In the first ever unauthorised dispatch from an officer on the frontline, one young Captain offers a brutally honest account of life in Afghanistan

[vortexring 0]

Have a read of this excellent article if you've any interest in the conflict:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/there-is-no-refuge-no-place-to-go-to-deal-with-your-grief-1769938.html


I'd imagine that despite the author being anonymous, the 'thought police' will soon be on to him. Pity.

'In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act' 1984, George Orwell

Any opinions will be, as always, appreciated.

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[shropshire 0]

So well written and very touching

The helicopter situation is a national embarassment that just seems to go on and on. HMG need to pull their fucking thumbs out of their collective arses. They had more than enough money to spend on propping up the greedy bankers (and themselves) but couldn't plug this obvious gap.

Maybe we need a 'Pots and Pans for Spitfires' type of program or at least a Government that 'Walks the walk' and had some balls.

From the publics perspective, 'We' can see the casualty count and read articles like this but we can't see 'The Plan' (we could with the Falklands - that was easy to see) .. but not this. The End Goal is not tangible or even visible - What's it all about? They ask ... and no one is really telling them, not properly... If it's such a big deal, why aren't other countries pulling their weight ?
Answers to all of these questions are never properly articulated. ..... Typical

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[warpedskydiver 0]

It is the same sick game that has always been played by those who do the "business"

Others will never truly understand why we act so callous when inside we hurt and are in anguish.

Soldiers will do as they have always done, no matter what happens we do not have the option to just stop or quit.

Acceptable losses are an oxymoron, it is always in respect to what the goal was.

No loss is truly acceptable but is certainly expected.

The only way you do your job is to accept you are probably going to get hit, so the only thing you can do is go on and do your job.

YMMV and I do not give a rats ass if you disagree, but if you do and you have never served STFU

I am glad the author spoke up.

[warpedskydiver 0]

Sadly many of you know what I am talking about.

But we all chose to do it anyways.

[rivetgeek 0]

Quote

It is the same sick game that has always been played by those who do the "business"

Others will never truly understand why we act so callous when inside we hurt and are in anguish.

Soldiers will do as they have always done, no matter what happens we do not have the option to just stop or quit.

Acceptable losses are an oxymoron, it is always in respect to what the goal was.

No loss is truly acceptable but is certainly expected.

The only way you do your job is to accept you are probably going to get hit, so the only thing you can do is go on and do your job.

YMMV and I do not give a rats ass if you disagree, but if you do and you have never served STFU

I am glad the author spoke up.

I double dog dare you to make ONE post that has nothing to do with Obama or turning totally irrelevant things into something about Obama.

~Bones Knit, blood clots, glory is forever, and chicks dig scars.~

[warpedskydiver 0]

Just stop now OK?


I hope you understand why I say this.

There is a line you should not cross, respect that.

[warpedskydiver 0]

Your statement is to antagonize or just to troll, stop now.

You do not understand.

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

Quote

It is the same sick game that has always been played by those who do the "business"

Others will never truly understand why we act so callous when inside we hurt and are in anguish.

Soldiers will do as they have always done, no matter what happens we do not have the option to just stop or quit.

Acceptable losses are an oxymoron, it is always in respect to what the goal was.

No loss is truly acceptable but is certainly expected.

The only way you do your job is to accept you are probably going to get hit, so the only thing you can do is go on and do your job.

YMMV and I do not give a rats ass if you disagree, but if you do and you have never served STFU

I am glad the author spoke up.

I double dog dare you to make ONE post that has nothing to do with Obama or turning totally irrelevant things into something about Obama.

How is this about Obama?

I think he could have written this 8 months ago.

[billvon 2,998]

>but if you do and you have never served STFU

Everyone has a right to post here provided they follow the forum rules; you yourself are entitled to post on subjects you know absolutely nothing about. Please refrain from telling others to "shut the fuck up."

[labrys 0]

Quote

YMMV and I do not give a rats ass if you disagree, but if you do and you have never served STFU

Service extends well beyond chipping paint on a hull or washing dishes on a frigate or sleeping in a muddy hole, warped. Service and sacrifice are not the same. I've known a number of civilians who have stepped to the plate and shown more backbone than some military companions I've had

You don't get to be a hero because you "serve"

You have to earn it and realize that there are people out there in shorts and t-shirts who kick ass above and beyond the guy who spends 6 years swabbing decks.

Ummmm "the first ever unauthorized dispatch" my ass. I've been getting unauthorized dispatches from my friends for 6-7 years.

Owned by Remi #?

[warpedskydiver 0]

That has nothing to do with what I was speaking of.

I was just given a "Final Warning" so I will cease to try and explain.

There are others that read this and to talk in such a careless manner does nothing but make them relive the crap they have seen.

Be decent to others.

Not everyone who served was scraping paint.

[labrys 0]

Quote

Not everyone who served was scraping paint.

You imply that those who did "scrape paint" have less value than those who did not even while you imply that everyone who "serves" have more value than those who do not.

Do civilians who work day to day in non military jobs putting their lives on the line to educate others or feed others or clothe others have less value than the guy scraping paint in the military?

Owned by Remi #?

[warpedskydiver 0]

Boy, teaching must be like combat.

geez.....

I won't even argue.

No they do not have more or less value, but to try and demean those who have BTDT it stupid and pointless.

It only shows how little one cares about others and how those who would turn this into a political pissing match really feel about those who give all they have.

If you do not care or want to argue that the guys who live through this deserve no respect at all, please Pm me, I promise to be as nasty as I can be.

[labrys 0]

Quote

If you do not care or want to argue that the guys who live through this deserve no respect at all, please Pm me, I promise to be as nasty as I can be.

Got that backwards, champ. You implied that those who have not served in the military deserve no respect. I profess that those who serve society whether in civilian or military jobs deserve respect.

If you want to debate, do it right out in the open here. I don't need to hide in PMs...do feel that you do?

Owned by Remi #?

[warpedskydiver 0]

Go away...

[labrys 0]

Quote

Go away...

Nope

Owned by Remi #?

[ErricoMalatesta 0]

Quote

Any opinions will be, as always, appreciated.

Ok...

Boohoo my friends are dying or losing three of their limbs because we joined a nation state military and then invaded other people's land.

Suck it up or don't join.

[shropshire 0]

Here we go again

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[dreamdancer 0]

it's very simple - if you don't want to be sent to die in a pointless, needless war then don't join the military - duh!

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding

[rivetgeek 0]

Quote

Just stop now OK?


I hope you understand why I say this.

There is a line you should not cross, respect that.

Guess what scooter, I can and will cross any line within the forum rules, and your internet tough guy act is hardly going to stop me.

War is hell, combat is hell, but I can promise you one thing I know for a fact, there are things that are worse. If you really wanna trade stories someday, I have some that will gag a maggot. So please get off your high horse and go about your day without insulting the intelligence of everyone here with your thinly veiled (and impotent) threats.

~Bones Knit, blood clots, glory is forever, and chicks dig scars.~

[vortexring 0]

The article isn't simply an account of an officer expressing his grief. Did you take any time to consider the idiots who refuse to fund the conflict adequetly yet continually preach it's justness and importance? The same people who justified expenses of nearly £100 million for items such as gardening equipment, wallpaper, cleaners, second houses their children lived in, tax dodges, a floating duck house FFS; the list goes on.

What do our political masters believe the troops think when they're busy fiddling their expenses whilst your average soldier is fighting for his life on below the national minimum wage for the hours worked? Why they have to rely on charities such as Help For Hereos to fund rehabilitation programs?

You [erricomalatesta] talk of social injustice, such as ''redistribution of wealth & reorganization of social structures'', yet before you is an article that highlights how clear it is that our political masters have no intention of properly addressing the needs arising from the social injustice of an army at war that is not fully supported.

Is that how you value their sacrifice? You share a similiar level of contempt that the goverment continually demonstrates? Suck it up? Don't join? Shouldn't your contempt be directed towards the people who deserve it - rather than towards the people who actually understand and breathe courage, discipline, selfless commitment, & loyalty. Values you both somehow can't comprehend going by your flippant remarks of such people.

Speaks volumes of yourselves really.

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[vortexring 0]

Of course, we're more than happy to instead wait for 62 (?) Westland Wildcats (Future Lynx) to come into service by 2014 (??) for a reported price of around £1 Billion and reject offers from Sikorsky for 60 Blackhawks which we could have received in 2008 & 9 for around £480 million. . . .

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[ErricoMalatesta 0]

Quote

The article isn't simply an account of an officer expressing his grief. Did you take any time to consider the idiots who refuse to fund the conflict adequetly yet continually preach it's justness and importance? The same people who justified expenses of nearly £100 million for items such as gardening equipment, wallpaper, cleaners, second houses their children lived in, tax dodges, a floating duck house FFS; the list goes on.

What do our political masters believe the troops think when they're busy fiddling their expenses whilst your average soldier is fighting for his life on below the national minimum wage for the hours worked? Why they have to rely on charities such as Help For Hereos to fund rehabilitation programs?

You [erricomalatesta] talk of social injustice, such as ''redistribution of wealth & reorganization of social structures'', yet before you is an article that highlights how clear it is that our political masters have no intention of properly addressing the needs arising from the social injustice of an army at war that is not fully supported.

Welcome to the relationship that exists between almost all power structures in the last 200 years and the people they get to do their fighting and dying.

Quote

Is that how you value their sacrifice?

People who invade and occupy other people's land are pieces of shit and I respect their crying for equipment about as much as I respect a terrorist crying that he has to use fertilizer for a bomb instead of pre-made c4 blocks.

The sacrifice of either means nothing to me.

Quote

You share a similiar level of contempt that the goverment continually demonstrates? Suck it up? Don't join? Shouldn't your contempt be directed towards the people who deserve it - rather than towards the people who actually understand and breathe courage, discipline, selfless commitment, & loyalty. Values you both somehow can't comprehend going by your flippant remarks of such people.

Speaks volumes of yourselves really.

It is directed at the people who deserve it - the foreign troops in Afghanistan deserve every bullet that pierces their deteriorating Kevlar and underfunded uniforms.

[vortexring 0]

Quote

If you really wanna trade stories someday, I have some that will gag a maggot.

Gag a maggot? That's a term commonly used to describe a particularly bad smell, as in: 'That could gag a maggot!'.

So let's hear your tales then. What was the smell? Did you fall into an overused shitpit or something?

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[vortexring 0]

How enlightening. So should NATO have been better off doing nothing and allow the Taliban to harbour Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan?

edit: Thanks for calling many of my close friends who recently died serving their countries in Iraq and Afghanistan pieces of shit. I'm sure their wives and children will appreciate that as much as I do.

I am curious as to why you hold your nations military in such disdain. Care to explain?

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'