Armed Forces Day 2010

[defenceheadquarters]

Armed Forces Day is Saturday 26 June 2010. The day is an annual opportunity for the nation to show support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community: from currently serving troops to Service families, and from veterans to cadets.

In 2010 the National Event is to be held in Cardiff (http://www.armedforcesdaycardiff.co.uk/), but Cardiff is just one event being held in support of Armed Forces Day.

If you want to know more about how to get involved and what’s going on in your area, click here (http://www.armedforcesday.org.uk/Events.aspx) to find out how you can celebrate Armed Forces Day in support of our nation.

[sidewayspeak]

Great, just clucking great. So those of us in the Armed Forces get to march up and dowm, practice marching up and down and generally get clucked about so the MPs can say they have introduced a day to celebrate our AF... by making us do additional work instead of perhaps making it a National Holiday, or just giving us a day off.

Defenceheadquarters, how are you going to spin that into a positive?


Thought so. :ugh:

[Bladdered]

Yes, this was always a great idea just like the Station Open Day which required a leave ban for a week on either side of the Saturday event! I feel your pain and will celebrate you all by raising my glass. Thank God I am retired.

[Pontius Navigator]

Bladdered, agree, I did a straw poll.

"Would you rather chuck £20 in the kitty and have the weekend free?" or

"Would you prefer to slog your guts out preparing, running, and wrapping up an air show?"

Now on an Station with 2,000 personnel that would have been a guaranteed £40k to charity and no fiddling the fuel bill. And no incidents or accidents or weather abandonment.

Yup, it came out as No Show. Unfortunately in the race to the stars every little helps.

Now I wonder how many of our top brass actually ran an air show?

Ones I had been involved in resulted in: Staish retiring and a Gp Capt, his successor made ACM but ran one air show unsuccessfully and stopped. Another reached Air Cdre and the Waddo show went from strength to strength.

I guess the B-word was successful.

[Jumping_Jack]

Op Deny Weekend strikes again....:D

[Pontius Navigator]

I clicked the link and was surprised to find there will indeed be an event within 40 miles. I also remembered that last year the Jug and Bottle in Holton le Clay offered a free pint with a meal - £1.69 is £1.69. Don't know if they will do that this year.

[Runaway Gun]

I dunno Ponty, ask someone for "One Sixty Nine" and it just might make your day. Might have to buy her a few pints first...

[muttywhitedog]

I've got free tickets for me and my family to watch Harlequins v Wigan at the Stoop on 26 June.

And there's no requirement to turn up in uniform, no requirement to wander on the pitch at half-time in combat kit, no requirement to march around for the amusement of others - I can just go and have a free day out!

[Al R]

Nothing goes out of fashion, quicker than fashion. This New Labour/imported from the US bull**** idea to gloss something up quickly, instead of instilling within the population a genuine and long lasting deep seated respect for the military, will return to haunt.

It isn't in our national psyche to applaud or whoop our troops in air terminals, not should we be encouraged to do so - lets leave that to the Americans. All our troops want is a proper ethos that isn't dependent on civilian groupthink, decent pay, nosh and digs for themselves and their families, and warm and fluffy kit that looks sexy and works. The rest, it can do itself without this idiotic jumping through hoops.

And if anyone uses the word 'Warrior' when describing a serviceman I will er.. put the kettle on in frustration.

[teeteringhead]

I dunno Ponty, ask someone for "One Sixty Nine" and it just might make your day. Might have to buy her a few pints first... ... and if she's Chinese, you might just finish up with Duck & Pork Fried Rice .... ba boom! :ok:

[Chugalug2]

Al R as ever goes to the nub of this (much teeth gnashing ensues in admitting that!). This is as bogus as all the other "initiatives" from the late and unlamented administration. Write to your MP, especially if you are a serving member of HM Forces in which case make that clear. Demand that this pointless trivia be abolished WIE before the card companies and others cash in with Happy Armed Forces Day products and whole aisles in Tesco are allotted weeks before hand. Stop this madness now!!!

[Pontius Navigator]

Having just come off a cruise ship I wondered if the Spams realised that the name of the pub on board fitted nicely with Cockney rhyming slang. I just could not stop thinking after mentioning the name of the Dog and Duck.

Back on the Jug and Bottle, that is also rhyming slang as the pub is on an old airfield dispersal and has photos of the Lancs and crews that were there at the time.

[Pontius Navigator]

Chug, they cashed in last year did they not? Union Flags half defaced?

They say that a proportion of every sale goes to H4H or so on, that proportion could be as little as £10 per thousand or less.

[Chugalug2]

Union Flags, Pontius? How unimaginative! Anything can be flagged (sorry!) with Armed Forces Day logos; Crisps, Toblerone, Cereals, Beer, Beer, Pet Food, Lingerie, Beer, there is no limit except one's own imagination. I want ideas, and then even more ideas! We'll run them up the flag pole (sorry!) and see how many salute (sorry!). Come on people, think!!!

[Pontius Navigator]

Chug, I was merely correcting your suggestion that the merchandise would start to point out that it already had.

Now back to the Dog and Duck - ****

[Chugalug2]

Not implying anything of you Pontius, I should have added the available and required smilies, sorry! I meant rather that "they" were unimaginative last year in restricting themselves to merely defacing the Union Flag. Perhaps I should further make it clear that I do not really endorse them defacing the Union Flag, nor indeed anything else, including those items listed in my previous post. I remember now, it all started when I thought to endorse Al R's post. When will I ever learn; when, when?

[Pontius Navigator]

Now back to the Dog and Duck - ****

Still creases me and it was 5 days ago that we left the ship.

[Saintsman]

What was it Liam Fox said?

"Defence cuts will be ruthless and without sentiment."

Can't get much more sentimental than opening up for the public, flying shows etc. Are we to see the last of all that sort of thing in the future?

[vecvechookattack]

Lorraine Kelly launches Armed Forces Day in Glasgow | Glasgow and West | STV News (http://news.stv.tv/scotland/west-central/183001-lorraine-kelly-launches-armed-forces-day-in-glasgow/?)




Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Pontius Navigator]

A good turnout on a wamr sunny day. Many standards were paraded and a goodly number of active service personnel paraded together with cadets and vets. Lots of red beret, a couple of arctic and many RAF. After a service at the Strike Wing memorial there was a flying display.

A Sea King had loitered off Bull Sands Fort before running in at 1500. It may have been intended to act as Air Coord for shortly after the Duxford Mk V Spit flew over at about 1000 feet, after a loose orbit he returned and did a few loops, wing over, barrel rolls and low passes. Brilliant from where we were about half a mile away from the ceremony as he seemed to have a totally wrong display centre.

He was followed by a Tiger Moth and DH2 pair. They confined themselves to a slow and stately procession down the front and back again.

After that there was to have been an aerobatic display by the world No 7 but we didn't wait on for that.

Nice day, low key, but enough to show the flag. Of that, very few flags evident today. Lots of England flags but I suspect that was coincidental.

[Col_onHF]

had our own personal flypast from the "Reds" today in surrey/hants borders. guess it was en-route to Cardiff?

[muttywhitedog]

So, did anyone else go to an event where the public/companies showed their appreciation for the armed forces without the said armed forces putting on all the displays and doing all the leg-work etc. Having seen the BBC news coverage of Cardiff it seemed to be an awful lot of servicemen and women giving up their weekend to entertain the public.

Apparently next years event will be in Edinburgh - I wonder if attractions like the castle & zoo will offer free entry for HM Forces personnel and their family over that week?

My day at the Stoop was great - free tickets courtesty of Harlequins, and my side won. The only uniform in sight was the marine who absailed down from the stand with the match ball.

[ProfessionalStudent]

If the public really want to show their appreciation, they could come and do my garden for me...

[Laarbruch72]

Well, having already worked my normal 5 day week this week, I'd just like to say how much I enjoyed my Armed Forces Day. 2 hours last night ironing number ones and shirts, polishing shoes... no Friday night to speak of seeing as I was up at silly o'clock this morning. My colleagues and I started at 0600, and have just rolled in at 2200 so that's Saturday night gone too.
I'd much rather I wasn't "honoured" in this way thanks. Armed forces day seems to be, as mentioned, a day for the public and press, a free "Royal Tournament" if you will, and not for those in the forces... or at least those that get dicked for duties.
I agree with the poster who said it might be an idea to write to MPs to let them know that we don't really want to be "honoured" by working an extra day when our families are at home. They see precious little of us as it is.

[RumPunch]

The RAF just shows everytime poor leadership from the top, we have guys out parading this weekend while none of them volunteer or work to show there bit. The problem with the RAF is ....the RAF command


I cant wait to leave

[champair79]

had our own personal flypast from the "Reds" today in surrey/hants borders. guess it was en-route to Cardiff?

Depends on the time but if it was around midday, they were going to Biggin having just displayed at Cambrai in France. They displayed at Biggin mid-afternoon and then pottered off to Cardiff for an hour after re-fueling.

[SRENNAPS]

Very saddened to read some of the comments here, very saddened indeed.

I was not able to make the event, but both my daughters went and if it is of any consolation to those of you who had to “work the weekend” I had several text messages and photos sent to me from work colleagues who truly enjoyed the day.

Earlier in the day in Bridgend, I had bumped into a chap in his eighties. He wore a RAF Baseball cap, Blazer with a RAF crest, RAF tie and so many badges of aircraft and station crests. I just had to stop and talk to him. He was off to the event in Cardiff and so looking forward to it.

About 80,000 people turned up in Cardiff to watch the event and I will bet many of them were old vets such as the chap I had met in Bridgend. Try telling them and all the others that the event is not a good idea.

If the Armed Forces want the support and respect of the people they need to be visible and not just a one line sentence in a newspaper or 15 second TV news report about yet another casualty in Afgan or wherever. Whether you believe it or not, the general public love pomp and ceremony and of course flying displays.

During my near 30 year service I attended many, many parades in honour of something or other. Yes they were sometimes annoying to prepare for etc, but when I was there I was truly proud of being part of the event. To see the little kids & their parents and old folks clapping and cheering as you marched by made you feel good and appreciated.

I am sure that if the general public read some of the posts here, they would not be quite so appreciative of the Armed Forces.

And you know what, if you are not proud of wearing your uniform you can always PVR and leave.

[teeteringhead]

I find myself totally in agreement with SRENNAP. I was at Cardiff yesterday, on duty, in uniform, and it was one of the most rewarding working weekends (of many!) that I've had.

BBMF & Reds (just flypasts) and much in between. After the Parade and Drumhead Service - finished with cracking few words from Liam Fox - just wandering around in uniform was worth the discomfort of the heat in a No 1.

You couldn't take half a dozen steps without being stopped and spoken to, by everyone from grizzled vets, multi-tatooed topless chavs [male :-( ], to interested little kids. Even got my picture taken with/by a group of Japanese tourists!

And it was a good opportunity to say "If you think this is hot - it's +42 in Helmand today".

I had to leave just after the Reds at about 1730, but the "buzz" was such that I bet the troops wouldn't have had to buy a beer all night, and there may well have been other expressions of support for them :E:E

I have rarely - if ever - been prouder to wear my uniform.

[[email protected]]

It was nice to see such a big crowd at Cardiff waving at our yellow helicopter - I suspect most of them didn't actually realise it was military....

Funny how the MoD, who can't wait to privatise us, were desperate to have a SAR role demo in the docks for Armed Forces Day:ugh:

[Laarbruch72]

SRENNAPS, I think you misunderstand. I'm happy to do public duties so that the old and bold can meet the current generation, and I'd have loved to have been somewhere more public yesterday. Of course we already did public events long before this armed forces day idea, for example I'm on duty every remembrance day (which I'm proud and very happy to do), and I'm also working at countless other days when the public are around in numbers... RIAT, other air shows, public events in London. I'm far from unique in that respect, lots of us get involved in such events. On some of those occasions we actually volunteer! :}
What I object to was that this was the previous Government's idea for US, for the armed forces, supposedly so that the public can show their appreciatation, along with my colleagues yesterday I saw none of that, we just worked hard in a very out of the way place on what would otherwise have been a much needed day off.
I wonder how many other servicemen and women were working yesterday, not necessarily meeting the public, but facilitating the whole day for them. I met just over 20 such servicemen and women yesterday, none of whom met a member of the public.
Hopefully I've made my point clearer this time.

[Pontius Navigator]

Laarbruch, for instance the 90SU Comms caravan at Cleethorpes, all the way down from Leeming. Nice to think they might have had their fill of free ale last night but remember the drive back to base today; not for them an air show lie in and a drive back Monday.

[Laarbruch72]

Exactly PN. More people worked than got the "glory" of meeting their public. Yesterday I met 2 DAMO's, 2 RAFLO's, 2 movers, 2 RLC guys, 3 AAC guys, 3 aircrew, 3 stewards, 4 drivers, and a few others who gave up their day off just to support one transport flight. And that was just the individuals that I met. No day off in lieu next week either.
We all did this years back on a voluntary basis to be part of the Royal Tournament, RIAT, etc, but it was a bit rich to ask us to give up a day off to provide a free show for the public on "our" Armed Forces Day.
I hope SRENNAPS is getting my point now. I'm not trying to insult anyone, just trying to make sure that any day aimed at giving benefit to the Armed Forces doesn't actually mean that those forces are shafted.

[SRENNAPS]

No Laarbruch72 I don’t get your point and I doubt I ever will. But that is the difference between you and me and your career and my career.

[charliegolf]

It was nice to see such a big crowd at Cardiff waving at our yellow helicopter - I suspect most of them didn't actually realise it was military....


Crab,

I don't know anyone who knows of the existence of the yellow god carriers, and doesn't know they're RAF.

CG

PS Do they still have 'RAF' on the side?

[teeteringhead]

Filled my TV screen, you did! diolch yn fawr Jenkins mon brave, was that HD or just widescreen? :ok:

[Laarbruch72]

No Laarbruch72 I don’t get your point and I doubt I ever will. But that is the difference between you and me and your career and my career.

No, but in your day you didn't have to spend one year out of two in Afghanistan on 6 month force protection tours with 5 months PDT prior to deploying, so don't get too comfy on that high horse. The cold war was easy, I did it. My family found that particular "war" very easy, sadly they don't appreciate the current one so much. Less so when I'm asked to work my rare days off in my one year between tours.

Clean your glasses, they seem to be getting misty in their old age, either that or there's a certain tint to them. Might be from the roses in the garden.