Can Anyone Look Into The Faces Of These Young Lads And Truthfully Say "it Was All Worth It"?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2808865/So-young-brave-teens-Faces-heroes-never-saw-20-memorial-couldn-t-leave-behind.html

[Prudie]

No, does anyone ever look at the faces of war dead and openly say it was all worth it? We need to respect and remember them by clinging to the hope that it would have been far worse if we'd not gone into Afghanistan.

[andy-hughes]

No. Never.

Just one of those young lives would not have been worth it.

[ivor4781]

Afghanistan will revert back to it destructive self in months so NO it was not worth it

[andy-hughes]

Kate Bush had it right - back in 1980 -

B.F.P.O."
Army dreamers.
"Mammy's hero."
"B.F.P.O."
"Mammy's hero."

Our little army boy
Is coming home from B.F.P.O.
I've a bunch of purple flowers
To decorate a mammy's hero.

Mourning in the aerodrome,
The weather warmer, he is colder.
Four men in uniform
To carry home my little soldier.

"What could he do?
Should have been a rock star."
But he didn't have the money for a guitar.
"What could he do?
Should have been a politician."
But he never had a proper education.
"What could he do?
Should have been a father."
But he never even made it to his twenties.
What a waste --
Army dreamers.
Ooh, what a waste of
Army dreamers.

Tears o'er a tin box.
Oh, Jesus Christ, he wasn't to know,
Like a chicken with a fox,
He couldn't win the war with ego.

Give the kid the pick of pips,
And give him all your stripes and ribbons.
Now he's sitting in his hole,
He might as well have buttons and bows.


Nothing has changed.

Nothing ever will.

[Sqad]

I have no idea.

I never give "was it worth it " a single thought.

One faces a situation, makes an informed decision and the outcome as to whether or not " was worth it" doesn't enter into the equation.

Some you win.......some you lose.

[Zeuhl]

Clearly the campaign in Afghanistan, particularly in Helmand, was badly mismanaged by the military commanders.

However, it is a very fortunate commander who can think of losses incurred in any action and judge that 'it was worth it'.

[youngmafbog]

Was it worth it?

I doubt anyone on this site is able to answer that. If you were and did you would undoubtedly be banged up under the official secrets act.

We are unaware of the threat or what good it did us being Afghanistan. You need to remember the country was being used by terrorists as a gateway to the West, Europe in particular.

Just out of interest, can you look Fishermen in the face and say it is all worth it when you are tucking into you cod and chips? Their job is actually the most dangerous occupation.

[ToraToraTora]

the whole sorry sh1th0le is not worth one little finger, let them kill each other and that goes for most of the middle east.

[Zeuhl]

/and say it is all worth it when you are tucking into you cod and chips? Their job is actually the most dangerous occupation. /

good point ymb

while the loss of >400 service people is dreadful and a personal tragedy for their families, we should maintain a sense of proportion.
70 years ago, 400 dead would have been a 'good day'

and as ymb intimates, UK fishing vessels lose nearly 300 each year.

[jomifl]

I think the UK government badly misjudged the Afghans. They deserve help from nobody.

[janbee]

One was one too many.

[youngmafbog]

I think we also need to be careful of belittling the sacifice these brave men gave. To turn round and say, thanks but it wasn't really worth it is a real kick in the teeth.

Like I say, none of us are privvy to the real why's and wherefores nor what would have happened if we were not there for instance I suspect it would have spread out of Afghanistan much sooner.

Personally I would like to say a great thank you to those servicemen who lost their lives and also those who suffered injury in the name of our great Country.

[jackthehat]

I am simply grateful that my son will never now be posted back there.

I can't imagine what it must be like to be the mother of one of the young people whose name is on that memorial.

Was it worth their sacrifice?......I'm afraid that only time will tell.

[thegreens]

If we do not remember our history then we are doomed to repeat our mistakes.

I can't recall that any outsider has ever bested Afghanistan, not even the mighty Soviet forces. The CIA aided and abetted the Taliban against Russia and then, of course, they turned their training and weapons on us.

Lest we forget

[Zeuhl]

/To turn round and say, thanks but it wasn't really worth it is a real kick in the teeth./

True ymb

but that's life isn't it?

many of us will have devoted years of our lives to work 'projects' only to find it all written off and erased a few years later.

and the military are more used to it than most and play for bigger stakes.

Arnhem - was it worth it?
Dambusters - was it worth it?
Monte Cassino - was it worth it?
The Somme - was it worth it?

They all added up to something and hindsight is a poor guide going forward

[EcclesCake]

Doing something is better than doing nothing as far as I'm concerned.

I absolutely hate seeing the comments describing Afghanistan as a hellhole or worse. In Kabul it is filled with hope and ambition for a future that, thanks to ISAF, maybe on the horizon.

It is a very complex country due to the tribalism but not all Afghans are members of the Taliban, something which seems to be forgotten with the sweeping statements I read on here.

[TWR]

RIP Lads, I never met you, you lost your life fighting someone else's
problems, was it worth it? Not when you get the likes of this Government charging your parents Bedroom tax, some squaddies living in damp Service houses.

RIP

[anneasquith]

was it worth it ? only the soldiers who were there and their families can answer that, but i am very thankful none of my children are in the armed forces.

[keyplus90]

World’s politics and war of dominance and resources but someone's children are being killed on both sides because of that.