St Crispin’s Day

In case you were wondering, St Crispin has returned home (hence the increase in blogging).  I’ll be back in Iraq in just under three weeks.

My journey home from Camp Bastion was fraught to say the least.  39 hours in total, and it’s only 3500 miles for goodness sake!  I could have gone to Australia quicker!

The main problem was this

Its a tristar.  It’s basically a piece of junk that the RAF purchased from several airlines back in the 1980’s when they no longer had use for them (as they were too old).  It broke down twice once on the gulf coast & once in the Mediterranean (5 hours & 3 hours respectively).  Another exmple of how the best troops put up with some of the worst equipment.  remeber most of these guys were going home to see loved ones for R&R. 

One interesting part of the journey was the unbelievable amount of updates we got regarding our delay at RAF Akrotiri.  It could’nt be anything to do with this old story could it? 

BBC NEWS | Politics | Troops to get council tax rebate

 Total spin, and a zero sum game, yet again.  The government really thinks we the public are stupid by insulting us with this announcment.

The money comes out of the forces budget, so there’s no overall benefit. In fact, it’s worse, as rather than paying additional monies to the MOD for the “extra” war fighting, it’s actually making them take more from thier budget for activities they have not chosen to do (i.e. it’s Blair, Brown who decided this. the Army would have probably prefered to stay at steady state readiness on the existing budget).

The military should not be paying so much council tax in any case, as many services such as nurseries & social clubs are proved on military bases and are wholy or partly paid for out of MOD funds anyway.

When we fight wars, we should draw a line under the peacetime budget, and any additional costs must come out of a war chest or reserve simple as that.

Why just Afghanistan & Iraq?  It’s just as sh*t being away from your family for 6 months in Sierra Leone, or Kosovo, or the Falklands as it is in Afghanistan. 80-90% of troops are in support roles and are not directly involved in fighting operations, so camp Bastion is no different for a chef than anywhere else?  It’s not WHERE your serving that really matters, it’s the fact that intervals between tours are getting shorter regardless of where in the world they are.

Theo Spark - Satyrist (his words not mine) has come up with his manifesto (See here!).  Blimey, it’s close to my own!!  I would add that although he’s not put costs to his MOD increases, I would like to see us put spending back closer to the 4%GDP that the USA spends rather than the 2% we spend.  We are, after all, fighting the same wars.  Oh, and if you’re looking for Britain (to quote The Pub Landlord). It’s in the middle, at the top, where it’s always been!!

Quote:Immigration minister Liam Byrne said: “It’s vital that we take the social impact of immigration into account when we make migration decisions.

Genius, pure genius I take it all back about what I’ve previously said about politicians!

This guy is either badly briefed or has terrible judgment. 

The Brigade here in Helmand province is in the middle of a RIP (a Relief In Pace) a military term for a handover but with no loss of capability on the ground.  It’s terribly complicated, and needs lots of resources like accomodation, food, transport etc etc as there are nearly twice the numbers of people “in town” as usual.  So this guy rocks up with his enterage, and expects to get flights on , hercules’ helicopters, etc. We don’t have enough of those things during the normal periods of operation let alone during a RIP.  

A senior officer I work  with was booked on a helicopter pretty much every day for three weeks to do a 40km trip to get to a vital planning conference for an upcoming assault.  He only got to the HQ after the operation was half way through!!!

St Crispin himself has had his flight to Kandahar today cancelled, so no Tim Hortons donuts for me!!

A message to the senior officers, politicians, and other hangers on.  Please leave your visits to quieter times.  Phone us, we’ll tell you when we want you to come.

Oh, and to add insult to injury he only visited the hospital here.  So he highlighted the negative side of what’s happening out here, the sick, injured & dead!  He never bothered to visit the fighting men who’s high spirits & moral keep them going when equipment & supplies let them down.

Maybe the “soft fluffy” side of war is all poiticians are prepared to associate themselves with.  It would be too much to side with the fighters!!!!!

I’ve just found this piece by Mr. Mercer (ex infantry CO, but don’t hold that against him).

His article is a perfect summing up of the current situation.

The figures he quotes are all true, I can vouch for that.

The casualties suffered by the units out here are appaling.

The cancelling of the arms plot is too complicated to explain here but I think it will benefit the infantry soldier.  It will also free up more battalions to be able to be deployed at any given time.  This in turn should decrease the gaps between 7 month (not 6 anymore) deployments

The amalgamation of the cap badges makes it easier for the politicians to lie to us about over stretch.  Before it, would be obvious that one of the companies from 1 Worcestershire & Sherwood Foresters was from the 1 Devon & Dorsets as they wear different cap badges. Now, it will be difficult to see that that 4th company is in fact from  the 4th Battalion not the second, and that, in fact, they were on operations only 9 months ago, and have’nt had the promised 18 months off to see thier families & get promoted & trained in new skills etc.

Thanks to Diminished Expectations for pointing this one out.

I read it through twice, and it just rang so true.  Cal Thomas has succinctly put what I think a lot of us in the UK feel.  We have let the Liberal media, and the scared politicians of all sides fool us into thinking that it is a blessing that we are such a multicultural race.  Indeed we fear it would be rude to ask newcomers to change!  Here’s another word for the same thing. Mungrel, not the best of anything, but the lowest common denominator. 

Way back when there were also many divergent cultures, Angles, Saxons etc etc, but they were all molded into a single culture by fire & sword by each succesive ruling class from the Danes to the Normans. 

Here is the piece.  Read it at least once.

I’m so sorry I’ve not been bouncing arround the blogsphere recently as I would have seen this a month ago.

It seems that TOTAL STAR “Daily Referendum” has gone & done South Park characters for all his blogging buddies!

The reason blogging is reduced here is simple.  I’m stuck in the middle of a desert, on the end of a BGAN terminal that gives broadband via inmarsat satelite links, but the costs are simpy huge.

You get about 256Mb/s speed (not quite the broadband we are used to back home!).  The costs are something close to £1.50 per Mb.  Just looking at the screen, my team have racked up 145Mb today.  You do the maths!!

Here is the wonderful picture.  I absolutely LOVE it.

Thank you Mr Referendum.

As you may know, St Crispin is currently festering in the middle of no where.  The place is a called camp Bastion.  It’s in the Helmand province, in the area looked after the British.

It’s a massive camp with thousands of people here, and is one of about ten bases that we work out of.

As an idea of how long we are going to be here, I’ve just had a message that KBR who manage the facilities have signed a 20 year deal to manage the place.

Has your governement at home told you the taxpayer / voter that this is the intention?

Oh well, that’s  democracy for you!