Blog messages with the tag 'soldiers':
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Band of Brothers
I'm watching the whole series all over again. I don't know how many times that is that I've watched it now, but I'm still enraptured by the whole thing.
Steven Spielberg is an epic filmmaker. Saving Private Ryan was one of my favourites.
I know why this Band of Brothers appeals to me. Because it gets to the heart of what a soldier's life is all about. It's real, it's gutsy, it's about the closest I'll ever get (I hope) to what it might to feel to be in the thick of fighting for your life ... as well as those of your 'brothers'.
It makes me wonder what those guys think when they sign on the dotted line and I'm priviledged to be in a position to actually find out. I often ask the guys who pass through my office what made them join the British Army. Some say 'work', some say 'money', some (but not a lot) say 'cos i love my country'. The core of their work is to train to kill - the enemy. But the repercussions of that are tremendous. Immense. Heartbreaking, almost.
Let's take for instance the guys who were sent to the Falklands in the 80s. Prior to that, the bulk of this country's folk didn't think we'd ever have our young boys sent off to fight in another battle (apart from Northern Ireland, at the time), particularly one so very far away. I think that was when I first heard the phrase being wailed by an anxious mother "My son never joined up to fight a war!" (it was repeated in the first Gulf War too).
When the news reels started to file back home - of ships being blown to smitherines, of men being bombed, burned, shot and shelled ... people were horrified, terrified, shocked. But while it was going on all I could think of was - what is going through the minds of the actual men. The individual's that are walking over that land as I slept safe at night in my cosy bed, men were loading their weapons with bullets that would pierce flesh and end a life.
Of course, all of these thoughts were brought home to me when my own man went off to fight in the first Gulf War a whole ten years later. As he marched off all handsome and proud, all I could do was write and cry. My precious little blueys would be sent every day, sometimes several at one time. I wanted him to know that he was loved by a woman who cherished his very existance and to encourage him to realise that he had something to fight for – himself. So that he would find a way to survive and return home, safe to me.
But when I watch Band of Brothers, I can see how precarious that effort was/is. How life can be wiped out in an instant. How with one little piece of metal entering this carbon matter we can be switched off. Immediately. No questions asked. And it’s all by chance.
Those who live can look at those who have not survived. They pick up the bodies of those who’ve falled to their final resting place and lower them into the ground, cover them with earth, and thank whoever or whatever it is they believe in, that it wasn’t their turn - this time.
Soldiers were/are trained to do their very best. They are a different breed of man and it shows. Some end up on the streets (heck, most of the guys you see littering the pavements are ex-Army boys), but some realise the precarious nature of life and make a niche for themselves, some hunger for freedom from the restraints of society, some are haunted by the sights they have witnessed and never will be able to forget. Some hate the civilisation that caused those feelings and will always have a ‘wronged’ nature hanging about their aura. Some, though, forge on ahead by carving a life within the restraints, and live with what exists and make the best of what is available.
But at the end of the day, they were/are still only men. Men with feelings (even though they don't admit it half the time). Men with hearts (yes, they do have them) that do get wounded. Men with souls (even if you don't believe it) that will remain ever torn because of the trauma they endured.
Little old me can never hope to do any of them any justice. And I don't know why Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers (albeit from the Yank perspective), gel with me so well - perhaps because they both bring it home to me, what war actually is. How the individual senses what is going on. They show the terrifying fear in that goes on in someone's head. As well as the hope and the pride and the tremendous bond they have with each other too.
They never will - nor should we expect them to - forget their unique band of brothers. -
Peacemongers
Listen to ABBA's 'Soldiers' song on the album: The Visitors and put these words to the melody.
Sixty two ton
Gruesome weapon
Peering down its phallic barrel
As they die
Conforming to the
Standard rule he
Spies a clown who wants no quarrel
See him cry
"I am glad to greet my surrendered friend
We shall fight for peace, till the bitter end"
Wave goodbye
Soldiers standing straight and proud
Bugals calling out so loud
Our big stick will make them fall
Our soft talk will beat them all
We must remember
As they surrender
Lust for love and law
Must hunger ever more
Crushed under the war
Because peacemongers
Are much stronger
Camoflaging
Men in hiding
Standing to
Mother country's aid
See him cry
Target values
Failing rules
Light their candles
Watch them sadly fade
As they die
It's mad to meet this masquerade
Fight for peace and we'll find our day
Wave goodbye
Soldiers standing straight and proud
Bugals calling out so loud
Some bright day there will come a time
One made man will break the line
And use the biggest stick of all
Softer talk we'll hear no more
If we surrender
We must remember
Lust for love and law
Must hunger ever more
Crushed under the war
Because peacemongers
Are much stronger
(c) kb 1989 -
In the name of the people
21/09/2007
CGS: "We do what we do in the Nation's name"Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt has spoken passionately today, Friday 21 September 2007, about a growing gulf between the Army and the Nation.
General Dannatt's speech comes after recent public debate about the "military covenant," – the unwritten contract between the Army and the public it serves. The Royal British Legion have recently launched a campaign calling for the Government to "honour the covenant" by providing greater support to the forces in certain key areas.
In General Dannatt's speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, he focused his attention on the covenant between the Army and the nation as a whole, not just the Government and called for the public and for private sector organisations to do more to respect and honour Armed Forces personnel.
The following is an extract of Gen Dannatt's speech at IISS:
"I have become increasingly concerned about the growing gulf between the Army and the Nation. I am not talking about the support that we get from Her Majesty's Government and to a large extent I am not talking about public finances. Rather, I am talking about how the Nation as a whole views the Army.
"The people who make up that Army are all volunteers and they fully understand that they join to fight and if necessary to put themselves in harm's way to get the job done and once again I salute the memory of those who have lost their lives on active service, or have suffered serious injury – we do not ask for sympathy when we are doing what we are paid to do.
"Now, a great deal has been made of the Military Covenant in recent weeks, mostly in terms of work load, equipment, accommodation and pay, and balance is required here - but the real covenant is with the population at large – the Nation.
"The covenant says that we do what we do in the Nation's name that's the way a democracy works – and so soldiers do not ask why; but they do ask for respect and honour for doing what they have been sent to do – which they do with courage and professionalism.
"The men and women who go off to join the Army – or, indeed the other Services are not supermen. You would find it difficult to pick most of them out of a crowd of other teenagers – when they leave the camp gates they very rapidly blend in with their civilian peers.
"So how are they different and what pushes them to such acts of courage and selflessness? Well, I would put it down to the training that they receive, which is world class, and is underpinned the values and standards that set the Army apart from other organisations. We educate ourselves in our core values of selfless commitment, courage, discipline, integrity, loyalty and respect for others, and seek to live up to that standard, but even that is not enough.
"Soldiers want to be understood and they want to be respected for their commitment. When a young soldier has been fighting in Basra or Helmand, he wants to know that the people in their local pub know and understand what he has been doing and why.
"In America, appreciation for the armed forces is outstanding and, frankly, I would like to be able to mirror some of that here. In the States, many companies offer military discounts for serving soldiers, sports teams give out free tickets, people in the street shake the hand of men in uniform. In Canada the route along which the bodies of servicemen killed in action are brought home has been titled the "Highway of Heroes".
"Flip the coin and contrast that to the UK where – despite many public campaigns – we still have people objecting to a home for our wounded soldiers families, we still have a Nation that at times seems immune to homeless and psychologically damaged soldiers.
"One wonders how many people have given to Service Charities this year? And how many companies have offered discounts to soldiers? Yes, some football teams give tickets to their local Battalions and Regiments, but how many councils have written to their local Battalions to ask when they are coming back from Iraq and whether they can give them a homecoming parade? The answer, I fear, is not high – and I know that the Army is enormously grateful to those who do help.
"The retort of some may be that such matters are the responsibility of the public purse – and in part they are. But this is not the British way. For centuries, the private and voluntary sectors have been fundamental in supporting our forces – one need only look to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, or the Erskine Hospitals in Scotland, the Royal British Legion, SSAFA or the Army Benevolent Fund for examples. And a new opportunity inviting "Help for Heroes" will be launched soon.
"But as our operational commitments have become more intense, so has the need for support from the Nation. We must move from being a society that uses the military as a political and media football and more towards seeing the military for what it is:
the instrument of foreign policy conducted by a democratically elected Government
acting in the name of the people."
Remember, remember, never forget ...
kx
