Brian,
That poem, very true.
But as an observation, and I don't say this to be contentious or anything like that, we need to keep this in perspective. This time yesterday, I posted the name of the MD because his company decided on this course of action, and he needs to be accountable. I didn't publish his address, because that would possibly have been inciting a breech of the peace and endangering or distressing people who have nothing to do with this, or what happened (.. but as an aside, its still law for all company directors to have a brass plate attached to their house, stating their names and company details anyway!). If the troops on ARRSE did that, then they do themselves no favours, and again, I don't ay this to be inflammatory, but to remind them that they run the risk of winning the firefight, but losing the campaign.
Yes, we want the military to be shown more respect, of course we do, but we need to be just a little smarter about this. Nothing will turn the public off more, than a never ending succession of old soldietrs banging their gums about the latest outrage.. HOWEVER JUSTIFIED THE OUTRAGE IS. The public just doesn't have the capacity any longer, to sustain productive interest in any one event, consider the death of Princess Diana. HUGE public empathy at the time, but very quickly - dissinterest and now derision. NOTHING goes out of fashion quicker than fashion, and supporting the troops is very fashionable. But it runs the risk of being a victim of its own success. This incident, if taken in context, wasn't the end of the world. A veteran wasn't deprived of NHS treatment or lost his job and a vet's child wasn't able to get NHS treatment. Whether we like it or not (and as ever in these things, you only ever get a clear perspective with the benefit of time and distance) those are the sorts of campaigns that are judged and viewed in the medium to long term. Campaigns such as this will need to keep their powder dry for the REALLY important events. This, with respect, was a little like selecting 'auto' on a soft skinned vehicle travelling at speed 500 m away. This should have got a response suitable and not the full monty, which, the media being the media, is always going to happen when you get OUTRAGED!!! talk jocks and the likes of Jeremy Vine etc.
I suggested approaching the banks, applying pressure which is going to be felt long term. People such as those who caused and who will do it again are the types of people who will soon forget about this, won't give a damn and will want to chance their luck anyway, because frankly, they're at the lower end of the food and money chain. They don't care about glorious concepts like protecting those who protect us - they only care about the balance sheet. Pressure has to be long and slow, and lets not forget. ALL discrimination is a shocker, whether its this lad being forced to sleep in his car is nothing compared to what an immigrant with family in tow must have felt like when they saw signs in hostels and B&Bs saying 'No blacks'. Look how long that campaign was fought for - by confronting bigots and idiots head on over individual matters, you only allow people a conduit, and those people who may support you will always have done so anyway. We need to remember too, that the overwelming majority of the country is behind 'us' (I am no longer fortunate enough to be able to describe myself as serving, but I reserve the right to chip in, from afar!).
I was just a Regt NCO and I was proud to get stuck into misscarriages of justice like Grays Lane, but ALL landlords and hoteliers have an obligation as part of their licence to host people, its THAT which should be the issue here as much as this JNCOs sad experience. I'm not trying to belittle this incident, but just to put it in context in order to be able to achieve a proper solution, not short term gratification. And finally, lets not forget the really important thing here, and I say this as a principle and nothing else. We all have a right to mentally like or dislike people and what they do (politicians, estate agents etc). As servicemen, no one forced us into the recruiting office. I did what I did because I wanted to do it so much my balls ached - I didn't then give too much of a toss about being screamed at by peace slags (a term of affection) at Greenham Common, stoned or sniped at by Irish people, shot up by Bosnians or bombed by Arabs. Similarly, they shouldn't mind when I express my true feelings about them! But in this day and age, lets not start ramming our ideology down people's throats because OUR idea of right is AUTOMATICALLY better than the next mans. This g'ment started the ball rolling by banning fox hunting and whatever you think about the rights and wrongs of that, from there - we started to be drawn towards this philosophy of imposing will upon people at a scale we haven't previously seen.
I'm not saying I'm a latte sipping, yoghurt knitting, straw sucking, hemp underpant wearing liberal - I'm not. I was (like I said) just a Regt gnr, and if that JNCO had called me and explained what had happened, I would have driven there to be by his side and (without prejudice) considered an immediate robust and more direct course of action against the person involved. Or (possibly!) having gained his details from Coy House I would have driven to the MDs house, politely rang the doorbell, apologised for the lateness of the hour and then carefully explained what (possibly in contravention of his licence) was happening. I would have smiled, and told him that in the past, the media had a nasty habit of escalating these things, so (in his interests) would he like to call the night clerk and clarify matters? Then, a day or two later, he would have received a letter apologising profusely for my intrusion, and thanking him for his help. I might have suggested that together, we might be able to cobble together a few finely crafted words for the media and show how the owner of a respectable and established chain of hotels was going the extra mile for the troops by resolving issues at 0230 and was also keen and happy to offer a 20% discount for all military parties in the area. Win win - we are the greatest in the world at fighting to obtain and maintain the peace through diplomacy, guile, tact and cunning, so lets not forget those qualities which make us what we are. Lets be diplomatic, or at least, lets not lose the ability to be diplomatic.
But to achieve real success, we need to pace things, and apply a response thats appropriate. We cannot run at FULL ON!! all the time, we can't do it and the public won't stand for it (believe me). We have to (red on.. in the door.. stand by to puke).. walk softly and carry a big stick. And if that wasn't bad enough, we also need to..
pick our battles.