Originally Posted by commander (Post 6961513)

now, in true armed forces tradition, lets get sozzled have a drunken fight with eachother and then try and pump a fat lass..

Originally Posted by The Dean (Post 6961511)

Beautifully observed here............

There we were, myself and a fellow Englishman, and SA and Filipino colleagues, standing/waiting outside the main entrance of the bank at about 10.58GMT when two Saudi colleagues walked by, and asked what we were doing.

I told them, and they said "May we join you?".

Of course they could.......... not sure if they fully understood the significance of it, but it struck me as the sort of gesture that, if about 6 billion people could emulate it, would make the world a better place.

Originally Posted by commander (Post 6954890)

My most ponient remembrance day service was one that i attended on the flightdeck of my ship, on 11th November 1998 in San carlos Bay, Falkland Islands. We were anchored above HMS Antelope, which was sunk, then we sent down our divers to change the ensign on the wreckage.

As my birthday is the 11th, i always requested to read a passage at the service, and when i read out the 'we will remember them', to see the look the men next to me who 16 years previously had been here in much different circumstances, some of them survivors of HMS Sheffield, Coventry and my mate Ray who was on the Antelope when it was hit (although it sank much later), was something i will never forget.

As was attending the remembrance service in 2003 remembering the fallen in Iraqi Freedom..Remembering the lives of people whose demise, so pointless and tragic as non peacetime accidents are, is something i always reflect on.

And to those who glorify conflict, ill easily take a moment to explain what the reality is...

Originally Posted by Amazing Grace (Post 6961570)

Commander, AA Man's best friend and his boss were the BD guys who went on board one of the naval ships to defuse a bomb which had not exploded. There was a faulty trigger and sadly Cpl Jim Prescott RE lost his life and WOII John Phillips RE lost his arm in the explosion. So today I remember them both and all the other young lives lost in that particular war and all the other wars which our young people fight so bravely to stop.

I wear my poppy with pride as an ex military person myself and i stopped for a few minutes at 3pm local time here in UAE to remember them all. God Bless and keep our troops safe in the future days.

Originally Posted by lionheart (Post 8036091)

Personally, my donations will be going to those innocent victims of the typhoons and earthquakes in the Phillipines and Indonesia rather than to the families of those who chose to join the Armed Services.

Originally Posted by commander (Post 8036146)

if you donate at the same level that you spend your cash on dinners and educate your daughter, im sure the British Legion will not be shutting its doors upon hearing this tragic news..

another grain of rice donated by Lionfart.

Originally Posted by lionheart (Post 8036180)

and its Mr. Lionfart to you, general.:p