Wounded

[Mickey Linden]

Programs like this annoy me. Dont get me wrong I do understand the suffering the young fellas are going through. Are they going to show a similar story from Iraq and Afghanstan tho? Surely people must wonder what it is all about?

[YogiBear]

Sure people in Iraq and Afghanistan dont feel pain or have emotions its only the brave boys in the British and American armies.  No sympathy for them soliders whatsoever just feel sorry for the people that have to care for them for the rest of their miserable lives.

[Olaf]

Saw some of it. Mixed feelings. Can't help feeling sorry for lads who aren't even in their 20s whose lives are now basically ruined...but at the same time they are brits,

You probably could have stopped your post at his point. 

Hard programme to watch.

[Aerlik]

A few hours studying a John Pilger DVD might have changed their minds before signing up.

Sounds like the English political spindoctors are trying to rally the troops in the face of adversity from within.  In Oz they're all treated as "heroes".  FFS, WW1 and WW2 had heroes.

And they are all trying to out-cringe the Yanks

[fitzroyalty]

Saw some of it. Mixed feelings. Can't help feeling sorry for lads who aren't even in their 20s whose lives are now basically ruined...but at the same time they are brits,

You probably could have stopped your post at his point. 

Hard programme to watch.

I could have...but i think i'll continue. donagh is right, there is a certain demographic that these lads come from. they obviously didn't live fulfilled lives if they all of a sudden decided to sign up. the ads you see on tv are a disgrace, glamourizing the army and although anyone with the slightest bit of sense would ignore them, those lads are the ones who swallow it all up.

[under the bar]

Regardless as to your feelings on US/British aggression and tjhe fact 1000's of innocent probably die or are injured for every soldier casulty, it remains this young lad is a victim as well.  I felt very soory for him and his family and admired his courage. 

I couldn't have faced it anywhere near as well as he did.  The months of blindness not knowing if he'd ever see again must have been particualrly tough.

What passing bells for those who die as cattle...?

[fitzroyalty]

Regardless as to your feelings on US/British aggression and tjhe fact 1000's of innocent probably die or are injured for every soldier casulty, it remains this young lad is a victim as well.  I felt very soory for him and his family and admired his courage. 

I couldn't have faced it anywhere near as well as he did.  The months of blindness not knowing if he'd ever see again must have been particualrly tough.

What passing bells for those who die as cattle...?

Only thing they are a victim of is their own ignorance. victims in iraq and afghanistan did not have the same choices those wee lads did. victims in iraq/afghanistan were killed and maimed in their own countries, so you can't really equate the two. they don't have the same level of health care/rehab to avail of, nor will they have any sympathy from the the british public as sky, bbc et al will refuse to even report on the amount of deaths/injuries their forces have caused. While I sympathise with these lads in that their lives are now ruined, for the most part they have only themselves to blame for joining in the first place. while they are playing badminton with other amputees in rehab their middle-east equivelants are probably lying begging in some street in Kabul.

[Olaf]

Saw some of it. Mixed feelings. Can't help feeling sorry for lads who aren't even in their 20s whose lives are now basically ruined...but at the same time they are brits,

You probably could have stopped your post at his point. 

Hard programme to watch.

I could have...but i think i'll continue. donagh is right, there is a certain demographic that these lads come from. they obviously didn't live fulfilled lives if they all of a sudden decided to sign up. the ads you see on tv are a disgrace, glamourizing the army and although anyone with the slightest bit of sense would ignore them, those lads are the ones who swallow it all up.

That's some size of  broad brush that you have there. 

Unfulfilled lives , no sense. None of  the boys in the programme came across like that to me, are dealing with their injuries stoically , are not bitter and appeared to have loving families surrounding them..........


"but at the same time they are Brits"

[longrunsthefox]

Only watched the first half-did thon boy from Belfast get his sight back?

[Tony Baloney]

Only watched the first half-did thon boy from Belfast get his sight back?

It's on bbc3 now.

[dillinger]

However, I have no sympathy for those soldiers who have been killed in Iraq/Afghanistan where the British have contributed to, and been complicit in a bloody disaster. They werent conscripted and made their choice.

No, they didnt make a choice. Anyone who joins an army takes orders, they go and serve.Yes, they had a choice to join the army or not.

[dillinger]

Must admit I have every sympathy for them. section, or accompany an unemployed 17 year old with no GSCEs to the bru to see the type of lad who is ending up as a mercenary with the British army. I'd guess at least 80% of them aren't joining out of any misplaced sense of patriotism or idealism but are forced into it by economic circumstance i.e. for most it is the only choice.

Would you say the same about the people of Ireland that fought against Hilter? Where they mercenaries?

[Rav67]

Must admit I have every sympathy for them. section, or accompany an unemployed 17 year old with no GSCEs to the bru to see the type of lad who is ending up as a mercenary with the British army. I'd guess at least 80% of them aren't joining out of any misplaced sense of patriotism or idealism but are forced into it by economic circumstance i.e. for most it is the only choice.

Would you say the same about the people of Ireland that fought against Hilter? Where they mercenaries?

I'm sure different people had different motivations then- money, adventure, anti-fascism, patriotism (for those north of the border).

There's quite a lot of people where I live now are in the British Army and have been in Afgahnistan or Iraq and have asked a few why they would willingly risk their lives.  Their motivation seems to be both a misplaced sense of adventure (the main one) and of course nationalism/patriotism.  One thing I've noticed is how similar all the Army boys are in terms of personality so I'm sure advertising campaigns are geared towards that particular tyoe of individual.

[Myles Na G.]

Regardless as to your feelings on US/British aggression and tjhe fact 1000's of innocent probably die or are injured for every soldier casulty, it remains this young lad is a victim as well.  I felt very soory for him and his family and admired his courage. 

I couldn't have faced it anywhere near as well as he did.  The months of blindness not knowing if he'd ever see again must have been particualrly tough.

What passing bells for those who die as cattle...?

Only thing they are a victim of is their own ignorance. victims in iraq and afghanistan did not have the same choices those wee lads did. victims in iraq/afghanistan were killed and maimed in their own countries, so you can't really equate the two. they don't have the same level of health care/rehab to avail of, nor will they have any sympathy from the the british public as sky, bbc et al will refuse to even report on the amount of deaths/injuries their forces have caused. While I sympathise with these lads in that their lives are now ruined, for the most part they have only themselves to blame for joining in the first place. while they are playing badminton with other amputees in rehab their middle-east equivelants are probably lying begging in some street in Kabul.

I think you'll find that the majority of people dying in Iraq are civilians killed by bombs built and detonated by other Iraqis. I think you'll find too that many thousands of Iraqis died under the brutal regime of Saddam. If the British and the Americans pulled out in the morning, many Iraqi civilians would die in the struggle for power between the various religious and ethnic factions in the country. FFS grow up and stop laying the blame for everything that happens at the feet of the Brits and the Yanks.

[illdecide]

Yes but What the f**k are they doing there in the first place...the same reason they were in N Ireland, Faukland Islands etc etc Stay the F**K out of other peoples countries and mind your own dorty business