war in the falklands week

[Dandyman]

Phil Stant left the Army to play for Hereford. That was the closest team to the Regimental HQ.

The guy was SAS for chrissakes!

Friend of mine has been getting some coverage lately. Guy called Neil Grose, 3 Para on Mt Longdon. Died on his 17th birthday along with two others who never saw their 18th birthday. Ironically, they were too young to be sent to Northern Ireland.

http://www.yeovilexpress.co.uk/most...il_soldier_recalled_in_new_falklands_book.php

Hants, have you read "A Soldier's Song" by Ken Lukowiak ? - interesting account of the Falklands from a 2 Para trooper.

 

[Gerbil]

Phil Stant left the Army to play for Hereford. That was the closest team to the Regimental HQ.

The guy was SAS for chrissakes!

Have a look at the 2nd post on this thread

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

Hants, have you read "A Soldier's Song" by Ken Lukowiak ? - interesting account of the Falklands from a 2 Para trooper.

Nope - but I will dig it out of the local library and have a gander! There are some good '82 books out there, and some cracking films. Tumbledown is pretty horrific, the BBC banned it, I think, because it was uncomfortably true to life (the bayonetting section of the film). Should be shown to anyone who thinks they want to go and play soldiers.

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

Have a look at the 2nd post on this thread

Strangely enough, my powers of observation noticed the book cover, I just thought I would illuminate the facts for the person who seemed not to realise that Phil Stant was a black-balaclava'd abseiling killing machine. Wonder how they decided who would be marking him when he first started playing?

"See that nutter with the 1000 yard stare and a f***-off great knife strapped to his leg? You're the youngest, you're marking him."

Edit - now I have realised that you posted the book cover, and also posted the "shock" smiley. I am now confused, and going for a lie down in a darkened room.

 

[Gerbil]

Strangely enough, my powers of observation noticed the book cover, I just thought I would illuminate the facts for the person who seemed not to realise that Phil Stant was a black-balaclava'd abseiling killing machine.

That'll be me as well then

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

That'll be me as well then

See my edit. I am confused. This may be due to tiredness or age, I am unsure.

Has Mark McGhee left yet?

 

[shingle]

Yet another senseless war.

You wouldn't say that if you were living in the Falklands in 1982

 

[shingle]

I fell in love with Maggie Thatcher during the re-claiming of the Falklands.


Some tin pot reporter questioned her on the steps of Downing Street trying to make her look small.

'Rejoice,Rejoice' she said before stepping into her car.

I remember that, it was just after the retaking of South Georgia.

Thatch = Legend

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

You wouldn't say that if you were living in the Falklands in 1982

Ultimately, all war is senseless. It's just that there is very little benefit in having a unilateral view - if they other guy wants a battle, then you are left with little option. If all conflicts could be solved by discussion, then the world would be a better place, but that's not going to happen. In which case, the sooner that fact is realised, then the quicker you can make your fighting forces stronger and more ruthless than anybody else, the better your bargaining position will be. Of course, that's what the other guy thinks as well....

Perhaps the US "Love Bomb" was the best option after all.

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

My Son is currently down there and as you can see from the photo it isnt to hot down there !!

 

[Race]

i'm in the middle of reading 'spearhead assault' by john geddes. its about his experiences in the falklands and the battle of goose green. excellent read so far and its even got a chapter in it entitled 'sussex by the sea'! magic!

 

[dougdeep]

"Sod This for a Game of Soldiers" is supposed to be a good book on the subject.

 

[Gully]

Quite a few Falkland Islanders also had homes in the UK, think a fair few of them were in Sussex. At the time of the war I had a Saturday job gardening for a couple who had lived there, the lady was a Falkland Islander, her husband had met her in the aftermath of the Battle of the River Plate during WWII when his ship put into Stanley. The house I grew up had been owned previously by a couple whose daughter lived in the Falklands, she was the woman who smuggled out letters to her husband detailing the Argentinian positions shortly after the invasion.

I was lucky enough to spend some time in the Falklands in the mid 90's, fell in love with the place, it is stunningly beatiful in a barren sort of way. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to fight a war there in the middle of their winter, there is little or no cover, most of the ground is bare rock and what isn't rock is peat bog. I have the greatest respect for the people who live in the Falklands and utmost admiration for those who liberated them.

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

"Sod This for a Game of Soldiers" is supposed to be a good book on the subject.

It is. I was chatting with the author today. Watched his two best mates die at the age of 17 (one of them was a good friend of mine), and they were only there because they were too young to be sent to Northern Ireland.

He had/has some demons in his head, and his son wants to join up!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Yet another senseless war.

Disagree. The Falklands were and are British, through admittedly-dubious centuries old colonialism, just like the Dutch and the Belgians and the Spanish carved up large parts of the world for no other reason than they had better boats, armed to the teeth. It's not right, but change need to brought about by democratic, legal means. Unlike, say, the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq by Bush and blair.

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

Ive read a couple of books recently including "Falklands War,Forgotten Voices" which is agreat read as you get all sides points of view and how Sandy Woodward nearly lost it for us in his own way.
Also "4 weeks in May" which brought tears to my eyes as an ex matelot, and also a book called "Watching Men Burn" by an ex squaddie who suffered from PTSD after watching the Galahad go up as he was a Rapier Missile opererator whose missile system was down at the time of the attack and felt all the guilt etc afterwards,fascinating stuff and well recommend these books to anyone.

 

[gjh1971]

Thatch = Legend

We will just ignore the 3 million unemployed, miners strike, poll tax, trident missile crisis and the criminalisation of football fans shall we?

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

We will just ignore the 3 million unemployed, miners strike, poll tax, trident missile crisis and the criminalisation of football fans shall we?

Yep - let's look at her achievements instead, shall we, and try and avoid the "burn her" shite that normally happens on here. It's a thread about the Falklands, not about the inadequacies of governments trotted out by those who were too young to actually be there?

Talk to those on here who lived the strikes and actually experienced the Thatcher years rather than jumping on the nearest passing bandwagon.

1) Tackled the tyranny of the trade unions. Compare strike figures in
the late 1970s with those of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The
control that trade unions previously had over the British economy had
destroyed industries such as automobile manufacturing, with over-time
bans, secondary picketing and demarcation - all backed up by legally
sanctioned closed-shops. It was only once the more militant trade
unions had been beaten - notably the collapse of the year long miners'
strike in 1985 - and new industrial relations legislation had been
introduced, that Britain was able to adapt to the demands of the new
economy and attract new industries. Whereas secondary picketing and
strikes without ballots had meant that factories and pits could be
closed by local trade union leaders with relatively little support
from workers, Mrs Thatcher's trade union legislation banned secondary
picketing and required all strike votes and trade union elections to
be decided by postal ballots.

2. Reduction in the size of the state. Mrs Thatcher broke the post-war
"Butskillite" consensus as to how the economy should be run and what
role the state should have. Whereas previous governments (both
Conservative and Labour) had adopted broadly Keynesian programmes,
based on nationalised industry, a European social market system, a
goal of full employment to be achieved by increased public spending,
Mrs Thatcher's economic philosophy was much closer to Austrian /
Chicago school economics and to 19th century liberalism. More
importantly, she was determined to reverse the "ratchet effect",
whereby Conservative governments saw their role as to maintain the
status quo, whilst Labour governments saw theirs as to advance the
course of socialism. Mrs Thatcher was determined to advance the course
of economic freedom.

The most visible element of this was the denationalisation (which
later became known as privatisation) and liberalsiation of various
state-owned industries - such as telecoms, gas, airlines, steel. The
role of Government was to focus on providing an economic framework for
enterprise and growth, rather than to try to create such growth
through central planning and state intervention. By the mid-1980s,
privatization was a new term in world government, and by the end of
the decade more than 50 countries, on almost every continent, had set
in motion privatization programs, floating loss-making public
companies on the stock markets and in most cases transforming them
into successful private-enterprise firms. Even left-oriented
countries, which scorned the notion of privatization, began to reduce
their public sector on the sly.

Alongside denationalisation, Mrs Thatcher's governments simplified
personal taxation and reduced levels of income tax. Nigel Lawson, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) from 1983 to 1989, made
a point of either reducing or abolishing one significant tax each
year. Whereas in 1979 there had been a number of different income tax
bands - going up to 98% on income from savings above a certain level -
by the time Mrs Thatcher left Downing Street in 1990, there was just a
standard rate (25%) and a higher rate (40%).

3. Empowerment of the individual. Linked to the reduction in the role
of the state was the empowerment of the individual. Social mobility
reached levels that had not been seen since the years immediately
after the second world war. More people were given a greater say in
their own lives. The "right to buy" scheme, under which council house
tenants were given a statutary opportunity to buy the home in which
they lived at a discounted price, turned Britain into a true property
owning democracy. The privatisation programmed extended share
ownership far beyond traditional social profiles. Companies that had
previously been owned by the state were now owned by the public.
Choice was introduced into public services. First parents were given
some choice over which school their child was sent to, then elements
of choice were introduced for patients in the national health service.

4. Restoring Britain's place in the world. In 1982, Mrs Thatcher
dispatched a taskforce to regain the Falkland Islands, which had been
invaded by Argentinian forces. With a high risk of failure, the
government’s survival lay in the balance. The decision to send armed
forces around the world for the sake a few islands that were inhabited
by more sheep than people was certainly a risk. It couldn't be
justified on strategic or economic grounds but was essential to
preserve the principle of self-determination. The successful campaign
went a long way to restoring British confidence in international
affairs, which had not recovered from the Suez fiasco of 1956. That
new confidence was to be vital in the years that lay ahead.
Margaret Thatcher was one of the first western leaders to act as
though the Cold War could be won, rather than following a policy of
containment. Whilst that victory clearly depended on US military
supremacy, both Ronald Reagan and Mrs Thatcher deserve a large
personal share of the credit for the collapse of the Soviet empire and
the return of freedom and democracy to eastern Europe. Her strength of
conviction and refusal to compromise with evil led to her being given
the nickname of the Iron Lady, even before she became prime minister.
Together with Reagan she pushed Mikhail Gorbachev to pursue his
perestroika policy to its limits and so fatally to undermine the
self-confidence of the Soviet elite. The importance that she attached
to military strength and to an independent nuclear deterrent were
important factors in underlining the fact that the United States had a
reliable ally in its fight against communism.

 

[beorhthelm]

...but I think those Islas will inevitably be Malvinas in the end.

against the democratic will of 100% of the inhabitants? i certainly hope not.

its typical of the attitude in this country that people still knock Thatcher and the then govenrment over this. hindsight is always 20/20 and communications today are a hell of a lot easier than then. why cant people take pride in the fact that we where, and still are, one of only 2 or 3 nations even capable of such a military feat.

 

[Frutos]

Any fans of books on the Falklands should read 'Vulcan 607' by Rowland White. If you know your history of that time, it should be easy enough to work it what the main subject of it is.

Fantastic book IMO.