Fleet Air Arm Museum

This is a painting of a Rapier missile detachment from my Battery, 31 Delta, see more artwork  Here

SAS hero jailed 'like a drug dealer' over Falklands trophy pistol

THOUSANDS of readers signed The Sun’s petition calling for the release of jailed SAS hero Albert Patterson within hours of its launch yesterday. The Falklands veteran, 65, was given 15 months this week for keeping a handgun from the conflict as a trophy. The Sun has been joined by the soldier’s family, ex-comrades and former military chiefs in calling for him to be freed immediately. Former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan Colonel Richard Kemp said: “He has been treated like a common criminal, not like the hero he is.“Albert Patterson risked his life countless times over two decades of courageous service. Is this the way he should be repaid? By going to a prison cell?” Gulf War hero John Nicol called the sentence staggeringly harsh. He said: “You see thugs, burglars and wife beaters getting away with almost no sentence. There needs to be flexibility and understanding.” Former Chief of the Defence Staff and SAS legend Field Marshal Sir Charles Guthrie called the punishment totally inappropriate. And Lord West, the former head of the Royal Navy, said: “It does seem a harsh sentence for someone who is clearly not collecting weapons for use. “For someone who is not a present threat to society maybe a suspended sentence is better.” Read More Here

(RG) I found an enemy pistol on the ground when I was in the Falklands War, I took it on board ship with me and was going to take it back to the UK, when our officers told us we would all be going through metal detectors and anyone found with an illegal weapon would go to jail for up to eight years, so I reluctantly threw it over board, so this could quite easily have been me, but if I had brought it back I know that I would have killed myself with it.

A Morecambe pub will name a memorial beer after a much-loved regular who served his country bravely in the Falklands War.

Ex-paratrooper Ronnie Duffy, who has died, was a popular figure in the Eric Bartholomew Wetherspoon’s pub in town. Staff and customers were shocked and saddened by Ronnie’s death and want to mark his passing by naming a guest ale after him. Ronnie was a member of 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment (3 Para) who served in the Falklands in 1982. He fought in the Battle of Mount Longdon on June 11 and 12 1982, which resulted in British forces capturing a key position around the Argentinian garrison.
Ronnie was one of a team who landed on the beach on East Falkland in May 21 then spent two weeks marching across hostile terrain in atrocious weather. The Argentinian army’s defences surrounding the Falklands’ capital, Port Stanley, included the heavily defended Mount Longdon. In sub-zero temperatures, Ronnie and his colleagues launched a silent attack under the cover of darkness on the Argentinian position. They helped secure the mountain, a key victory contributing to Argentina’s surrender on June 14. Read More Here

screaming in silence updated

This revised version on my promotional video now has the correct number of British servicemen killed in the Falklands War at 255...R.I.P.

I WAS LIVING THE DREAM

I was living the dream, or so I thought back in 1982 as a young nineteen-year-old soldier. I had just shot down a multi-million-dollar fighter jet, the adrenaline surge was incredible. The small boy that played in his back garden with toy tanks and guns had achieved his dream to be a soldier, but the reality was I had just killed another human being. Not thinking about it then my mind put those thoughts in a box in a deep recess of my mind along with the other horrors I witnessed in the Falklands War. Decades after the brief bloody War was over my mind started to leak those guarded thoughts and they all came out like a nasty jack in the box. As I have aged I have also begun to self-analyse it bit like defragging a computer, the doctors tell me that its also the reason we have nightmares, which we all experience from time to time, PTSD gives you nightmares on steroids called Night Terrors, where you are literally in an evil place like Hell in your own mind. I do not wish to depress anyone by writing this, just to inform you that anyone can suffer mental illness it’s not just the usual suspects, soldiers, fire fighter, police. I am a great believer in self-help, I have never been big on drugs, recreational or otherwise although I had more than enough reason to try , I have to have one heck of a headache before I take a tablet, but due to my circumstances I have found writing to be therapeutic, if someone had given me a poetry book as a teenager I would not have been interested, and would have laughed at anyone suggesting I actually try to write poetry, living in a very macho military environment, I would have been the subject of abuse and accusations about my sexuality, I’m glad to say we have moved on a long way from those dark days. There has also been positive movement in how people perceive veterans with PTSD, at one time some could not grasp the `Post` part and wrongly thought it meant I was somehow a coward and I did receive a small but rather unpleasant amount of hate mail and abuse from fellow servicemen and veteran’s. Now we even have some people pretending they have served in the military and even gave themselves PTSD to garner sympathy and in the worst cases money. I left the military not even know what PTSD meant, it was a civilian councillor that told me about it and I even argued with her that I didn’t have it, I mean I’m not a coward right? I would not speak and clammed up, I dint know where to start and she told me to go away and try and write down my thoughts and feelings, that’s when the floodgates opened and the words poured on to the page, scribbled with a pencil, it was the begin of my career as an author. Eventually the scribbling was edited and I wrote several books that were published, back in the days when you sent manuscripts by snail mail. I published a No1 best-selling book about my life in the military titled Watching Men Burn, then after a dark period where I tried to commit suicide. I have recently published my first poetry book, screaming in Silence, these poems can be read by anyone, they cover a broad range of subjects, Religion, Divorce, Murder, Politics, and of course War. What I want to leave you with is that even from the darkest painful times of your life, some good and positive can come, I believe that my writing can help people cope and would just ask you to give writing a try yourself, we have amazing caring people around and one of the main keys to recovery is communication, remember you are not alone.

THE DAY MY WORLD CHANGED FOREVER

WATCHING MEN BURN NO8 BEST SELLING FALKLANDS WAR BOOK.

The heroic actions of Sgt Ian McKay in the Falklands led to his being awarded a posthumous VC

On the day the Falklands war ended, Freda McKay heard by telephone that her eldest son Ian, who was 29, had been killed in action on Mount Longdon in the final push to Port Stanley. She was at work in the personnel department of British Steel in Sheffield when the phone rang. It was 9.30am. The major's wife came right to the point: "I'm very sorry to tell you that Ian's been killed." She added four words that have been deployed to soften the blow for stricken families since war was invented: "He died very courageously." In Sgt McKay's case, this was not a sympathetic platitude but the absolute truth. On the night of June 11/12, 1982, McKay had stormed and taken an Argentinian machine-gun post that was endangering his men during the British advance on the capital. Under a hail of fire, he led comrades from the Parachute Regiment forward. When the others fell, dead or wounded, he went on alone, lobbing grenades into the enemy bunker, well aware of how exposed he was. He was hit and collapsed on the bunker as it fell silent at the moment of victory. Read More Here

HMS Hermes will be converted into luxury accommodation

She won a proud place in British military history – and the hearts of the nation – as the flagship of the assault force that recaptured the Falkland Islands from Argentina in 1982.
But now the once-mighty aircraft carrier HMS Hermes is destined for a new life... as a luxury floating hotel.
The iconic warship, from which the BBC journalist Brian Hanrahan famously ‘counted out’ the Harrier Jump Jets and then ‘counted them all back

Read more  Here  

WATCHING MEN BURN AT No 4 in FALKLANDS WAR BEST SELLERS

Fury as Jeremy Corbyn claims Falklands War was 'xenophobic' election stunt by Thatcher

LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing demands to apologise after he used an interview to suggest that the Falklands War was a “xenophobic” election stunt. In an in-depth interview with the Far-Left Red Pepper website, the Labour leader suggested that the party’s humiliating defeat in the 1983 general election was because of a “xenophobic” campaign by Margaret Thatcher’s government based on the Falklands War.

The comment is the latest insult to islanders who have fiercely opposed being taken over by Argentina and the veterans who lost their lives and suffered injuries in the campaign in 1982 when fascist leader General Leopoldo Galtieri ordered the invasion.

Previously, Mr Corbyn has provoked outrage on the same issue when he described the war as “a plot” by Margaret Thatcher to distract from unemployment in Britain as she restructured the economy.

In the interview he was asked about the the disastrous 1983 campaign when Labour’s hard Left message was rejected resoundingly by voters.
 more HERE 

(RG) I have written a note to Santa asking him if he could take this vile creature back to the North Pole and drop him on an iceberg full of hungry bears, I know that he is not much of a meal , just a bag of bones for the bears to sharpen their teeth on.

Argentine embassy hosts veterans of the Falklands War

A historic meeting took place at the Argentine Embassy in London this week when Edgardo Esteban, an Argentine ex-combatant who fought in the 1982 Malvinas war and wrote a memoir about his experiences, met with British veterans for the first time.
The unlikely gathering was hosted by the Embassy, which screened the Tristán Bauer film based on Esteban’s book, Blessed by Fire (Iluminados por el Fuego).
“The cruel military dictatorship that was ruling Argentina at the time went to war as a means of retaining power,” Argentine ambassador to the UK Alicia Castro said. “In the same way that Margaret Thatcher’s conservative government prevented a peaceful solution as it sought electoral gain.”
The book and film both detail the human rights abuses suffered by Argentine troops at the hands of their own superiors during the bloody six-week conflict with the United Kingdom, an account bolstered by the release of previously secret military documents hailing from the period earlier in the year.
The documents were made public by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s administration following a concerted campaign by veterans group Centre of Former Combatants in the Malvinas Islands (CECIM) who demanded their release.
They detail, as Esteban’s memoir does, the torture and horrific conditions Argentine conscripts were subjected to by the military hierarchy during the 1982 war.Read more HERE  


Dave Brown ex Parachute Regiment soldier received an official Invite from the Argentine Embassy in London for the Screening of Blessed By Fire, and also to meet again with Edgardo Esteban a former Argentine Conscript and now a good friend of Dave. A very Emotional evening all round and some genuine Hospitality and friendship. This had nothing to do with politics but Reconciliation amongst veterans who still suffer as a result of the Falklands Conflict in 1982.

(RG)  When you try to take the politics from the dispute it is always the servicemen that do the politicians bidding on the battlefield and its only those servicemen that really know what the consequences of War really is, the leaders just sign a piece of paper. It may be hard for some people to understand but I would be willing to shake the hands of the pilots that tried to kill me in 1982, yes they were the enemy but they were extremely skilful pilots and extraordinarily brave. I pray that the politicians will talk to those of us that have done their bidding before once again signing the death warrants of many with the stroke of a pen.

Conwy Falklands hero's name to be carved on war memorial

The family of David E Osborne have waited years to see his name on Old Colwyn's war monument The name of a Royal Navy cook, who died in the Falklands war, will finally be placed on a war memorial 33 years after his death following a U-turn by officials. David E Osborne had moved from Old Colwyn to Portsmouth at the age of ten. The serviceman - nicknamed “Ozzie” - perished with 19 other sailors when an Argentinian Exocet missile hit HMS Sheffield on May 4, 1982. It was thought David’s name was on his new hometown’s monument.Read more  HERE   R.I.P.

Argentine Falklands War troops 'tortured by their own side'

Argentine soldiers were subjected to abuse and torture by their own superiors during the 1982 Falklands War against Britain, files released by Argentina's armed forces reveal.
They are the first official documents from the conflict to be made public and contain testimonies from soldiers who say they were poorly equipped and cold.
They say they were severely beaten for leaving the trenches to look for food.
The conflict over the islands cost the lives of more than 900 soldiers.
For years, war veterans have complained about the terrible conditions during the conflict, including lack of proper boots and coats, says the BBC's Ignacio de los Reyes in Buenos Aires.
The previously secret files describe mock executions and soldiers being tied up inside empty graves.
A lieutenant describes how another officer tied his hands and legs to this back and left him face down on the wet sand of a cold Falklands beach for eight hours.
A sergeant says he had to be operated on after being kicked in the testicles.
"These documents lift the veil on facts that were hidden for so many years by the armed forces," said Ernesto Alonso, from a veterans group in La Plata.Read more HERE 

(RG) If these Fascist storm troopers treat their own men like this imagine how the inhabitants of the  Falkland Islands would have been treated, I know some Argentinian officers wanted to exterminate all of the Islanders, the blood of the NAZIS is certainly in the Argentine people.

Falklands war was Tory plot - and jobless men died for Thatcher,

Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership credentials come under renewed attack today after it emerged that he branded the Falklands War a ‘Tory plot’ in which ‘unemployed men’ were sent to die.
Mr Corbyn, the favourite to take over as Labour’s leader, said Britain was wrong to send a taskforce to liberate the UK overseas territory after Argentina’s invasion in 1982.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that he refused to offer ‘loyal support’ for British troops as they were fighting to reclaim the islands, and claimed the war was conceived to keep the Conservative Party’s ‘money-making friends in business’.
Last night, his comments drew a furious response from veterans. Simon Weston, who suffered horrific burns when the troop landing ship Sir Galahad was bombed by Argentine jets, warned yesterday that Mr Corbyn ‘could be a liability for this country’.
He said his attack on the motives of the Thatcher government and his description of those who fought in the conflict was ‘deplorable, ignorant and absolutely offensive’.Read more HERE 

In the wake of HMS Sheffield (D80) Full Documentary

Combat Experience in the Falklands War

FALKLANDS FOREVER

REMEMBERING THE CIVILIANS KILLED IN THE FALKLANDS WAR

R.I.P.

H Troop T Battery 12 Regiment RA, Celebrating victory 33 years ago today Falkland Islands.

(RG) Today marks 33 years since British forces defeated Argentina in the Falklands , This is H troop T battery 12 Regt, RA celebrating victory.