Putin's Medals

[The Real Slim Shady]

In the paper yesterday I saw that Putin gave Keith a medal for his involvement in rescuing the guys in the submarine.

Given that he either flew the submarine saving team to the spot, or carried the duty free,i.e assisted, am I entitled to a medal by default as I once saved Keith from a nasty savaging by a small shrub?;) ;)

Congratulations to all the guys involved.

Shame they have to socialise with Tango Bravo though; life at the sharp end is tough :cool:

[Art Field]

Adventures in the nether regions without Snowy eh TT. Congrats to you and your crew. Bear.

[BEagle]

Yes - good to see my ex-copilot, Flt Cdr, boss and ageing old bug.ger getting his 'hero of the Soviet Union' or whatever medal on TV! Last appearance was with Jimmy Saville, wasn't it.....?

Is this another one you won't be allowed to wear, TinTin?

Joking aside, well done to you and the crew!

[Flap62]

Not having the citation to hand, could someone tell me what the crew did to warrant a medal and why there are lots of "well done chaps" ringing about?

[BEagle]

For being part of the team who saved a Russian submarine crew from certain death.

Short notice, can-do support for a humanitarian action.

And a far more worthy action than most things the RAF has to support these days.....

[Baskitt Kase]

Awarded for 2 reasons:

1 - Awarded by the ruskies because it makes the whole episode seem heroic. Doing so means that our involvement wasn't down to their insufficient capabilities, rather that our team was exceptional. By implication, the russians were at least acceptable rather than substandard and so the whole issue becomes politcally more acceptable back home.

2 - Accepted by the brits because the ruskies thanking UK gives Tony B a chance to shine in positive publicity. It gives him international brownie points saying how plucky little old UK managed to do so much when other countries couldn't (ie fuelling the 'UK might against US mass' type of high level willy waving).

I'm with Flap62 in questioning what the crew did that was so special as to deserve all the back slapping and I suspect that the answer is 'nothing more than they happen to be convenient at the time' in allowing the realisation of the 2 reasons I mentioned above. BEagle's part of the team reasoning is tosh really as we all know - after all, I'd lay money that the rest of the team of which they were part were conveniently forgotten and their work hasn't been recognised regardless of how much involvement they may have had. The Pprune thread at the time even had aircrew praising ASCOT Ops (it's a rare enough event in itself that it stuck in my increasingly-cloudy memory) but was there anyone from ASCOT there? I doubt it...

[mystic_meg]

...but I'll bite anyway:

Your myopic naivety beggars belief - have you read this?

I feel I have accepted this medal on behalf of all the RAF units and personnel who all dropped everything to contribute to helping save the lives of those seven Russian submariners
Source: http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/news_0510_02.html
- which is light-years away from your assertion:

part of the team reasoning is tosh really as we all know - after all, I'd lay money that the rest of the team of which they were part were conveniently forgotten and their work hasn't been recognised regardless of how much involvement they may have had.

.....I'll take your (rather easy) money anyday......chimp:mad:

[nottaflake]

KH is a decent bloke and those words sound like his, not words put in his mouth by some corporate comms type. They can hardly give medals out to everyone involved, could they. So back in your basket Baskitt Kase. Good to see Keith get a medal though and play it down like the true gent he is and it gave a day out for the Staish and Spiv too. :)

Who is the RN Capt that got a medal. The Cdr was the IPT man that accompanied the team; the next guy was the Rumic team leader and I think the guy beside him was the ROV driver/operator. Then there's Keith, but who is the Capt with a medal just off the red carpet?

[mystic_meg]

but who is the Capt with a medal just off the red carpet?

http://news.mod.uk/news_headline_story2.asp?newsItem_id=3600 :ok:

[Art Field]

Just like to point out that not all the aircraft operated by folks at the sharp end of the RAF have pointed noses.

[The Real Slim Shady]

Girls, Girls, come now, less vitriol, please.

I only jumped on this as Keith and I were on the same drinking competition 20 + years ago.

If there is a single geezer in the Queen's Flying Squad less likely to come out with corporate bullsh1t than KH then I've probably missed him as I left years ago.

Just kick back and enjoy the celebratory Pina Coladas.....which is where I came in.

;)

BTW anyone got an email address for the old g1t??