bobdina
11-11-2009, 01:22 PM
From The Times
November 2, 2009
Celebrities get more respect than dead soldiers, says George Cross holder
Michael Evans, Defence Editor
The Army’s youngest holder of the George Cross has clashed with the Ministry of Defence over the “lack of respect” paid by ministers to servicemen who have made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Former Lance Corporal of Horse Christopher Finney, 25, who left the Army in July and now works at a call centre for an insurance company, said that he was disillusioned with military life and angry with the Government, claiming more respect was shown to celebrities than to dead soldiers.
“What makes me furious is the demonstrable lack of respect shown by the Government to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice — the war dead. Why is there no minister in attendance when our fallen heroes from Afghanistan are brought home to repatriation ceremonies at Wootton Bassett?” he said in an interview with the Mail on Sunday.
“I couldn’t believe it when I read that Gordon Brown had phoned Simon Cowell to ask how Britain’s Got Talent contestant Susan Boyle was when she had a breakdown. He doesn’t phone any of the bereaved military families,” he said. “I thought it was absolutely disgusting, a real slap in the face for the parents of the hundreds of soldiers killed.”
The former soldier of the Blues and Royals won his George Cross at the age of 18 in Iraq in 2003 when he saved the life of a comrade, Lance Corporal Alan Tudball, after two American A10 Warthog aircraft attacked his Scimitar reconnaissance vehicle in a friendly fire incident that killed Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull.
Responding to the criticism of repatriation ceremonies, Vice-Admiral Peter Wilkinson, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Personnel), said: “Our repatriation policy asks that the ceremony should be attended only by the families of those who have fallen and military personnel who have a clear representative or supportive role.
“Ministers have offered to attend on many occasions but have deferred to the advice of the Service chiefs that these ceremonies are very much an occasion for the families and the military to pay their respects.”
Former Lance Corporal of Horse Finney is not the first medal-winner to attack the Government. Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry, 30, of the 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, who won the Victoria Cross in Iraq, has spoken out in the past about the treatment of wounded soldiers.
Mr Finney added: “My medal says I am a hero of the Iraqi conflict, a man of outstanding valour and strength of character. But now I work in a call centre on half my army pay. My life has gone from one extreme to another. He said that he felt “betrayed and let down” by the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Meanwhile, a former senior civil servant has disclosed that he had been critical of the safety of Sea King helicopters used in the Iraq war. Two of the helicopters collided in mid-air in 2003, killing six Royal Navy personnel and one American serviceman.
The former civil servant told The Sunday Times that he had warned they were unairworthy but had been overruled by superiors, who were trying to cut costs. He said that, on the night of the crash, they had been flying blind because strobe lighting fitted to the helicopters interfered with the pilots’ vision and had been turned off.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6898761.ece
November 2, 2009
Celebrities get more respect than dead soldiers, says George Cross holder
Michael Evans, Defence Editor
The Army’s youngest holder of the George Cross has clashed with the Ministry of Defence over the “lack of respect” paid by ministers to servicemen who have made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Former Lance Corporal of Horse Christopher Finney, 25, who left the Army in July and now works at a call centre for an insurance company, said that he was disillusioned with military life and angry with the Government, claiming more respect was shown to celebrities than to dead soldiers.
“What makes me furious is the demonstrable lack of respect shown by the Government to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice — the war dead. Why is there no minister in attendance when our fallen heroes from Afghanistan are brought home to repatriation ceremonies at Wootton Bassett?” he said in an interview with the Mail on Sunday.
“I couldn’t believe it when I read that Gordon Brown had phoned Simon Cowell to ask how Britain’s Got Talent contestant Susan Boyle was when she had a breakdown. He doesn’t phone any of the bereaved military families,” he said. “I thought it was absolutely disgusting, a real slap in the face for the parents of the hundreds of soldiers killed.”
The former soldier of the Blues and Royals won his George Cross at the age of 18 in Iraq in 2003 when he saved the life of a comrade, Lance Corporal Alan Tudball, after two American A10 Warthog aircraft attacked his Scimitar reconnaissance vehicle in a friendly fire incident that killed Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull.
Responding to the criticism of repatriation ceremonies, Vice-Admiral Peter Wilkinson, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Personnel), said: “Our repatriation policy asks that the ceremony should be attended only by the families of those who have fallen and military personnel who have a clear representative or supportive role.
“Ministers have offered to attend on many occasions but have deferred to the advice of the Service chiefs that these ceremonies are very much an occasion for the families and the military to pay their respects.”
Former Lance Corporal of Horse Finney is not the first medal-winner to attack the Government. Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry, 30, of the 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, who won the Victoria Cross in Iraq, has spoken out in the past about the treatment of wounded soldiers.
Mr Finney added: “My medal says I am a hero of the Iraqi conflict, a man of outstanding valour and strength of character. But now I work in a call centre on half my army pay. My life has gone from one extreme to another. He said that he felt “betrayed and let down” by the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Meanwhile, a former senior civil servant has disclosed that he had been critical of the safety of Sea King helicopters used in the Iraq war. Two of the helicopters collided in mid-air in 2003, killing six Royal Navy personnel and one American serviceman.
The former civil servant told The Sunday Times that he had warned they were unairworthy but had been overruled by superiors, who were trying to cut costs. He said that, on the night of the crash, they had been flying blind because strobe lighting fitted to the helicopters interfered with the pilots’ vision and had been turned off.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6898761.ece