I confess that I have also become my nan, and have begun talking back to the reporters. It started off with little comments about what the stylist was thinking when she put Plinky-Plonky in that outfit, graduated to smirks at the comments made by Joe Public when interviewed for Breakfast television, and has peaked at full-on TV rage this week with the news that RAF personnel have been told not to wear their uniforms into nearby Peterborough. It seems ‘locals’ have been threatening and abusive towards the service men and women because they are unhappy that we are still ‘at war’ with Osama (or whatever. You might have notice I paraphrase the news to suit my own needs.)
I grew up in the army, in the 1980’s, when there was still a USSR, a Yugoslavia and a big-haired Jon Bon Jovi. The Middle East was way down on the list of concerns when there was still a very real threat of Nuclear War. Everyone’s dad wore a uniform- something we thought was normal, then found very confusing when we came back to the UK and found that other dads wore suits to work- and we had a heli-pad behind the house. We waved at UN vehicles as they passed us. We used to practice evacuations. That was our life, we were proud of it, and our family were proud of us. The army was seen as essential- its presence in various places around the world made the people-at-home feel more secure. My grandfather even changed the habit of a lifetime when he voted for Maggie in order to protect the armed forces and my father’s job. People were proud to serve in the Armed Forces, proud of their work, and proud to have members of the family serve their country.
It seems people have different priorities now. They don’t view the Armed Forces with respect that they used to, and I find it saddening. There are still people alive who remember wars that shaped World History; who know that, but for our Army, Navy and Air Forces, the map of Europe would look radically different now. And whilst there is no clear and present danger to us at the moment, it doesn’t mean that there won’t be one in the future. These small-minded people may disagree with ‘us’ being in Iraq and Afghanistan, they may want their boys home, they may think that this is not our war. And it may not be. But the men and women who serve their country are not the ones who make these decisions. They are the ones that do their jobs, just like you and I; they follow orders; they survive in unpleasant conditions. They live their jobs 24 hours a day for months on end and if they are lucky, they come home unscathed. If they are not, they come home in a box. They deserve more respect.
This is only my opinion.
