Leanfaımıd oraınn cuıṁneaṁ orṫu - We Will Remember Them

War Memorial Ward Park, Bangor

The 8th November 1987 was Remembrance Sunday, on that day I was laying a wreath on behalf of 4th Bangor Boys Brigade Company when at the other end of the Province a bomb had gone off at Enniskillen. Eleven people died that day and I know there are some in Ireland who find it hard to move on from those days of troubles.

However, as my friend Keith has pointed out on his blog attitudes have been changing in the Nationalist community. As I've mentioned here before there are 49,400 reasons from the First World War why all of Ireland should be remembering the lives given up from all communities. Earlier I've used an English and Irish (courtesy of Google Translate) version of the most famous verse of Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen, my friend Michael has also used it and put into another script (used below).

Unlike some of those who cannot forgive for the sake of Ireland (North and South) and our childrens' future we have to move on, we have to inhabit a shared future, actually we have to establish a shared here and now in the present.

I therefore without shame use both once again as we remember those who gave their lives, or are currently risking their lives, in the service of our nation.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.  

Tug fás ní ḃeıḋ d’aoıs, mar atá fágṫa agaınn go ḃfuıl fás d'aoıs;
Ní ḃeıḋ feıḋm ag aoıs bonn dóıḃ, ná na blıanta Cáıneann.
Ag dul síos na gréıne agus ar maıdın
Leanfaımıd oraınn cuıṁneaṁ orṫu.

Generals Back Clegg Over Trident

What do Field Marshal Lord Bramall, General Lord Ramsbotham, General Sir Hugh Beach and Major-General Patrick Cordingley have in common? Well today they have all written to The Times backing the Liberal Democrats policy on not replacing Trident, that's what.

They say that the next government would threaten both front line Forces and global disarmament talks unless it considers different ways of spending the billions required to replace the fleet of submarines. They also express "deep concerns" that Trident has been omitted from the Strategic Defence Review scheduled for after the election. They argue that any review should look at the questions:

"Is the UK's security best served by going ahead with business as usual, reducing our nuclear arsenal, adjusting our nuclear posture or eliminating our nuclear weapons?"

The best defence the other side comes up with is this from Paul Beaver, a defence analyst:

"This is not a military programme. This is a national programme. It is about Britain’s place in the world. It is about our relationship with the United States most of all."

So there you have it folks Trident isn't military. If we do away with our nuclear Tridents America who is threatening countries gaining nuclear capability will no longer be our friend. I'm still trying to get my head round any logic in that statement, I've given up.

General Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank however adds weight to the Generals' case saying:

"Do we really need the kind of effective weapon we had in the Cold War? There is quite an argument to say we do not."

I seem to remember Nick Clegg using almost that form of words last Thursday.

The Politics of Showering

Or America's Hysterical Homophobic Far Right

I signed up a while back to the American Family Association (AFA) mailing list, I had to sign up to comment negatively on one of their forums a while back. Well this morning I received their latest hysterical mailing, it includes the phrase.

"If President Obama, congressional Democrats, and homosexual activists get their wish, your son or daughter may be forced to share military showers and barracks with active and open homosexuals who may very well view them with sexual interest."

Oh dear, better go the whole hog AFA. Best not let them fight alongside Army's such as the British that allow homosexuals to be open about their sexuality. Better have segregated University Campuses, can't have America's straight young students getting barracked up with open and active homosexuals in halls. Worse they need to vet their sports teams, or just stop the homosexual sportsmen and women taking part in sport.

• Martina Navratilova should not have been allowed in the women's locker room at Wimbledon
• Greg Louganis, who famously banged his head off the springboard on the way to defending his Olympic gold, should not have been allowed to get out of his speedos next to the Olympic pool.
• As for sending a team to the Winter Olympics starting later this week. Well you know those gay magazines advertise skiing holidays, can't be too careful.
  

Are you going to protest and been consistent that these openly gay American sports stars hand back their achievements in the name of your country. Here is the news, from my personal experience, not all gay sportsmen view their straight team mates or competitors as sexual objects in the showers after the event. Fact is some of the straight guys show signs of arousal in the showers, but we won't ask and won't tell. So why should the military be different?

As a former footballer, rugby player and runner, and someone who still works out at the gym who happens to be gay I have seen plenty of naked straight guys in the showers. If I'd view each of those as a sexual interest and decided to follow through on it, I'd never be able to get anything done, either compete at the level I competed at or do any work.

In this months Gay Times magazine there is an article about gay men in the British army. Unlike in the USA where they exist but in a closeted way, in the British Army ten years after we changed our policy. One serving gay soldier said:

"Because the armed forces consist of such close-knit teams, I didn't want to hide anything, so it was important to be to be honest. That doesn't mean being camp though, it just means I don't have to put up a facade.

"That said, my sexuality is only as relevant as a straight guys. I wouldn't say it's part of my experience in the forces, in any other way than it's part of my experience of life. I suspect other gay soldiers feel the same."

Another tells of his coming out to his comrades:

"It wasn't planned. People found out by accident. However, everyone has been really understanding and supportive. The people I work with are like my extended family so we all know each other really well. They may make a joke of certain situations but nothing more that that. We are all serving in a conflict and that is the priority."

That joking about being one of the lads is something that I encountered when I came out to my team mates. It was an acceptance of me and who I was. They would be joking about each other and it was inclusion of me.

The AFA email concludes:

"If we do not insist that the ban on homosexual military service be retained*, our military will no longer be the place America's families want to send their best and brightest young men and women."

Personally I think that if they can't be confident enough with their own sexuality, confident enough to stand up for it, capable of saying no to unwanted advances they can't really be the best and the brightest that America has to offer. But if they are, heaven help the free world, we're being run and protected by simpletons.

* It doesn't exist they just can't tell.

The Prince and £40 Million of Coke

Prince William has £40m of coccaine in his means of transport. Yet there is no outcry in the press. No calls as to why the daughter of Diana should be close to that sort of thing.

The reason of course is that the transport in question is HMS Iron Duke on which the second in line to the throne is serving during his Royal Naval tour of the forces.
The coke was not found in his quarters but was seized from drug runners in the Carribean where he is currently deployed with the frigate. Sub Lt Wales was part of the ships company who apparently all played a role during this operation his role is not specified.