fishmiester said:
Lingyai said:
No complaints from this callsign,,I am sure the ships comapnies' are happy to go, after all, that is what most of us join for to see some action and generaly do what we are trained to.
I like the idea that they are going there to "possibly evacuate british nationals", yeah cheers then we believe you. Ever heard of the aeroplane?
Get some!
Do what????
Lusty has been away since before Easter and was on her way hoime via Gib. I do not share your opinion that they will be happy to go. Having been diverted on the way home my self (to the Adriatic - Invince '99) from my own personal experiance 99.9% will be highly
[email protected]@sed off
Speaking as a well-informed member of one of the Ship's Company's who have been told to turn around and go to the Lebanon, I can most definitely say that no-one 'is happy to go' and pretty much everyone is p*ssed off.
After spending 23 weekends at sea, with less than 21 days shore time, and less than 6 days prior to our expected arrival date in Guzz, I think we can be excused for not 'being happy about it'.
Personally I'm being as pragmatic about it as I can be and look at the bigger picture, but yesterday when we were told by the CO I saw grown men and women (but mostly women) crying in the passageways. Many have booked expensive holidays which have now been cancelled and will miss seeing families that they haven't seen since January when we deployed (the Lusty only came out here at Easter and did not venture to the top of the North Arabian Gulf protecting Iraqi oilfields).
Obviously once the emotion has gone we will 'crack on with it' in our own traditional and inimitable manner, and hopefully the less experiences ones on board will not look at this change in plan as a medal-winning opportunity, but realise that this will be a chance to do some good, as the people who we are intending to help are not war-mongering terrorists, but people who are caught in a violently unpredictable country.
And Fishmiester, I would suggest you do some research - we are going to do an NEO (Naval Evacuation Operation), not bomb them. A bit difficult to do when we had already disembarked our embarked forces of 500 Marines and about a third of our crew (advanced leave party, drafters, etc.) on the way home. If you ever had done an operational deployment you would know that that is common practice!
Furthermore I recommend you read the news; Beirut airport, pertol stations and other strategic targets (well, according to the Israelis) have been seriously damaged thus making it difficult to get an aeroplane home! And if they did would you be at Heathrow Airport to offer a refugee the comfort of your spare room? I doubt it.
No-one on board, or in fact no one I have ever served with, 'loves to go to war'. Yes we are trained for it, but by training for it we should be able to recognise the causes of war and use any means to prevent it. A great man once said "war is an extrension of politics, but by other means". I suggest you leave your armchair politics where they belong and leave the job that you so obviously love (to criticise) to those of us actually doing it.
that's what they're going there for....evac, good luck lads and lasses :?
