Originally Posted by Capt P U G Wash
Fod Plod,
I was cutting you some slack on numbers, if you count repeaters than the ratio is even less than 1.5%. As for discounting the RM that was because they conform to the Army plot of 1 in 5...
As only one campaign medal is issued per individual, the high incidence of your so-called
"repeaters" means that the involvement of Naval Service personnel in Afghanistan has been even higher than the issue of 16,714 OSMs and/or clasps suggests. For example, 3 Cdo Bde has deployed on HERRICK four times since 2001. RMs might well conform to the Army's 1 in 5 for HERRICK but they are also deployed for lengthy periods in between, e.g. this year's COUGAR 11 involving embarked elements of 3 Cdo Bde HQ and 40 Cdo.
Originally Posted by Capt P U G Wash
...My point about your cut and paste was why not leave it there on an RN rumour site. Your admittance to resorting to FOI requests somewhat compromises you as a nuisance maker (or journo), unless you only use such requests to add to rumour sites.
Just to remind you, it was you who asked
"...how many RN personnel are deployed today away from their role or training reqt, compared to RAF?". For the example I used in my response, I referred to a primary source, i.e. the result of my FOI request. It was not simply a
"cut and paste" from another site.
On a final note, why should asking about the extent of RN participation in Afghanistan
"compromise" me? As a naval historian and commentator on naval matters, I prefer to write with factual authority, not revel in my ignorance.