Royal combatants in Iraq?

What is wrong with the UK services being used as a finishing school - far better than the round of social gatherings and a sinecure in the city.

I cannot imagine the royals going to teach in an inner city comprehensive

quote:

Originally posted by Derek Wright:

What is wrong with the UK services being used as a finishing school

Nothing, as long as the persons who join up are not isolated from the possible consequences of their choices by the fact that they are members of a certain family.

Bloody stupid to "announce" that Harry will be going to Iraq. (for reasons already mentioned by preceding posts)

There lies the initiation of unwanted problems

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:
Acad

I can agree with your point regarding the Prince, but it looks very much to me like the Royal Family just uses the British Armed Forces as a "finishing school" for their boys, which is a bit sickening, really.

Deane

Deane

Is this just supposition on your part or do you have any evidence to back it up?

AIUI Sandhurst is hardly a walk in the park - others know better than I...

M

Mike

This entire thread is about supposition. The topic starter asked for opinions; not proof.

Armies exist for war; train for war; go to war. Every single facet of their existence contributes to their efficiency for war or to their readiness for war.

So, when a member of the Royal Family joins up with the Army, and his particular bunch of fellows goes off to war - but there is talk that he should be excused - then I become entitled to an opinion such as the one I have expressed here.

Cheers
Deane

Without saying more about what I think, posted earlier, what I hoped to read, and possibly also read a debate about was what "others" thought - their "opinion."

ATB from Fredrik

Deane

"Talk that he should be excused" makes it sound like he does not want to go.

Read my post at the head of this page; its not just about Harry, its about his comrades.

M

Mike

Fair point. I'm persuaded to your point of view.

I must say that the Army has entirely cocked this up, then. The military is usually known for it opacity - why did they shoot their high-ranking mouths off about the whole thing? Was nobody at some level of the chain of command as the choice to send the Prince escalated, willing or able to make a decision?

Deane

Pertinent questions, Deane; loose lips sink ships and all that...

M

Deane

Good on you for accepting another point of view (not normally a strength of yours IMHO ) Just to emphasize a point, Harry is keen to go and he is not wimping out, but it's the top brass and the politicians who are mulling over the problem, for all the reasons that others have articulated in this thread.

Cheers

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Exiled Highlander:
Deane

Good on you for accepting another point of view (not normally a strength of yours IMHO ) Just to emphasize a point, Harry is keen to go and he is not wimping out, but it's the top brass and the politicians who are mulling over the problem, for all the reasons that others have articulated in this thread.

Cheers

Jim

Just the f***ing politicians faffing up the works again. Let him go and solve the root problem by sacking all politicians.

To comment:

I am patrticularly glad that [for the sake of his comrades, primarily] the Army High Command has taken EW's and my view into account [though I expect this view was expressed from more authoritative quarters than ours]...

Where it goes from here is less important [IMO]...

Sincerely, Fredrik

In an ideal world they'd all be sent there and never heard of again. However in the real world he's a special target who would put his colleagues at risk and for that reason it was absurd even to consider him for active service in Iraq. He's not to blame. It's the groveling sycophants surrounding him who should be taken to task for such an error of judgment.

Dear Tom,

I am sure that you would not send the octagenarian HRH, The Duke Of Edinburgh, or HM, The Elisabeth Windsor [Sax-Coburg Gotha] to combatant duties, though HRH, The Princess Royal would no doubt be scary enough to sort the situation out. I have been sworn at by the HRH, The Princess Royal!! After HMQ, she is my favourite!!!

[Survived Smiley], Fredrik

Haven't we missed the point in this thread?

Surely the inability to secure any sort of safety for Harry should highlight the fact that southern Iraq is descending into lawlessness, we have little or no control of the zone and are in the process of withdrawing from it. The British army has essentially been defeated by the Iranian sponsored 'insurgency'.

Bruce

Dear Bruce,

Defeated alright, and that was quite possibly always likely. The original plan was so half shot that no one could reasonably expect things to go as the Bush administration was predicting!

We should get out even before Christmas [2007] if possible.

Quite simply the longer we stay there the worse the long term repercussions will be ...

Kindest regards from Fredrik

quote:

Originally posted by dave brubeck:

Lot of toss...

I think we should send Nickleback instead.