Roadking

Introduce him to BEME, that'll keep him busy although it might also send him nuts!

commander

I appreciate totally what it must be like for the wifes of servicemen..

We used to go away for months..in 02/03 i was away for 10 months. It was horrible for my family..I remember my best mate (ex Navy) constantly going round to my parents house in Arbroath when it was known that we were 'going in' to support them and let them know it would be ok..

It doesn't matter how old you are, your still your parents son...if that makes sense..

I quit the Navy straight after the gulf war or should I say iraqi freedom (lol)..I disagreed with it from the outset, so I done my duty and then resigned..best decision ever

Big Kevin

I spent a few weeks in Erbil a few years ago involved on airport design, it was ok and all of the people I met there, local and johnny foreigner, were all sound. Security personnel especially were great, drove us from southern Turkey to Erbil and back a few weeks later, but as you obviously know, it is one of those places where you do have to be a wee bit careful.

Security do an exceptional job though, please pass him and co my best regards

ArranLass

Good move mate!

Himself knew he was fighting for oil and the way it was done was diabolical. He was a career soldier and did his duty too. It wasn't until he was working in Kurdistan these last few years he realised the extent of the horrors that were stopped.

He's cp for the Consulate General. He goes with the CG where ever they go. He's seen the mass graves and heard the first had accounts of whole towns being gassed first hand. He brought a book back called, "A Day And (5000)Five Thousand Victims." By Mahmood Hama-Amin. It is a photographic account of Chemical Alis' gassing of Halabja. 5000 people wiped out along with their livestock. Mostly women and children as the men were away from the town in the fields at the time. It's horrific and this was common place.

I totally dissagree with the way Blair & Bush went ahead without a UN mandate. I was disgusted by their manufactured dossier of lies. The sad fact is that there were very good, very real reasons to depose Saddam but they didn't bother to try to make a case about millions of Kurds being gassed and all the other general attrocities being committed accross Iraq. I believe they didn't want to go down that road because then they/we would be honour bound to intervene in all the other atrocities against humanity accross the world such as Darfur.

The by-product of a possibly illegal war for oil was the saving of certainly thousands and probably millions of lives. We have never found a way to extracate ourselves from these situations though without leaving behind yet another mess.

Himself feels a lots better about the things he had to do during the conflict now he's seen what h helped to stop. I just wish someone would remind the world just how horrific Sadams regime was. You know yourself, our forces on the ground always try to put the civillian populations safety first, even when they are having to deal with IEDs and suicide nutcases.

So yeah... back to being a wanker for the summer!

ArranLass

LOL! Yep, he's careful alright! Just wish his client would remember that sometimes. They've had some real blinders. One of the clients used to like to fly her kite every day, might as well flown a big arrow and wouldn't miss a cocktail party in town for the IEDs in Erbil!

Thank you sooo much for the new airport! The new international flights get him home that bit qucker! They just need o get someone who kows how to work the aircraft control tower now. Yep, they're still flying in without any aircraft control. So the number of flights and destinations is still limited. He came home through Beirut last time. When he told me his route I just shut up, no way was I saying a word incase I jinx it... (that's the superstition thread again).

It's starting to open up in the north. A friend flew in from London to perform at a wedding recently, so it is changing but very slowly and there's always the Turks chucking a few rockets over for good measure against the PPK.

All fun & games until somebody loses an eye

So I suppose I'm the wanker as I' the one left behind while he takes off for 2 months at a time... Can I join the club ?

TGFKASE

Ive corrected that for you....

commander

To be fair, I don't think the world are in doubt about just how evil sadam's reign was, especially to the kurds...

ArranLass

I know, sorry to go off on one but sometimes I wonder. There was a dozy tart on the radio this morning sounding off about our forces in Afghan and Iraq being nothing better than murderers and not deserving a heros welcome home. I won't go into it all as it just got my blood boiling. I'm just having a rant.

Ok, promise to drop it and get back to the thread

commander

No worries, I hate that too, my home town is home for 45Cdo Royal Marines, and they have lost a good few guys in Afghanastan.I get really upset and angry when I see on sky news about yet another soldier killed..another black watch soldier killed this week..only a wee laddie..

littlejimmy

Whatever you think of the war you should never EVER take it out on the services personnel. It's the politicians who start wars.

Spugsy

my missus used to go away a few nights a month, that was good enough for me, sit around eating pizza and playing playstation with the odd night on the piss with the lads.

Karlos The Jackal

You ! Out on the piss Spugsy!

Who would have thought it?

commander

Yea geordie boy, a couple of days its fun..can't say I'm looking forward to 2 months away from Mrs me and my baby..ah well..Mrs egg fu yung will take care of my needs..

ArranLass

LOL! Is this the first year she's been away so long or is it an annual occurrance? Don't worry, the first month is great! Then you really miss them like hell, then you're counting down the days and suddenly you're having to pay the cleaner extra and trying to make the house look like it did before they left instead of the batchelor pad it's morphed into.

commander

She/they are only going home cause of my daughter, so yea its the first year...never happened in all the time we've been here.

Still I'm addicted to my training, that'll keep me out of trouble.

Plus suzie floo will polish my pipes