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The Veterans’ Magazine
Issue 27 | 21 July 2016
All the best...
A look back at the
first four months of
The Sandbag Times
Looking Back
Johnny Mercer MP, The
Invisible Veteran, The Veteran
Saint plus so much more
The SBT News
This week’s latest National
and International News from
the world of Veterans and
Armed Forces
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Contents
sBt news
4 tribute paid to street
attack soldier
Tributes have been paid to a
former soldier who died
after a streetattack
4 More troops to be sent
to Afghanistan
Another 50 troops to be
sent to bolster forces
already in Afghanistan
5 two Paras to be
investigated
Two Soldiers from the
Parachute Regiment are to
be quizzed over the killing
of an IRA man in 1972
6 Veteran suicide after
being turned away from VA
The Family of a veteran is
asking for answers after he
committed suicide
Prince Harry - the soldier Prince Page 18
Features
14 22 A Day
Veteran Suicide in the US at
an all time high. The SBT
investigates
20 our Military Roots
A look at the history of the
Army Air Corps with Ricky
HMs Illustrious - Death of a Lady Page 20
sponsors
Regular
25 the Historical tommy
Atkins
HTA takes a look at the
occupation of the Channel
Islands
32 Have Faith
This week: Worry
42 sBt Information
A page dedicated to back
issues, information, book
reviews etc
51 Veterans Radio stations
What’s happening on your
favourite radio stations
53 time for a nAAFI Break
Fun & Games on the final
pages. We are always
looking for new ideas and
competitions from you
editor: Pablo Snow
tel: 01905 570590
email: [email protected]
www.sandbagtimes.com
3|
Tributes paid to street attack soldier
A man who died following a
street disturbance has been
named as former soldier
Thomas Julian Sloman. The
27-year-old's family has
paid tribute describing him
as a devoted father,
boyfriend, brother, grandson
and nephew. They said:
"He was deeply loved by all
his family and friends. It
had been his honour to serve
his country as a member of
the Welsh Guards. He
served in Afghanistan. "He
had recently left the Army
and was looking forward to
the next chapter of his life.
He was a good guy with a
heart of gold, and will be
sorely missed by all who
loved and knew him.'" More
More British Troops Will Be Sent To Afghanistan
Britain will send dozens
more troops to Afghanistan
as the country's security
situation continues to
deteriorate. The Prime
Minister will announce the
deployment of up to 50 more
military personnel. There are
still 450 British troops in
Afghanistan, who had been
due to return the the UK at
the end of this year but will
now have their tours
extended into next year. The
50 additional personnel will
mostly help to train the
Afghan security forces: 21
will join the counterterrorism missions, 13 will
join the NATO Resolute
Support mission and 15 will
be involved in leadership
training at the Afghan army's
officer training academy.
The UK handed control of
the country to Afghan troops
in October 2014, after a war
that cost the lives of 453
soldiers.At the time, Defence
Secretary Michael Fallon
said that Afghanistan was
"no longer a safe haven for
terrorists". The news comes
after US President Barack
Obama announced that he
will keep the remaining
8,400 US troops in
Afghanistan for the rest of
his presidency. Read more
Army to be given new long range rifles
British troops are to be issued with a new infantry combat rifle
for the first time in 20 years to cope with the fierce fighting
conditions of the Afghan war. The Sharpshooter will use larger
7.62mm bullet rounds in order to engage with Taliban fighters
over longer distances. The change comes after the military
found that the standard Nato 5.66 rounds lost velocity at ranges
over a thousand feet. The 5.56 rounds, used by the SA80
rifles, had proved adequate in previous conflicts in Iraq,
Kosovo and Sierra Leone where much of the exchanges had
taken place in urban battlegrounds. However, in the valleys and
mountains of Afghanistan the insurgents often start shooting
matches at distances of up to 2,500 feet. Read more here
|4
Soldier to receive
payout from MOD
over Iraq Vaccines
A former soldier is to receive
a pay-out after secret Gulf
War vaccinations to combat
anthrax left him with a
catalogue of debilitating
illnesses. Martin Budge
alleges the jabs have left him
unable to work and nearcrippled by lung disease
sarcoidosis, severe
headaches, eyesight
problems, tinnitus and
arthritis. The 56-year-old,
from Dudley, has just been
informed by a War Pensions
And Armed Forces
Compensation Panel that a
recommendation for
compensation will be made.
For Martin, who left the
forces through ill-health in
1992, it is the culmination of
a two-and-a-half-year battle.
He told the tribunal that his
case was muddied by a War
Office confession that vital
medical records had been
destroyed. Speaking after
the hearing, Martin, a former
warrant officer with the
Royal Regiment of Fusiliers,
said: “Am I bitter? Very
much so. “I’m not bitter
about the Army – I loved my
career – but I’m bitter about
the way I was treated
afterwards.” Part of that
bitterness stems from the
knowledge that the cocktail
of chemicals forced through
his veins was not needed.
The world now knows that
Saddam Hussein did not
possess the weapons of mass
destruction that drove this
country to war. The tyrant
had developed a range of
bio-weapons but chemical
weapons were never used on
our troops. Martin, now on
disability benefit after being
forced to quit his job as a BT
engineer through ill-health,
had a 19-year career in the
Army. He served in the first
Gulf War, where he first saw
action in Iraq and Kuwait
from 1990 to 1991, but left
in 1992. Read more here
NeWS
Two Para’s face prosecution over IRA Shooting
Two former paratroopers
face prosecution after
being ‘thrown to the
wolves’ over the shooting
dead of an IRA
commander more than 40
years ago. The exsoldiers had twice been
assured they would not
be hauled before the
courts for gunning down
Republican hitman Joe
McCann at the height of
the Troubles. The British
Army pair co-operated
with Northern Ireland’s
Historical Enquiries
Team (HET), which
reviewed the case in
2010, and were told by
Veteran who was conned gives back.
A WW2 veteran who was conned out
of his precious life savings and
became the centre of a local
fundraising campaign will give
£2,000 to a footballer who lost his
legs in a car crash. Cyril Banks, 91
had £9,000 stolen by con men
claiming to be the Met Police. After
more than £12,000 was raised for
him through a local radio station,
hero Cyril said he wanted to donate
some to 27-year-old Shaun Whiter
who was seriously injured in a hitand-run. Cyril said: "If I can help
him, I would be very happy."
Former NI solider starts charity
Victor Boumonte has been trying to combat post-traumatic stress for
more than 27 years - and now the former solider is helping others as
well as himself. The 54-year-old left the Army in 1985 after serving
his country for six years. He decided to leave after he struggled to
come to terms with horrors he witnessed during time spent in
Northern Irleand. The father-of-three spent 13 months on the streets
of London after leaving the forces and has suffered with depression,
anxiety, sleeping problems, arthritis and fibromyalgia and says his
life hasn't been the same since. Victor, who cannot walk unaided, is
now on the long road to recovery and has founded a charity which
aims to help veterans facing similar problems. Frontline Veterans
Support was founded in 2012 and Victor wants to help as many
people as possible adapt to civilan life after leaving the forces.
Frontline Veterans Support pride themselves in offering practical
support and have transformed people's gardens and homes in the
past, as well as providing food, collected from the local food bank.
investigators that the
matter was closed. But in
May this year, the
soldiers were informed
that the files had been
passed to Northern
Ireland’s Public
Prosecution Service.
It means the men, who
served with the 1st
Battalion Parachute
Regiment, could be
ordered to stand trial for
the 1972 Belfast killing –
and face jail if convicted.
Last Friday one of the
men – identified as
Soldier C – expressed
anger at events being
dredged up after 44
years. The 65-year-old
believes the investigation
is politically motivated
and designed to appease
IRA families. His anger
was echoed by military
veterans and politicians.
They compared the
paras’ treatment to that of
suspected IRA bomber
John Downey, who
escaped prosecution for
the 1982 Hyde Park
terror blast, which left
four soldiers and seven
horses dead, because he
was given a police
guarantee he was
immune from
prosecution. Read more
World War II RAAF Pilot Passes Away
Bob Cowper passed away just
ahead of his 94th birthday in
his home in Adelaide,
Australia. A former squadron
leader and fighter pilot in
World War II, Cowper was one
of the last, if not the last,
flying ace from that war.
Cowper was the leader of the
456th RAAF Night Fighters.
He survived dozens of
missions and two crashes in his
Mosquito airplane. He was
awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross (with bar) for
gallantry, the Medal of the
Order of Australia (OAM) and
the French Legion of Honour,
for his actions at Normandy
during D-Day. “I remember
on the first night of D-Day
(June 6, 1944) the squadron
shot down four aircraft near
Normandy,” he recollected
back in 2014. “Altogether, I
think we shot down about 35
aircraft over the beach and our
squadron was proud to have
been part of the entire
operation that created history
and helped end the war in
Europe.” He joined the RAAF
on his 18th birthday in June of
1940. His exploits as an ace
were collected in his
biography, Chasing Shadows,
released in 2007.
5|
NeWS
Canadian Army
mission in Africa
'coming soon,' says
defence chief
Veteran Commits Suicide After Being Turned Away
From VA Medical Center, Family Wants Answers
A Marine struggling with PTSD and addiction reached out to the VA Medical Center in Iowa City but he
was not admitted. The 33-year-old veteran from Wisconsin committed suicide last Friday. Marine and
Army National Guard Veteran Brandon Ketchum's loved ones now want answers from VA officials about
why he didn't get the help he wanted. Ketchum served three tours of duty, two as a combat engineer
searching for explosives in Iraq. His service took a toll. Ketchum's girlfriend says he was in a bad place
and was abusing drugs. She says he drove from his home in the Quad Cities to the Iowa City VA Medical
Center where he had seen the same psychiatrist for more than a year. He asked to be admitted to the
psych ward but she says the doctor refused. A few days later, Ketchum took his own life. His mother
now wants to know, after giving so much to his country, why he couldn't get the help he was seeking.
"If he was asking for help, and if he had been there, if he had gotten their help before, why, why was he
turned away?" said Beverly Kittoe. "Would it have hurt them so bad to say, OK, we'll trust you and let's
just do what you think is best for you and get you in here. Because them second-guessing him led to
this," said Kristine Nichols, Ketchum's girlfriend. A spokesperson for the Iowa VA Medical Center
would not comment on Ketchum's case, citing privacy laws. The VA did say he would not have been
denied inpatient treatment due to a lack of space at the facility.
NATO summit ends with
pledge of more Canadian
trainers for Iraq
The Trudeau government ended the NATO
leaders summit in Warsaw on Saturday by
pledging to contribute additional military
trainers to Iraq for the alliance's program to
improve the ability of security forces in that
country to detect and defuse roadside bombs.
The promise came just hours after the Western
allies also agreed to send surveillance planes to
monitor the airspace over Syria and Iraq. Talk
of a more assertive Russia and the
consequences of placing a brigade of troops in
eastern Europe faded into the background as
instability across the Middle East and North
Africa dominated day two of the summit. To
read more on this story click here
|6
Canada's new top soldier says
the army has enough troops to
carry out missions in Iraq,
Ukraine, Latvia and whatever
peacekeeping assignments the
new Liberal government deems
necessary. The statement by
Lt.-Gen. Paul Wynnyk — who
officially took over as
commander of the Canadian
Army on Thursday — will be
put to the test very soon, as the
country's most senior military
commander said a new
deployment to Africa was
imminent. In a conference call
Wednesday, Defence Minister
Harjit Sajjan publicly confirmed
the Liberal government is
considering participation in a
number of United Nations
peacekeeping missions. But
just where and when a new
deployment will occur is still
being decided, he said. Gen.
Jonathan Vance told dignitaries
at the rain-soaked change of
command ceremony on
Parliament Hill that coming
"very soon" there will be a
capacity-building mission in
Africa. The burgeoning number
of deployments, either ongoing
or planned, is not a problem,
says Wynnyk, who until
recently was head of military
intelligence. "If and when the
government decides they would
like us to deploy somewhere,
the Canadian Army stands ready
to deploy troops to that
particular theatre." At the
moment, the military has an
assigned strength of 68,000 fulltime members and 27,000 parttimers or reservists. But a
defence department report
tabled in the House of
Commons last January shows
there's a shortage of nearly
1,900 regular force members
across the entire Armed Forces.
Read more here
NeWS
Missing Soldiers, Mistakenly Buried With The
enemy, Identified and Returned Home
Pfc. Lawrence S. Gordon
was killed during World
War II. His remains were
mistakenly turned over
by the U.S. military to
the Germans and buried
in a German cemetery in
Huisnes-Sur-Mer, France.
Thanks to Jed Henry, a
Wisconsin filmmaker
who figured out what had
happened to the missing
soldier, Gordon’s remains
were flown last
Wednesday on a
commercial American
Airlines flight to
Chicago. They were
Korean War veteran, 86, receives
highest civilian honor
An 86-year-old Korean War
veteran received the
Congressional Gold Medal
during a bedside ceremony last
month at Fort Sam Houston’s
San Antonio Military Medical
Center. “Not many people
receive this medal; I feel very
proud,” Staff Sgt. Jose DiazRivas said as he accepted the
nation’s highest civilian award.
He served with the 65th Infantry
Regiment, a Puerto Rico-based
Army unit that distinguished
itself during the Korean War,
fighting in nine of 10 campaigns
during the conflict. Soldiers
assigned to the regiment
received 2,771 Purple Hearts,
606 Bronze Stars, 256 Silver
Stars, 10 Distinguished Service
Crosses and a Medal of Honor
for their heroism in Korea, the
statement said.
The entire unit received the
honor on April 13 in Washington
D.C., but failing health
prevented Diaz-Rivas from
attending the ceremony. His
family and friends thought a
medal in the mail wouldn’t be
good enough, though, and Col.
Jeffrey Johnson, commander of
Brooke Army Medical Center,
agreed to present the award in
person. Read more here
escorted by an officer
from the U.S. European
Command and a special
military escort from
Washington, DC. The
Illinois National Guard
provided the honors
plane-side. They
delivered the flag-draped
casket to a hearse. The
hearse was escorted by
Illinois Patriot Guard
Riders and Illinois State
Police to the Wisconsin
Welcome Center near
Beloit. There, Wisconsin
Patriot Guard members
and the Wisconsin State
Patrol took over the
escort to the University
of Wisconsin Hospital.
He was a member of the
US Army’s
Reconnaissance
Company of the 32nd
Armored Regiment His
remains will leave
Wisconsin for Canada on
August 6th. They will be
interred for the final time
in his hometown of
Eastend, Saskatchewan,
Canada, near the graves
of his father and two
brothers. To read more
please click on this link
Military women honored at AVTT Traveling
Vietnam Wall
In addition to Sunday being the
closing ceremonies for the
AVTT Traveling Wall, it was
also dedicated to the military
women of the Vietnam War.
There was time dedicated to
thanking and recognizing the
heroic women who served as
Vietnam era vets, as well as
women who are currently
active in the military or who
served in other wars. When
the planned speaker was
unable to attend the closing
ceremony at the last minute,
several military women in the
audience stepped up to speak.
The women, who were
Vietnam era vets, were
thankful for the unexpected
opportunity and expressed how
the wall coming to Marquette
has affected them and the
community. "The wall coming
here to Marquette has opened
up a lot for a lot of people
here," said Paula Paszke, a
U.S. Navy paramedic from
May 1974 to November 1975.
"The stories that I've heard,
and the grandparents talking to
their children and their
grandchildren that I've seen has
been wonderful."The memorial
wall includes the names of
eight women who died while
serving as Vietnam era vets in
the Vietnam War.
7|
News Special
Gloucester Airport takes action after seeing this picture
As Britain faced its darkest days during the
Second World War, Ken Farlow was making
sure that vital planes were able to keep
defending the country. And now, over 70
years on, Ken has been reunited with a Spitfire
after facing a final battle of his own. Ken,
who lives in Painswick, is 95 years old and
suffers from terminal colon cancer. Upon
telling his daughter that he would like to see a
spitfire aircraft again, he found himself
receiving VIP treatment at Gloucestershire
Airport, meeting pilots and getting up close
and personal with the iconic aircraft once
again. Ken is originally from Yorkshire, but
moved to the county in 1974. During the war,
Ken was a chartered electrical engineer,
spending time in Syria and Palestine working
on spitfires and hurricanes. And now, after
telling his daughter Helen how much he would
like to see a spitfire again, she and her husband
Carl surprised him by taking him to
Gloucestershire Airport. Helen took an
emotive photograph of her poorly father sitting
behind the fence, looking longingly at the
planes, and Darren
Lewington, director of
operations at the
airport, decided to
invite him for a proper
visit after seeing it
online. And it was a
huge success, bringing
life back to the
veteran. Helen said:
"Dad was really
poorly a few weeks
ago. He was bed
ridden and we thought
we were going to lose
him. I was having a
normal conversation with him and I asked in a
roundabout way what would he like to see. He
mentioned a few things and then said he would
love to see the spitfire again. He knows time
is precious, especially now."
And upon Ken's special visit airside, he was
escorted into the hangar where the Spitfire and
Hurricane were. The ground crew of the
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight spent time
talking to Ken, listening to his stories and
experiences working on the aircraft. Helen
said: "I have not heard him talk that much in
so long. He has loved every minute of it. I
was watching his eyes and he was getting
tearful and joyful at the same time. It brought
life back into him." Read more here
Would you
like to get
better
sleep?
Learn a skill that could stop sleep
disturbances, improving sleep and daily functioning.
We're looking for ex-servicemen/ women of any age from any
service (regular or reserve) who are currently experiencing at
least one traumatic nightmare per week, to volunteer to take
part in a 2hr group session as part of a research study.
The approach is non-invasive, doesn't involve drugs or therapy
and you won't be asked to share any information or talk about
your past experiences.
Approved by the Help for Heroes Research Approvals Committee and
Anglia Ruskin University’s Ethics Committee
|8
Spaces are limited and group sessions are
being held at your local Help for Heroes
Recovery Centre in 2016.
THE NEXT SESSION IS:
04th August - Cardiff
Contact Justin Havens now to register
or ask any questions:
[email protected]
07976 724181
TH
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AUGUST 2016
2016
•
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•
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Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
ILY
M
A
Red Arrows Flyover
F
T
A GREA END!
Military Vehicle Displays
WEEK
Vintage Military & Classic Aircraft
Air Display • Arena Action • Tanks
Pleasure flights in a Devon
0AM
1
N
E
P
Living History Displays
O
GATES H DAYS
Tank Rides
BOT
Militaria Stalls • Food Stalls • Beer Tent
Main Marquee Entertainment
Care After Combat
Contact
Nicole Dopson
Telephone
01604 647770
Email
[email protected]
Website
www.rewardsforforces.co.uk
June 28, 2016
REWARDS FOR FORCES – REWARDING THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED OUR COUNTRY
When we heard that a member of the Armed Forces, who had recently returned from military
operations, was denied a discount in a major high street store, but a student in front of him was
given one, we knew we had to act.
Reward for Forces is a national discount scheme that offers serving members of the forces, veterans and their families’ premium discounts and benefits - Rewarding those that have served
our country.
Armed Forces servicemen and women, past and present, can sign up for 1000’s of fantastic
discounts including: Restaurants, Theme Parks and Attractions, Theatre Breaks, Health and
Fitness, Sport & Outdoors, Motoring & Car Hire, Holidays and Travel, Short Breaks, Special
Occasions, Phones & Computers, and Insurance.
You can sign up for FREE at www.rewardsforforces.co.uk to access all our online discounts.
****************
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Nicole Dopson at 01604
647770 or email at [email protected].
| 10
Have you served in the Armed Forces?
Katherine NEEDS YOU to help your fellow Veterans.
Care after Combat is looking
to recruit Mentors to
join the team...
Become a Mentor today!
0300 343 0255
[email protected]
The Veteran Saint
Ex-Soldier Chris Wieczorek becomes Saviour to homeless veterans
CHRIS Wieczorek served in Iraq and Northern Ireland but now has a booming
property business and is keen to help former comrades who have fallen on hard
times. Now once again Chris comes to the rescue to help a Fijian solider who has
been abandoned by the country he served.
C
hris offered Semesa, known as Sam, a onebedroom flat in Falkirk rent-free for six
months as he fights his case to stay in the UK.
He said: “A pal flagged up this lad’s plight. It’s
shocking. It was the same with the Gurkhas. These
guys fought for our country, yet this is the
treatment they get. I felt I had to do something.”
Sam, 35, has been living in legal limbo in
Edinburgh since 2012. He has no right to work,
can’t claim benefits or housing and is being
supported by his nursery nurse girlfriend, who
struggles to provide for them both.
Chris has homed 7 Veterans in the last 6
months with more in the pipeline including giving
a homeless ex-squaddie a rent-free home and a job
after a heart warming appeal on social media.
John Paul Gillespie, a former private in the Royal
Logistic Corps started working with Chris in
November 2015.
| 12
Other soldier that have been helped by Chris
include Steven Paterson and Richard Storer who
was living in his car until the big hearted property
developer offered him a flat in Falkirk.
Unfortunately Sam and Richard didn’t take Chris
up on his kind offer but this has not deterred him
from helping others
The father of two from Bo'ness, known as
Wizz, runs a very successful property business
known as Wizz Properties Ltd as well as a support
page, Wizz Helps Veterans.
The Sandbag Times recognises Chris as one of
our true heroes and a credit to humanity through
his selfless acts towards his fellow veterans. Well
done Chris!!
A Song for a Hero
‘A Song for a Hero’ rides once again
September 2015, saw the launch of what was 4
years hard work for two local Worcester
veterans. It had been a demanding, sometimes
frustrating but thoroughly rewarding project
since its conception in 2011. The result was
simply spectacular. The show itself raised
almost £1,000 for the Veterans Charity, Care
After Combat.
S
ince then it has performed in London
supporting Jim Davidson OBE. But after a
long Christmas break the show is set to make
its return . A Song For A Hero is currently
producing a smaller show which will be played in
local venues with the cast singing the songs minus
the band. With new songs being added to the
repertoire the show is set to stun yet again. Our first
outing being in The Lamb & Flag for the Worcester
Veterans Breakfast Club on 23rd April 2016. A
major stage show is also planned for later this year
in Manchester although dates are still to be
confirmed with other stage shows being considered.
But where did the show come from? The story
of the show began from a very real veteran in the
midst of PTSD. Without going into the gory
details the writer was put on Cognitive Behaviour
Therapy to help with the devastating symptoms.
His therapist suggested writing down his thoughts.
Shortly after things got too much to handle and he
planned a suicide attempt. Things just could not
have got any worse, life had fallen apart
completely and there seemed no further escape.
The plan was to drive to the Brecon Beacons, the
one place he loved and felt safe, and perform the
final task there. On the journey one line came into
his mind that was to turn his life around. “Where
do we go when the killing ends.” He stopped,
cried, turned his car around and began to recover.
This one line proved to be the basis of a song
which was written called “When the Killing Ends”
which, in turn, was the original building block for
the show. His counselling continued as well as the
writing until he wrote the poem ‘A Tale of
Remembrance’ which finally broke the grip PTSD
had on him. He cried solidly for almost two days
after writing the poem, which incidentally only
took him two hours. All of the suppressed
emotions finally released themselves in one go.
The recovery process was finally here. A move to
a new town brought him to Worcester where he
met with local music guru, Vince Ballard. Vince
owned a recording studio and a date was set to
acoustically record ‘When the Killing Ends’.
Vince was in tears at the end of the song and the
bond was formed. That was in 2013. Two years
later a friendship grew, the project was born, the
album was produced and the show released. And
so the story continues...
13 |
22 Every Day
The truth behind US Veterans’ Suicides
I
have to admit, this is one of the
hardest articles I have ever had to
write. Suicide rates in Armed Forces
and Veterans in the UK was one every 4
days according to a recent report. A figure
that I found very hard to swallow in the
current climate. Many questions went
through my mind of how Veteran Care
was lacking so badly. And then I watched
a video on Facebook called ‘The 22’. It
was emotional, very hard hitting and told
of a figure I could not believe.
Twenty Two Veterans a day commit
suicide in the United States according to
the VA. Yes, the USA is vastly bigger than the UK
but nevertheless I could not swallow this figure. I had
to find out why.
The cause is widely publicised and does not differ
between the US and UK. The simple truth is Combat
Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the sole
contributory factor.
Since the start of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflict
in 2003, the world has seen an increase in soldiers
and veterans suffering from mental health disorders
or should I say it is now more in the public eye than it
ever has been before. It has always been there and has
always been a problem. If we take a look at the
suicide age groups 31% were under 50, that is young
men in the prime of their lives, while a staggering
69% were over 50. This leads me to believe that some
of these Veterans were from the Gulf War of 1991,
maybe even stretching back to Viet Nam.
We can sit and blame our governments and
institutions all day long for why this is happening but
it will not change a thing. We can criticise the
departments that are stretched to the limits for not
helping enough but in the end they can do no more
| 14
6,500 former military personnel killed
themselves in 2012. More veterans
succumbed to suicide than were killed in
Iraq. In 2012.
177 active-duty soldiers committed suicide,
conversely 176 soldiers were killed in combat.
In other words, more soldiers committed suicide
compared to being killed in action. In 2012, the
study concluded that Army had the highest
number of suicides compared to any other
service branch.
In 2013, the United States Department of
Veterans Affairs released a study that covered
suicides from 1999 to 2010, which showed that
roughly 22 veterans were committing suicide
per day, or one every 65 minutes. Some sources
suggest that this rate may be undercounting
suicides. A recent analysis found a suicide rate
among veterans of about 30 per 100,000
population per year, compared with the civilian
rate of 14 per 100,000. However, the
comparison was not adjusted for age and sex.
97% was male and 69% were 50 or older.
than they already are.
At the end of the day, we are in a climate where
we are asking our brave men and women to do the
unthinkable in the most hostile conditions. How can
we not expect this to affect our troops?
It appears to me that society as a whole has been
blind to these issues, not just those in office or those
that work in our charities or Veterans Care
departments, so my question is who really is to blame
for this situation? Is it all of us? No. These statistics
come from a whole range of reasons, most of which
is almost impossible to control.
22 every day...
Combat veterans are not only more likely to have suicidal
ideation, often associated with posttraumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) and depression, but they are more likely to act on a
suicidal plan. Especially since veterans may be less likely to
seek help from a mental health professional, non-mentalhealth physicians are in a key position to screen for PTSD,
depression, and suicidal ideation in these patients.
Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine
The statement from the Cleveland Clinic Journal
of Medicine hits on one of the very reasons why I
feel it is difficult to assign blame to anyone. The
Veteran is less likely to seek help from a mental
health professional. That very same thing was said in
the House of Commons only last week by Johnny
Mercer MP when he stood up and spoke of Veterans
Care.
As this article shows, we can spend forever
blaming each other for the issues our veterans face.
To me, it is not about blame or why it has happened.
Those issues are not important when we look at the
individual veteran. To me, it is about three things.
Acceptance, Recognition and Education.
We have to accept that this is a current issue that
we must embrace wholeheartedly if we are to find a
solution. Avoiding the subject, looking for blame,
passing the buck or looking for fault in the past will
never produce answers. Accept the issue and tackle it
head on. Isn’t that the way of a warrior?
Recognition of the symptoms of these illnesses
within our veterans is vital. Recognise that they are
different because of what they have done. Recognise
the tell-tale signs that may manifest in veterans but
most of all recognise that we ALL have a job to do in
defeating these tragic statistics.
Finally, education is the key to the future battle.
Only when we have learnt thoroughly about the silent
enemy can we be fully equipped to defeat it. We can
learn how to treat and support veterans effectively in
the simplest of ways. Education is also vital in the
community. Education breeds understanding.
Maybe these things will work in an ideal world,
who knows. It’s just one man’s thoughts. But I must
say I have seen for myself the power of these three
factors in my own community. How one organisation
made the difference to so many.
When I read about ‘The 22’ in the States I needed
to read the facts. The incredible revelation I had is I
found myself unable to point a finger. As long as man
goes to war this problem will exist. But instead of
pointing the finger of blame I find myself holding out
a hand to help. Something that I have learned from
our very own Veterans Breakfast Clubs. If we all did
this I am sure that ttragic figure would fall.
One veteran a year is too much. 22 a day is a
national tragedy. Thankfully since these reports the
US Government has battled to ensure these veterans
get the help they need. I am confident now that they
are slowly starting to win the fight. But the fact
remains that they or the organisations they employ
cannot do this on their own. They need their country's
support. That is not just a lesson for our neighbours.
It is one we should follow on our own home shores.
15 |
Canada Calling
Canada
Calling
TheCanuckConnection
Greetings my fellow Veterans, wherever you may be. I can say this in
these days of Internet, Instagram, Skype etc. What a lot of changes in
this world, communications wise.
Not simply from the 1940s till today, but the changes in
communications for our military. As far back or as near back in 1973,
dependant upon your age, I was serving in the United Nations
peacekeeping in Cairo Egypt. No internet, few if any telephones with
which to call home. I am sure that many of you remember those days.
How did we cope?
As many of us used to joke about the “Jimmies” that being the RC Sigs.
We were in awe of them allowing us one 3 minute call per month. This
was not as simple as dialling long distance. Rather the duty signaller
would bounce a signal of the Ionosphere, aiming for Canada. Ham
operators would pick up the squawk, and call your home number from
where he/she was sitting. When you reached the family,
communication was one way. Meaning that you had to say OVER after
your last sentence in order for the Ham operator and the duty signaller
to switch communications.
Then came extremely expensive
Satellite phones. Today a soldier can
skype his family from far flung
corners of the world. In saying this I
am sitting at a steading in Banchory
Scotland and writing a column called
“Canada Calling”. So in case I never
said it before, Thank You RC Sigs.
The Camaraderie between Corps and
Regiments is something to be proud
of. This carries on through to our Veteran years. With organisations
like the Breakfast Clubs. I was happy to see in the last issue the article
on the Breakfast Club in France. Canada also has breakfast clubs in
both Winnipeg and Quebec City. They truly are international.
One very significant invention from Simon Fraser University in British
Columbia will assist combat troops in the field.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-bioniccanadian-invention-may-power-us-military/article30914718/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/us-militarytakes-sfu-power-generating-project-for-a-test-walk/article30908692/
In one month from the day of Publication, 21 August, I will be
attending the RCASC Rendevous in Camp Borden Ontario. Home of
our Corps the RCASC, but with even more pride, the birthplace of the
RCASC Apprentice Soldiers. Drivers, Clerks and Cooks graduated
from this Camp. Which is 100 years old this year.
Of our many graduates in the Corps one particular apprentice, guided
me as my platoon officer in 1 Tpt Coy. Soest Germany.
| 16
The final word on the RCASC Apprentice training has been reserved
for our LONGEST SERVING apprentice soldier (at the time of
Publishing in 2011) he had been in uniform for 55 years.
Our one and only Robert “Bob” Baxter
Reflecting on The RCASC Soldier
Apprentice Plan and our comrades’,
you will see that our brotherhood
served extremely well in most Army
Corps and Branches (some even wore
dark and light blue) of the three
Services, in many challenging and
interesting jobs.
RCASC Soldier Apprentices have
also been very successful in many
high profile civilian disciplines.
Within reason, you name it and a
RCASC Apprentice graduate has
done it. The span of ‘things’ that Apprentices have done in our society
is even more impressive when you consider we had a short 14 year
history (the last graduation parade was on 27 July 1967) with a total
successful roll of less than 900 graduates.
The Apprentices took many non focused, marginally motivated, 16 year
old boys who in the main were not stellar or interested students and in
two years encouraged most of us, to start thinking seriously about our
future in more serious terms. Boy soldiers became real men and most
set goals and aspirations to do well in the real army or in some cases
started to plan in earnest a return to civilian life as better citizens after
their initial five year engagement. Although I was, and still am a very
proud Apprentice, I never clearly understood how attached I was to
these roots until I attended the first RCASC Apprentice Reunion
Exercise Green Flash 78. This REUNION was the most emotional
period of my military career. I did more ‘male’ hugging and shed more
tears than at anytime prior or since. Like scanning Robby’s first draft, it
made me understand the different and varied paths that we had all taken
but we were still dedicated Green Monsters in our hearts and in our
souls. To cap it off we were flown to and from the Reunion by exApprentices Hal Swain and Dave Winmill. It was a wonderful
happening and I thanked the initiators many, many times for this
Reunion. Most Apprentices prime loyalty was to the Apprentices with
secondary loyalty to the RCASC, the Army and everything else.
Although we are now (+ / -) 70 years young, sadly about 100+ of us are
already on the Advance Party; our reunions are full of enthusiasm and
everyone who is not there is talked about mostly with “good” thoughts.
I believe a few words about serving with RCASC Apprentices is
appropriate. When I graduated from the Apprentices in 1958, I went
down the road to 3 Tpt Coy RCASC with about 50 others and we all
had the hope of going to Germany so we would have a firm base for
going to Amsterdam and Copenhagen (we had heard the stories).
When many of us arrived in Germany in 1959, we were greeted in 1
Tpt Coy RCASC by several/many Apprentices from earlier Pls
especially 5, 6 & 7 Pls. We met I believe, our first full ex-Apprentice
Cpl, Bill Courtice. I served with Apprentices after that in almost every
posting; even in NDHQ – we shared our misery. I served in one unit
where the CO, Adjt, RSM, two CSMs, the ETMS, RQMS and many of
the other very key players were ex-Apprentices. This should speak
volumes about the value of our Apprentice training.
There was an unspoken strong bond am ong apprentices but day to day
it was care-fully used. In almost every instance, Apprentices were
objective and fair when dealing with each other especially during the
work day. Also the big system became favourable towards exApprentices, and as time went on the RCASC Apprentice Brand was
rising to the top in many units. CWOs, MWOS and so on graced these
units with their leadership, technical expertise and determination with a
real professional flare. We became of age in the Cdn Forces.
The greatest opening line on several of my PERs was...Baxter an exsoldier Apprentice……….WHAT A GREAT HONOUR
TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER – GREEN MONSTERS
With my kindest personal best wishes,
Bob Baxter
12 Platoon
Truro,NS
26 October 2011
That’s it folks except for our wee bit of humour:
A 10 year old boy was tasked to ask
a veteran about World War II. Since
his grandfather had served in the
army during the war, he chose him.
After a few basic questions, he very
gingerly asked, “Did you ever kill
anyone?” Grandad got quiet. Then,
in a soft voice he said, “Probably. I
was a cook.”
On That Note: have a great week.
Nil Sine Labore
Robby
17 |
Prince Harry – The Soldier Prince
From the moment Prince Harry joined the Army in 2005 it was
clear that this was not going to be a typical ‘Royal’ military
career. He was going to be a soldier first.
F
rom the moment Prince Harry joined the
Army in 2005 it was clear that this was not
going to be a typical ‘Royal’ military
career. He was going to be a soldier first.
It all began at RMA Sandhurst in May 2005
where he became Officer Cadet Wales. 11
months later, he completed his Officer training
and entered the Blue and Royals as a Cornet
(Second Lieutenant). 2 years later he reached the
rank of lieutenant.
It was reported in early June 2007 that Harry
had arrived in Canada to train alongside soldiers of
the Canadian Forces and British Army, at CFB
Suffield, near Medicine Hat, Alberta. It was said
that this was in preparation for a tour of duty in
Afghanistan, where Canadian and British forces
were participating in the NATO-led
Afghan War. This was confirmed in
February the following year, when the
British Ministry of Defence revealed
that Harry had been secretly deployed
as a Forward Air Controller to
Helmand Province in Afghanistan.
The revelation came after the media –
notably, German newspaper Bild and
Australian magazine New Idea[ –
breached the blackout placed over the
information by the Canadian and
British authorities. It was later
reported that, while in Afghanistan,
| 18
Harry helped Gurkha troops repel an attack from
Taliban insurgents, and performed patrol duty in
hostile areas. His tour made Harry the first member
of the Royal Family to serve in a war zone since his
uncle, Prince Andrew, flew helicopters during the
Falklands War.
In October 2008, it was announced that Harry
was to follow his brother, father and uncle in
learning to fly military helicopters. After passing
the initial aptitude test, he was to undertake a
month-long course; if he passed that, he would
begin full flight training in early 2009. Harry had to
pass his flying assessment at the Army Air Corps
Base (AAC), Middle Wallop, the result of which
determined if he would continue on to train as a
pilot of the Apache, Lynx, or Gazelle helicopter.
Having reached the requisite standard, Harry
attended the Defence Helicopter Flying School at
RAF Shawbury, where he joined brother William.
Harry was presented with his flying brevet
(wings) by his father on 7 May 2010 at a
ceremony at the Army Air Corps Base (AAC),
Middle Wallop. Harry had let it be known that he
intended to fly Apache attack helicopters if he was
successful in passing the rigorous Apache training
course, after which time it could be possible for
him to see active military service once again on
the frontline in Afghanistan. During the ceremony,
he switched his Blues and Royals' Officer's
Service Dress cap for that of the Army Air Corps'
sky blue beret with a Blues and Royals badge.
On 10 March 2011, it was revealed that Harry
had passed his Apache flying test and he was
awarded his Apache Flying Badge on 14 April 2011.
There was speculation that he would return to
Afghanistan before the withdrawal in 2015. On 16
April 2011, it was announced that Harry had been
promoted to captain.
On 7 September 2012, Harry arrived at Camp
Bastion in southern Afghanistan as part of the
100-strong 662 Squadron, 3 Regiment, Army Air
Corps to begin a four-month combat tour as a copilot and gunner for an Apache helicopter. This
was considered a particular honour as most pilots
are required to sit in the "back seat" before being
promoted to gunner.
On 10 September, within days of arriving in
Afghanistan, it was reported that the Taliban
threatened his life. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah
Mujahid spoke to Reuters and was quoted as
saying; "We are using all our strength to get rid of
The Soldier Prince
him, either by killing or kidnapping," and "We
have informed our commanders in Helmand to do
whatever they can to eliminate him.
It was announced on 21 January 2013 that
Harry was returning from a 20-week deployment
in Afghanistan, where he served as an Apache copilot/gunner.
On 8 July 2013, the Ministry of Defence
announced that Harry had successfully qualified
as an Apache aircraft commander.
On 19 June 2015 , after serving just over 10
years, his career with the Army ended
Onwards and Upwards
On 6 March 2014, Prince Harry launched Invictus
Games, a Paralympic-style sporting event for
injured servicemen and women, which was held
on 10–14 September 2014. Prince Harry met
British hopefuls for the Invictus Games at
Tedworth House for the start of the selection
process on 29 April 2014. On 15 May 2014, Harry
attended a ticket sale launch for Invictus Games at
BT Tower, where he made a public tweet on the
Invictus Games' official Twitter account as the
President of Invictus Games
In January 2015, it was reported that Harry
would take a new role in supporting wounded
service personnel by working alongside members
of the London District's Personal Recovery Unit
for the MOD's Defence Recovery Capability
scheme to ensure that wounded personnel have
adequate recovery plans. The scheme was
established in partnership with Help for Heroes
and the Royal British Legion, the palace
confirmed weeks later.
After he left the army Prince Harry said he
wanted to dedicate the rest of his life to working
with ex-servicemen fighting mental health
problems, as he reveals he feels lucky to have
escaped Afghanistan alive.
As he prepared to join injured veterans on part
of their 1,000 mile walk across Britain, the Prince
said more needs to be done to help personnel with
“hidden” injuries.
The 31-year-old is patron of the Walking With
The Wounded Walk of Britain and today said as a
country “we need to do more” to get rid of the
stigma surrounding mental health issues.
He has previously spoken of the “very difficult”
transition to civilian life that former service
personnel face, particularly those who carry the
scars and burdens of the war. And in an interview
with ITV News he has made clear his life-long
commitment to helping people battling to overcome
grievous injuries, both physical and mental,
suffered in the line of duty.
"Mental health is a sensitive
subject but it doesn’t need to be,” he
said. “We need to talk about it more,
get rid of the stigma.
So, from Prince to soldier to pilot
to veteran to veterans champion,
there have been very few Royals,
and I say this with the greatest of
respect, that have proved themselves
so much as an icon who leads by
example in every sense of the word.
Yes, he will never be King but he
certainly has won the hearts and
respect of the nation.
19 |
HMS Illustrious: Britain's last
operational Aircraft Carrier set
to sail off into the Sunset
Falklands Warship to be scrapped after 32 years operational service
ritain's last working
aircraft carrier and the
final surviving warship
from the Falklands War is
heading for the scrap yard.
At least three proposals to
preserve HMS Illustrious
for alternative uses have
failed due to her size and the
cost of maintenance. The ship,
decommissioned in 2014, is now likely
to follow its sister carriers and be sent to
Turkey for scrap.
HMS Ark Royal was scrapped for £2.9
million in 2013 and HMS Invincible fetched
around £2 million in 2011. It is thought the
ship, which was rushed in to service for the
Falklands War and went on to sail 900,000
miles around the world on deployments, will
be sold before the autumn. The ship was
involved in the Bosnian, Iraq and Sierra
Leone conflicts and also helped to evacuate
Brits during the Lebanon war in 2006. She
was also involved in efforts to distribute relief
in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan in the
Philippines in 2013. Veterans who sailed on
Illustrious viewed her demise as sad but
inevitable.
David Rogers, Vice Chairman of the HMS
Illustrious Association: ‘We’re all very sad it’s
come to this obviously, but I think it was an
inevitability ‘The ship was conditioned in
1982. She was probably only designed to
last 20 years and she did another 12 years
after that.
‘It would be lovely for her to be an
attraction for the nation but I think it’s not
viable because of the cost involved. It’s
pretty sad really.
‘I sailed on her when she first went to
Vietnam. I had to call the captain who sailed
her then this morning and tell him the news.
He was sad, obviously. But it is what it is. It’s
a financial thing.’
B
The History
The Aircraft Carrier, HMS Illustrious is
actually the 5th Royal Navy vessel to bear
the name:
HMS Illustrious (1789) was a 74-gun
third rate, and launched at Buckler's Hard in
1789. She had two engagements against the
French Navy, at Toulon in 1793 and at Genoa
where she suffered severe damage and won
a battle honour. While returning home in tow
for repairs she ran aground due to an
extremely violent storm. Shortly afterwards
| 20
she
was set
ablaze and
abandoned.
HMS Illustrious
(1803) was launched at
Rotherhithe in 1803 and was like
her predecessor a 74-gun third rate. She
was involved in battles off the Basque
Roads, in which she won a battle honour,
and off Java in Indonesia. In 1854 she
became a training ship and continued as
one until she was broken up in 1868 in
Portsmouth.
HMS Illustrious (1896) was a Majesticclass battleship, launched in 1896 and
scrapped in 1920. Two of her 12-inch guns
were remounted in the Tyne Turrets.
HMS Illustrious (R87) was an Illustriousclass aircraft carrier commissioned in 1940.
In the same year she became the first carrier
to strike against an enemy fleet, and was in
service until 1954.
HMS Illustrious (R06) is an Invincibleclass aircraft carrier commissioned in 1982
and decommissioned in 2014. Awaiting to be
preserved for nation.
HMS Illustrious was a light aircraft carrier
of the Royal Navy and the second of three
Invincible-class ships constructed in the late
1970s and early 1980s. She was the fifth
warship and second aircraft carrier to bear
the name Illustrious, and was affectionately
known to her crew as "Lusty". In 1982, the
conflict in the Falkland necessitated that
Illustrious be completed and rushed south to
join her sister ship HMS Invincible and the
veteran carrier HMS Hermes. To this end,
she was brought forward by three months for
completion at Swan Hunter Shipyard, then
commissioned on 20 June 1982 at sea enroute to Portsmouth Dockyard to take on
board
extra stores
and crew. She
arrived in the
Falklands to relieve
Invincible on 28 August 1982 in a
steam past. Returning to the United
Kingdom, she was not formally
commissioned into the fleet until 20 March
1983. After the Falklands War, she was
deployed on Operation Southern Watch in
Iraq, then Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia
during the 1990s and Operation Palliser in
Sierra Leone in 2000. An extensive re-fit
during 2002 prevented her from involvement
in the 2003 Iraq War, but she was repaired in
time to assist British citizens trapped by the
2006 Lebanon War.
Following the retirement of her fixed-wing
British Aerospace Harrier II aircraft in 2010,
Illustrious operated as one of two Royal
Navy helicopter carriers. By 2014 she was
the oldest ship in the Royal Navy's active
fleet. (having 32 years' service) and will not
be replaced until HMS Queen Elizabeth is
commissioned in 2017. The UK Ministry of
Defence announced on 10 September 2012
that once decommissioned, Illustrious would
be preserved for the nation. Illustrious was
formally decommissioned on 28 August
2014. On 6 May 2016, the MOD's Disposal
Authority placed a notice for the potential
sale of HMS Illustrious.
HMS Illustrious
The outbreak of the Falklands War in April
1982 triggered a round the clock operation
to bring forward her completion by three
months. Uniquely commissioned at sea,
Illustrious sailed for the South Atlantic where
she relieved her battle hardened elder sister
Invincible and assumed responsibility for the
air defence of the Falkland Islands until the
extension of Stanley airfield’s runway was
completed in October 1982. This remarkable
deployment set the tone for an action
packed 32 years of active service in which
Illustrious steamed a total of 931,713 miles.
The ship’s flexibility was clearly
demonstrated by her ability to successfully
operate in the anti-submarine, strike,
commando, diplomatic, trade promotion and
humanitarian relief roles.
On returning from the South Atlantic in
1982, Illustrious assumed her designated
role of providing anti-submarine protection
for NATO’s Strike Fleet Atlantic in a series of
major exercises. Within hours of sailing as
the flagship of Global 86 Task Group,
Illustrious suffered a gearbox explosion.
Despite
the extensive
damage, Illustrious
rejoined the Task Group in
Singapore for the most significant
stages of the deployment after 13 weeks of
repairs followed by the 8882 mile high speed
passage from Portsmouth. In 1989Illustrious
paid off into reserve prior to a £156 million
modernisation in Devonport. When she was
recommissioned five years later, Illustrious
sailed to the Adriatic to help maintain the nofly zone over Bosnia. During a subsequent
tour of duty in the Adriatic in December
1995, she became one of the Royal Navy’s
first warships to directly operate under NATO
control. Members of the Ship’s Company
participated in the ceremonies to mark the
hand over of Hong Kong to China on 30
June 1997 while Illustriousremained on
standby over the horizon to provide
assistance if required. She deployed to the
Gulf for the first time in January 1998 to
assist the enforcement of the no-fly zone
over southern Iraq.The publication of the
Strategic Defence Review in July 1998
confirmed that the Invincible class would
spend their final years in commission
operating the widest range of aircraft in a
power projection role. This, coupled with the
routine embarkation of the newly formed
Joint Force 2000, ensured that they played a
crucial role in the development of tactics and
operating procedures for the Queen
Elizabeth class carriers.
In 2000, Illustrious undertook a further tour
of duty in the Gulf. During the return voyage,
a mechanical failure on board an Iranian
tanker at the head of the north bound convoy
forced the Fleet Flagship to spend 24 hours
trapped alongside in the Suez Canal. Shortly
afterwards, her involvement in a routine
NATO exercise was interrupted by the
deteriorating situation in Sierra Leone when
the British Government diverted the carrier to
provide air cover during the evacuation of
British nationals from the capital Freetown.
She remained on station when the UK’s
involvement in Sierra Leone extended to the
provision of stability in the area while
reinforcements arrived to strengthen the
United Nations peacekeeping force.
From 2001 to 2002, Illustrious supported
operations in Afghanistan following an
overnight conversion at sea from the strike to
the commando role. In 2006, along with
HMS Bulwark, HMS Gloucester,
HMS York, HMS St Albans
and RFA Fort
Victoria, she
So, at some point this year Great Britain’s
longest serving Aircraft Carrier will sail to its
final dock where it will be dismantled and
scrapped.
It still amazes me just how easily the fate
of this great lady can be decided through
something as simple as funding. Inevitably,
money makes the world go round and there
just wasn’t enough of it to keep her in a
more dignified home.
Understandably, in this day and age
everything has a price and the cost to keep
her was far too much to be justified.
So we say a fond farewell to the 5th HMS
Illustrious. I expect she will also be the last of
her line. Aircraft Carriers move into a new era
with the Queen Elizabeth class vessels ready
to go into battle with the F35 Lightning II as
their battle aircraft.
Vox Non Incerta
(No Uncertain Sound ) The motto of HMS
Illustrious 1982 – 2016)
helped
evacuate British
citizens from Beirut during
the Israel-Lebanon crisis. The
retirement of the proven Harrier triggered the
permanent conversion of Illustrious into a
commando carrier in 2011. Two years later,
during her final deployment East of Suez, she
was diverted to the Philippines to play a major
role in the international relief operation in the
wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan. Illustrious
concluded her active service by heading to
Rosyth to participate in HMS Queen Elizabeth’s
naming ceremony before returning to
Portsmouth for the last time on 22 July 2014.
21 |
Miltary Wives Choir
Thi year, legendary singer Lulu is going on tour
This
o , and taaki
k ng
the Military Wiives Choir with her. At each of her thirty five
UK tour dates, Lulu will perform her new single, ¶&U\· with a
different Militaary Wives Choir througghout March and April.
This is sometthing which has never been done beffore by a
mainstream artist and the Choirs are thrilled to be involved.
The song itself is inspired by /XOX·V diagnosis of PTSD from
the violence she experienced througghout her childhood and
the affinity it helped her to feel with soldiers sufffering from
the saame issue, albeit from different circumstaances. As such,
Lulu is generously donating all of the proceeds to the
Military Wives Choir Foundation charity.
In /XOX·V own words, ´376' is not just about ph
hysical scars;
LW·V about the emotional scars, and they run very deep. They
are enormous and very difficult to deal with. We need
HYHU\ERG\·V support.''
| 22
Sara Scott, Trustee of The Military Wives Choirs
Foundation, said, ´:H are delighted to team-up
up with the
amazing Lulu for the release of ¶&U\·«the opportunity for
different Military Wives Choirs to perform ¶&U\· with Lulu at
each date of her UK tour is such an honour.µ
The Military Wiives Choirs Foundation is paart of the SSAFA
family of charities ² as well as being a charity in its own right and aims to bring women in the militaary communit
nitty closer
togetther th
hrouggh singing. Being part of a Military Wives
Choir makes a positive difference to ZRPHQ·V lives by
improving well-being, building friendsh
hips and developing
skills. You can read more about the important work they do
here.
¶&U\· will be available to download and from Fridaay, 26th
February. It will also be available to buy at each of /XOX·V to
our
dates.
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| 24
The Historic Tommy Atkins
M
ay 9th 2016 marks the 71st anniversary
of Jersey’s liberation from German
occupation. This story is of particular
interest to me because my Gran and her family
were born and bred in Jersey. My Gran was 31
when the German’s invaded Jersey and was 36 on
liberation day. Soon after this she met my
Grandfather and was married, moving to England
where she lived out her remaining years. When I
was younger she used to tell us tales of when her
& her younger sister used to sneak around cutting
the German telephone wires. She is fortunate that
she wasn’t caught by the Germans, as she would
have been in a vast amount of trouble with the
possibility of death, in which case I would not be
here today to write this story. I was very young
when my Gran died, and so unfortunately I didn’t
get to ask her much about life during the
occupation.
In May 1940, the Nazi war machine swept
across Western Europe, pushing the British army
back to the beaches of Dunkirk. When the British
troops retreated to England, the Channel Islands
were left undefended. German high command
was planning to invade the Islands. They hadn’t
realised that all British troops had retreated to
England, so the Germans carried out an armed
reconnaissance. On 28th June 1940, 3 Luftwaffe
bombers flew low over the harbour of St P eters
Port, Guernsey, and attacked. The raid killed
dozens of innocent people.
The actual invasion started at Guernsey Airport
2 days later. On 30th June 1940 a platoon of
German troops landed here and to their relief met
no opposition. The tiny British garrison had left
realising that defending the island would lead to
a pointless blood bath. The Germans headed out
from the airport across the island.
Meanwhile the German Air Force bombed and
machine gunned Jersey killing 9 and wounding
many more. A few days later the German Air
Force Commander dropped an ultimatum from
the air demanding the immediate surrender of the
island. White flags and crosses were placed in
prominent positions, as stipulated by the
Germans, and the following day, July 2nd 1940,
Jersey was occupied by air-borne troops under
the command of Hauptmann Gussek.
The Nazis had wanted a model occupation, and
German propaganda footage demonstrates this.
The local papers however revealed a few telling
details. The clocks went forward to Berlin time
and the currency changed to the Reich mark. A
curfew of 11pm – 6am was imposed. In addition,
The Occupation of the Channel
Islands (1940 – 1945)
islanders were not allowed to go out fishing.
They were, however, allowed to do other things
they were permitted to go to church meetings and
offer prayers up to the Royal Family and the
British Empire. Why did they allow this?
Because they were on a high and they believed
they were going to invade England and win the
war.
Surrender of the Channel Islands was a
humiliating blow to British prestige and Churchill
insisted that the Empire must strike back. He
decided that Guernsey would be the perfect place
to try out a new elite unit of the British Army. He
said that their job was to develop a reign of terror
down the enemy coast. They were called The
Commandos. London planned a daring raid.
Special forces would cease the coastal path and
head inland to attack the airport. But first they
sent in a young lieutenant Hubert Nicolle to
gather intelligence.
He had grown up in Guernsey and knew the
island like the back of his hand. He discovered
that only a handful of Germans had captured over
25,000 islanders. He managed to find out that
there were exactly 469 Germans on the island.
Nicolle had exposed just how weak the enemy
was. 140 commandos now crossed the channel to
capture and kill as many Germans as possible. It
would be one of the first Commando raids in
history, but it ended in complete failure. One boat
ended up on the island of Sark, two capsized, one
crashed into a rock, only 40 men from number 3
Commando finally made it to
Guernsey, exhausted and soaked, and
when they got there they couldn’t find
a single German soldier. The
Commandos survived but for Britain
the war was going from bad to worse.
Germany was getting ready to invade
England. At Clarence Battery,
machine gunners watched as German
planes crossed the Channel.
Just a few weeks after the invasion
of the Channel Islands the Battle of
Britain began in the skies of Southern
England. To many living in the
Channel Islands under Nazi rule the
result must’ve been a forgone
conclusion. That’s certainly what the
25 |
Germans told the people as more and more troops
appeared on the streets of St Peter’s Port in
August 1940. Many islanders were frightened at
the prospect of any contact with the enemy troops.
A total of 27,000 German Troops descended on
the islands.
1940 had been a traumatic Summer, but the
focus of the war was about to shift
because that September the RAF
won the Battle of Britain, and the
Germans were forced to put their
invasion of Britain on hold. By
the end of 1940 it was clear that
the Channel Islands were the only
bit of British soil that Hitler was
going to get his hands on. At
least for the moment. Hitler
feared that Churchill might try to
reclaim the Channel Islands and
so the German war machine was
ordered to transform these Islands,
even tiny little Herm and Sark,
into island fortresses with the
islanders trapped behind a curtain
of guns, bunkers and barbed wire.
Hitler was obsessed with holding onto the
Channel Islands. The image of Jack boots striding
up and down British streets was a fantastic
propaganda victory for him. So he decided to turn
the whole place into an impregnable fortress.
The islands became part of the Atlantic Wall. A
network of fortified bunkers stretching from
Norway to Southern France.
Building the wall took an estimated
17,000,000 cubic metres of concrete. Well over a
million of this was used in the Channel Islands.
At the far end of St Aubin’s Bay in Jersey,
Germans modified an old railway line to carry
ammunition and materials. The railway line
terminated at Corbiere headland (one of the
Islands best known landmarks). They constructed
concrete bunkers here with walls almost 2 metres
thick, choosing the headland because from there
they could see almost the entire coast. They also
built a MP2 tower, where range finders were used
to be able to direct fire onto enemy ships.
The construction of these bunkers and towers
presented the inhabitants of Jersey with an
enormous dilemma. The Germans wanted men to
help build them, but the local island authorities
refused. Under The Hague Convention an
occupier is not allowed to force people to work
against their own country, so the Jersey authorities
made it very clear to the Germans that there was
certain types of work they wouldn’t oblige. They
said that they could get people to
work on building airports,
bridges or infrastructure, work
that’s not immediately warrelated, but that they were not
going to help build the gunning
placements. The civilian
authorities walked a dangerous
tightrope between protecting their
own people and helping the
enemy. It was important to the
| 26
Germans to show the rest of Britain how great it
would be if they took over and so they used the
Channel Islands as a ‘charm offensive’.
The invaders spent a lot of time and money
building up defences in St Ouen’s Bay, because it
was this west coast that they felt the British would
attack. But the allies never had any intention of
taking Jersey back by force. St
Ouen’s anti-tank barrier was
nothing but a huge drain on
German resources, as was the
fortification built at Les Landes
(Jersey’s largest maritime heath
land). Granite cliffs dominated
this part of the island and it was
here that they built Battery
Moltke, which kept watch across
the Atlantic. The battery housed
a 15.5cm 418F French Field
Gun, and was the first heavy
battery to come to Jersey in
March 1941. The gun had a
range of 12 miles and was one
of four captured from the French.
It was garrisoned by 100 German
soldiers. At the exterior of the battery they would
have had barracks huts, but during attacks they
also had subterranean corridors and personnel
shelters to hide in. Hitler had even grander ideas
for this place but the bigger guns never arrived.
The men inside trained and waited for an invasion
which never came.
The Germans brought about 16,000 workers to
the Channel Islands, and there were 12 labour
camps in Jersey alone. In amongst the 16,000
were forced labourers (paid workers) from
Western Europe many were Spaniards trying to
escape the Franco regime. However at least 3,000
of these workers were prisoners of war from
Russia and the Ukraine. They were used as
(unpaid) slave labour being forced to build
bunkers and the military railway. The prisoners of
war were given very little food to eat, they were
kicked & beaten and very badly treated. Some
channel islanders tried to stop these people being
mistreated but to no avail. Some labourers were
marched eastward, miles away from their camp,
where they were used to build the Jersey war
tunnels. The entrance was carved out of rock by
the labourers. The tunnels were intended to be an
underground invasion shelter. The conditions
were awful and many prisoners died whilst
digging the tunnels. Many remain, buried under
rubble.
Many Islanders were so apalled at the
treatment of the prisoners that they risked their
lives trying to help them. Louisa Gould ran a
local Shop at St Ouen’s and in 1942 she offered
refuge to a prisoner who .h ad escaped from
nearby Lager Immelmann camp. He was
Theodore Polycarpovic Bullic a Russian pilot
shot d own in 1941. Louisa had lost her eldest
son at sea months before and had said she wanted
to help protect ‘another mother’s son’, where she
couldn’t protect hers. The pilot known as
Russian Bill hid at her house for 18 months, but in
The Historic Tommy Atkins
1942 Louisa was betrayed. Russian Bill escaped
but Louisa was arrested and sentenced to 2 years
in a German prison. Bob Le Seur knew Russian
Bill and so hid him in the filing room at his
office, then a shed, then a friends flat, then
another home. Russian Bill survived in Jersey
until the liberation. Bob explained that ‘It was
common humanity, that’s why I helped.’ During
the occupation, 250 Jersey inhabitants broke
German rules and were sent to prison on the
continent. One of those could have been my
Gran, but thankfully her actions went undetected.
29 never returned. Louisa Gould died in
Ravensbrook concentration camp just a few
months before the end of the war.
In the early days of the occupation many
islanders had their vehicles requisitioned. But by
1944 fuel shortages meant even the Germans had
to get around by horse & cart, known as the
‘Jersey van’.
In 1941 Islanders fought a daily battle against
hunger. The basic rations provided each person
with only 1000 calories a day. Everyday items
became luxury. Substitutes were tried, they used
dried ground parsnips as an alternative to coffee.
Bread was something very special. One loaf had
to feed a family of four for a week. By the end of
the war channel island children were on average 1
inch shorter than they should’ve been and this
was attributed to the lack of food and poor diet.
By 1944 Germany was losing the war on all
points. The allies next target was Jersey’s
neighbour, Normandy, only 19 miles away. The
allied forces were gaining ground. On 6th June
1944 came D-day, the liberation of occupied
France. However liberation for the Channel Islands
didn’t come until the following year May 1945.
The fighting in France put the Germans in
Jersey on high alert, and their commander, a
proud professional soldier, ordered the men to dig
in, in places like Victoria Tower. They placed an
anti-aircraft gun on top of it. However, they
realised to their horror that despite their mighty
Atlantic wall their defences on this side of the
Island were inadequate. The Islanders had mixed
emotions, they could see & hear the fighting
going on. Churchill would have immediately
taken the Islands back but leveller heads thought
it was a wrong move. So they decided to isolate
the Germans so as to let them ‘wither on the
vine’. In August all the supplies stopped.
Churchill tried to persuade the occupiers to
surrender, but in reply the Germans asked the
allies to send the islanders food aid, to make their
own rations go further. Everyone on the island
was competing for the same dwindling supplies
and all faced starvation in the coming winter.
The Royal Bay of Grouville in 1944 was
heavily mined, so hungry islanders couldn’t even
exploit traditional sources of food. After D-day
several islanders risked strong currents and
German patrols trying to escape to France. A 21
year old Jersey man, John Floyd, took part in a
daring attempt to sail away & join the allies in
France. John and 2 others smuggled a dinghy
onto the beach planning to slip away at the dead
of night. This was extremely risky, as a few
weeks before a man had been shot dead whilst
trying to escape. John explained that at a mile out
from the beach they had come across another boat
filled with men trying to escape but that they’d
experienced engine failure, so John & his 2
friends stopped to give them a tow. Unfortunately
a wave then went over the back of John’s boat
soaking the outboard motor. After trying & failing
to restart the engine, John ended up drifting to
France, and there found the British army.
Escapees like John confirmed to the British
authorities just how bad conditions were on the
Islands. The allies finally agreed to let the Red
Cross in. So on New Year’s Eve 1944 the SS Vega
docked carrying 120,000 food parcels.
Liberation still took another 4 months, but the
food kept the islanders alive through the winter
and people took heart as the allies advanced into
Germany. By early May 1945 Hitler was dead
and the war was over.
On 9th May 1945 2 British destroyers HMS
Bulldog & Beagle sailed into the Channel Islands
and took the surrender of the German garrison.
Jubilant crowds gathered in what is now
Liberation Square.
There is now a memorial at the centre of the
square dedicated to all those who made liberation
possible. Many Germans were held at Elizabeth
Castle after the liberation as prisoners of war.
Since the war the islanders have rebuilt their lives
but have kept an assortment of bunkers and
reminders of the occupation and 71 years on they
serve as a reminder of what went on in the war
years.
27 |
Our Military Roots
Army Air Corps
By Rick ‘Boysie’ Boys
A
WO2 Rick Boys
Lynx D & T Sqn AAC
Middle Wallop
| 28
ll commanders need to see the enemy in
order to plan for a campaign or battle. In
the early days before the end of the 19th
century soldiers on the ground did this. By 1863 the
British Army had started development of balloons
for aerial observation, after 15 years of intermittent
study in 1878 a trials unit was formed from the
Royal Engineers (RE). Capt. James Templer
became its first Officer Commanding. Balloon units
saw their first action during the Sudan campaign of
1884, and in 1887 the RE Balloon Establishment
was given official status (3 Officers, 15 Other Ranks
& 14 Civilians) - they were the first true ‘flying
soldiers’! Their abilities were limited to static
observation only since they remained tied to the
ground. Their only means of
communication before the invention of
the radio was either word of mouth
or messages dropped in weighted
bags. In 1907 the Balloon
Establishment experimented with
an airship the Nulli Secundus, it
was the army’s first airship and
on its maiden flight it reached a
height of 1300 feet, a ground
speed of 24 mph and in 3 hours &
20 mins travelled over 50 miles. The
army now had a means of mobile aerial
observation. The early aeroplane expanded the
army’s abilities well before the first world war
started. In 1908 British Army Aeroplane No. 1 had
its first test flight. Field regulations of the day
stated ‘Aeroplanes, airships, balloons and kites
provide special facilities for observation and the
rapid communication of information.’ The term
‘Army Air Corps’ was first used in 1910, but it was
not an official name and didn’t really catch on – yet.
In 1911 the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers
was formally established on the Army list. Also in
1911 a dedicated band of army officers, encouraged
the War Office to found a military flying school at
Larkhill on Salisbury Plain, following on from its
success - The Royal Flying Corps was fully
established by 1912. Its pilots were all army
officers and the groundcrew were all soldiers. It
was divided into 3 squadrons, the first with airships
and the other 2 with planes.
THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS
Offensive aviation action had already occurred in the
Balkans during 1912 when Italian, Bulgarian and
others had dropped bombs from planes onto Turkish
positions. France and Germany continued the
development of this new type of weapon and so did
Britain. By 1914 the RFC had 63 aircraft split into 4
squadrons, employed on reconnaissance tasks for the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. At this
point the red, white & blue roundel was first
introduced onto the aircraft so that they could be
recognised from the ground as British. An offensive
capability developed, with pistols, rifles, machine
guns, hand grenades and metal darts all being used
from the early aircraft. Primitive radios were also
helping the pilots to talk to the commanders on the
ground and to direct the artillery. 1915 saw the
development of the grid system for plotting accurate
points on a map in order to help the application of
artillery fire, it was invented by Lt DS Lewis, a
pilot in the RFC. He was also the first
official user of the clock face method
of direction. Bombers were able to
penetrate deeper into enemy
territory than the artillery could
fire a shell, fighters engaged in
dogfights in order to gain aerial
advantage and aerial superiority
over a stretch of the battlefield,
some of the early planes could
reach 20,000ft. In 1918 the RAF
was formed as a purely heavy bomber
formation, but with tightening budgets
after the war, military aviation past from army
hands when the RFC was amalgamated with the
RAF. During WW1 the RFC had suffered over
16,600 casualties & had won 13 Victoria Crosses.
THE BIRTH OF THE AAC AND THE GPR
Since 1940 the War Office had put into motion the
selection and training of both new aircraft and troops
for a new airborne arm of the army. In 1941 having
watched the continued success of the German
Airborne troops, Winston Churchill decreed that the
British Army would form a new branch of Army
Aviation to be known as the ‘Army Air Corps’. This
new Corps was formally recognised in Dec 1941 and
would control both the GPR and The Parachute
Brigades. This body of soldiers comprised lightly
equipped air landed infantry (later to form the
Parachute Regiments) and the Glider Pilot Regiment,
who flew gliders carrying specially trained line
infantry directly into battle. The GPR were formally
added to the army list in Feb 1942 with its Depot at
Tilshead on Salisbury Plain. Towed by RAF tug
aircraft, the gliders were cast free at a certain point
en route. Only the skill of the pilots in navigating
and handling these unpowered machines stood
between success and terrible failure. Death by
enemy action or accident was an ever-present danger.
The nucleus of what was to become the SAS also
formed part of the new Corps. The new Corps was
awarded the distinct maroon coloured beret in 1942,
with maroon and Cambridge blue being the Corps
colours. The first AAC cap badge was of an eagle
(facing to the soldiers left) inside a wreath above the
letters ‘AAC’ with the Tudor crown at the very top.
Our Military Roots
This was replaced in 1950 (when the original AAC
was dissolved, the GPR & Para Regt going to the
infantry) by the glider pilot’s badge, no AAC
lettering and the eagle faces to the right. The Tudor
crown was replaced by the Queen’s crown in 1953.
THE AAC AND GPR DURING WW2
The first glider to enter service was the Hotspur,
flown by a crew of 2 it could carry 8 troops or 1 ton
of cargo, it was used primarily as a trainer. The
workhorse of the GPR was to be the Horsa, flown by
a crew of 2; it could carry 28 troops and a payload of
3.5 tons. The other main glider was the Hamilcar,
which was designed to carry heavy payloads such as
the 17 or 25 pounder anti-tank gun & tractor, a light
tank or 2 bren gun carriers. The Americans also had
their own glider called to Waco, which when used by
us was referred to as the Hadrian. Flown by a crew
of 2 it could carry 15 troops. The first operational
use of gliders was in November 1942 on Op
Freshman. The operation was supposed to get 2
Horsa gliders containing 34 engineers from the 1st
Airborne Division, close to a German heavy water
production plant at Vermonk in Northern Norway,
and then destroy it. However, during bad weather 1
of the gliders crashed, killing all those on board.
The other crashed on landing and the Germans
murdered all 9 survivors some days later.
Operation Husky, July 1943
The invasion of Sicily saw 1st Airborne Division &
the GPR playing vital roles in 2 mini operations. Op
Ladbroke, involving 1200 men in 130 gliders, and
Op Fustain, with only 19 gliders, but just as vital in
that they had to capture 2 bridges. Despite bad
weather, poor navigation by the American tug pilots
& being shot at by allied ships along the route, the
division successfully achieved its objectives.
Operation Overlord, June 1944
2000 gliders were used during the D-Day landings.
The first part was during the night of the 5/6 June
when elements of the Ox & Bucks successfully
captured 2 bridges over the Orne & Caen canals –
Pegasus Bridge being one of them. A further landing
was carried out in order to capture & destroy the
artillery guns of the Merville Battery on the French
coast. Gliders also played a key role during the
invasion itself, bringing in the 1st Air landing
Brigade as well as elements of the 6th Airborne
Division and the 3rd & 5th Parachute Brigades.
Operation Market Garden, September 1944
This was an attempt to seize all the bridges over the
River Rhine in order to speed up the allied advance
into Germany. The operation was 90% successful,
only the bridge in Arnhem was not captured.
During its short life the members of the GPR were
awarded the following honours & awards: AFC – 2,
AFM – 3, BEM – 2, CGM – 1, Croix de Guerre – 4,
DCM – 3, DFC – 27, DFM – 44, DSO – 5, Dutch
Bronze Cross – 3, Dutch Bronze Lion – 2, KB – 1, KW
– 2, MBE – 7, MC – 7, MID – 64, MM – 7, OBE – 1.
After WW2 there was a streamlining of air assets
within the army. The 16 AOP Squadrons were
reduced to 4 and the GPR’s role was changed from
one which used gliders to that of light liaison. Both
the AOP and GPR were to argue that they were the
founders of post war army aviation, but in fact they
were both vital in their own way. The AOP
squadrons were in continuous service from the end
of WW2 until the re-formation of the AAC, but the
GPR also had its fair share of operational service all
round the world. GPR pilots were called in by the
RAF to act as second pilots in the transport aircraft
during the Berlin airlift. During 1956 an order was
given that Army aviation must be combined in some
way in order to rationalise the assets and make them
easier to control. Maj RA Norman-Walker suddenly
found himself with the job of re-forming the AAC.
Next Week...
The Modern Army Air
Corps: The age of
helicopters, terrorists
and astronauts
29 |
Army Air Corps – Pt2
By Rick ‘Boysie’ Boys
THE NEW CORPS
WO2 Rick Boys
Lynx D & T Sqn AAC
Middle Wallop
| 30
On the 1st of Sep 1957, an army order authorised
the establishment of the present Army Air Corps.
It was to be responsible for managing its own fleet
of aircraft, for aircrew training and for tactical
development. It was to be initially manned by
1500 officers and men, split into 3 squadrons and
4 independent flights. RAF technicians, RA
Officers from the AOP squadrons and the
surviving members of the GPR, first manned it,
with a permanent cadre of AAC badged personnel.
REME technicians would gradually replace the
RAF element. Members of the RAOC, (now the
RLC), Royal Signals, Pay Corps and the Catering
Corps would fill the other support posts.
Middle Wallop Station was also
renamed – ‘Army Aviation Centre’.
Its first commander was Brig. P
Weston, who was to go on to
become the Director of Land/Air
Warfare (forerunners of today’s
Director of Army Aviation) as a
Maj General from 1960 to 64.
The first RSM of the new
Corps was from the RA in fact the
first 12 Corps RSM’s were all RA
badged, it wasn’t until Aug 1977 that
we got our first AAC badged RSM –
WO1 (RSM) JA Matthews. However he started
his army life with a different cap badge. The AAC
got its first true blue AAC direct entry RSM in Jul
1995.
During the early part of 1957 it was proposed
that the reformed Corps should have a new style
of uniform, this was rejected in favour of a
distinctively coloured beret. Maj. Maurice
Sutcliffe (later to become a Brig (OC of the
remaining Glider Pilots)) suggested the maroon
beret of the original AAC, but this was rejected by
the old AOP members and also by the Paras. The
Cambridge (Light) Blue was adopted as it had
associations with the Airborne colours of the
original AAC. A new badge was also adopted
replacing the current mix of different badges, it
was designed by Maj. Bob Begbie, the design
actually came from a doodle that he had done on a
piece of paper.
The new corps would be formed from the 3
existing Air Observation Post squadrons 651, 652
& 656, who were controlled by the RAF but
staffed by the RA and the Light Liaison Flights
operated by the remaining units of the GPR. The
new corps would pick up its traditions and early
impetus from the amalgamation of these 2 bodies.
However due to a massive and incalculable error
by the person who wrote the establishment order
the GPR was to be disbanded, even though its
soldiers were absorbed into the new corps. All the
history and especially the GPR battle honours that
were proudly displayed on its standard were not
allowed to be inherited by the new corps.
However by 1960 the new Corps was in
trouble, acute man power shortages were being
caused because other arms were refusing to allow
its members either to transfer to the AAC or to
allow them to train as pilots. The solution was
to allow the aircraft to be operated
piecemeal by the other arms,
eventually they would be fully
integrated into those units and the
AAC would cease to exist.
General Sir Hugh Stockwell (the
first Colonel Commandant of
the AAC) squashed this idea
almost immediately and in doing
so saved the Corps.
Despite the problems caused
by the man power shortages 653
Squadron was deployed to Aden in
1960 to support the British Army in the
rebel uprising that was going on. It stayed there
until July 1964 earning great respect from all the
units that it had supported. In 1962 Indonesia
backed an uprising against British interests in
Borneo, parts of 656 Sqn were deployed again to
support British troops, by 1964 the whole Sqn was
there. It was to remain in the far east until 1979
when it was brought back to the UK only to be redeployed to Southern Rhodesia on Operation
Agila. It returned to the UK at the end of the
operation only to then be sent back out on another
one – Op Corporate, The Falklands Campaign. In
1991 4 Regt AAC was deployed to Kuwait on
Operation Granby.
In 1961 the army received into service the
replacement for the ageing Auster – the De
Havilland Beaver. The RAF again tried to upset
the apple cart in 1965 by trying to assume total
responsibility for all flying duties, however they
were unsuccessful. By 1969 the Corps totalled
2,771 officers and men, almost double its original
number. The Corps also had its own aerial display
team, it was started in March 1968 and was
originally called the Red Rissoles (in honour of
the Red arrows!!) it was re-named the Blue Eagles
in 1969.
In 1974 the Gazelle entered service as a
replacement for the Sioux and the Lynx entered
service in 1977, it was originally to be a battlefield
utility helicopter but this role was changed to that
of anti-tank when it was equipped with American
made TOW missiles. Finally in 1979 the Corps
was awarded the coveted place in the Army’s
Our Military Roots
order of battle as a fighting arm. This was in
because the Corps aircraft had been equipped with
direct fire weapons for its new primary role of
anti-armour; we had become tank killers! The
rank of AirTrooper was introduced to all private
soldiers who enlisted into the AAC.
A resident regiment was established in N.
Ireland in 1979, it comprised of a permanent
squadron, 655 and a rotational squadron from
Germany. In 1986 a second permanent squadron,
665 was added. It also contains an Islander
observation flight.
Re-equipped with both utility and anti-tank
aircraft, the corps has served 4 ½ decades in
Germany & since 1995 has been heavily involved
in Yugoslavia. In 1982 the memorial was built and
King Hussein of Jordan laid the foundation stone
for the new museum.
Traditionally the carrying of a Guidon,
Standard or Colour remained the exclusive
privilege of those who fought face to face with the
enemy, namely the cavalry and the infantry. In
recognition of its armed role on the modern
battlefield Her Majesty the Queen authorised the
granting, to the Army Air Corps, of a Guidon and
the emblazoning of Honours upon it. The Guidon
was presented to the Corps on the 10 May 1994 by
HRH The Prince of Wales in his capacity as the
Colonel in Chief of the AAC. The corps is one of
the only ones in the Army to have its own band
and the Corps quick march is ‘Recce Flight’ with
the slow march being the “Thievish Magpie”.
Since its re-formation the AAC has been
involved in every campaign and operation that the
army has taken part in. The corps has
distinguished itself in Malaya, Borneo, Aden,
Cyprus, Rhodesia, Northern Ireland, The
Falklands, Bosnia, Macedonia, Sierra Leone,
Afghanistan and both Gulf Wars.
The Army Air Corps with its armed aircraft
and now with the AH64D Apache Longbow, has
taken its place in the fighting order of battle of the
British army as a combat arm.
As long as men are vital to fighting a war,
there will be a requirement for reconnaissance,
tactical movement of troops and fighting aircraft.
The Lynx / TOW combination has been replaced
by the Wildcat and Apache (AH) which will allow
the AAC soldiers of the future to operate in the
3rd dimension of the ground battle. Soldiers have
been engaged in flying for more than 100 years as
pilots, observers & gunners in balloons, gliders
and light aircraft, based more often than not
among the fighting men on the ground.
Agusta Westland
AW159 Wildcat
The newest addition to the
AAC expected to replace the
Lynx Mk 9a by 2018
AAC Pilot Brevit
The coveted ‘Wings’ worn by
all Army Air Corp Pilots
Next Week...
The ‘Sappers’
A look in to the world of the Royal Engineers
31 |
Have Faith
Worry
“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”
Matthew 6:27
Jesus, some believe He is the messiah, some that He was a wise
teacher of His day. One thing is for sure when He spoke, His words
were always filled with wisdom.
Worry is something most, if not all of us, do. Some from time to
time, some all the time. We worry about money, health, security,
safety, the future. We worry about ourselves and our family members
and friends.
disorders like IBS, skin complaints, heart palpitations, breathing
problems, insomnia, anxiety & depression, it can supress the immune
system, cause muscle tension, short term memory loss, premature
coronary heart disease, even heart attacks. That in itself is a worrying
list! So when God tells us to ‘cast our anxieties on Him’, He is trying
to help our well being. So why don’t we just stop worrying? Easier
said than done, I hear you say, and I totally agree.
Responsibilities. I am a parent, thus I have a responsibility
toward my children, to ensure that they are fed, that they have a
place to live, that they can grow up as carefree and as secure as
possible. I have a responsibility to ensure I have enough money to
cover the essentials, I have to ensure that I know how to keep them
safe & well. However the utmost responsibility I have is to ensure
that they are loved. Can I do this through material things, buying
them what they desire? To be honest it is difficult not to fall into the
trap of feeling that if you can’t get your child those shoes they want
or to pay for the holiday they’d like then you have failed. Maybe you
work hard, long hours, because you have to earn the money to cover
the essentials let alone having enough to buy those desirable ‘things’.
Then you haven’t got the time you’d like, to spend with your family,
with your friends. Your initial worry then produces a further worry
and the cycle continues.
Maybe you need to be honest with a friend about something and
you’re worrying because you aren’t sure how they will take it, or
maybe you’re worried about an exam you need to sit (this is the
current situation my daughter faces), or about not getting the
results you need. How am I going to pay that bill, What if I let my
child go out with his friends and then something bad happens?
Worry, Worry, Worry.
Expectations. People always expect things from us. Expect us to
behave a certain way, react a certain way, and to meet all of our
numerous obligations. We also often have high expectations of
ourselves. (I know that I expect more from myself than I would from
anyone else). So, when we struggle to meet others’ expectations, or
indeed those we have of ourselves, it causes more worry.
The worry cycle. It starts off as what many of us would deem
reasonable concerns, but it grows and grows. The worry becomes
uncontrollable and can be destructive! Did you know though that...
Worry can overwhelm us. It can make us miserable and it can rob
us of joy. I know that when I am worrying about something, I can
become so consumed by it, that I miss out on all the little things that
surround me each day. Like the beauty of nature, the air I breathe, the
delicious food I eat, the lovely hot water when I shower, the gift of
friendship, the funny things my kids say and do, the love that
surrounds me. This list could go on and on. I am thankful for all that
I have, but when I am worrying my head seems to be so full of anxiety
that I am blinded to these joys.
The verse that I quoted from Matthew makes a lot of sense. Can I
add anything to my life by worrying? NO. If anything, by worrying
I could shorten my life. It is a well known fact that stress can cause
many health issue: high blood pressure, tension headaches, digestive
| 32
Have Faith
So, let’s stop for a moment
stop struggling
stop stressing
stop worrying
stop thinking the worst
Just breathe
I found myself in one of these worry cycles for the last few years,
it just crept up on me & it got so bad that it paralysed me with fear
and made me dread waking up in the mornings. I didn’t realise it was
coming until it hit me like a brick! So then I felt trapped in that place,
with no way out. I prayed and prayed and
kept reminding myself that the Bible says:
‘Cast your anxieties on Him because He
cares for you.’
(1 Peter 5:7)
I read Bible verse after Bible verse some of
them included in this article, however I still
could not escape. I pleaded with God for
help, help with all the things going on in mine
& my childrens lives, and waited and waited
for an answer. The answer finally came.
God sent me an ‘angel’ in the form of a
support worker, an advocate for me & my
kids, to support us, and ensure that we had the
right help we needed. She really has been a
‘God send’, but the turning point came when
she introduced me to the ‘control dartboard’.
She felt it would help me with my worries.
The idea is I write down my worries on post it
notes and then stick them in the corresponding
zones. It’s helped me to really think about what my concerns/worries
are and whether I am able to do anything about them or not. It
actually makes
me feel more ‘in
control’ if you
like. I can take
positive action in
the things that are
within my control
or that I can
influence, and am
learning to accept
that there are
some things that
are beyond my
control.
Now, this a
really helpful tool
on two levels. It helps me to get my worries out of my head and down
on paper in front of me, which in some way gives me order, especially
in my head. It also helps me spiritually, because I have those worries
written down & am able to pray about each one. It’s helped my
prayer life, because I
am no longer so
overwhelmed
by
worry that I struggle
to pray about them, it
has also helped to
remind me that ‘God
is in control’.
In the Bible
countless times it is
written ‘Fear not’, well this Control Dartboard has actually helped to
remind me to seek God first. To pass on my worries to Him. He does
not want me to carry that heavy burden, but He wants to carry it for
me. Let’s be honest, each worry is like a
heavy rock that we carry in our back pack, the
more worry the heavier the pack, the more
tired & stressed we get. What God is saying is
take that pack off empty all those rocks into
my pack and carry on your walk with a light
load. I know this is not easy, I have struggle
for years with worry, but I want to encourage
you to let Him carry your burden. It makes
your journey a lot easier an it gives you peace
of mind.
‘Don’t worry about anything; instead,
pray about everything. Tell God what you
need, and thank him for all he has done. 7
Then you will experience God’s peace, which
exceeds anything we can understand. His
peace will guard your hearts and minds as
you live in Christ Jesus.’ (Phillipians 4:6-7)
Will we ever live a worry-free life? No.
There will always be those moments of worry,
but let’s try and get into a habit of praying
about situations instead of
worrying. I read a great
quote today from Martin
Luther, that made me smile
because it fitted so well with
what I wanted to share with
you this week.
‘You can’t stop the birds
from flying over your head,
but you can stop them from
making a nest in your hair!’
Have a great week and
Have Faith -Vickie xx
I want to reassure you that however alone you are feeling
right now, you are NOT alone in your battle. Please message
me if you have any questions or if you would like us to pray
for you or for someone you know.
Please contact me at [email protected]
33 |
Johnny Mercer MP
Is this the Politician Veterans have been waiting for?
On 24th March 2016, at 5:00pm, Johnny Mercer MP stoop up and
delivered a passionate and long overdue speech to the House with
regard to veterans care. Who better to speak of the many issues
faced by ex-service personnel than one of our own.
J
ohnny Mercer was educated in East Sussex,
went on to graduate from Sandhurst Military
Academy in 2002 before joining 29
Commando Regiment Royal Artillery where he
served several tours of Afghanistan. He reached the
rank of Captain before turning his hand to politics.
Until standing for the position of MP Johnny
admits he hadn’t even voted, much like many
servicemen and women. He stated he entered
politics with a view to improving veterans' care.
After contacting Conservative MP, Bob Stewart he
was eventually selected as the candidate for
Plymouth Moor View.
Despite being seen as third favourite candidate
by the opinion polls Johnny Mercer was voted in
and gave his maiden speech in the House of
Commons on 1st June 2015 describing his "main
missions" in Parliament to be improving provisions
for mental health and war veterans. In my mind, his
defining moment so far was just before the Easter
break in which he delivered a debate to the house
that was passionate and bold.
One of the main key points addressed was the
fact that the many charities helping veterans were
‘filling a void’ in the veterans care system and that
the government ‘needed to do more to encourage
collaboration with charities according to Minister,
Mark Lancaster.
Mr Mercer said many of his former comrades
found it difficult to get the help they needed. This
sparked thoughts off in my head. In the mental
health field, I always believed that the best people
to help veterans was other veterans trained in this
field. The peer-to-peer system. And there in front of
me was the political equivalent. A man who knew
veterans, who knew the issues, who knew how so
| 34
many veterans suffer, not as a pen pusher but as a
field soldier. A man who had seen the horrors of
combat first hand. The veterans prayer was
answered. He understood!
During the debate he acknowledged that there
was many veterans charities delivering a wide
range of care and services which vary in
effectiveness. I have seen this myself with some
charities actually causing more harm than good.
However, Mr Mercer was gracious in stating that
he couldn’t speak highly enough of these charities
and the work they do to help our ex-service men
and women. But he was also bold enough to tell
MPs that veterans need guidance when choosing
treatment, and this is a role for the government.
It was inspiring to finally hear a politician, his
military connections aside, speaking of the
weaknesses in the veterans care system and
intentions to address the issues with the whole
house. This was endorsed by those who stood up
and commented during the debate, all
congratulating Mr Mercer on securing the debate
and delivering such a passionate and well
researched speech. Indeed, it was obvious to see
that this man knows his subject through many
hours of dedication. He goes out to meet veterans
and talk to them about their concerns face to face.
He spends hours researching the charities and the
work they do.
It was also inspiring to see the command he had
over the debate. The control and authority he had
over the issues spoke volumes about this mans
intentions towards veterans in the long term. This is
not a man that passes a few fancy words to keep
voters happy, this is a man that has what it takes to
fight for veterans.
There was very little doubt in my mind that this
was ‘The Veterans Politician’. I have to admit to
Johnny Mercer MP
ignorance in political matters probably due to not
being able to believe what has been said about
Veterans Care in the past. I go back to last year
when the Government, according to newspapers,
cut the annual allowance to Combat Stress from
£2.8 million a year to just £75,000. A shocking
decision considering calls to Forces help lines are
up by 85% The one MP to stand up and speak
against the failing system was Johnny Mercer. At
the time Mr Mercer said in the Commons: “I regret
to say that, aside from some excellent individual
practice and charitable work, the way we look after
our veterans’ mental health in this country remains
poor.
I have used the word ‘passionate’ many times in
this article, probably because that is the one word
that hit me during the entire debate. Indeed, it was a
word used by his colleagues when thanking him for
securing the debate. What did it for me was when
he said:
“I cannot speak highly enough of those groups
for what they have done. They have stepped up and
delivered that duty of care that every commander,
at any level in the UK military, feels towards the
men and women they command. It is one of life’s
deepest privileges to command men in war. Those
of us who
fought and bled with them will remain forever
in the debt of these service charities for the fact that
they carried on that duty on our behalf.”
He was speaking not as a politician but as a
soldier. I have never seen that in parliament. To top
this, his summary was, in short, direct from the
heart. This section of the summary shows that.
“What is it really like for someone to be two or
three years out of the Army holding down a civilian
job and providing for their family—when they start
hitting rougher waters, and the thoughts just will
not leave them alone? Where do they go? To whom
do they turn? Do they self-refer to a charity and
hope for the best? How do they know that it
provides care that works? How do they know that it
is professional? What happens if the course of
treatment it provides does not work? Who will help
them through the process? Who really cares?
The pre-Christmas report by the Ministry of
Defence on the armed forces covenant made wide
reference to what is going into the arena of military
support, and that is to be commended. However,
the report fails to provide any meaningful statistical
reference to the single most important measure of
success: what our military community got out of
that support. The single biggest shift in mindset that
must be achieved is about reconfiguring services
around users.
There are problems: waiting times are simply
too long; there are distinct regional variations in the
services available; there is a huge challenge to
veterans navigating a complex set of unclear
treatment pathways; and there is a lack of
regulation of the quality and efficacy of the
treatments being provided by some, with some of
the more unscrupulous outfits still receiving
Government finance. The truth is that our veterans
today use an array of treatments, which vary wildly
in effectiveness, professionalism, access points and
delivery, and that is especially so with mental
healthcare.”
So, from the viewpoint of the Sandbag Times,
we have our champion. Of course, he will not
change the system overnight and the complex care
system is a minefield he will have to negotiate with
much care. But there is no one else in parliament I
would rather trust in that position. We have shouted
out these issues through our projects such as ’A
Song For A Hero’, the Tommy Atkins Trust and
recently, this publication but always as the common
veteran. At long last, we have someone who is now
our voice in the House of Commons. So the
question stands. “Is this the ‘Veterans Politician’?
Oh yes, Indeed!!”
35 |
The Invisible Veterans
The Invisible Veterans
A system blind to it’s duty to our country’s heroes
E
Ref 1: Armed Forces
Covenant
Ref 2: Armed Forces
Community Fact Sheet:
We are not invisible.
We are Veterans.
| 36
ver since I’ve been writing the Sandbag Times
I have seen how veterans have been left on the
shelf when it comes to healthcare. I’ve
reported on long delays getting the correct help and
I’ve listened to MP’s demand better care for
veterans. All of this took on a whole new meaning
last week when a member of the Veterans Breakfast
Clubs posted about the NHS coding system.
Spurred on by the increasing posts about these
codes I decided to check the system out. I have
been part of the system looking for help with PTSD
for the past three years, being told how the system is
so clogged up with countless veterans, I resigned
myself to being just one in a very long queue of
waiting veterans.
Before I go any further with this article, I am
going to stress from the off, that I am not going to
finger point, lay blame, ‘name and shame’ or look for
any scapegoat in the system to blame. I will leave
that to others. That isn’t me.
That being said, I was firstly horrified, and then
later devastated, to learn that my local practice had
no record of me being a veteran despite asking for
help several times and being put on medication that
didn’t really help.
When I questioned the staff as to why I wasn’t
coded as a veteran they didn’t really know. They
seemed to think it was a breakdown in middle
management, a failure of the system and maybe even
something to do with the MOD. So I decided to read
the Armed Forces Covenant yet again, read the
policy set in place in the NHS and ask more
questions of the middle and higher echelons. It
didn’t take long before I started to find out the
problem, and the subsequent issues that this was
causing.
It occurred to me that maybe my practice wasn’t
the only one not aware of the system and the Armed
Forces Covenant. So after more digging I had my
answer. I was not alone. More practices around the
UK were failing veterans. Through no fault of their
own, but for a myriad of reasons, the word wasn’t
getting down to GP’s. It appears there is a lot of
confusion as to who should be doing what and who
should or should not be coding veterans. So I
continued to dig a little deeper. Someone passed me
a very good document written by the NHS laying
out the directives for treating veterans. The
document is from Sussex NHS but the content is
very clear. I would like to use this article to
highlight the bits that us veterans down at ground
level should know in order that we receive the
correct treatment. As I stated before, this is not a
witch hunt. I have had a week of people blaming
the government, the MOD and the NHS and all sorts
of other people and organisations, and yet this does
nothing to help the situation.
So, here we go. Let’s highlight the things we
need to know, so that everything is in place and we
all understand what action we must take. Let’s look
at the coding system that is causing so much of a
problem. There are different codes used by the
NHS to flag us up as veterans. These are:
veterans
13Ji: military veteran
13JY: history relating to military service
13q0: history relating to Army service
13q1: history relating to royal navy service
13q2: history relating to royal Air force service
13q3: served in armed forces
The most common of these is 13JY which seems
to give a blanket effect on any veteran. However, my
piece of advice to all veterans is that you personally
ensure your individual practice is not only aware of
these codes but also that they appear on your medical
records. Please stress to your practice how important
this is. That’s it. If you just do that one thing you
WILL be registered as a veteran and will flag up on
the system as a Veteran of HM Armed Forces.
It is important to note that these codes will only
kick in if your issue is related to your military
service. If not, the Armed Forces Covenant does not
apply. Here is a quote from the NHS document:
the covenant states:
Veterans receive their healthcare from the NHS,
and should receive priority treatment where it
relates to a condition which results from their
service in the Armed Forces, subject to clinical
need. Those injured in Service, whether
physically or mentally, should be cared for in a
way which reflects the Nation’s moral obligation
to them whilst respecting the individual’s wishes.
For those with concerns about their health, where
symptoms may not present for some time after
leaving Service, they should be able to access
services with health professionals who have an
understanding of Armed Forces culture.
So we now know what to do to ensure we are
registered, what help we can get and the authority for
this to happen. i.e. The Armed Forces Covenant.
(See page 6 – Healthcare). However for this to be
effective Health/GP Practices have to be aware of
their responsibilities. The following statement has
been taken from the NHS – Armed Forces Covenant
directive from Sussex. Although this is regional to
Sussex, the rules still apply to your own areas.
the 2015-2016 Gp contract states
GP Practices should be using the veteran and
reservist codes. If not, how do they assure
themselves that they are aware of this population
and their responsibility toward them within the
military covenant?
If your practice is in any doubt, please refer them
to the above article. This was part of the confusion
that I stumbled across.
In summary, I was furious, then upset and stunned
at how the system has failed us. I felt like the
Invisible Veteran. Not being seen by those who are
meant to be looking. What worried me even more is
that if this is happening across the UK, then how can
we really know the true number of veterans that are
suffering from mental health issues. National
statistics ARE inaccurate. We can, as veterans, do
something about it. We don’t need to shout at the
system or those who instigate it, we just need to
ensure that we are recorded on the system. I hope
this has helped you all to be seen in the system. We
are not invisible. We are Veterans.
MCVC Rotherham VBC
21 in attendance today at the MCVC
Rotherham breakfast club, including a
visit from Councillor Ian Jones (ex 3
Yorks ) the Armed Forces Champion
for Rotherham Borough Council. Good
food and company with lots of banter.
We also raised £80 today towards
the target of £600 for the charity
skydive being undertaken by our very
own Sharon Lee,
the running total stands at £356
Shrewsbury VBC
Twenty nine at the Shrewsbury
AF&VBC today...six new faces too.
The company was fabulous,
everyone had a lovely time. Food
was super and the
raffle......well....Keith won again!!
Oswestry VBC
Excellent turn out of 18
this morning in Oswestry,
plus a flying visit from
out local SSAFA rep who
popped in to say hello.
| 38
Veterans Breakfast Clubs
39 |
The VBC Website has now been revamped/redesigned and is now live.
There are several new features including a Post Code search facility
that brings up the five nearest Breakfast Clubs to your Post Code, and
we now have a News feature and links to the current issues of the
Sandbag Times and much more. To make it easier for people to get to
it, funds have been made available to allow the acquisition of more
domain names.
The new address is www.afvbc.co.uk and the old address is pointed at
the new site.
The main alteration is that the email addresses have changed from:[email protected]
to
[email protected]
Veterans share stories at breakfast club
in Scunthorpe
THE North Lincs Veterans Breakfast Club met in Scunthorpe this
morning where members were able to share stories with each other.
The club meets every two weeks and has more than 100 members.
Members always meet at Frankie and Benny's and are part of a network
of 140 breakfast clubs with more than 20,000 members.
The organisation has clubs in France, Germany, Spain, Cyprus, Bosnia
and Australia, as well as all over the UK. It is recognised by the Armed
Forces Covenant website as the third Support Group for veterans.
John Terry, national organiser for Veterans Breakfast Clubs, said: "We
had a great turnout with 31 present including Councillor Trevor Foster,
Mayor of Scunthorpe. Great food, great banter and lots of stories.
| 40
Veterans Breakfast Clubs
The Summer Ball at
Barker’s Breakfast Club
The evening just past, Saturday, 16th July 2016 saw the second ‘BBC
Summer Ball’ held in ‘The Kenilworth Suite’, Goodfellowship Inn,
Cottingham Road, Hull. http://goodfellowshipinnhull.co.uk
We had already outgrown our first venue, so it was our first one there.
It turned out to be a really great, centrally located venue, close to the
University, for those who know Hull a little.
We had a dress code, which was suits/shirts & trousers etc for the gents,
ball gowns/posh frocks for the ladies. Basically the chaps had to match
their ladies, so it wasn’t rigid; if anyone had turned up wearing lycra
shorts, mankinis, men in ball gowns or posh frocks, wellies and a thong,
wetsuits, tight denim shorts, T shirt with a belt, full battle order
webbing, a Basque and respirator, they wouldn’t have got kicked out..
just laughed at… a lot!
Just short of 150 people turned out in their finery, everyone looked
great, and with no exaggeration, I had one of the best nights ever!
As it turned out, the food was a carvery, was plentiful and delicious,
The music was courtesy of our pet American ex-Sapper, Rob Fillinger,
his wife Jan, and his ‘rock-chick’ daughter Hannah, who booked a live
band called ‘Violet Sky’, who were superb, and ran the disco
themselves.
The manager of the pub Sarah, really looked after us; she gave us a
great discount on the venue, and although she was booked up for
Christmas, has offered us New Year’s eve, which we have gladly
accepted for a combined Christmas/New Year bash, and being a
Saturday night, promises to be epic.
We have so far managed to keep ticket prices at £10 per head, which,
for what it gets you, which includes your first drink free, I think is
astonishing. But this is more to do with our treasury team, headed by
our pet bullet-catcher, Gordon Bassett, along with ex ‘Booty’ Dave
‘Cabbage’ Barker (brother of Pete), and Paul Howard, affectionately
also known as ‘KitKat’, because of a finger he lost while he was in
service (has four fingers – KitKat – get it?). I have NOTHING
whatever to do with the money, apart from being handed a bank
statement to check once a month, which is available to all members,
although I did help with the shopping (receipts provided) for the Raffle
prizes… and some bloody good prizes there were too, including £50
voucher kindly donated by ‘Gardener’s Country Inn’, a £60 voucher for
a beauty treatment (Dave Barker could have used that), and a bottle of
Tattinger Champagne, plus many more.
We had some distinguished guests, including John Terry, our National
Organiser for the Breakfast Clubs and his lovely wife Joan, without
whom the Breakfast Clubs would not be so high profile. Mick Kenny,
admin of the Market Rasen Breakfast Club (who I now count as a great
friend), and his lovely, glamourous (she’ll kill me) wife Carolynn.
Thank you to one of our leading lights, Paul Matson of Hull4heros
http://hull4heroes.co.uk/ for joining us too… he is doing such great
work, and I am also proud to call him a ‘close friend’, among other
things (dropshort!).
One of the highlights was the ‘22 press-ups for 22 days challenge’.
Our resident piper, Paul Mack, did his press-ups first, wearing his ‘jockfrock’ (that was dicey, especially since he’s a true scot; I checked!), then
he piped the rest of us while we did our 22 press-ups, including Nicola
Batty in her low cut ball gown (there is a God!).
Anyway, thank you to all those who made it so successful (I had very
little to do with it); Gordon, Dave, Paul, Simon Bailey, Rob, Hannah,
Jan and Sarah… well done all of you, and a personal thank you from
me for lightening the load.
41 |
A word from the Ed
Welcome to our first special
named ‘All the Best...’ It is a
mishmash of some of the best
stories and features since we
turned professional 20 weeks ago.
In that short time we have grown
so fast and become established as
one of the top military and
veterans publications on the
market. Excluding ‘Soldier’
magazine of course. We have
held our own with some fantastic
features which have on occasion
actually made a difference to the
veterans way of life. That was
my aim achieved. All I ever
wanted out of this magazine was
to help veterans in as many ways
as we could. ‘Job Done’ I think.
But we are not stopping there. In
fact, in the words of Karen
Carpenter ‘We’ve only just
begun’. So what have we got this
week? Remember Saint Chris
and his operation to home
veterans? Also back in April we
wrote about Johnny Mercer MP,
We spoke about HMS Illustrious
and her very sad demise. Then
we had The Invisible Veteran.
Probably the most influential
article we’ve produced. On the
back of that story we raised
awareness of the problems in the
NHS system towards veterans. In
many cases that problem was
addressed and rectified. There is
so much more to look back on in
this issue. What’s more we are
actually printing a few copies this
week, unfortunately not for sale
but we will be sending a few
around the place. Just a quick
mention from last weeks issue, a
big thank you to all who wrote in
to us and those that called the
office with your very kind words
about the Sharpe articles. We will
be doing more of that stuff in the
future. Andy McNab is in next
week’s edition. Take care all and
have a great week. P x
“When the Government said they was
replacing HMS Illustrious, we had
something bigger in mind”
Ways to find us
The Sandbag Times
www.sandbagtimes.com
thesandbagtimes
@thesandbagtimes
[email protected]
A Song For A Hero
“The Brand New Rock Opera which tells the truth of what
happens to our heroes when the killing ends. Packed with
incredible songs, breathtaking graphics and an emotional
rollercoaster of a story that will leave you asking
questions for a long time to come.”
Where Do They Go...
...When the Killing Ends
| 42
Information
Tornado Down
John Nichol & John Peters
The Kitchen Sessions
Luke Philbrick
I was lucky enough to watch Luke perform last week
and was totally blown away. As a blues artist he is truly
amazing. All that was missing was the dancers in ‘From
Dusk till Dawn’. A great album, very raw.
Hornblower
RAF Flight lieutenants John Peters and John
Nichol were shot down over enemy territory on
their first airbourne mission of the Gulf War.
Their capture in the desert, half a mile from their
blazing Tornado bomber, began a nightmare
seven-week ordeal of torture and interrogation
which brought both men close to death.
In Tornado Down, John Peters and John Nichol
tell the incredible story of their part in the war
against Saddam Hussien's regime. It is a brave
and shocking and totally honest story: a story
about war and its effects on the hearts and
minds of men.
Ioan Gruffudd
robert lindsay
Dorian Healy
Yes, I do have a bit of a soft spot for these
period wartime drama’s especially when they
are made into a series. This is another classic,
this time from the novels of C.S. Forester. This
series has it all. Action, adventure, romance and
yet another swashbuckling hero from the days of
the Napoleonic Wars. This is another must for
your collection.
Back issues of The Sandbag Times are available to download here
$ "
#)
(
$%"
"
'
"
$ "
$
#
%
'
!
"
$
" #
SPONSORED BY:
&&& #
$
#
%
Osteopath
43 |
Classified
RFEA Veteran Support
Read about RFEA :http://www.rfea.org.uk/
Get registered and access the Jobs database
Rightjob and have access to an employment
advisor.
REGISTERING FOR REGIONAL
EMPLOYMENT SUPPORT IS EASY:
http://www.rfea.org.uk/register/
“Helping You Navigate Your Way to Sustainable
Employment”
Download the Full PDF Here
sign up to receive
the sandbag times
subscribe now!
You can now subscribe to the
Sandbag Times and have it
delivered to your email
every Thursday
To sign up just click
on the link below
www.sandbagtimes.co.uk/subscribe
SPONSORED BY:
Osteopath
| 44
45 |
Night Must Fall
T
Gwen Taylor,
Daragh O’Malley
Niamh McGrady &
will featherstone to
star in the national tour
of emlyn williams’s
Psychological thriller
“NiGhT MusT fall”
WEBSITE:
www.originaltheatre.com
FACEBOOk:
TheOriginalTheatre
TWITTER:
@OriginalTheatre
Age guidance 12+
heOriginalTheatreCompanyand
SalisburyPlayhouseinassociationwith
EastbourneTheatreswillpresentthe
nationaltourofEmlynWilliams’spsychological
thriller,NIGHTMUSTFALL,directedbyLuke
SheppardandstarringGwenTaylorasMrs
Bramson,DaraghO’MalleyasInspectorBelsize,
NiamhMcGradyasOliviaandWillFeatherstone
asDan.ThetourwillbeginatDevonshirePark
TheatreinEastbourneon19August,witha
NationalpressnightonWednesday7September
atSalisburyPlayhouse.
GwenTaylorisbestknownforplayingthe
titleroleintheITVsitcomBarbara,aswellas
AnneFosterinCoronationStreet,Peggy
ArmstronginHeartbeat,RitaSimcockinABitof
ADo,forwhichshewasnominatedforaBAFTA
TVBestActressAward,andAmyinDutyFree.
HerfilmappearancesincludeTheLadyinthe
VanandMontyPython'sLifeofBrian.Gwenis
currentlyplayingDaisyWortheninDrivingMiss
DaisyatDublin’sGaietyTheatre.Othertheatre
creditsincludeCalendarGirls(UKTour),the
titleroleinthenationaltourofShirleyValentine,
TopGirls(RoyalCourtandNewYork),and
GertrudeinSirPeterHall’sproductionofHamlet
(London’sGielgudTheatreandnationaltour).
DaraghO’Malleyisbestknownforhisrole
asPatrickHarperinthelong-runningtelevision
seriesSharpe.Aftera12-yearabsencefromthe
stage,O'MalleyreturnedtotheBritishstagein
2012,playingFatherJackintheOriginalTheatre
Company’sproductionofDancingatLughnasa.
In2014,heplayedBigDaddyinCatonaHot
TinRoofatManchester’sRoyalExchange,for
whichhewasnominatedforanMTABestActor
AwardandTheStageselectedhisperformanceas
oneoftheTopFivePerformancesinUKTheatre
in2014.
NiamhMcGradyisbestknownforplaying
theregularcharactersMary-ClaireCarterin
HolbyCity(BBC)andPCDanielleFerringtonin
TOUR SCHEDULE
19 August – 3 September
6 – 24 September
28 September – 1 October
4 – 8 October
17 – 22 October
25 – 29 October
31 October – 5 November
8 – 12 November
15 – 19 November
29 November – 3 December
| 46
Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne
www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk01323412000
Salisbury Playhouse
www.salisburyplayhouse.com01722320333
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
www.belgrade.co.uk02476553055
Festival Theatre, Malvern
www.malvern-theatres.co.uk01684892277
New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich
www.wolseytheatre.co.uk01473295900
Exeter Northcott Theatre
www.exeternorthcott.co.uk01392726363
Palace Theatre, Southend
www.palacetheatresouthend.co.uk01702351135
Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham
www.everymantheatre.org.uk01242572573
York Theatre Royal
www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk01904623568
Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford
www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk01483440000
threeseriesofTheFall(BBC).Hertheatre
creditsincludeTwelfthNight(ChichesterFestival
Theatre)andMacbeth(ChichesterFestival
Theatre,WestEndandBroadway).
WillFeatherstone’stheatrecreditsincludeDr.
Scroggy’sWar,RomeoandJuliet,AsYouLikeIt
andAnneBoleynforShakespeare’sGlobe,A
MidsummerNight’sDreamandTheComedyof
ErrorsforPropeller,andTheHistoryBoysfor
SheffieldCrucible.Screencreditsincluding
FreshMeat(Channel4),Endeavour(ITV),Ashes
toAshes(BBC)andMidsomerMurders(ITV),as
wellastheforthcomingfeaturefilmAUnited
Kingdom,starringRosamundPikeandDavid
Oyelowo.
AlsointhecastareAlasdairBuchanas
Hubert,AnneOdekeasNurseLibby,Mandi
SymondsasMrsTerenceandMelissaVaughanas
Dora.
Whencharming,smooth-talkingDanarrives
atoldMrsBramson’sremotewoodlandhome,he
sooningratiateshiswayintoherlifeandthatof
herniece,Olivia.Butwhenalocalwomangoes
missingandislaterfoundmurdered,Olivia
beginstosuspectheraunt’snewprivateassistant.
Sheresolvestofindoutthetruth.
EmlynWilliamswroteNIGHTMUSTFALL
in1935andplayedtheleadroleinthefirststage
production.Theplaywasnotedforits
explorationofthekiller’scomplexpsychological
state,astepforwardforitsgenre.Robert
Montgomerystarredinthefilmversionin1937
andAlbertFinneyinthe1964re-make.
NIGHTMUSTFALLwillbedesignedby
DavidWoodhead,withsoundandmusicbyHarry
BlakeandlightingbyHowardHudson.The
nationaltourisproducedbyAlastairWhatleyand
TomHackneyforTheOriginalTheatreCompany
andSebastianWarrackforSalisburyPlayhouse,
inassociationwithEastbourneTheatres.
War & Peace Revival
19–23 July 2016
Folkestone Racecourse
The War and Peace Revival is now entering its 34th year and we are
honoured to have become the new organizing team of this spectacular
military and vintage lifestyle show.
An important element of the show has always been the Veterans Day,
where we remember and show our gratitude for all those who have served
their country and given so much. On Saturday 23rd July 2016, we will be
holding a short parade followed by a service given by a Military Chaplin.
We invite all veterans to attend the service, WW2 veterans are FREE
and other veterans have half price entry. If you would like to ‘Fall in’ and join
us on our Veterans Day
please contact us on 01258 857700
Now entering our 34th Show year!!
47 |
Strength in Horses
A couple of years ago, my life took an odd turn; I had
suffered a spinal injury which left me with a lifelong
membership to the physiotherapy department and limited
my physical activity
W
hen the doctor looked at my medical
records, it was clear that I had been to
hospital quite a lot in my life and therefore
it was impossible to say whether I had already
caused damage before this injury, as I was an
accident prone kid and I fell off quite a few horses. I
feel physical limitations are imposed by yourself,
and when there are guys with missing limbs winning
medals I have no right or cause to complain.
Mental health is a different thing entirely
however, and I had no idea that I would totally lose
the plot and become a gibbering wreck – I developed
a stammer; I couldn’t string a sentence together; I
couldn’t go out and face people; I would get angry
over tiny things then burst into tears; I couldn’t sleep
etc.… I was a total mess.
| 48
I went to the doctor and he referred me to the
mental health department where I was diagnosed
with severe depression and anxiety, and prescribed a
range of pills to help with these conditions. The third
psychotherapist that I saw (the first two were far too
fluffy) asked what I liked to do when I was younger,
and so we found a common thread running through
all aspects of my life.
Childhood – hated school, and so I regularly
bunked off and hung around with the gypsy horses in
a nearby field.
After leaving the army, I drank for England for
several years, before going to Canada and working
on a horse ranch.
Upon returning to the UK I briefly worked in a
racing yard, and then worked at a pub in Box Hill
where I rode on my days off every week.
At this point, the only time I was leaving the
house (apart from doctors’ appointments) was to go
to the City Farm where I was helping in the stables,
and here I found that when I was around the horses
my mood improved and I felt reasonably better.
The psychotherapist recommended keeping my
routine of going to the City Farm, giving me
something to focus on.
As time went by I continued helping at the farm,
going to my appointments, and taking my meds in
order to try and get well.
I reached out to The Poppy Factory for help -as
they support wounded, injured and sick veterans
back into work-, though I wasn’t sure if I would
qualify for help as I had been out of the army for
years, and my injuries (both mental and physical)
were not service related. What right did I have to ask
for help when there are guys with missing limbs and
guys living with the mental torture of PTSD? Despite
these reservations, the Poppy Factory took me on,
and with the support of a great employability advisor
I have recently found myself at the start of the next
chapter of my life.
“What would be your ideal job?”, they asked.
“I currently work with horses”, I said, “and
looking back at my life, every time things go pear
shaped I seem to turn to horses, so it would be great
if I could find a worthwhile job in the equine world.”
I was aware of Horseback UK, which is an
amazing operation run for veterans by veterans using
western saddles – the only problem was that it was
based in Scotland.
I had read about equine psychologists doing
groundwork with troubled kids and thought to
myself: ‘I bet veterans with mental health issues
would benefit from this’.
I told my advisor from The Poppy Factory this,
and they set up a meeting at Strength in Horses (in
Edgware), and things began to take shape.
I was recovering well and had just started back
at work -which was also set up by The Poppy
Factory-, and my new boss had given me every
Thursday off to go to the stables.
Whilst we were waiting for funding bids for a
veteran specific program to be approved, I got to
work on a maintenance work in the Strength in
Horses’ stables, recruiting guys who would be
interested in getting involved along the way…
Week 1: Myself, Matt (a veteran of Operation
Banner) and Daniel (a veteran of Afghanistan) set
about making a list of all the jobs we could get on
Strength in horses
with – this included bricklaying, carpentry, painting
etc… In fact, there was a lot of work. We didn’t do
much actual maintenance work in the first week;
simply getting used to our surroundings and spending
some time with the horses and Obie the dog.
Week 2: Matt and Dan were both working during
this period (and obviously that comes first) so there
was no help this week, leaving me to crack on as
best as I could alone. I put several posts on different
online groups for those who had left the forces, in
which I promoted Strength in Horses, with the
people that saw these expressing that they thought
the project was an excellent idea, so I believe it is
possible more will join soon.
Week 3: Over the years, I have met some
wonderful people on veterans’ marches and parades
who I now regard as friends, and a clear example of
this is when Dougie (who served in The Balkans and
Angola, and has suffered psychological harm as a
result of these conflicts) drove all the way from the
coast on his day off to help out in the week. Charlie
(who is ex household division and has also fought
his demons) and Dougie spent much of their time
laughing and messing about, and seeing this really
made my day. When Dougie got home his wife said
it was the happiest she had seen him in a long time.
Week 4: For the previous two weeks there
should have been another guy at the stables, but he
had not shown -through no fault of his own: he was
really struggling-, however, once Tony eventually
attended the sessions and was put to work grooming
and mucking out the horses he began to smile. Matt
also had the day off and was busy fixing doors and
things, and so it was obvious that we were all in
agreement – dropping out of society for one day a
week was definitely very therapeutic.
The aims of engagement with the therapeutic
process are to address issues with;
• Confidence building, assertiveness and
increased self-awareness
• Emotional difficulties in particular aggression,
emotional volatility, low mood and anxiety
• Experiences of trauma
• Relational difficulties including building
effective communication and trust
• Problem solving, team work and developing
more helpful interactions with others
• Specific skills development including
supporting engagement in education and work
settings (e.g. listening, persistence, and
patience.
The ladies at Strength in Horses already have a
successful program supporting adults and children
needing emotional or behavioural support and are
very keen to develop a veteran specific program.
All we need now is for some funding for the
actual therapy program to appear. We currently have
several horses, three amazing equine experts (who
keep us very busy), and a lovely open space where
veterans can come and relax, and become a part of
what I’m certain will become a very successful
program.
For now, I need to write grant applications for
materials to replace decking and build a shelter and
to coordinate a referral process with other
organisations such as Veterans Mental Health, Help
for Heroes and STOLL. If you would like to get
involved, please get in touch.
[email protected]
07954 332885
49 |
Poetry Corner
Theis
poem Rifleman
is borne from
The
Young
suffering with PTSD.
Poetry Corner
Frank is on my left
The Trench
Charlie to my right
InIt’s
front
me the ladder Now just stand tall
not of
a cave
I’m
shivering
That
I run to with fright And wait for me
Like other men
With open arms
I have
a bullet
chambered A mug of teaClues
To think
things through
Welcome to the new Page
My Bayonet is fixed tight
dedicated to the poetry that
For these attacks
Forhands
I’ve a trench
Death has gone
My
are now all sweaty
you write. Please send in
war
It’s 3no
feetsleep
wide last night Are not yourThreat
now passed
I got
your poetry to
It’s not your My
faultHeart is beating
A perfect place
[email protected]
It’s not your chore
For me to hide
Loud and fast
The guns have fallen silent
I’m
for the first wave
This week we feature the work
Please be there
It’spicked
not to think
There’s
no
relief
The
Sergeant
comes
along
the
When I return
Nor work things out
of Karl Tearney. Karl is ex-Army
wisdom too
line
For it’s your Nor
kindness
It’s for the silence
Air Corps and a very talented
How I survived
He
us toout
be brave
That I will yearn
Totells
let things
writer.
I’ve not a clue
Sowe
hereallI sit
So
await the whistle©karltearney
Tin
helmet
on go on flee
For time stood still
My sense says,
Hoping
shells
But yet so fast
I’m scared of all the things out
Poppies
Men with their guns
Won’t fall upon
My mind still there
there
Hole in the round
It’s always lastNowhere to run
Of things they’d do to me Poppies so red
They’re not explosive
He won’t be home
Don’t make a sound
Not even loud
Another
time
I catch
a
glance
at
Charlie
So
much
bloodshed
Death is around
But oh my god
For
me
to
lose
Memories are sewn
We
hear
the whistle blow Left there alone
They
do enshroud
He won’t be home
I’m climbing up the ladderUnder
now a stoneThose memories
Memories
are
sewn
It’s
past
moments
Leave lasting clues
I hope my nerves don’t show
He won’t be home
Fathers and Sons
That attack me
Lost to the cause
They just
seemfour
so real
Perhaps one day
I take
steps forward
Planes in the sky
Daughters and wives
Alarmingly
When time goes slow
One mighty stumble back Over the waves
Left on the shores
I’ll find
those clues
Now
I’m
laying
in
the
mud
Shot
down
from
high
Fighting their wars
So if you ever
And
let
them
go
I can
hear
the
mass
attack
The young and the brave
Memories are sewn
Can’t find me
No one was saved
He won’t be home
I’m in my trench
sewn
Then
silence all around meMemories are©karltearney
Of misery
Pablo
My eyes gaze to the sky He won’t be home
ItsPlease
thendon’t
I seeworry
my whole life
I
will
be
back
It all comes fleeting by
Once I have fought
Off this attack
Why can’t I feel my body
My
eyes then start to weep
I know that you
My
last
Just
carethoughts
for me are of mother
AsBut
I’m
letdrifting
me sit into sleep
Here silently
©karltearney
The best thing please
That you can do
Don’t overthink
And don’t pursue
| 50
Veterans Radio
Veterans Radio Net
Forces Online Radio
VeteransRadioNet
May 23rd saw the launch of a new military focused radio station
"Forces Online Radio". We are operating in direct support of the
"Forces Online" page/site, that is growing rapidly, and needs another
string to its bow. Our aim is to bring you a diverse selection of both
indirectly
music and topics, that either directly
or
affect the lives of our
Military personnel, and of course the Veterans. Basically, anyone that
is serving or has served. We value your input and hope that this is the
beginning of a two-way communication via the airwaves. It will
always be a "work in progress", as we adjust and adapt to the
requirements of our listeners. After all, without you, we have no
purpose. To get connected, please use the link below:
The Centre of the Universe,
ok so that's pushing it, but VRN is
radio station “Yours and Mine”
“OUR”
By tuning in and commenting on our Live Chat Page
you take control of the station, you make it “Yours”
Come on in and make some new friends, have a laugh, pick
the music and tell us what you want to talk about
VRN, the NAFFI of the Airwaves
Keeping Veterans Stronger Together since 2012
With new presenters joining the team soon, VRN is going
from strength to strength
http://www.forcesonline.net/
Other links that can be used for external connection are:
"Make yourself part of it"
www.veteransradionet.co.uk
Winamp:
http://dallas.audio-stream.com/tunein.php/jimwilde.pls
Real Audio:
http://dallas.audio-stream.com/tunein.php/jimwilde.ram
Windows Media:
http://dallas.audiostream.com/tunein.php/jimwilde.asx
Jim Wilde
Director – Forces Online Radio
Military Veterans Radio
“Hands Across The Pond”
MVR is the place to be for great music, great company and
a deep love and respect for our troops and veterans.
We thank them for their service by providing a safe and
welcoming enviroment to meet and chat.
.
MVR also provides a support platform where you can find
links to get help and support for many veterans issues
So what are you waiting for?
Just click on the link and join us in the chatroom
www.militaryveteransradio.com
51 |
| 52
NAAFI break
'RQ·WVWDQGWKHUHgawpin·
READ IT AGAIN!!!
C o me u p w
wiitth
h a capti
tion fo
for Sgt
gt San
andbag
ag
and w
an
wiin a prize
W
ord Wheel
How many words can you find in the above Word Wheel.
There is at least one 9 letter word
Send in your answers, future puzzles, brainteasers, jokes, etc into [email protected]
53 |
NexT week
Next week in the
Sandbag Times
The Chilcott Report
Is this what the country expected?
The SBT analyses
The Veterans
Breakfast Clubs
More news from the clubs plus the latest reports from the ivory tower
The Troubles Pt 2
We take a walk in to the latter stages of
the troubles in Northern Ireland. The
war escalates to the rural counties
| 54

sponsored by - The Sandbag Times

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