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British Military Current Events

McCann was sent to meet his maker in Belfast by 1 PARA, of course. The two OAPs who are accused of the shooting go on trial soon....

Johnny Mercer sacked by text message after row over Northern Ireland veterans​

Veteran's Minister fired from Government after accusing Boris Johnson of lacking 'moral strength' to protect ex-soldiers from prosecution

Johnny Mercer, the Veterans’ Minister, was sacked by text message on Tuesday as he accused Boris Johnson of lacking the “moral strength and courage” to protect ex-soldiers from prosecution in Northern Ireland.

Mr Mercer, a former captain in the Army, had told Number 10 of his intention to resign on Monday night but was fired 24 hours later in a pre-emptive strike.

Mr Mercer last night posted on Twitter a letter of resignation he had originally planned to make public today in which he criticised the prime minister for continuing “to say all the right things” but failing “to match that with what we deliver”.

He complained that Mr Johnson’s Government had “abandoned our people in a way I simply cannot reconcile” and added: “Whilst endless plans are promised… veterans are being sectioned, drinking themselves to death and dying well before their time – simply because the UK Government cannot find the moral strength or courage … to stop these appalling injustices.”

Mr Mercer had become increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress and had clashed with Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, and Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary.

Mr Mercer, who set up the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, had notified Downing Street on Monday evening of his intention to quit ‘out of courtesy’ and was left ‘furious’ when it was leaked. He had planned to formally announce his resignation on Wednesday after his Overseas Operations Bill, which gives legal protections to soldiers, passes through the Commons.

Mr Mercer was unhappy that veterans from the conflict in Northern Ireland were excluded from the Bill and concerned no other legislation was in the pipeline.

Two soldiers in their 70s go on trial next week for the killing Joe McCann, an Official IRA commander, and Mr Mercer had told friends he did not wish to remain in Government by the time the case came to court. Up to 200 ex-soldiers are thought to face criminal investigations over deaths in Northern Ireland as long as 50 years ago.

Johnny Mercer sacked by text message after row over Northern Ireland veterans
 
McCann was sent to meet his maker in Belfast by 1 PARA, of course. The two OAPs who are accused of the shooting go on trial soon....

Johnny Mercer sacked by text message after row over Northern Ireland veterans​

Veteran's Minister fired from Government after accusing Boris Johnson of lacking 'moral strength' to protect ex-soldiers from prosecution

Johnny Mercer, the Veterans’ Minister, was sacked by text message on Tuesday as he accused Boris Johnson of lacking the “moral strength and courage” to protect ex-soldiers from prosecution in Northern Ireland.

Mr Mercer, a former captain in the Army, had told Number 10 of his intention to resign on Monday night but was fired 24 hours later in a pre-emptive strike.

Mr Mercer last night posted on Twitter a letter of resignation he had originally planned to make public today in which he criticised the prime minister for continuing “to say all the right things” but failing “to match that with what we deliver”.

He complained that Mr Johnson’s Government had “abandoned our people in a way I simply cannot reconcile” and added: “Whilst endless plans are promised… veterans are being sectioned, drinking themselves to death and dying well before their time – simply because the UK Government cannot find the moral strength or courage … to stop these appalling injustices.”

Mr Mercer had become increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress and had clashed with Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, and Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary.

Mr Mercer, who set up the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, had notified Downing Street on Monday evening of his intention to quit ‘out of courtesy’ and was left ‘furious’ when it was leaked. He had planned to formally announce his resignation on Wednesday after his Overseas Operations Bill, which gives legal protections to soldiers, passes through the Commons.

Mr Mercer was unhappy that veterans from the conflict in Northern Ireland were excluded from the Bill and concerned no other legislation was in the pipeline.

Two soldiers in their 70s go on trial next week for the killing Joe McCann, an Official IRA commander, and Mr Mercer had told friends he did not wish to remain in Government by the time the case came to court. Up to 200 ex-soldiers are thought to face criminal investigations over deaths in Northern Ireland as long as 50 years ago.

Johnny Mercer sacked by text message after row over Northern Ireland veterans
I don’t know anything about this person, however from what I’ve read in the article, he seems like he has some noble direction in regards to this matter.

What a shame. And such a waste of government resources, prosecuting their own soldiers for things that may or may not have happened 50 years ago.

Such stress to put on these folks, when the quality and reliability of the evidence is already known to be ‘extremely shaky’ at best. 😕
 
I don’t know anything about this person, however from what I’ve read in the article, he seems like he has some noble direction in regards to this matter.

What a shame. And such a waste of government resources, prosecuting their own soldiers for things that may or may not have happened 50 years ago.

Such stress to put on these folks, when the quality and reliability of the evidence is already known to be ‘extremely shaky’ at best. 😕

There was never any doubt that the 'bad guys' were about as bad as you could imagine, and you'd see evidence of that in the horrendous things they did day in and out. In the 70s, the 'Bad Old Days' (over a decade before I served there) it was the worst.

Regardless, the RoE were there for a reason, and we needed to be really good at toeing the line between engaging and not engaging. The bad guys knew that, of course, and constantly danced on that line themselves as they challenged the troops to cross it and violate the RoE - to shoot when they shouldn't.

Ultimately, we knew that if we pulled the trigger we'd have to be able to defend that decision in front of a Judge and Jury, which is what the rule of law is all about. You can throw around statements like 'I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6' but, until you're in a situation like that, you never really know what a choice like that feels like.

I wish them the best.
 
Or maybe he could at least conduct seminars....

In what, how to be an oxymoron a.k.a. an ethical politician?

yeah right whatever GIF
 
He's a Commando Gunner so I assume all he left out was 'Rounds complete, record as target' :)
Just to get picky: "Rounds complete" is a report coming from the gun line. "Record as target" is an order coming from the observer. The more appropriate report and order from the observer would be a description of target with order to record such as "Enemy confused, demoralized and running around like silly buggers; Record as target!" (or better yet "Repeat!")

:giggle:
 
Just to get picky: "Rounds complete" is a report coming from the gun line. "Record as target" is an order coming from the observer. The more appropriate report and order from the observer would be a description of target with order to record such as "Enemy confused, demoralized and running around like silly buggers; Record as target!" (or better yet "Repeat!" "Fire Mission Regiment")

:giggle:

There, FTFY :)
 
There, FTFY :)

Sigh. Back when I started out as a young gunner, when you said "Fire Mission Regiment" you got twenty-four guns (thirty-two in some regiments). Now you get eight. I think out of shame they shouldn't be allowed to call that a regiment. I think a whole regiment these days should be called a "battery" and a battery should be called a "half-a-battery" ... or maybe "big battery" and "little battery".

:cry:
 
Sigh. Back when I started out as a young gunner, when you said "Fire Mission Regiment" you got twenty-four guns (thirty-two in some regiments). Now you get eight. I think out of shame they shouldn't be allowed to call that a regiment. I think a whole regiment these days should be called a "battery" and a battery should be called a "half-a-battery" ... or maybe "big battery" and "little battery".

:cry:
mini GIF
 
Interesting....

The long decline of the British army​

A new exposé of a class-bound British army reflects an organisation fast losing power. But does it take on the right target?

The Changing of the Guard is billed as an exposé of a class-bound British army failing to get to grips with the reality of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: think Stephen Fry’s General Melchett in Blackadder Goes Forth twitching his impressive moustache over a map of the Somme. Giving the book additional glamour, its appearance was delayed following two years of wrangles over its allegedly explosive content. It has now been released with a new publisher.

Akam makes the serious point that nobody senior was held to account for failure. No government minister, civil servant or high-ranking army officer was forced to step down. In Losing Small Wars: Britain’s Military Failure in the 9/11 Wars, Frank Ledwidge suggested that the corps of senior officers in the British army is too large, and that complicated chains of command make it difficult to know exactly who is accountable. Akam’s handling is more abstract.

Here the concerns about accountability blur into a wider critique of an army and defence culture, implying that the army’s default position was to close ranks and keep failures from public view. Akam links this to other aspects of army public relations, recounting how, for instance, the MoD bought and pulped the first edition of journalist Toby Harnden’s Orwell Prize-winning book Dead Men Risen, about the Welsh Guard tour in Helmand in 2009—as well as attempting to ban publication of Mike Martin’s oral history of 34 years of conflict in Helmand, An Intimate War.

 
Interesting....

The long decline of the British army​

A new exposé of a class-bound British army reflects an organisation fast losing power. But does it take on the right target?

The Changing of the Guard is billed as an exposé of a class-bound British army failing to get to grips with the reality of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: think Stephen Fry’s General Melchett in Blackadder Goes Forth twitching his impressive moustache over a map of the Somme. Giving the book additional glamour, its appearance was delayed following two years of wrangles over its allegedly explosive content. It has now been released with a new publisher.
Very pricey book (even for Kindle)as it's still in hard cover but Amazon has a very large excerpt that takes you through to just before the start of Iraq II. It's very well written and goes into quite some detail. The Brit Army in 2000 was pretty much the same I ran into on occasion in the 70s. Their problems; poor logistics and spare parts, lack of arid camouflage, shortages of PPE are strangely similar to ours.

I'll definitely get this once the price comes down. Thanks for pointing it out D&B.

🍻
 
Very pricey book (even for Kindle)as it's still in hard cover but Amazon has a very large excerpt that takes you through to just before the start of Iraq II. It's very well written and goes into quite some detail. The Brit Army in 2000 was pretty much the same I ran into on occasion in the 70s. Their problems; poor logistics and spare parts, lack of arid camouflage, shortages of PPE, and the arrogance to think that you could control a vast area of untamed 'Indian Country' from small, under supported bases are strangely similar to ours.

I'll definitely get this once the price comes down. Thanks for pointing it out D&B.

🍻

There, FTFY :)
 
and the arrogance to think that you could control a vast area of untamed 'Indian Country' from small, under supported bases

Silly Boy! You're not there to control the Indians. You're there to protect the merchants and keep the missionaries away from the locals. :giggle:
 
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