Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
News
Original poster

Wooton Bassett reception of bodies of those who died in Afgahnistan

88 replies

Simples · 10/07/2009 19:30

My parents went today. Said it is HUGE with people from all over the country.
VERY moving, silence as the cars pass then a solitary howl from a young woman.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8143614.stm

They said they wouldnt be suprised if it becomes a big anti war focus.

OP posts:
McDreamy · 11/07/2009 10:10

I come from a small town near Wootton Bassett and regularly went out in WB. I pass through it all the time on the way home to visit my parents.

It is a very special place. I have friends who turn out time after time after time. Being ex RAF and now an RAF wife myself it is incredible to see the streets lined as they are. I lost a friend in the Iraq conflict and watched him coming home, was really special to see so many people turn out to say goodbye Very moving.

Wilts · 11/07/2009 10:17

I am near Bassett and have a friend at RAF Lyneham. She has nothing but praise for the local people, young and old that continuously turn up to pay their respects.

Saltire · 11/07/2009 10:17

Like jcscot said, every time I hear of another tragic death or a memeber of our Armed Forces, I think the same as her "There but for the grace of God....". If I lived there I would be out too.
Another 8 in the past 24 hours.

myredcardigan · 11/07/2009 11:47

I think we should have some sort of campaign which jolts the government into awarding the people of WB some sort of collective recognition.

I want the government and the people of WB to know that I, as a citizen without a forces connection, is grateful for their dignity and the support they repeatedly show the prossesions.

jcscot · 11/07/2009 12:16

The Forces have already said a grateful thanks.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/7662814.stm

Heated · 11/07/2009 12:23

It's very moving. One of the boys I teach lost his father recently.

And given the loss of 8 soldiers just in the last 24 hrs, I can't be the only one increasingly wondering what our brave soldiers are doing there? If the might of Soviet Russia couldn't manage it...

Cammelia · 11/07/2009 12:32

herbietea, my father was based at RAF Lyneham for a time when I was a child, so I lived there. Wootton Bassett very familiar !

ThePhantomPlopper · 11/07/2009 12:35

It's very sad.

I said to DH earlier that I was so glad he was going to Iraq instead of Afghanistan, said it without thinking and have been feeling bad ever since.

We won't be leaving Afghan like we have Iraq though, we can't walk out of this one.

ThePhantomPlopper · 11/07/2009 12:36

And I really hope the anti war protesters keep away from WB.

Original poster
Simples · 11/07/2009 12:36

They mention the woman howling in the Times today

OP posts:
Original poster
Simples · 11/07/2009 12:37

(I used to do Youth mentoring and one issue that came up frequently was " what is there to do in Wootton Bassett on Thursday night"

Answer= not very much )

OP posts:
southeastastra · 11/07/2009 12:54

no way would i let any of my children join the army for this war. ds(15) has a friend who wants to join up. makes me so angry, he'll just be gun fodder whilst old public school boys probably send them into something they aren't mentally prepared for.

southeastastra · 11/07/2009 12:55

sounds sort of sick as seeing it as a day out too.

ThePhantomPlopper · 11/07/2009 12:58

Can you really stop your children joining the forces though? I joined at 17 and broke my mothers heart, she was dead against it and I went anyway.

bamboostalks · 11/07/2009 13:08

abraid I think that people should doubt and question whether this is a good cause. Unthinking patriotism is very dangerous. These people are dying and many of us are unconvinced as to whether there is going to be any long term resolution over there.

KIMItheThreadSlayer · 11/07/2009 13:14

Ypu have to ask your self what would you die or kill for?

My Country NO
My Monarch NO
My Faith NO

My children...without a second thought

Original poster
Simples · 11/07/2009 13:45

what is the difference between travelling somehwere to do something that will take all day or a day out.

I KNOW there was no levity in either the decision to go and the mood last night

OP posts:
Original poster
Simples · 11/07/2009 13:46

what is the difference between travelling somehwere to do something that will take all day or a day out.

I KNOW there was no levity in either the decision to go and the mood last night

OP posts:
Original poster
Simples · 11/07/2009 13:46

oops

OP posts:
jcscot · 11/07/2009 15:50

" ds(15) has a friend who wants to join up. makes me so angry, he'll just be gun fodder whilst old public school boys probably send them into something they aren't mentally prepared for. "

Things have moved on since WWI, you know! While there is no doubt that all the training and exercises in the world don't prepare you fully for the horrors of war, the days of inadequate training are long gone.

Soldiers today are well-trained and the "old public school boys" perception is very outdated.

ThePhantomPlopper · 11/07/2009 16:12

I don't think you can prepare an 18yo or a 45yo to deal with what they will deal with out there, what helps is knowing they are supported back at home, supported by the Gov and by the public.

The Gov are failing our Armed Forces spectacularly and the lack of public support is causing demoralisation on the front line and back at home. Whether you agree with the war or not the boys and girls protecting us need to know we give a shit.

Those 17yos who have just stepped off a plane and are sleeping in a massive tent or port-a-cabin, listening to the sound of missiles overhead need to know that people are supporting them. People turning out to pay their respects to the fallen at WB show them that someone cares.

myredcardigan · 11/07/2009 16:14

Don't worry, just SEA and her class war again.

Personally, I think we should not have gone into Iraq. However, the situation in Afghanistan is different. Many of the problems there are of our own making because we withdrew far too soon the last time. It is a matter of national security as the Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan and Pakistan are the training grounds for the majority of Muslim extremists entering Britain. If we withdraw now and allow the taliban to take hold of Afghanistan then Pakistan will be under enormous pressure and will likely be next. We cannot risk this.

On top of all this, the people of Afghanistan wanted us there. They want to be rid of the Taliban.

I don't think we have any choice other than to carry on. The human rights of the ordinary Afghans are at stake as is our own national security.

hf128219 · 11/07/2009 16:19

What a very blinkered view SEA has of the Armed Forces.

jcscot · 11/07/2009 16:20

Absolutely - perhaps she's been watching a little too much Blackadder Goes Forth?

SoupDragon · 11/07/2009 16:30

That video s very moving. I always blub when they play the last post at the end of the 2min silence on remembrance day. I even blubbed when looking at some war graves recently - they were all so young.

My eldest brother was in the RAF until recently and I think this has given me a personal perspective on deaths in war.