Friday 7 March 2008

Uniformly Stupid

The Queen is, apparently, saddened and deeply concerned to learn that servicemen and women from RAF Wittering have been ordered not to wear their uniforms in public because residents in Peterborough have been hurling abuse at them. I don't blame her, either!

It seems that some intellectually inferior members of the public who don't approve of British involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan have been taking out their displeasure on members of the Royal Air Force. I'm afraid I can't think slowly or inefficiently enough to figure out the reasoning behind that - surely, even the most retarded local must realise that the RAF, like all of the armed forces, exists to carry out the orders it is given by our elected government? Or do they really think that the military just pick a target - and, maybe, a whole campaign - for fun, spend millions and millions of pounds worth of taxpayers' money and don't even need the nod from upstairs?

Clearly, that's not the case; soldiers, sailors, airmen and others all deserve nothing but respect from the public. There's no doubt that the UK, like any country, needs a military. If the current generation of servicemen and women had not joined up by choice, we would ALL need to do some degree of national service in order to compensate for their absence. Would those who are so quick to attack them - and slow to think - like to do their job for them? I suspect not.

All of which is not to say that I'm totally happy with the way Iraq, in particular, has been handled. But that is the fault of the politicians who insisted on the campaign, not the brave individuals whose duty it is to carry it out. Those folks are doing their (very difficult and dangerous) job, putting their lives on the line to follow the orders of a democratically elected government, as they are supposed to do.

To attack them for doing so is nothing short of disgraceful, and I hope the individuals concerned are thoroughly ashamed of themselves. They won't be, of course, because they're too thick to realise how stupid they look, but we can dream, eh? As to more practical retribution, a couple of possibilities occur to me. Most attractively, I'd like to see the miscreants given over to a few brawny airmen - or, since they are almost certainly macho guys, a few airwomen - whilst everyone else, quite by coincidence, looks the other way for an hour or so. Justice would, I am sure, be meted out with typically martial efficiency.

But there's a problem with that approach, quite apart from the inevitable - but easily ignored - whinging from the wimpy almost-people in the Human Rights lobby. No, the real problem is that I don't see why the RAF should have to waste its time and effort thumping the folks it's paid to protect.

Wouldn't it be better to scoop up all the moronic, Neanderthal, unthinking disgraces to evolution (you'd be able to recognise them by the way their knuckles scrape the floor as they walk) and dump them in the middle of Iraq or Afghanistan? If they survive they might learn something, and if they don't we won't miss them one little bit.

As for the validity of the order to go out in civvies only, I'm not too concerned by that. Yes, of course, our brave lads and lasses should be able to wear the uniform with pride. But equally, they have a right to expect that it's not going to get them attacked. And if they ARE attacked and they - either through provocation or simply self-defence - give a few locals a bloody good hiding, who's going to end up looking bad?

You just know the aforesaid bleeding hearts from the Human Rights protecting, tree hugging community will apply spin as required until you end up with headlines like "RAF beats up local youths! 230 local youths were hospitalised yesterday after picking a fight with one junior airman. They are expected to claim compensation after the RAF is done with the Court Martial which will, of course, destroy the lone victim's career."

That won't do, and I can see the logic in avoiding that sort of situation by removing the source of the threat. It's not fair, but it's sensible until something more permanent can be done about the dim witted elements of society who would pick a fight with them.

Billy Seggars.

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