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The World's Armed Forces Discussion Thread
Dragonpol
https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
This is the thread to discuss the British Armed Forces past and present and the issues that face servicemen and women in theatres of war or at home. The British Armed Forces includes the British Army, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy, the Special Forces like the Special Air Service (SAS) and the Special Boat Service (SBS), the Royal Marines, Military Intelligence, Naval Intelligence, the Sappers, the Gurkhas, the Parachute Regiment, Defence Intelligence and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) and any other general or specific British military topic such as the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and their legal and political and indeed human aftermath.
May 2016 Thread EDIT: I've now expanded the thread to include Armed Forces from around the world more generally as well.
I feel we need a thread like this here as of course the new James Bond of the reboot has a more Special Forces background than he perhaps had in the original Ian Fleming spy novel series (although he was involved in the fight against the German High Command's Ardennes Offensive of 1944-45, see Dr. No)*. James Bond can of course come into this discussion too - perhaps a discussion on James Bond and heavy artillery weapons is in order for example?
So please feel free to discuss any aspects of the world's Armed Forces past or present in this thread.
* And see here for more on James Bond and World War II:
http://thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/james-bond-in-contemporary-world-war-ii.html
This is my opening shot as it were. :)
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Comments
I would be very interested to hear about the British Armed Forces from people who served there.
Are there any Marines here from the US?
Also I couldn't find a general army thread :(
Jason and his weapon of choice SIG550 in 2007
Who have or are serving. Keeping the rest of us safe, during these uncertain
Times. =D>
had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress ( Over his years of service, in many
war fronts ) and the chat always got round to guns, techniqhes etc, which depressed
him a little.
So perhaps @Dragonpol , some ex service personnel, might be reluctant to post
about their experiences etc. Which I think is understandable.
Yes, of course such ex-personnel have my deepest sympathies. When I created the thread back in 2014 I intended it more as a general thread not specifically for those who had served in one of the forces but for anyone with an interest in British military affairs. My interest stems from my love of history (I have a degree in the subject) and also because for my 20,000 word dissertation in 2009 for my Law Masters degree I wrote about the royal prerogative power to commit the UK Armed Forces abroad (in the wake of the 2003 Iraq War).
So, the interest in the British Armed Forces and the welfare of its personnel has pretty much always been there. Their scarifies, bravery and general public service is something I greatly respect them all for. That's where I'm coming from with this thread.
@Dragonpol
Thanks man, very nice :)
Could be, though I'm certainly not. I'm a realist, not an idealist.
Though that would apply more to the Secret Intelligence Service rather than the purely military unless we're talking about the Special Forces I guess... :)
Yes, though Vinnie Jones put him right in the end! :))
on joining The Royal Marines. In the end I got a job, so took the esay route and didn't
Pursue it.
Looking back, Trust me to pick one of the toughest Regiments, .... The training
Would have killed me. :))
I spent 5 weeks every year after that additionally in the army, I retired in 2014.
Para-Scout Badge
The "bomb" branded in my upper arm (right side)
Uniform Badges:
We were close to 700 youths at the beginning (first selection with 17).
In the end after 2 years of various selection processes (physical, health, behaviour) and successfully doing an Ironman (in the army) I finally made it, we were 19 privates left in the end.
Believe me, there were many moments when I thought I am not strong enough physically or mentally. Willpower is everything, I made it.
You could have too :) I'm sure.
Would you encourage anyone to join up.
Anyway, maybe there are some members here that did serve too?
Not going to bore you to tears with a lot of stories or pictures. I still will share something every now and then.
Switzerland is a militia and every young male has to go to the army (if physically able) Young woman can voluntarily enlist, not many do though. In 2016: 1'117 did.
The Swiss Army is a part of our tradition and way of life even. With a population of "only" 8 million, there are 130'000 actives at any time. 14'000 are officers like I am. The rest are lower ranks and soldiers. There are an additional 42'000 soldiers/officers on reserve.
There are almost 10'000 full-time professional officers. I am one of them as of last week.
But I still will have to go to the military academy for 20 months before it is final.
5'918'334 - that's the amount of days of service in 2016 in the Swiss Army.
Switzerland has an Air Force and a Navy @Thunderfinger because we have many big lakes and a lot of them are bordering our neighbouring countries, Italy, Germany, France.
Next week I will visit the Navy actually. Para-scouts get to work with the Air Force and the Navy regularly.
You'll get to see soldiers every day on the streets in Switzerland. Especially between Friday afternoon and Monday morning as in that period of time leave from the Army takes place.
Most get one day and night over the weekend, but not every weekend. It depends on your rank and where you are located.
Soldiers travel by train and bus and we do have to wear our uniforms, our assault rifle and the backpack. We only are allowed into civilian clothing once we reach home and have to leave home again in uniform and gear.
Naturally, the assault rifles are secured when we are outside the army base and territory.
This is an official 11 minute film about para-scouts, it was produced a couple of years ago and is quite good if somewhat like an advertisement. Still it shows very well what para-scouts are about.
I went that route as well as the two guys in the film.
You'd think there's a couple more veterans or actives that are JB fans and willing to share experiences ;)
Usually we don't post clips on the internet of what we do, unless it's sites that are for our (Grenadier) eyes only. No worries in uploading this though, so I did.
This is us Grenadiers showing off our hand-to-hand combat skills to the public.
As you can see we already got snow a couple of weeks ago in late November.
No problem in uploading this so I did.
...and you will be so pleased by the music I've chosen for this!
When the time is right, there will be pictures on the -show your pic- thread.
So you are a veteran then?
Here you go in the mean time : )
deleted for privacy reasons
Is that you @Andi1996Ruegg ?
Are you also part of the medical crew?
I am a veteran. But not in the military ;)
The British Army up until the 19th Century I believe.