British Pluck

That's a bit much Champ. My dad (RAF: India and Burma) and godfather
(Army: Palestine, Crete, Malta and Italy) were ordinary people. Dad was
called-up and my godfather was a volunteer and in the army before '39.
The forces got their people from all places. At one time the racer Geoff
Duke was in the same billet as dad, what does that say about MoD
recruitment methods of the time. Nothing, the country was in a dire
situation and the government called-up all sorts.

 

....for a load of old bollocks.

 

# She said she'd like to bathe in milk
# He said alright sweetheart
# And when he finished work one night
# He loaded up the cart
# He said you wanted pasturised
# Coz pasturised is best
# She says Ernie I'll be happy
# If it comes up to me chest

--
platypus

"Merely corroborative detail, intended to
give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise
bald and unconvincing narrative."

 

Alison Hopkins wrote of

rofl

Of all the things I have seen written here over the years this has got
to be as wide of the mark as it could possibly get.


<phones Tesco home delivery for a *BIG* bag of popcorn>

 

# Oh Mrs Palm
# And your 5 lovely daughters
# Thank you for having me
# And being oh so kind
# I've got pains in my arms
# And my donkeys growing shorter
# My knees have turnt to water
# And I think im going blind

 

With your hankerchief and summer frock that clings to your wet body in
the rain? Ah, no that was the other dock.

 

And those who volunteered did it for all sorts of reasons. My father was a
career soldier from 1937 till demob in, oh, '48 I think. They then called up
the poor sod for Korea, but decided that a man with most of one leg damaged
was perhaps not entirely suitable. He was a Sergeant Major in the Paras.

Ali

 

I can only judge by what I see here tonight. He comes across, at the moment,
as the worst kind of bully: reminds me of some of the fat sweaty gits who
failed miserably to make any success of themselves at some companies I've
worked for. Sort of David Brent on acid. Quite surprising, really, based on
other things I've seen him write.

Ali

 

Now that one I recognise.

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www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

I doubt that they'd have been proud to serve with you.

!"Almost unique."!

You were there, were you? My father was working in Dunnes when he resigned
to join the Army. He'd left school at 14, in 1934. Army at 18, when he was
old enough and didn't need my grandmother's signature. I've known several
old boys with his kind of history: working class lads, they were all.

You are falling in to the classic trap. The pride and respectability of a
soldier has nothing to do with the conflict that his government sends him
to. It has everything to do with his conduct therein. I respect those who
are "serving" in Iraq and Afghanistan. I regard those in government that
sent them there as fools of the worst order.

Ali

 

Your viewpoint - however repellent - is not bullying. Your attempt to make
me either go away or shut up most certainly is.

How do you know?

Ah, I see. So, your statement that those who join armed forces do so because
they are not fit for anything else is not cynical?

See above. You attack me for being cynical, then display far worse
behaviour.

Ali

 

Bollocks to Bear and everything he stands for.

 

So I have to ask, why say it then? To me it seems to be a comment likely
to cause great offence and not the sort of thing I would have expected
from you.

[snip]

I wouldn't confuse the serving personnel with where the politicians send
them.

 

Still does, in the US.

--
platypus

"Merely corroborative detail, intended to
give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise
bald and unconvincing narrative."

 

Alison Hopkins wrote

Comes across to you as that possibly but your judgement on this one is
wrong.

Knowing that your father was a para gives quite an insight into your
attitudes. It can't be much fun for them if and when they realise that
their job is cannon fodder and it is inevitable that the brainwashing to
which they are subject to make them think it is all in a good cause will
rub off on their families as it appears to have rubbed off on you.


I recall the time when Harry Wilson said he might reintroduce
conscription to fight the Red Menace in Vietnam, I was just about 18 at
the time and a prime candidate for it. The man my mother insists I call
my father gave me some good advice. "If they do do it lad, take it from
me," he said, "volunteer early for the RAF, they send the officers out
to die."

 

"We paid for it" tends to suggest such behaviour was not the norm, and
is misleading, at best.

Very few things are. Then again, if it's only theoretical, you could
spend a whole lifetime looking for things that may not be there.

In which way is that "better"?

It is more complicated than establishing which end of something goes
"bang!"
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..88045../..23727.../..31893.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 00 Pts:0000 Miles:0000

 

I simply gave my opinion. You may choose to take it as you please. I suspect
I know what my parents would think of you.

<sigh> I refer you to my original paragraph. He was employed. In a job. It
paid a decent wage. He resigned to join the Army. His father was a fireman,
his mother a seamstress - working class, but not living in poverty. It is
fallacious to believe that all working class people had bare feet and lived
in squalor, you know.

Don't play silly games, you know precisely what I mean. If you wish to
debate, then do so. If you wish to simply have a slanging match, then fine,
but do please be clearer on which course you are taking.

Why, you mean you aren't familiar with the term "serving soldier" to denote
one who is currently on active service?

You aren't very good at this game, are you.

Ali

 

Right. So, fighting your way across Italy and North Africa was wrong, was
it? Steve, I really thought you had some sense and decency. And RSMs in the
Paras weren't exactly cannon fodder.

Christ, is everyone here determined to be an obnoxious fuckwit tonight?

Ali

 

Bullshit, you were. Hey, look, someone who dares call you out when you're
being out of order. Thye'd better shut up, or else, eh? You really don't
like it, do you.

Bloody funny kind of entertainment in this case, then.

Why should I?

It might also be influenced by crap pay, the MoD not providing proper
equipment and the Army being sent to places it should not have been sent to.

Ali

 

It was the wrong direction, for starters.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..88045../..23727.../..31893.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 00 Pts:0000 Miles:0000