First of all: I wish that people wouldn’t call them Islamic State or even “The so called Islamic State” (yes I’m looking at you BBC). In a few years they will say “We have been known as the Islamic State for years now by everyone” and I believe they will use that name to try and legitimise stolen land.
OK, onto the main crux of the post. It’s about British men going over to fight alongside the Kurdish Peshmerga. It may surprise many of you to learn that I totally get where they are coming from. I agree with one of those fighters who draws parallels with the Nazis. It is a analogy that I would never normally use but with the public fear they thrive on and the recent incident of historical genocide that is destroying the ancient ruins that pre-date Christ there is no doubt in my mind that these people need to be stopped. Of course the smashing of ruins has no comparison with some of the violent acts which they have performed.
Before I continue I will say that the reason I believe this is not the way forward is that no matter how much one disagrees with things once cannot simply pick-up arms in a foreign country and go to fight in their wars. It is not the way things are done. We have a democratic government. I disagree with our policies but the way to change them is by voting with your feet; not by picking up a rifle and killing people we do not like in unsanctioned action. Sympathy wise I have only a little more sympathy for the ones who go to fight alongside the Peshmerga that the ones who go to fight alongside the terrorists. Either way you cannot simply go off to a war that is not legally ours and not expect consequences (if you survive the war).
I am proud of my service in Iraq and Afghanistan for a reason: We were helping people! Many people will disagree with that and they were not there to see the roads lined with people who could have just as easily stayed and hidden in their houses but they didn’t. There were many places I visited where we were treated like heroes (In Iraq at least). It is that very same pride that allows me to say that I understand why these people are going over there. One cannot just stand by and watch as thousands of people are being terrorised and killed by a terrorist force and do nothing.
I also agree with one of the fighters that the response from our government has been shameful. I publicly said several years back (before there was a rebel force in Syria) that we should have gone in there and taken it to the Syrian regime. I stand by that announcement and I also think that during the “Arab Spring” the West was very quick to tell the people of the countries ruled by a iron fist that they could stand up for themselves and we would back them. The West did that because it looked like it worked in Egypt so why not in other countries (in my opinion) but when it didn’t work out we (the West) just left them to it.
I am currently ashamed to be part of a society that has such an attitude. We cannot just leave people to be slaughtered and do nothing. That is not the reason I joined or stayed in the British Army. It is not the reason I volunteered to go on and stay on as many Operation Tours as I could whilst I was in the British Army.
Saying that if these terrorists were indeed a recognised state then we (the UK at least) would simply throw some sanctions at them (don’t get me started on our lack of backbone against Putin)!
What do you think? Over to you. Do you have sympathy for those going over to fight alongside the Peshmerga or not?
Enough rambling. As usual I have overstayed my welcome on this post
After watching the news today I find myself yet again watching news articles on countries such as Ukraine.
This is only a short post so that I can vent my anger and frustration but here’s why I’m writing this.
Lets’ take Ukraine for example. We (the west) stand by day after day while many hundreds/thousands of civilians lose their lives. We are in a position where we are too scared to take action against President Putin despite the amount of evidence that Russia is involved in the conflict.
All we can do is penalise Russia with “sanctions”.
It has got to the point where President Obama is debating whether to arm the Ukraine side of the conflict. However if he does it will just give President Putin legitimacy in his actions. All he will do is say “If you are arming the Ukraine side of the conflict I have to arm the side of the conflict that is trying to gain autonomy” and will then send his troops in carrying their heavy artillery only for the troops never to return back to Russian territory.
If the rebels get their way they will have the borders re-drawn and then the conflict will move further up the country so that Putin can start the fight all over again taking more chunks of Ukraine away from them time after time: all the time the West standing by and saying “If you don’t stop this then we will ask you to stop it again”!
These are just my thoughts on Ukraine, never mind my thoughts on Syria!
Nearly every comment on the post was very critical of the Police Officer who shot the 12 year old & obviously there were questions such as:
Why didn’t he wait more than 2 seconds?
Why couldn’t he see it was a fake gun?
Why didn’t he ask questions first & shoot later?
…and so on.
Put your self in the cops shoes
You are now that Police Officer
Ok, are you ready? Let’s go!
You’re in your patrol car when it comes through on the radio that a member of the public has reported there is someone in a park with a gun. When you get to the scene you see a boy (well a 12 year old) with a gun & he immediately points it at you. You haven’t had a chance to examine the weapon yet so you don’t know the state of it. Now the 12 year old is no longer a boy: he is pointing a deadly weapon at you & is now a threat to your very life. Your training kicks in & you fire two shots in to the suspect to neutralise the threat.
Wow. It all happened so quick – but what options did you have really?
Lets take a look at some of your options.
Let’s get the ludicrous one out of the way. When the call comes through on the radio you think “I’m not going to see to that, are you mad!”. Obviously that would [hopefully] never happen. If it did you would last a week as a Law Enforcement officer at the most.
Option 1: “He looks like my boy!”
You pull up at the scene and get out your car in order to assess the situation. You see a 12 year old boy immediately raise what looks like a weapon to face you. Your a father of a 12 year old yourself & you think “he looks the same age as my little boy. This can’t be right”.
Outcome
The 12 year old who looks like your little boy pulls the trigger & kills you.
Option Conclusion
As a professional Law Enforcement officer you are paid to make quick decisions & tough choices in very little time. Maybe that wasn’t a real gun that he had but you are paid to protect your own life as well as the lives of others. If you wait to make the decision to fire you are putting your life & the lives of others at risk.
Option 2: You jump out of the way
You pull up at the scene & get out of your car in order to assess the situation. You see a 12 year old boy immediately raise what looks like a weapon to face you. You would like to talk to him & ask him some questions. You decide that it would be wrong to shoot without asking the right questions so you dive behind your car & try to talk to the boy.
Outcome
He sees a lone female walking by & shoots her instead.
Option Conclusion
Now that an innocent member of the public has been shot because of your inaction everybody is pointing out that a 12 year old has exactly the same potential to fire a weapon as an adult. Everybody is pointing to examples such as the Columbine high school massacre & a family no longer have their Mother; Wife & Daughter.
The above examples are just that… examples & of course they are worse case scenarios. However; If a member of the public is believed to be in danger, a Police Officer’s duty is to:
make split second decisions
formulate an immediate plan of action with the best information available at the time
Tell me: what would you do in this situation? Would you do any of the options above or would you have done something different?
What are Police Officers paid for?
Police Officers are paid to protect the public: that includes everybody from themselves to people who try to kill them. It is of course best to diffuse situations before taking permanent action such as discharging firearms, however, there are situations where their lives & the lives of others are under immediate threat. In these situations their job is to preserve life.
We have to put our trust in someone
Who exactly do you want to protect us and keep us safe at night? I will assume that as a responsible law abiding citizen you want the Police Department to protect you & keep you safe when you’re in bed at night.
Should the Police even carry firearms?
If you live in the United States of America or indeed many other countries then Police Officers are armed as standard & it's a way of life. Whether this is right or not is not for this post but consider this. In a country where guns are so easy to get hold of is it right that you ask the Police Officers protecting you not to carry them?
In the United Kingdom & many other countries we do not have armed Police Officers as standard but this debate does crop up from time to time.
Airsoft guns are not toy guns
Can you tell if this is a toy gun?
A lot has been made in the comments of the mentioned post that this was a toy gun. Let’s get this right: an airsoft gun is not a toy gun. It has the facility to fire projectiles. People are hurt every day because others think that air guns are safe. My own cat lost its eye after being shot with an air gun.
Staff who work in financial institutions such as banks & post offices aren’t trained to spot air guns. A member of staff who has an air gun thrust into their face may have the same nightmares as one who has a real gun thrust into their face.
Are Body Cameras An Ideal Solution?
In the UK some Police Forces have started experimenting with body-cameras. Although freedom activists aren’t too happy with this they have to ask themselves what they prefer. I however believe that this is an ideal solution and would stop many complaints from members of the public.
My Own Experiences
As a former soldier in the British Army there have been occasions when I have had make rough decisions. I can say from personal experience that although I was fully aware that an individual was someone’s Son, Husband & Father that completely changed when that individual became an immediate threat to either myself or anybody else. I could have asked questions first & shot later on several occasions but that was not an option. Failure to act on my part could have meant that someone else could have been killed.
I totally sympathise with any Police Officer who has to do this terrible act. With regards the incident in Ferguson, Missouri I totally understand when Office Wilson says that his conscience is clear. When you do your job properly & you fire your weapon as a last resort you DO have a clear conscience. There is nothing else you could do & like I said before… a lack of action could easily mean that you or other die.
Conclusion
The Police Officers who are charged with your protection have much training & they are paid for their work. If you do not like the Police Force or the way that they are doing things it is your responsibility to write to your MP (In the UK)/Congress person (in the US) or other elected representative. If you live in a country without elected officials then you’re basically out of luck… sorry!
The next time this happens you should stop and think not only of the conciquences of any lack of action but about what options an individual had before taking a life. You should ask yourself who you want protecting our streets. On one hand do you want a body of weak Police Officers who let themselves be walked over all of the time? This would be the outcome of a Police Force that gives people the benefit of the doubt all the time.
On the other hand do you want to get rid of the Police Force and have a gang of Vigilantes patrolling your neighbourhood. I don’t know about you but that IS NOT OK with me.
What do you think? I’m keen to know what you think & maybe what you would have done in the example above.
Yesterday I witnessed a post that chastised an Irish Football player who plays for a British football team for not wearing a poppy. The posts main image was a head shot with the word “traiter” written on his forehead. The post text then went on to say
“He refuses to wear a poppy on his football jersey….name and shame…..disrespectful, ignorant, anti-British”
And then call for the club in question to sack him. They obviously haven't considered the legalities of sacking somebody for refusing to wear a charitable emblem.
I had until this time respected this Facebook group and also followed them on Twitter but as soon as I commented on their post I “unliked” and left the group.
A poppy is a personal choice
Whether to wear a poppy or not comes down to personal choice and should not be dictated by the minority or even the majority. The moment that it becomes a sense of social duty to wear a poppy the poppy itself loses all of it's meaning.
A poppy is meant to reflect an individual's personal remembrance of the fallen from all the wars. In my opinion it is not only meant to remember those of British origin who have lost their lives. No doubt the Facebook group fails to recognise the work done by members of other nations Armed Forces as part of the British Nation. In my mind poppies represent respect and remembrance for all those who have fought and fallen in order to save their way of life. Be they British servicemen killed in Afghanistan; German soldiers killed in the World Wars or even members of the Zulu nations in the late 19th/early 20th century conflicts.
Personal Remembrance
After spending 2 years of my life on tour as part of the British Army I have lost several friends and I am sure that like me they did not fight for people to be forced to wear poppies.
Picture courtesy of The Royal British Legion
No Remembrance Ceremony for me today
Unfortunately today I am choosing not to go to the remembrance ceremony that I usually attend in Barnsley Town Centre. I instead shall be watching it on BBC TV. Does this make me Anti-British too? If people choose to feel that way then so be it. As it happens my 5 year old son is doing his favourite impression of Satan this week and it would be selfish of me to go up to the war memorial and leave my wife to cope with the situation alone (well…she would have the dog). I normally got for a few pints afterwards with my neighbour to celebrate the lives of fallen friends as is tradition. I’m sure those have fallen will understand my decision to stay at home and support my wife.
I haven’t even bought a poppy this year yet
As of yet I haven’t even bought a poppy this year. Does this mean that my employer should also sack me (ok, I’m self employed so that doesn’t count). As it happens I like to buy my poppies from a certain old veteran that stands in the centre of Barnsley each year as he is a pleasure to deal with. The fact that I haven’t seen him yet would mean nothing to this Facebook group. I have however purchased a British legion t-shirt and car sticker which are both still in their wrappers but the poppy watchers will not see this.
I wear poppies throughout the year. When I am having a bad PTSD day or to commemorate a certain anniversary. A have a many poppies placed throughout my home and I often get weird looks from people when I wear a poppy in March. No doubt they want to know why I am wearing a poppy when it is not November.
A poppy is not just for November
An act of remembrance is not just for November: it is one that can be carried out anytime to show that we are remembering the fallen.
Picture courtesy of The Royal British Legion
Are poppies losing their meaning?
When the wearing of poppies becomes a social task and something that one thinks they should do because that is what is expected of them then it loses it's meaning.
Barnsley Veteran refuses to wear poppy because of MPs
This year as Mark Ansell tweeted a Barnsley Veteran will no longer wear poppies as he believes that MPs have hijacked the who thing. After watching the video feed I have to agree with his sentiments that the wearing of poppies is becoming the expected thing. I do not agree with him regarding MPs hijacking the occasion but then I believe that unless one has suffered human loss due to war then they can never understand and can only sympathise with those who have.
So is it Anti-British not to wear a poppy?
Well… you decide. My opinion in that it is neither ant-British nor dis-respectful. There may be many reasons why people are not or don't wish to wear a poppy and I along with many many others fought for the right for the individual to make that choice all by themselves.
I see things differently and I imagine differently than a proportion of my fellow ex/current servicemen/women. Instead of it being “For 15 yrs he stood up front for you” I read “He had 15 years to learn the Geneva Convention but didn’t bother”; let me re-phrase that – After 15 years I can guarantee you that he knew the constraints placed on him by the Geneva Convention but took a concious decision to ignore them.
Before anybody tries to argue that I would have done the same in his position I shall give you a little of my military background.
I have been in charge of specialist small teams with no backup for tens of miles in either direction, I have taken P.O.Ws myself and I have seen much action in my 3 Tours of Iraq and 1 Tour of Afghanistan and I am extremely proud if the fact that I have abided by the Geneva Convention constraints.
As the commander on the ground (usually in charge of 3 other people in a role I cannot and will not disclose) I often had to make snap decisions while under enemy fire and I never did anything less than what was expected of me.
Marine A made a concious decision to shoot a person. When he did this he had that very person under his protection. That’s right, you read that correctly the first time. He was under the protection of Marine A. The Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War sets out clear guidelines on how injured combatants should be treated. Once he found the Taliban member injured he had a duty to dress his wounds and protect him from further harm. It may indeed be argued that the person in question was a civilian and not a combatant.
The recorded audio was quite damning. Marine A was not under enemy fire when he shot his Taliban prisoner. He was calmly in conversation with 2 sub-ordinate marines. As part of Marine A’s duties he was in charge of showing a good example to his 2 younger marines.
In my opinion Marine A not only committed murder he disgraced his uniform and his country. Now the Taliban are able to say “It’s nothing you wouldn’t do to us” when they executed British hostages. No longer are able to hold the moral high ground and we now look like a 2-bit army with no discipline.
The conviction was the correct one under the circumstances and is to serve as a lesson to those in the Armed Forces who think that they can take the law into their own hands.
It is a real shame that a Marine who devoted 15 outstanding years of his life to the protection of his, Queen, Country, Brigade and fellow Royal Marine Commandos made such a poor decision. Perhaps he was suffering from the effects of war and was lead by them. I know that part of war only too well as I myself suffer from P.T.S.D. Indeed this is one area where the British Military needs to change. On the face of it The British Army is trying to offer mental health help but I have been informed by many of my ex-colleagues that in reality the fear that many Service personnel still have about P.T.S.D being a career killer is in fact still the norm.
What do you think?
Which ever side of the fence you sit on I would welcome your thoughts on this subject. Am I being harsh or have I hit the nail on the head? Please let me know in the comments section below.
On my way back from walking Rowan to school this morning I opened up my pocket list and read a post that I had been meaning to read for a week or so.
It was by Sgt. Eric Williams of the U.S. Army. He wrote a blog post days before he was due to return to the U.S. from Afghanistan.
Unfortunately Sgt. Williams was killed on his way back to his home country. His post however serves as a reminder to all of what many of us feel after we have been to war. I remember coming back to the U.K. after my first tour of Iraq and thinking “Look at everybody. They are just carrying on as if nothing is happening. The live in a world of green countryside, friendly people and comparative wealth and many think that they have it bad. They just haven’t got a clue”.
It is a sad fact that many veterans like Sgt. Williams and myself feel a barrier is now between themselves and civilian society. They can never understand what it is like to witness war first hand. Even now I am not able to watch the news on TV (thank you ISIS you Pricks!), I have an appointment with my Doctor in a few weeks to discuss my deteriorating mental condition (as well as my recovery following back surgery (but this is secondary)).
As a follow up to my initial post Living with PTSD I now plan on a follow up post on the things that Sgt Williams raised.
I love my job. Unfortunately I haven’t had much work in lately. I had to take quite a bit of time off in the run up to my operation as it got to the point where I couldn’t guarantee that I would be able to work x amount of hours. This meant that I had plenty of time to work on my skills and am now a much better coder because of it. It also means that I effectively had to start freelance again as the limited client base that I did have now have nothing for me as yet.
My job gives me a great deal of satisfaction and the project that I am doing gives me a great sense of pride; and so I continue plodding along with my cup of tea in front of me; my classical music playing to keep my mood level whilst I write about subjects that normally affect me emotionally.
If I don’t work this morning I will sit back and dwell on Sgt. William’s post. Instead. I shall be working and enjoying myself knee deep in the wonderful life of web development.
Right…that’s it for now. Everybody get back to work and stop using me as an excuse 😉
If you did manage to get this far though; well done and thank you 🙂
This is a message I received from a good Army Buddy yesterday. Such a shame that so many of use leave it too long before getting help 🙁
Mate have just read your ptsd site. As someone suffering even tho still in I just wanted to applaud your courage and bravado by speaking out
I've lost everything good I had by not dealing and am now that sad singlie living in the mess after going socially destructive.
Your work is inspirational bro. I haven't disclosed my problems to others (which similar to you is cied related but afghan) but you've made me realise I need to tackle it. Thank you.
I take you through Holocaust Memorial Day – how the mind when it’s surrounded by death, a survivor’s story & try to decide whether the correct lessons have been learnt.
