To post this for the anti Poppy brigade?

[Jakebullet]

Just posted on Facebook by a poet friend of mine

The whistles could be heard
Along the trenches below
The young men weren't ready
But they had to go
Some held photos
Of loved ones back home
They charged together
Yet died alone
The bulkets n bombs
rang loud in their heads
Yet forward they ran
Running over the dead
A war against tyranny and for freedom they fought
A price was to be paid
Yet could never be bought
But their actions
Should be remembered
Even tho with regret
By wearing The Poppy
LEST WE FORGET

By Billy Isherwood

Love this poem......it's been in his head several days and this morning was finally written down.

interesting

sibling do you not think that if we had an armed force that had to conscript in order to go to war, that the wars we went into would be less dubious?
Because I do.

Despite me and quite a few others asking on other threads, could someone please help me understand why it is I should be grateful for what our armed forces are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Not sure about anti-poppy brigade or the poem ...but I wear a poppy purely because we should not forget ...
About the reality of all wars ...for the service men and for the civilians ....the suffering....how easy we have it in comparison in this country now - I feel having a yearly reminder is a good thing.
I don't care where my £1 a year goes - in general I don't give money to large charities - because I realised that most of the money large charities receive goes on advertising, admin, salaries - little goes to their causes - they have become big business (and maybe lost track of their purpose)

The Iraq war made me ashamed to be British. Really ashamed. But not as ashamed as when Tony Blair won the next election.
The only really power we 'little people' have in a democracy is the vote...the only way we can really make a difference as a population....we had a choice -not a life or death choice - a Tory government or to justify what that man did. In my eyes the country made the wrong choice -nothing could be worse than supporting someone who in my opinion should have been tried as a war criminal.

There is a huge difference in a true war where the country needs defended and those doing so are conscripted and illegal invasion. This country is more at risk now of attack than ever because we joined arms with the US. I consider what happened to the poor man in Woolwich as a crime and nothing to do with poppies or remembrance yet he was centrepiece of several news stories.

I am in total agreement with mignonette and clam about Geckos. I spent a lot of yesterday in tears because of her, and questioning my future on MN.

In the Summer she told me my DH is likely to be a rapist. (She'll deny it, MNHQ deleted it). Why? Because he is in the RAF. Not only that, she said that those in the Forces are all aware of horrid things going on and are knowingly covering it all up. It is all unfounded bile that she spews, but she keeps doing it.

My DH is away, somewhere safe and I miss him like crazy. My DS1 is going through the joining up process. Some of the things I have seen posted, mainly by her, have made me feel sick and had me in tears. I honestly wouldn't post here if my DH were injured, or god forbid killed, because I don't trust some people, but mainly her, to actually not post something vile and hurtful.

I am sorry Geckos, if you wouldn't do that, but that is how you are coming across to me and it is not pleasant.

I'm afraid it's not unfounded bile that there have been cover-ups in the British military, IamInvisible.

Hope your DH comes back safely.

Stay IamInvisible - don't let her win!

I was brought up in Northern Ireland and that has probably coloured my view of the British army and what they do. I am in no doubt there are good among them but there are also those who abuse their position and I saw it with my own eyes.

Right the penny has dropped.
I thought she had been banned.
Pity.

Agree with Dulldebbie too

uncanny pattern to any thread she posts on with her friends.
nastiness seems to ramp up rapidly

Below the belt DullDebbie what an unkind thing to say. Her DH is away, and she is feeling lonely and missing him. It's people like her who need forums like MN.

Just because you find someones views unpalatable doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to voice them. (Gecko) It really is the same as one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. You don't have to like it but I thank God for people who speak against the grain whether it offends me or not.

There have been Janine, but not to the extent she says. She tars every single person in the Forces with the same brush.

Bowlersarm

Oh dear. Please keep up. She didn't say she was in tears because her DP was away, she said she was in tears because of what Gecko had said

Ill say this with the utmost of respect and will all the kindness in the world, if you find yourself showing things to others to prove you are right or you spend the day getting upset about what a poster says (though I know its beyond that, best of luck to your DH) then its time to step away for a bit.

Gecko is entitled to her opinion. Ive seen previous threads and while I dont neccessarly agree with her posts, thats her opinion.

You wont change that opinion. No one is going to see this thread and think, yep, Ive changed my mind, all heroes, every last one of them. Because this issue has always been contentious. You will never get absolute agreement.

You dont need a hide poster button, hide the thread and go onto another, maybe Christmas, take your minds off it a little bit! Come help with the bargains if you know any!

In relation to the OP, mawkish is the word for that poem. Is it really your friends? Or yours?

I have never said that all men in the armed forces are rapists. The whole 'rape thing' was actually brought up by another poster and all I had to say about it was that I think people are far more likely to cover up and ignore things than they would be if they were crimes committed on British soil.

I stand by that, I stand by everything I have said about the armed forces, I am not some shrinking violet, I absolutely believe that being in a war zone makes people desensitised to things and behave in ways they wouldn't usually.

My father was in the raf and I know he is not a rapist.

You have got the wrong end of a stick (that I wasn't even holding) and ran and ran with it and ignored my continued attempts to reiterate what I meant.

I remind you that I said I feel the marine who had just been tried with murder should receive a lenient sentence, because the likelihood of him behaving the way he did out of a war zone is slim to none.

I have never ever suggested that I would be disrespectful to ANY dead, only that I don't believe I should be at all thankful to someone who has chosen to enter a warzone, because I am not.

Mind you, someoe apparently wasnt allowed to play in a football match because they refused to wear a poppy...

www.independent.ie/sport/james-mcclean-was-not-dropped-for-refusing-to-wear-a-poppy-owen-coyle-29742128.html

Though the management deny it.

Ignoring the rights or wrongs whether you should be there or not ...
You are in a situation where 'someone' is trying to kill you - they have killed/injured your friends - maybe you have seen it...
In certain circumstances you are expected to kill them - in order to do so surely you can't feel much empathy.
You may be a professional ...but you are also human -
That soldiers sometimes do horrific things does not surprise me - especially in situations where they are supposed to abide by the Geneva Conventions and their 'enemy' isn't....
Some civilians (without the provocation) do as bad things in every day life...
And British Soldiers are relatively well behaved - think Rwanda, Congolese child soldiers, Syria - the list is endless - even what happened on all sides in WW2...
I don't believe there has been a cover up of a British soldier eating his enemy's heart?