John (scouse) Hirons
"The Dingbat"
Membership Level: Full
Posts: 9886
Status: Offline | Alright Kev, No-one can argue against more help being given to ex-service personnel but I can’t see how giving a gong for not doing anything can achieve that.
The Americans give away medals like sweeties at a kindergarten, If a Yank is posted to the UK he gets a gong for flying the Atlantic East to West, he then gets another for serving overseas. When he is tour-ex he will get another for flying the Atlantic west to east. If a British serviceman earns his marksman he gets a cloth cross rifle badge, the Yanks get yet another medal. If a Yank has his ingrowning toenails removed in an operational theater he gets the purple heart medal. the list goes on & on & on. A Yankie soldier who has done nowt & sees nowt still ends up with a chest like a Ruritanian General, all shiney things & bog chains.
The UK services do not play these silly pin something to my chest games. If you serve in a campaign that has an award you get a gong for that, if you serve in a theater that has no specific award you get a General Service Medal, If your actions merit a Mention in Despatches you get a small badge to put on your medals ribbon. From that point onward medals are only given for acts of valour & that’s how it should be.
Should I get a gong for just being in the mob during the cold war (meaning no fighting type of non-war) NO. The argument that we could have been called to action doesn’t wash, if that were the case I want a VC as I could have been asked to do an extremely brave act. |
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