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I've had the good fortune to spend time as an embedded journalist with Her Majesty's Army as well as my own homeland's Army. Now, and not in reference to the greater debate of war & morality but in reference to Acam's blanket statement; Nope, Anthony you're completely wrong.
During my period of time with British troops, one evening with a group at a forward base in the Helmand province, I got an interesting viewpoint from a young officer about the 'morality' of British involvement in the Afghan war.
Now, going back to Acam who wrote >"stupid beyond a doubt - but also immoral. When you join a service you are agreeing to carry out orders even if they are immoral. That agreement is something no moral person should consider accepting.."
What that young officer told me was that warfare was a factor in the human condition and nature that was the slowest to be eradicated. Service in uniform was to protect country, which in turn meant family to him. There were orders he questioned, but principally in the interest of protecting his troops that served under him in his unit.
I asked him if conduct of military ops also meant abrogating one's responsibilities and ethics. He disagreed that was the point. He himself had willingly joined and pushed very hard to serve with the troops because he felt that it was his 'moral obligation.'
The next morning as we were leaving he thanked me and my colleagues and as we left and I couldn't help but be impressed with the young officer, his mates, and his troops.
By the way, Her Majesty's Army refers to him as Cornet Wales, and one of his superiors later noted that; "His conduct on operations in Afghanistan has been exemplary. He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his battle group."
The rest of the world simply refers to him as Prince Harry.
At no time did I receive the impression that Lieutenant Wales or ANY of his troops or fellow officers blindly would adhere to the nonsensical statement Acam wrote.
HRH Lt. C. Wales, Royal Army Photo By Reuters PA
[Updated on: Fri, 13 August 2010 17:05] |
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The Queen is the supreme commander of the Army in the UK, but it has never been Her Majesty's Army and it has never been the Royal Army. Why? The English Army, as it was then, supported the wrong side in the Civil War.
Hugs
N
I dream of boys with big bulges in their trousers,
Never of girls with big bulges in their blouses.
…and look forward to meeting you in Cóito.
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Rather than discuss the merits of what was said & being argued, you go after something completely irrelevant and as it turns out you're wrong Nigel. [Apparently so am I as far as referencing the British Army by proper name.]
The British Army is the land armed forces branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and was administered by the War Office from London. It has been managed by the Ministry of Defence since 1963.
As of April 2010 the British Army employs 113,970 regular soldiers (which includes 3,840 Gurkhas)[1] and 33,130 Territorial Army soldiers, giving it a total of around 147,100 soldiers. In addition there are 134,190 Regular Reserves of the British Army. The British Army is the largest army in the European Union and the third largest in NATO only behind the US Army and the Turkish Army. The full-time element of the British Army has also been referred to as the Regular Army since the creation of the reservist Territorial Force in 1908. The British Army is deployed in many of the world's war zones as part of both Expeditionary Forces and in United Nations Peacekeeping forces. The British Army is currently deployed in Kosovo, Cyprus, Germany, Afghanistan and many other places.
In contrast to the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force, the British Army does not include Royal in its title. This is because, historically, many regiments of the British Army were raised by individual Colonels, frequently on an ad hoc basis, rather than directly by the Crown[4]. Furthermore, the Bill of Rights of 1689 established the requirement of Parliamentary consent for the maintenance of a standing army in peacetime. Nevertheless, many of its constituent Regiments and Corps have been granted the "Royal" prefix and have members of the Royal Family occupying senior positions within some regiments.
The professional head of the British Army is the Chief of the General Staff, currently Sir David Richards KCB CBE DSO.
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I have never been in uniform, unless you count the Boy Scouts. Having said that, my reasons were varied.
The Vietnam War was a moral dilemma for most of my generation, and I figured I would be better off taking my chances in Canada rather than the rice paddies of South-East Asia. The draft lottery didn't take me, the only one I have ever entered and won, at least from my viewpoint.
I was still young enough to join the military after Vietnam ended but considered my college education more important. By then the American military had a bad reputation and I don't mean for being tough. America has played the military game in one stupid conflict after another ever since, I can't think of one that I admire.
This whole issue of morality needs to be decided before joining the military and I don't mean being gay is a moral decision. If I recall, persons that join the military abdicate the moral decision by taking commands. When the bombs start falling and the bullets flying is a poor time to decide that killing someone is a bad personal choice.
Some decide that morality is dictated by religious feelings, tell that to the Taliban. Morality is a personal choice some people never make, or in many cases the choice is poorly made.
Prince or pauper, it takes balls to face the enemy, and Lt. Wales deserves credit for going and doing what he was ordered to do. I find it interesting that Royals rarely shirk their duties in time of war. In America, the sons of politicians get desk jobs in uniform and then laud their level of service to the news media. Vietnam was rife with that kind of thing and I had no intention of being buried in a uniform, that was my personal moral choice.
Age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read. (Sir Francis Bacon 1561-1626)
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Acam? You're wrong. 
