Personal Blogs

yesterday we had the wonderful specticle of the funeral with full military honours of the Henry Allingham.

Now I wonder why so much has been made of Allinghma whilst so little about Harry Patch, who had, unless it is forgotten, outlived Allingham and has also recently passed away. May I put a thought into some peoples head about Allingham and the link to the current conflict in Afghanistan and the recent retreat from Iraq. In respect of Iraq please note that all our military have now been thrown out from the country, told to leave by the very people we have put in ower and who we liberated from tyranny.

Allinghma has done very well out of the wars. It takes very great moral strength to resist the requests of the generals and admirals to come to this or that ceremony. Consider that nobody had heard of Allingham before the Iraq war. Could it be that the services were struggling with those who disagreed with the war to justify their position. For example Fl Lt Kendall-Smith who was actually courts martialled because he refused orders. You have to understand that our current crop of pilots were not at all happy about indiscriminate bombing of innocent women and children. That is why if you know anything at all that the British soldiers when caught with a problem call up the Americans to do the bombing because the British pilots were always missing the target. The Americans have at last realised in Afganistan that you will lose hearts and minds, big time, over indiscriminate bombing.

So what to do, the British are now spending huge sums of money on Drones, Reaper and Predator are but precursors to our spending on these 'machines' which can be flown from bases guarded by soldiers, but actually operated from bases in America.

So I am afraid I am concerned about Allingham, I am sure that he was a brave man, that he saw terrible things, but at the end of the day, I think he has been used by the government and the military as some sort of example which the current soldiers must follow. That the services will look after you in your old age, that you will go to parades where flags fly and bugles blow. No, I think that the fate for many of the soldiers of today will be PTSD, drinks and drugs, and being found one morning, cold and dead in some alley way.

If Allingham is to have achieved anything then the soldiers of today must all be treated and supported in the same way. All soldiers must be guaranteed the same treatment as Allingham, it would be hypocritical not so to do.