troops at home

[stokemaveric]

what the hell is going on in this country when soldiers/raf personell are getting abused in the street whilst at home,and war memorials being vandalised.the scum who do this ought to realise that these people risk their lives so that they can go about theirs in safety.

[persianlady]

This is unbelievable. I would like to see these soldiers wear their uniform with pride. The thought of the scum who are doing this gaining any points makes my blood boil. Every soldier/raf/navy person out there has my respect.

[stokemaveric]

well said persianlady i cant believe that some people can stoop so low....

[Oneeyedvic]

Firstly, i do not condone any abuse on any individual (whether they be in uniform or civilians).

Now, think of every conflict that the armed forces have been involved with in the last 50 years and tell me how the armed forces have helped me 'go about in safety?'

Compare this to say the German Army who have a similar amount of personnel (around 100,000) - and think of all the conflicts that they have been involved with.

Now think about the second World War. Did the German people cheer on their soldiers, and did the German Army wear their uniform with pride? The answer is undoubtedly yes. Should they have, or should they have questioned their orders (as suggested at Nuremberg)?

I will repeat my first sentiment - I don't think people should abuse others - but this is not a clear cut issue to my mind (though there is never an excuse to vandalise war memorials)

[tubeway]

It has gone on for years - when I was doing my basic training at Ash Vale in 1978/9 - we used to get verbally abused by civilians when we went into Aldershot or Camberley. We could not get out of it by weraing civvies either - our hair (most men wore their hair long then) made us stand out a mile.

[brionon]

I used to wear my uniform in L/ 'A, England and NO one was EVER rude to me .

[naomi24]

Roaldo, Democracy doesn't give anyone the right to abuse others though. There's no excuse for that, and anyone who condones what's happening here should be utterly ashamed.

[naomi24]

But we're not talking about freedom of speech, are we Roaldo? We're talking about senseless abuse - and wanton destruction, which in itself is a criminal act. I'm well acquainted with Voltaire's wisdom, and couldn't agree with anything more. However, the perpetrators of these disgraceful acts have probably never heard of Voltaire - much less understand his philosophy - or the principles of democracy. They're nothing but brainless morons who have no appreciation of the freedoms they've gained as a result of thousands suffering the horrors of war and sacrificing their lives on behalf of this country. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can excuse this behaviour. Shame on them.

[Oneeyedvic]

Firstly, I can't see anything on google about war memorials being vandalised (at least nothing recent) - a link would be useful.

Secondly, it is worth clarifying that the airman were verbally abused.

Verbal abuse takes many forms, and if I passed someone in the street and said "Stop fighting the war you coward, stand up to the government. Stop killing innocent people" etc etc, this could be classed as verbal abuse.

One of the problems with this story is that there are conflicting stories about who shouted the abuse and nothing has been said about what form the abuse has taken. But even without the facts, there are still plenty of people (including politicians who should know better) who have an opinion.

[anotheoldgit]

We do not know for certain who hurled this abuse at these RAF personel.

Apparently Peterborough has a large Pakistani community so I think we can assume some of the abuse came from that quarter.

If this was the case I wonder what would have happened if the RAF personal had returned some abuse back at them. All talk of the right of free speach would then have gone out of the window, and arrests would have been made on the grounds of racialism.

Shouting such abuse as "Stop fighting the war you coward,
"Stop killing innocent people" to a service man or woman can be even more insulting than using an abbreviated word for a person from Pakistan.

Ir's called living in a democracy which gives people the right to express their opinions.

[Oneeyedvic]

Apparently Peterborough has a large Pakistani community so I think we can assume some of the abuse came from that quarter.

Ah yes, the AOG guide to life - if there was abuse, it must have been from the foreigners.....

Even your favorite paper, the Daily Heil doesn't think that: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles /news/news.html?in_article_id=527848

It said the situation was serious enough for RAF Police to fear for the safety of personnel, but would not reveal details. The MoD stressed that the abuse did not come from any particular community such as Muslims, but was from 'a cross-section."

Still, why let facts get in the way of a bit of Muslim baiting.