It was only a matter of time until this happened.
Such a scenario has been of concern in Police circles for some time given that it takes very little effort to have an essentially unarmed, lone officer delivered to a place of your choosing at a time you set.

Those of us that experience the IRA attacks against service personnel, both here in the UK and in Germany, will recall that our duty was to be killed whilst bravely unarmed. Apparently being unarmed made us better, or something…. although I never paid much attention to the rambling briefs that tried to explain it all. I guess we were just grateful when they actually issued ammunition to the 'armed' guards.

I cannot see the UK ever arming off-duty military personnel. Carrying a weapon on a UK base in an operational theatre in the last 2 wars only came after armed attacks(!).

On a pedantic note, would the MoD have enough weapons (assume we're talking pistols here) to arm every personnel, even with the reductions?

True but I could never find the magazine on my issue pickaxe handle :)

IIRC, over the years have there not been the odd (sex) attacks (probably a murder) on females jogging in public parks with their headphones on?-

Do you ever remember using up the life ex ammo we had, when we were live armed in Germany, on the ranges, by the time you had found something to hack through the thick plastic bag they were sealed in to load them, you would have been better throwing the damned things at them, and that was when we were live armed lol.

As for armed with personal weapons, it wouldn't need to be everyone, just enough to make it a deterrent... Not that I am condoning it, but Israel do ok with it, After all what is the difference between armed troops who can identify themselves as such, and plods...Incidentally when did it stop, as troops I believe used to carry their weapons in ww2

The MoD ordered 25,000 Glock pistols, so we would have to share or something.

By way of contrast, there are over 34,000 police officers in the NYPD; I don't think they take turns with their pistols.

Ohhhhhh that's easy for the Government, reduce the Armed services to 25k, problem solved. :p

I happened to be in a crew room at Yeovilton late last year when there was an announcement over the Tannoy which told all personnel not to display any sign of military membership off base. I must say that I found it very sobering to look at the solemn faces of those around me as they considered themselves as potential terrorist targets.

Pulse 1.
Experienced that during the Roal Moat episode.
A curious feeling.

I remember that back in the 70s I obtained a firearms certificate from the local police for "personal protection on active service" and wore my Colt 38 auto in a shoulder holster under my flying suit in addition to the Browning on my waist. This was later replaced by a 357 magnum snub-nose. Now that was an equaliser! Never used either but they were great comforters. Only gun I used in anger was the trusty 30mm Aden.

Bet you cannot do that now!

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-at-raf-marham

So, he was running past the vehicle, parked opposite him and the attacker placed his hand on his shoulder then on his wrist and started to pull him towards the vehicle :confused: :suspect: This didn't happen around the nearby village of Wormegay did it? :ooh:

SS, and the significance of that?

If personal weapons were authorised, given the general level of training in close protection, I think there would be a high risk of loss.

If weapons were authorised for carry then I think it would be prudent that they were only carried when two or more people were together - armed police patrol in pairs.

Should Servicemen in private housing be threatened there are other issues such as family at home alone.

In Germany a few years back, after the switch to UK number plates, it was easy to see Britmil cars from unit stickers on rear windows to many other clues.

In UK it was also easy spotting military personnel driving to work in civvies.

Persec is a huge problem.

so basically ditch the desert boot / brogue / chino combo and wear badly ironed shirts is the solution?

In my time, one of the more cynical bits of advice given for non-specialists carrying personal weapons in the U.K. was , in the event of a confrontation , to throw the damn thing as far away as you could in one direction, whilst legging it in the other.
The closest, that I am aware of , to having been shot on an operation was when the guy standing next to me went down:

having been the victim of an ND from a Sterling being carried by the chap standing the other side of him.

In the early 70s, after an armed IRA unit was believed to be heading for the area, the airmen patrolling RAF Manston were issued with pickaxe handles.

Firstly it was the last part of the village name, however having googled a bit more ... don't click on this link unless open minded!

Anyway, suspects description on BBC twitter feed;
https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/stat...00665655558144
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cn46hdeWgAAwbKk.jpg


Mirror Online

Isn't that in the MQ area ! :eek:

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...ps3jpvz6ov.png

Hmmm - this story is a bit weird.......

I'd hold off on the terrorist angle until there is some confirmation - two terrorists of ME appearance..... if they're local they're easy to find - if not a lot of coppers will be looking at a lot of CCTV... but why go all the way to Marham??

I can think of several scenarios where someone might be attacked by persons he actually knew but didn't want to talk to close & personal - they might be from Wonga for example.....

and (unfortunately) there are a number of cases where incidents have been totally fabricated for one reason or another

interestingly it's disapeared off the main BBC websites.......

Brize they took them off us, and gave us empty muskets on the gate, then they were going to issue live rounds, but what followed was the muskets being removed and the good old pickaxe being returned.

I remember while we had muskets some unfortunate civi contractor turfed up and during a security check of his vehicle an air pistol was discovered, poor sod had obviously left it there for a long time as it wasn't in the best of condition, but he ended up spread eagled in the rain on the deck with a musket to his head bricking himself. Eventually he was sent to sit on the naughty step before being told to take it home and not to bring it back..

Personnel in NI were armed when in civi's and off base, as the theory goes you are not off duty, so is there a difference?