Our Troops - My Thoughts

[Laxie]

Lost for words, sorry for your loss and thank you for your sevice.

xxx

+1

[Ismene]

Lost for words, sorry for your loss and thank you for your sevice.

xxx

xxx

[phatomch]

Sorry for your loss mate.

I cant imagine what it would be like, my brother is in the army and has been for 17 yrs now, he joined junior leaders in his school uniform the day he left school, 17 years on he's done 3 tours of Ireland, 2 of Iraq,1 bosnia,and 1 of afgahanastan. I couldn't be prouder of him and the great work all our boys and girls around the world do, but whilst he's away I dread every phone call from my mum.

A few weeks ago, on the 100 yr celebration of the TA, they asked his regiment to supply a Challanger 2 and some guys to highlight the show, his few guys where the only enlisted men there and over the course of 3 days only one person came and said "cheers fella's great job". I find this disgusting why we dont support or forces.

This is one thread I look forward to reading, thanks for sharing it with us. 

[steeveg]

so sad to read m8 ,I lost a brother a few years back and another earlier in the year myself both served in the army in there younger days,no its not boring we can only imagine what you went through.

[boldie]

Lost for words, sorry for your loss and thank you for your sevice.

xxx

+1

[Colchester Kev]

wow ... ty Geo, sharing personal memories isnt the easiest thing in the world, but they enrich everyone that reads them.


Thankyou and I hope you carry this through.

[Snatiramas]

Geo thank you so much for posting this thread. It must have taken a lot of thought and courage to write it all down......it is both captivating and incredibly moving and gives me an insight that I would not otherwise have got.

Thank you

[bhoywonder]

yeah agree with above comments

very moving Geo


look forward to the next installment and your numerous meetings with the Queen in particular ...I remember you telling me of that in Maybury last year

[boldie]

yeah agree with above comments

very moving Geo


look forward to the next installment and your numerous meetings with the Queen in particular ...I remember you telling me of that in Maybury last year

The Queen hunting story is a classic

[Geo the Sarge]

yeah agree with above comments

very moving Geo


look forward to the next installment and your numerous meetings with the Queen in particular ...I remember you telling me of that in Maybury last year

The Queen hunting story is a classic

Thanks for the replies and PM's so far guys, very encouraging indeed.

I intend to do various pieces, one of which will cover the Royal Family........................and how Geo almost took out old Charlie boy too (and I don't mean on a date.)

Geo

[Rod Paradise]

Geo, we're at opposite ends of the political spectrum, probably never to agree, but can I just echo the others' admiration at your openness and honesty on this thread & their sympathy for your losses.

It's very important in these conflicts to remember that it's real people with famillies being hurt & not to demonise the other side. Your postings are stark reminders of that. I'll happilly shake your hand and buy you a beer next time we meet, I'd not have the courage to speak so openly about things that hurt me.

[Tonji]

Geo, an absolutely stunningly heartfelt thread, loads of respect to you.

[Snatiramas]

Geo, we're at opposite ends of the political spectrum, probably never to agree, but can I just echo the others' admiration at your openness and honesty on this thread & their sympathy for your losses.

It's very important in these conflicts to remember that it's real people with famillies being hurt & not to demonise the other side. Your postings are stark reminders of that. I'll happilly shake your hand and buy you a beer next time we meet, I'd not have the courage to speak so openly about things that hurt me.

With posts like this there is hope for society............respect to both of you

[Geo the Sarge]

They buried Sid King today, one of the lads who died earlier this week.

RIP Sid.

The Aftermath

Having made the phone call to my uncle, I made my way back to my room. I had been informed that they had passed my duties onto another NCO and that I was to prepare to be flown out that evening. I knew it would be a wee while before a chopper could be made available so I prepared myself for a long wait.

I knew that most air time for the choppers would be taken up as the follow up to the shooting would take a while. They would then have to return the various troops and agencies back to where they had deployed from.

There was a knock at the door and my mate Mark, the platoon commander from earlier entered. “Dicky, I need to take your weapon and ammo, normal procedure, just a precaution.”

In effect they couldn’t take the chance that I would go hurtling into Crossmaglen Square loaded like Rambo trying to seek revenge……….fair do’s I thought. This is one of the great traits of the British soldier, we understand the risks and when things like this happen, generally we know how to behave.

We’ve all read the stories from Iraq and Afghanistan and the likes and how certain countries reactions go OTT when they lose colleagues. This rarely happens with the British soldier. I won’t say it’s never happened, I believe there may be an ongoing investigation into the reactions of 1 British unit where they took a group of lads and gave them a beating after an Incident in Iraq (not sure if it has finished or what the findings were.) However it is very rare, unlike one country that is renowned however for taking out whole groups of people in reaction to the loss of a colleague/s. I’ll keep that for a piece on my thoughts of the British soldier against other Armies.

I handed over my weapon and ammo and once Mark left I lay back on my bed. This didn’t help one bit, lying there, all sorts of thoughts going through my head. I couldn’t phone home to tell the wife I was ok, no doubt news would have gotten back that someone had been killed, as the telephone ban was still in place to all but the ops room. I wonder how they cope with that in this day of mobile phones and the like. I’m not sure how big the mobile phone thing was back then to be honest. In fact I didn’t have a mobile until a couple of years ago.

I decide I needed company. I left my room and started making my way along the corridor, the Naafi was about 30 yards from my room. Within that 30 yards there were so many of my mates and soldiers I knew that hurried past me heads bowed with a quick utterance of “sorry Dicky,” or even seen me approach and quickly turned and hot footed it the other way.

Again, like my mate Budgie in the ops room earlier, it was fear of saying the wrong thing, or not really knowing what to say. I hurried into the Naafi, there were quite a few there. I slammed the door shut and this made them all look up. “look lads” I said, “please don’t feel afraid to talk to me, I need you to talk to me.” Within seconds I was surrounded by a few sobbing mates, being crushed halve to death with hugs of sorrow. I felt secure once more.

[Geo the Sarge]

I was eventually flown from Crossmaglen to Bessbrook Mill where our regiment had their headquarters. The next morning I made the trip to Belfast Harbour airport and flew home. We were stationed at Fort George in Inverness at the time.

I went to my own house first and was greeted by my wife Tricia, my boys were there too. Only Greg, my oldest was old enough to realise what was going on, he was the one who would later join the Regiment himself. We had a quick chat and then wandered over to Lawrence’s house to see his wife and daughter (I earlier said she was 9 months old, I have been corrected she was actually 18 months old, men and birthdays ehh.)

My mother, father and my 2 other brothers were there. I hugged my 2 brothers and with a courteous nod, acknowledged my parents. They informed me of the hassles they had already had from the media, camping outside my parent’s house in Edinburgh in an attempt to get a picture of the grieving family, the continuous knocking at the door asking for interviews. My parents house then was directly opposite the Drylaw Police station on Ferry Road and my father new a couple of the policemen there. He eventually had to call the police to warn the reporters not to go beyond the garden gate. They couldn’t stop them congregating in the street but the garden was my parents property so they could be told to stay out of there.

I found out then that my youngest sister, who was working away as a hairdresser heard the news of her brother’s death on the Radio Forth news and broke down hysterically and had to be taken home. The normal procedure in these cases is that no details are released by the military as to the identity of the victim until the family have declared that they have informed everyone that they had wished. Some bastard had leaked this. Whether it was an error by the military press office or a careless phone call we’ll never know.

We eventually made our way down to Edinburgh in preparation for the funeral. There was a huge attendance, bolstered by a number of the then Hibs squad. Lawrence was a fanatical Hibs supporter, one of my prized possessions is a framed photograph given to me by his wife of Lawrence and other members of our regiments Hibs supporters club with the Hibs squad which was taken during their pre-season tour of Germany in 1987. We had the whole squad stay at the camp for 2 weeks with us it was one of his happiest moments and 1 of his cherished possessions. His grave is in the cemetery on Drum Terrace under the shadows of the stadium he loved.