Daily Mail 6 Apr 06
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Daily Mail 6 Apr 06
Max Hastings says " In the nature of its role, most sailors - like the RAF - work not uncomfortable routines and scarcely suffer a casualty from one year to the next. They belong to the Armed Forces but have little experience of fighting anybody".
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
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I spent 15 happy years flying Hunters, Harriers, Hunters again and Tornado GRs. I shot at no-one, no-one shot at me but I had great fun practicing for it!
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Not the most sensitive utterance given the significant losses of sailors and ships in the South Atlantic in 82.
Sure, you don't get the small but regular losses of a land force such as those sandy/rocky side at the moment, but when they happen at sea, they tend to happen in bigger numbers.
Belgrano, anybody?
Sure, you don't get the small but regular losses of a land force such as those sandy/rocky side at the moment, but when they happen at sea, they tend to happen in bigger numbers.
Belgrano, anybody?
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You're point being ES?
I assume 'Hittler' means in the army face-to-face stylee - I know he's a journo but you'd think he could see the difference between the roles of the Army, Navy and RAF.
little experience of fighting anybody
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So, to keep Max happy, would all aircraft and ships please move to park within easy range of the enemy in order that the RAF and RN can start suffering some proper casualties.
As a journalist, I'd like to leap in and defend Max.
He's brave and pushy, after all, and his writing is eminently readable. His populism is such that he must be the only military writer who is a household name. He was writing when proper publishers paid proper money for military related non-fiction books. Even mediocre ones. I envy that.
So I'd like to defend him.
But I really can't.
The bloke is a typically narrow-minded, over-opinionated, arrogant Thatcherite boor. He's a decent if rather populist writer, (especially on narrow infantry related subjects), and he's spent enough time with the army (and at his late father's knee, no doubt) for some understanding of the brown jobs to have percolated through the woodwork.
But in my humble opinion he doesn't have the experience, education, or (frankly) the intelligence to understand the more technical branches of the services, nor the maturity to want to learn, nor the humility to acknowledge his weak areas and to refrain from commenting about them. I personally find him simplistic and dogmatic, unoriginal and predictable. I would say that he allows his kneejerk far right prejudices to inform what he writes to a breathtaking extent, making him about the most unreliable source in the media today on Eurofighter, for example.
And what really sticks in my craw is that though he clearly wasn't good enough to join any of the forces himself, he has the audacity to pontificate about people whose boots he isn't fit to lick. Part of "the Armed Forces but with little experience of fighting anybody?" Where do you get off, Max?
And how many people did you have to bayonet while editing the Telegraph, Max? Was the experience of hand to hand combat there such that you feel superior enough to feel no shame in criticising the vast bulk of the Royal Navy?
And yet ignorant and lazy editors still roll the overrated so and so out when they need an easy quote.
Words fail me.
He's brave and pushy, after all, and his writing is eminently readable. His populism is such that he must be the only military writer who is a household name. He was writing when proper publishers paid proper money for military related non-fiction books. Even mediocre ones. I envy that.
So I'd like to defend him.
But I really can't.
The bloke is a typically narrow-minded, over-opinionated, arrogant Thatcherite boor. He's a decent if rather populist writer, (especially on narrow infantry related subjects), and he's spent enough time with the army (and at his late father's knee, no doubt) for some understanding of the brown jobs to have percolated through the woodwork.
But in my humble opinion he doesn't have the experience, education, or (frankly) the intelligence to understand the more technical branches of the services, nor the maturity to want to learn, nor the humility to acknowledge his weak areas and to refrain from commenting about them. I personally find him simplistic and dogmatic, unoriginal and predictable. I would say that he allows his kneejerk far right prejudices to inform what he writes to a breathtaking extent, making him about the most unreliable source in the media today on Eurofighter, for example.
And what really sticks in my craw is that though he clearly wasn't good enough to join any of the forces himself, he has the audacity to pontificate about people whose boots he isn't fit to lick. Part of "the Armed Forces but with little experience of fighting anybody?" Where do you get off, Max?
And how many people did you have to bayonet while editing the Telegraph, Max? Was the experience of hand to hand combat there such that you feel superior enough to feel no shame in criticising the vast bulk of the Royal Navy?
And yet ignorant and lazy editors still roll the overrated so and so out when they need an easy quote.
Words fail me.
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And while not belittling the highly arduous conditions of those serving overseas, has Sir Max actually tried living and working on board a working warship for any length of time? They are not luxury liners, well not since the last County class was paid off. Jack's "personal space" is virtually non-existent, for a start.
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What is it about the media in this country?
They promote talentless plonkers and nobody's on reality programmes/gameshows/talentquizzes with superstar media coverage.
They then clip the wings of anyone "ordinary" for doing a hard job, with less than great pay, living in ***** conditions and try and dumb them down.
Give THEM their 15 mins of fame and adulation.
They promote talentless plonkers and nobody's on reality programmes/gameshows/talentquizzes with superstar media coverage.
They then clip the wings of anyone "ordinary" for doing a hard job, with less than great pay, living in ***** conditions and try and dumb them down.
Give THEM their 15 mins of fame and adulation.
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OK forgive me for lack of detail but this is off the cuff.
Nimrod in Afghanistan
Lynx in Basra (not forgotten Dobbo)
RIB crew on the Shat
Herc crew
Just off the top of my head for the last 18 months.
That's not enough for Mr Hastings though
Nimrod in Afghanistan
Lynx in Basra (not forgotten Dobbo)
RIB crew on the Shat
Herc crew
Just off the top of my head for the last 18 months.
That's not enough for Mr Hastings though
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And while not belittling the highly arduous conditions of those serving overseas, has Sir Max actually tried living and working on board a working warship for any length of time? They are not luxury liners, well not since the last County class was paid off. Jack's "personal space" is virtually non-existent, for a start.
Methinks you lot doth protest too much.
Hastings complained that the carriers weren't in the middle of the air raids, he couldn't get it into his think head that this would have lost the war.
I'll be back when my blood pressure has eased a little..........aaaaaargggh
I'll be back when my blood pressure has eased a little..........aaaaaargggh
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Hastings complained that the carriers weren't in the middle of the air raids, he couldn't get it into his think head that this would have lost the war.
I'll be back when my blood pressure has eased a little..........aaaaaargggh
I'll be back when my blood pressure has eased a little..........aaaaaargggh
And what about the Battle of Britain, the horrendous losses suffered by Bomber Command, the distinct lack of survivors when the Hood was sunk, the average life expectancy / survival rates for sub crews (both sides) during the WW2.
Plus he seemed quite happy to kiss arse and hand out complements to JHF(A) personnel when he came out to Bastion last summer with CGS. So quite a change of tune since then.
For a historian, Hastings appears to be displaying an astonishing level of ignorance. Either that or it is just age creeping up on him and he is starting to get forgetful.
Plus he seemed quite happy to kiss arse and hand out complements to JHF(A) personnel when he came out to Bastion last summer with CGS. So quite a change of tune since then.
For a historian, Hastings appears to be displaying an astonishing level of ignorance. Either that or it is just age creeping up on him and he is starting to get forgetful.
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And what would you know with your huge military background? You were booted out the Navy after a few weeks for attitude
