Annie Watsham with Joanna Lumley(L) (BBC) Without an impulsive remark from Annie Watsham to Gurkha rights campaigner Peter Carroll, Joanna Lumley might never have become involved in the lobbying campaign that led to Gurkha military veterans gaining settlement rights in… Read More ›
military
Remembering Anzac Day: stark lessons squandered and myths reinforced
I have little to add to these quoted comments below from Paul Norton’s Anzac Day post at LP, which focuses on the militaristic myth side of Anzac Day. As usual, there are some illiterates objecting to the use of the word “myth” as if the word means “untrue in its entirety”. The usage of “myth” when discussing recent history always, of course, nearly always refers to the meanings 2b and 2c below:
Pick up that damn breastmilk! “Army Wives” and Masculinity
In the wake of my mildly controversial decision to like Little Mosque on the Prairie, I’m going to up the ante and say that I also don’t mind Army Wives, when I can screen out the heroic-soldiers-deploying-to-Iraq side of things…. Read More ›
Women on the front line
Guest Hoyden Mindy also blogs for ecelectic group blog For Battle! This issue is back in the news again, with the announcement that the DSTO is looking at the combat roles available in the army, previously denied to women on… Read More ›
Lest We Forget: three images for ANZAC day
All over Australia and New Zealand, communities will gather around war memorials to remember those who have died in military service. We will listen to a speech, we will watch the laying of wreaths, we will recite the Ode to the Fallen, and we will listen to the Last Post. Later in the day we will watch those who survived, and those in service today, march to honour the dead. We will be reminded that such sacrifices should never be for unworthy causes.
Rape in the military
One of the signs of changing attitudes towards rape, and sexual coercion generally in Western society, where it is harder for men now to openly claim that rape is sometimes OK or to believe that sometimes coerced sex is not… Read More ›
Iraq too dangerous for Harry (and his tank unit)
Shorter desperate Whitehall spin: but the rest of you will be just fine, honest, even if you’re not in a tank unit, and of course the COW is totally winning in Iraq. [news story] ———————————————————- Chris Heyman, an ex-military editor… Read More ›
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them. Lest We Forget. The Dawn Service observed on ANZAC Day has its origins in an operational routine which is still observed by the Australian Army today. The half-light of dawn plays tricks with soldiers’ eyes and… Read More ›
Mori to do time? Unlikely.
So I turn on the tabloid TV this morning, and there’s much agitation about the possibility that Major Michael Mori, one of the military lawyers for David Hicks and a personal fave in the shyster ranks, may face charges that… Read More ›
Rainy day laffs
Settle back and prepare to giggle, guffaw and snort: 213 things Skippy is no longer allowed to do in the US Army.
Hoyden About Town 