I've already posted this on another thread (about the Queen's message!) but on reflection that wasn't my best idea ever - I reckon it needs a thread of its own. This is for you younger fellas . . .
Take a look at this petition -
We should honour the service personnel who protected the UK during the Cold War - e-petitions
I didn't start this petition, but I'm glad someone else has. When the Berlin wall came down, CAS Dick Johns came to HQ Strike and told us
'The Cold War is over, and we've won it'. I asked him - tongue in cheek, of course - when to expect a campaign medal. He said not to hold my breath, and we all laughed.
I didn't hold my breath then, and I haven't been for the last 20 years. I really don't mind not having a medal; it wouldn't change my own knowledge that we all did something worthwhile with our lives. But I have been getting more and more disillusioned about the lack of knowledge, never mind appreciation, in the population at large. It's almost as if the Warsaw Pact and its potential threat had never existed. Whether this petition succeeds or not, it will surely do no harm to generate a bit of a discussion. It's easy to remind people of obvious 'hot' victories like the Falklands, Sierra Leone or the first Gulf War. I'm as proud as could be to have been a member of the team responsible. But the Cold War - which demanded total and sustained commitment and professionalism, and which certainly warmed up from time to time, arguably claiming some victims - did more to keep us safe and well than any of those short campaigns. Forty years without a major war in Europe is an achievement that shouldn't be overlooked, surely? Yet most people under 35 know nothing about it.
Please sign the petition. Even if you don't, please pass it on to anyone you think will support it. Here it is again . . .
We should honour the service personnel who protected the UK during the Cold War - e-petitions