Uniform Ban

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Del Boy

Active member
RAF Personnel Told: 'No Uniforms In Town'

Updated:09:58, Friday March 07, 2008
The Prime Minister has stepped into the row over military uniforms after personnel at RAF Wittering were told to wear civilian dress on off-duty trips into town.


RAF officers march in London
Senior officials said they were concerned that personnel in uniform could become targets of abuse from residents of nearby Peterborough who oppose British involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Gordon Brown said Britain's armed forces should be "encouraged to wear their uniform in public and have the respect and gratitude of the British people".
He added: "I condemn absolutely any members of the public who show abuse or discrimination to our armed forces."
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said the RAF Wittering decision was a local one made by station commanders.
He said soldiers, airmen and sailors were generally encouraged to wear uniforms in public.
Defence Secretary Des Browne described the move as a "great shame" and called for an urgent investigation.
"We must defend our forces' right to wear their uniforms in public," he said in a statement.
"It is a great shame that some individuals in this community don't respect our forces who are daily doing a great deal for this nation.
"This is not a situation we should tolerate.
"We learned about this today and are investigating it as a matter of urgency.

Gordon Brown
"I hope that by working closely with Peterborough City Council and the local police, service personnel at RAF Wittering will soon be able to wear their uniforms freely about the town with the support of the local people."
Air Chief Marshall Glenn Torpy echoed the remarks.
He said: "Whatever people's views are about specific military operations, everyone should be able to recognise the bravery and professionalism of our Armed Forces and respect the difficult job they do."
British soldiers stationed in Northern Ireland were similarly advised in previous years, an MoD spokesman said.
A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Police, which covers Peterborough, said she was not aware of any incidents involving military personnel being attacked or abused in the town.

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It seems though that the RAF police have received recent reports of low level abuse in shops etc. Forces personnel have ben made to feel very uncomfortable.
In view of the recent conspiracy to kidnap and behead a british soldier in Britain, who is right here - The Commanding Officer or The Prime Minister?

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I'm not sure how the British military system is set up as far as who the Commander in Chief is, etc., but if it's similar to the US system, then the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary set the policy, and the local commander implements the policy as s/he sees fit subject to local conditions.
 
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their Nation.
--George Washington[/FONT][/FONT]

Any nation ashamed of their uniform shames their flag, their country, and their reason for existence.​
 
Missileer said:
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their Nation.[/FONT][/FONT]​
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]--George Washington[/FONT][/FONT]​


Any nation ashamed of their uniform shames their flag, their country, and their reason for existence.​
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That about sums it up for me!
 
Missileer said:
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their Nation.[/FONT][/FONT]​






[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]--George Washington[/FONT][/FONT]​


Any nation ashamed of their uniform shames their flag, their country, and their reason for existence.​
Click to expand...


I passionately agree; but of course, these abuses come not from our nation, but from sections of our newly imposed multi-cultural divided society. For example, the Students Union at University College London have voted to severe all ties with the military because of Iraq and Afghanistan. The UCL motion calling for the ban was proposed by student Sham Rajiyaguru 21, activist and anti-war campaigner. The ban means that the universities Officer Training Corps will not be able to carry out recruitment drives etc. Our university campus have become, because of growing Islamic student placement and staff appointments, breeding grounds for terrorist support in this country.

At the age of 11, a young sea cadet has learned that multi-cultural Britain is no longer a land fit for heroes. Every time she goes to drill practice in Peterborugh city centre she has to brave vollys of abuse and jibes from gangs of louts and taunts from adults of 'murderer' and 'scum'. The gangs are from local Iraqi and Afghan communities and sparked by the deployment of personnel from RAF Wittering to those countries. This is where troops were ordered to wear civvies.

On the other hand, our indiginous population loves our forces; remember that as a small island with a empire, we have always needed to rely on our soldiers, sailors and air-men.

There has been uproar here, and our newspapers are heart-warming, full of photographs and details of our latest decorated heroes and heroines from the middle east battles. I believe we will be seeing a much greater prersence on our streets of uniforms.

Personally, I feel like recommending that we all buy ourselves camouflage fatiues etc. and wear them outdoors! Just as long as I don't have to get out in my old regimental Mackenzie- McLoud kilt!
 
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matt.gif
 
The situation there reminds me of our own Vietnam days. At times, we were also told not to wear our uniforms on the streets when on leave. The misguided people who opposed that war would attack the military personnel because they disagreed with decisions that politicians made. We were called baby killers, murderers, and other less savory names. I had young people spit on me in the airport. Mind you, this all happened to me before I went to Vietnam. Unfortunately, this is nothing new. The "activists" and "agitators" get them riled up and they target the wrong people. They act like sheep and can't seem to figure out how to voice their own opinions or make their own decisions.
 
DTop said:
The situation there reminds me of our own Vietnam days. At times, we were also told not to wear our uniforms on the streets when on leave. The misguided people who opposed that war would attack the military personnel because they disagreed with decisions that politicians made. We were called baby killers, murderers, and other less savory names. I had young people spit on me in the airport. Mind you, this all happened to me before I went to Vietnam. Unfortunately, this is nothing new. The "activists" and "agitators" get them riled up and they target the wrong people. They act like sheep and can't seem to figure out how to voice their own opinions or make their own decisions.
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And that is a black eye this country should be ashamed to sport. The whole mid-/late-60's is, in my opinion, America's most embarrassing time in history - when civilians ran around smoking dope and screwing anything anything with 2 legs, spitting on soldiers; and politicians had their heads so far up their butts that, yet again, the soldiers bore the brunt.

Missileer's post sums it up nicely.

I, sir, honor you and respect you for your service. Yes, I'm a vet, but even if I wasn't I'd still hold you in that same regard. THANK YOU for all you've done, my friend!
 
Guys - I am really surprised and sorry that your military was targetted in that way. These folk should learn what it is like to be unprotected; they would be wiped away in no time. That's the funny thing about all our fellow-travellers here - given the chance, the Jihadists would sweep them into the sea without a thought. Democracy could not survive without its armed forces, and if we here have ours decimated and have to rely upon the EU, then God help us, because we won't be able to call on USA again!
 
I was going to quote a couple of post here, but I have to say I agree with everybody. I can't think of anything else to add.

WEAR YOUR UNIFORM PROUD !!!!! Support ALL of the troops.
 
AZ_Infantry said:
And that is a black eye this country should be ashamed to sport. The whole mid-/late-60's is, in my opinion, America's most embarrassing time in history - when civilians ran around smoking dope and screwing anything anything with 2 legs, spitting on soldiers; and politicians had their heads so far up their butts that, yet again, the soldiers bore the brunt.

Missileer's post sums it up nicely.

I, sir, honor you and respect you for your service. Yes, I'm a vet, but even if I wasn't I'd still hold you in that same regard. THANK YOU for all you've done, my friend!
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And I thank you sir, and all veterans for all their selfless service.
 
I just dont like the hassle of wearing my uniform when its not beneficial just means you have to clean it and maintain it more lol, Definately dont wear it when Im traveling outside the country though alittle too much unwanted attention.
 
the_13th_redneck said:
People can usually tell from the haircut anyway.
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When I was 19 and serving in Egypt, in a barbed wire surrounded camp in a solitary desert position on the canal zone, we were absolutely isolated.

So me and another guy, McKay, managed to scrape together a set of civvies each - shirt, pants and shoes, and decided to hitch a lift at the weekend to Port Said, many miles away. This was at a time when no-one left the camp except on official duties; two trucks went together each with armed escort.

We usually could manage the lift, only military traffic on the canal road, really. Even military police would help out, because in Port Said, a big town, one main road area was in bounds to us. But that was no fun, and my companion claimed to know a maltese family who now lived somewhere in Port Said.

So we went for it. Of course we were very tanned, we worked all day in shorts, socks and boots in the desert; almost black with shiny white teeth flashing. he-he. So we thought we would saunter into a flash club restaurant etc on the port front, and play at being Europeans or such. Anything but British!

This worked quite well, and we sat there in what was luxury to us, reclining in comfortable armchairs, sipping tall cold drinks , until the waiters started sidling up to us, ingratiating and friendly and asked if we could them any John Player cigarettes. Illusion smashed! Haircuts! We gave the club a wide berth after that and in fact, after a couple of weekend trips where we visited the Maltese family and took pony and trap trips through the markets, we ended up one time having to beat a hasty retreat from a crowd in an out of bounds area. So we called time on the excursions and stayed safely behind the barbed-wire after that.
 
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