...confession, watch too much drivel on late night tv instead of going to bed .... occasionally a series or set of programmes grabs my attention and makes me think or be aware of something .... the several series on CH4 and BBC on troops in Afghanistan have done just that ... whether it is reinforcing my prejudices [the £1m a piece Wart Hog failures and MoD procurement!] or just showing life as it is ... the reality of the soldiers is shown clearly and openly enough that I trust the information ... and after watching several i have concluded that they are very decent people and they and we do not really know what they are trying to do, and it is certainly not effective, nor is it worth their dying for ... bring them home now
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According to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe. -
Yes they are decent people. Of course. I'm of that generation that thought joining the armed forces to be the establishment's means of giving the unemployed underclass something to do, to instill the kind of "discipline" in members of that class to show that it was, *after all* possible to instill it, and how good our public school prefects "further educated" to the officer class at Sandhurst were in delivering them (in more than one sense).
How many join up because they perceive no future in employment otherwise, or see it as an alternative means to "proper employment" for obtaining technical skills? What an alternative, eh? - at the end of the day the final bastion of protection when all "democratic means" fail for those at the top of the tree and their politically and now economically bankrupt system!
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my impression from these programmes is that they really quite like fighting S_A, just that they do not think the Afghan War a valid cause to die for .... i was pretty impressed by the documentary on Sandhurst as well ... "love your troops you are their servant" is not the kind of leadership taught in business schools etc alas ... but soldiering is about killing as well ....According to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe.Comment
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Efficiency, out of context, carries no scruplesComment
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