Thanks for posting that Xochi
We miss too many opportunities too often for many different reasons.
When people say "I wish I'd told him I loved him while he was alive."
And the son who kissed his father in his coffin who desperately wished he had done it while he was living with him.
It is so important not to miss the opportunity.
This video demonstrates it very nicely. Thanks (and to sbevis)

brisket, I was, and still am, so anti the wars our forces are involved in at the moment, but I cannot ignore the dedication of the people who fight and lose their lives and are injured on behalf of the government that became embroiled in it all.

Everyone i mix with already does.


Does it make "doodge" an ex healthy young 22 yr old normal bloke 1yr ago feel better ?

By the look of his mothers face, i'm assuming it doesn't make her feel better..



TROOPS OUT !

 Sorry, don't get your post sushi.

But if you're referring to the dead and injured troops, no! Of course it doesn't... but it acknowledges the ones who are about to serve and who return safely too. Apart from that it should be proper private grief also.

All it shows is happy faces, american shit.


Do you think the troops want thanked for killing and maiming for a war they themselves know means fuck all to the average british citizen.


Don't get sucked in to this american crap, I know loads of serving soldiers and all they are interested in is getting home and out of a country that appals them.


patronizing thats all that video is, maybe if they had used real soldiers with real footage of the message it was trying to portrait then, and only then would it have had any credability or meaning to the families of both soldiers who are able to serve and families of soldiers who can no longer serve.

you cant have proper private grief with patronising shit videos like this.

All that video is is patronising american crap, a film with actors.

All soldiers I know would be appalled and shocked at that video, all the soldiers I know just want to get out of a country that appalls and disgusts them, so they can come home and forget it.

I posted a post a lot stronger than this one which had a few swears in it so it's obviously getting vetted right now.


That video disgusts me, and it would discust any serving soldier, even though the point is a worthy point..but thanks shoiuld be made in private.


Plenty serving soldiers just want to shoot, well you know the word bdeginning with P....do you want to thanks them......WAR BREEDS RACIST  BEHAVIOUR..

OK. But maybe gestures like this would mean a lot to many of the troops? It may be a shit video but I think the message is immediate and shouldn't be dismissed. Would you prefer we all turned our backs on them to allow the private grief then?

Well, as I don't know anyone in the services I must defer to you then. So I must not make a public acknowledgment then?

Of course not !



But since you're asking questions.


Do you think the frontliners, half of whom are sent against their will, want thanked or reminded as they go about thier leave about the fact that they are killing and maiming ?

Do you think they are proud of what they do ?

No! I expect the majority are not happy about why they are there. I wouldn't be.  But as they are, it seems basic courtesy at the very least to recognise the fact they are.

This is as bad, if not worse than those pathetic facebook groups that self rightious wankers join simply by clicking a button to make themselves look thoughtfull and kind..


no offence to you x, becaause i know the feeling is thre with you and the people who join these stupid groups, but stop and think...or better still, get yourself down to wooten basseet and hang your head as another coffin passes by, as thats the only true way to show respect to a serving soldier that is still willing to fight and give his or her life for thier country.

Reference: Crock.

I am not on facebook. I have actually arrived at my position independently. You obviously find that hard to believe. I would go to Wooten Basset if I could. I would therefore use that gesture to demonstrate my support where I can. I demonstrated in London in the anti-war campaign.. 'Not in my name'. Did you?

lots of service personnel complain they are not appreciated and suffer a bad press - a simple gesture of thanks shows something positive instead - men and women join the services to do a job professionally - they are proud of serving their countries - even when it's ugly - it is what they are trained for - I have sympathy for the dead, suffering trauma, wounded  and the families and friends - racist behaviour can also breed wars  - if racism was the worse result after a war it wouldn't be as bad as the reality - imo

So on one hand you say thanks should be made in private, but then respect can only be given in public, specifically in Wooten Basset. I'm not getting you sushilover.

Thank you Norfolk. A simple 'thank you' could make a difference to them. It's not that hard to do, whether or not you agree with anything that they have to do.

Please don't go down to Wootton Bassett during a repatriation unless you're actually part of the repatriation.  It's becoming, or has become, 'grief tourism'.  I think the residents  of Wootton Bassett are not generally in favour of it either.

As for the video, there seems to be a raft of these things about at the moment.  They're almost viral as most come from America but get propagated here too.  That red clothes Friday thing did the rounds 6 months ago, propagated by email by ex-service people through their organisations.  That's American too and doesn't really fit here.  Similarly, a cringey text story about someone watching a reunion at an airport did the rounds, with a few modifications, to make it sound English.  I think it was originally Australian but was Americanised before coming here in an English form.

It seems to me that, despite what it says in the video, this is political.  I have a suspicion it's to do with experiences of the Vietnam war and the lack of public support and the treatment of veterans afterwards.  Again, this doesn't really travel well to the UK.  Most people I know don't take much interest in our 'foreign policy adventures' but don't criticise or abuse our armed forces either.  We don't need campaigns like this except, perhaps, to bolster public feelings about the war so that our politicians don't get abused for it.  It's not unpatriotic in the least to disagree with the Iraq Wars or the Afghanistan Conflict or the Balkans action.

I actually resent many of the sentiments.  Our armed forces are professional employees and willingly join up.  They're not heroes when they join up, expecting to defend the homeland and probably die, they're applying for a job and hoping for a meaningful career.  The army is a bit of a dangerous job but I expect that's part of the frisson of excitement which encourages squaddies.  I resent that our modern 'foreign policy adventures' get attached to the same sentiments the country has about the two world wars where conscripts were used or to the Falklands Conflict where the armed forces were actively defending British territory against invaders.  I think that's rather sneakily piggy-backing onto those sentiments when the justifications are different and I think it's quite wrong.

What makes you think that Dan?

I think that the residents of Wootton Bassett would be quite amenable to see others join in with the quiet and dignified respect that they have been showing.

A lot of people now don't travel to Wootton Bassett because of the media coverage, but show their respect in different locations. Most of the bodies pass through Wootton Bassett on their way to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. There is always a large contingent of British Legion personel and others gathered there.

Some news reports and interviews on the BBC and this from the Times (back in July):

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t...k/article6731100.ece

"On Monday evening this week the Mayor of Wootton Bassett and representatives of the RAF, the Royal British Legion and the police met to discuss how an atmosphere of “dignified respect” could be maintained.

Anxiety over the ceremonies began with a vague feeling that with the repatriation of July 14, and the massive media presence and the large crowds, something had changed. “Local people are staying away,” said a burly ex-paratrooper in a pub that evening. “Not out of disrespect, but because it’s becoming something else.”

A softly spoken lady echoed that opinion. “I thought it was a three-ring circus,” she said. “It started as a spontaneous thing, but it’s grown like Topsy, and we’ve lost something . . . it’s become an event, trailed in the news ... almost as if it was advertised. Personally I think some people came just to see it, like grief tourists.” "

There's fears expressed too about Wootton Basset becoming  a political point-scorer.. http://www.gazetteandherald.co...ssett_Question_Time/

The gesture the video is trying to promote is quite interesting.  Ironically, it looks Arabic to me.  In Morocco, that hand across the hand, moving downwards, and a slight nod is a thank you or sign of respect. I've used it there myself.  I wonder if some service people have picked it up in Iraq or Afganistan when dealing with the locals?  That hints at an origin of the video to me.