Iraq and Afghanistan memorial unveiled 9th March 2017.

[Hangarshuffle]

The official unveiling will be tomorrow, that's 9th March 2017. The service is at Horse Guard at 1100 if you are one of the 2500 specially selected, invited guests.
The memorial will be down the embankment though. linky:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/iraq-afghanistan-memorial-to-be-unveiled-in-london

As ever in Britain, we are always left exactly in no doubt where we all stand (in this case literally as well)....I read Deborah Haynes piece on page 15 of The Times today about it. I find her articles (even short ones like todays) really very well written, and to the point.
(And the point being,basically it seems apparent that zero relatives of service men or women who were killed in the line of duty in these places.. were invited to attend). Make of it all what you will. I stand to be both damned or corrected.
HS.

[GlobalNav]

Regardless of any political judgements some may hold regarding one or more of the elements of military action, I offer my respects to all those honored by this memorial and also convey my personal gratitude to the citizens of the closest ally of the United States, the United Kingdom. We live in a dangerous world and need to stand together.

[Hangarshuffle]

Globalnav I would really like to thank you for offering your respects and I think they are very graciously accepted by people here.

On the thread - well I did some digging. It seems there indeed will be a memorial unveiled tomorrow. Its been kept I think under a low profile, and somehow I'm guessing that was a very deliberately made decision. I can honestly only vaguely recall reading about it only once, before today.
Its a strange day to have it- 9th March being post budget day so the newspapers/media are generally full of money talk.
Also on a Thursday is a very inconvenient day compared to say a Saturday or even a Friday, if you had been planning to travel to witness the event (not that you can anyway).
300, 000 British servicemen served over the whole rolling period 1990-2015 in the two theatres and I believe at least 680 died in theatre(s). How many more succumbed to other causes post deployment (injury, suicide etc) I know not.
Apparently it (the actual memorial) was originally sponsored by a right wing UK newspaper called the Sun. Unbelievably, arms manufacturer BAE allegedly also contributed to the cost of the build (although I'm finding that hard to quantify-nothing in the company website about it at all). But in fairness to them both it seems to be a memorial to the war itself and not the dead of the war (stand to be corrected there).

Provocative rag Russia today has a take on it though;https://www.rt.com/uk/379732-war-memorial-widows-invitation/

Not much at all on the British Legion website and nothing at all on the War Widows Association website. Seems the stuff about ignoring inviting widows, orphans and veterans is er..possibly true?

Anyway.. Britain in the 2017.

[Hangarshuffle]

You have been watching......
I would have loved it if that famous caption had appeared at the end of the live outside broadcast from Horse Guards and then the embankment.
But it was not to be.
I'm a little clearer though in my mind about it though. It was as I thought- an brilliantly stage managed event which gave out the impression that all is well with the British establishment.
But I felt uneasy watching it on telly with the sound down, somehow. The Royal family arriving in an old Roller, then a new one. Carefully selected VIPS -a mix up of top brass, politicians old and new, all the Royal Family that count in the inner circle. Way out in a separated enclosure were the others- all ranks at the back, civvies including what looked like families and others at the front.
Sketching this out a bit further..no black people at all, or brown people that I could see anywhere except for a well dressed red striped trouser uniformed gent who seemed to arrive with the Queen then faded out..
Boris Johnson is an embarrassment with his unkept shock of hair. Blair was there and he looks old now. But where there's a camera...
Prince Charles was wearing an FAA tie.
Segregation. The whole area had been cleared for hundreds of feet. Highly cordoned.
The service was done by establishment highly frocked up vicars with very obvious crucifixes on show, one of whom I recognised from the old days.
At minute 15 I think, an attractive young women dressed in black spoke very briefly. Widow-must have been.

Somehow at the end the Queen was teleported over to the embankment at rapid knots to unveil the piece.
The memorial itself looks to be of a very large piece of stone about the size of Stonehenge sarson. Not sure the type of stone. Its been totally cleft into two pieces.
Within the gap lies a large circular bronze coin the size of a big wheel. On one side is a cast of a kneeling squaddy bedecked with a mark six helmet, osprey, bowman and an L85. Think there was a hint of a Chinook in there as well, hard to see.
Again, massive separation at the unveiling (from the plebs). It was just the Queen and about 3 in TV picture
Got to say, its pretty militaristic as a memorial (for Britain-unusually so actually for these days).
Its not a sorrowful memorial to the dead, at all - its a memorial to the wars and the people that fought in them- no doubt about it. It reminded me of something I've seen in Rome but I cant remember what it is.

When it was all going on TV, I had some old school Chicago house music blasting around the manor, and I was on cleaning the cooker and then the bogs etc. The ceremony and the memorial are about 1 million miles away from my experiences of the reality of operations. But I've moved on in some ways, and life goes on.
Good afternoon-HS.

[just another jocky]

Thanks for that eloquent summation m8.

[MATELO]

It seems there indeed will be a memorial unveiled tomorrow. Its been kept I think under a low profile, and somehow I'm guessing that was a very deliberately made decision.

I concur. I passed in a taxi on Sunday and inquired why the were putting up stands in HCP to the taxi driver. He said "Early preps for the Queens Birthday".

[Hangarshuffle]

Its the Trajan Column, in Rome that the new war memorial in London reminds me of. The Trajan column was erected as a sort of pictorial guide to (I think I'm correct here) the Roman invasion and conquest of what is now Romania.
Something changed today. The British establishment communicated something to us, with this ceremony today. I'm not reading too much into it ( I think). Nothing witnessed today was simply due to an oversight or error, such as forgetting to tell or invite all of the widows, or keeping the injured and limbless out of TV sight. It was all very deliberate and I think by modern standards very un-British.
No - that memorial like the Trajan is how our leaders now want us to see this recent past. And its a signpost to the future.

Somehow, I've found today rather difficult. No more from me. Goodnight.

[Training Risky]

Thanks Hangarshuffle, for saying everything that I came on here to furiously type out once I realised that this event was happening with, as you say, absolutely no warning whatsoever.

Keeps all of us who served in Iraq and Afghanistan firmly in our place, well away from pesky TV cameras!

PS: I am not a HM The Queen basher by any means...but why does she always look so miserable! Even when I welcomed her into her Norfolk aerodrome with a sword and Guard. The Queen Mum on the other hand was always smiling!

[Tocsin]

I've seen her smiling, TR - must be you :)

Have you seen the photo of HM giggling at what the DoE (in his Guards uniform) must have said as she passed - was a great picture!

[Lima Juliet]

Having been around for GRANBY, BOLTON, TELIC and HERRICK (and one other unmentionable) then I found the military side somewhat insulting:

http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/0B31/production/_95056820_ddc-17-061-026-3.jpg

To me it is very Army-centric and does not recognise the loss of aircraft/aircrew by the RAF, FAA or AAC. Looking at the RAF I seem to recall the following losses:

GRANBY - 8 aircrew
TELIC - 10 aircrew
HERRICK - 13 aircrew

None of them in a CH47 that appears in the image above!

Not particularly happy about that...:sad:

LJ

[jolihokistix]

Was hoping to see an Afghani or Iraqi there giving thanks, and if a Muslim it would have added meaningful balance to the proceedings. Surely a wasted opportunity, unless I missed something?

[oldpax]

Are there any other"small war"monuments in London?Before Iraq and Afhganistan.

[MOSTAFA]

I'm pretty certain there isn't one for OP Banner and for the 800 British Servicemen that died there as a result from terrorist action, I think that figure doubles if we look at accidents and the likes. Like LJ having been around for Granby Telic and Herrick, Banner sticks in the throat a bit.

Not to mention they murdered everywhere, including London, but apparently we are all friends now as so some liberal minded politicians tell us.