Agreed a pre-meeting get together seems a good idea, though personally won't have a lot of time beforehand as work interferes.
Anyone know the area & can suggest a good place, hopefully fairly close ?
I am not & never have been military, though worked on miltary aircraft development trials for 14 years, & father was on carriers in WW2, engine fitter on Seafires - retired as crew-chief on Harrier GR5 trials a/c.
Anyone with a shred of decency would be revolted by this issue, as Wondermum put it, we simply cannot let this go...