Another fellow I met had been a serving officer at the time of the Falklands War. I never had to ask him about his experiences, because he volunteered information from time to time when he thought it relevant.
The first thing he used to talk about was the state of the facilities available to the Army after Mrs Thatcher came to power. He was scathing at the neglect and the poor quality of housing and other structures. His basic view was that the Army was treated with absolute contempt.
However, his real eye-opening experience was when the ship he and his men were aboard sailed into San Carlos Water. He was alarmed at the absence of proper air cover. During one of the Argentinian raids a bomb fell close by and he was knocked out, I'm not sure if it was by the concussion or whether the blast knocked him into something. He was, if I recall correctly, manning a GPMG vainly firing at the jet aircraft rushing by. He basically felt he and his men were sitting ducks.
After the war, he got out of the Army as soon as he could.
Here's a sailor's memory of the sinking of HMS Antelope.
1 comment:
You would think that the British Government would have learned something after the Falklands War. The war proved how valuable the military was, and still is, especially the Royal Navy. The real pity is that the Royal Navy today is a mere shadow of its former self. I also doubt that, given the assets the Royal Navy currently has, that it could mount another operation like the Falklands invasion. It's a pity because the Royal Navy has proved its value again and again over the years, and it certainly deserves better than it's getting today from the current British government.
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