HUGE hugs and thanks to Simon King of The Collector (top friends) for letting me 'borrow' his beautiful song Hold On! I owe you one Si!!!! xxmxx
....and to Mick Smith (Award Winning Journalist) who writes about Defence and Intelligence in The Sunday Times. He is featuring my weekly blog in The Times Online. And...he tells it as it is.......WELCOME to my brand new page. I hope you like what you see and hear. Mail me either way.........
because there is no band.................there is one passion........... my 23 year old son has joined the Parachute Regiment....and I am so, so proud of him. He has trained so hard, he's travelled to places he'd never heard of and made the most amazing friends. Some of whom have had the misfortune to merit a full english after a night out at Mandys !!!!!!!! I have the photos!!!
I come from a military background. My dad was a Squadron Leader in the Royal Air Force and both my grandads were in the army and the navy. But this has been his dream since he was 6 years old. I know. I'm his mum.
HE FLEW OUT TO AFGHANISTAN ON 15th MARCH 2008 AND I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THAT.
JUST UP:
Chris Howard www.justgiving.com/chrishoward1 is a soldier out in 'stan and organised a 1/2 marathon, around the helicopter landing site in Musa Qla Eh where he is stationed. All monies will go to the Help for Heroes Charity.
THE MUSA MUCKERS STARTED RUNNING AT 0500hrs on 23rd MAY ...TO BEAT THE HEAT.....AND SOME RAN THAT NIGHT AS OPERATIONS ARE STILL IN FULL SWING. SADLY, ONE OF THEIR MUCKERS WAS KILLED LAST WEEK AND CAPT CHRIS HOWARD SAYS THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST POIGNANT EVENTS HE HAS EVER ORGANISED..........EXCELLENT JOB!!!! OVER £4000 RAISED SO FAR
For all you soldiers out there in 'stan...
RIP David Marsh and John Thornton. My heart is just breaking for you and their families. Pte Scott Mugridge, a friend of my daughter has tragically been killed on exercise in Germany after completing a tour in Iraq. He was training to be deployed again to the Middle East. He was just 20.
..and to all troops out there in Iraq, news has come through of increased fighting. We are praying for you all....Hundreds of people are contacting me weekly pledging their support for you all.
and yes, we know about all those desperate delays in Afghanistan with getting supplies, armoury + ammunition and reinforcements out to operational soldiers...
and the lack of drinking water being supplied too. ....
sadly, it is just not enough to make the British newspapers. We now know what is...It feels like madness. I know about it because I look for it. And I do look for it because my son is out there with you. Any information I find is usually snippets, here and there near the back end of a newspaper. God Bless You, Keep your heads down and stay safe until you come home!
Secondly, I am not anti-military, on the contrary, I wholeheartedly support all of our troops. The whole point of this page is to highlight the lack of support shown by the government here in the UK. If you think I am damaging morale amongst the soldiers out there.......you are on the wrong page. Abandon them if you like. I WILL NOT!
Dear Government.....
(do you deserve a capital letter....or any mothers son/daughter?)
Did you ask anyone out here about going to war? You certainly didn't ask me. Our soldiers are there because we voted for you and you sent them there. What is your agenda?
Forgive me for feeling a little confused! Gordon, you told Parliament in December 2007 that the war was being won in Afghanistan! George told Congress in January that Afghanistan was now a Democracy where people could look to the future with new hope! Obviously, your noses are so deeply embedded that you cannot see over the top of the public spending trough.
Are we living on the same planet?
Our troops are 'out of sight and out of mind' striving to win the Afghan people over with your 'Hearts and Minds' policy. You cannot even develop a unilateral stratedgy with your dithering and contradictary power struggles. Why are seasoned soldiers leaving in droves? Why are you and why are the MoD so secretive about injured soldiers? Why are MoD clerical workers paid more in compensation for back injuries and stress than disfigured soldiers? Why is it up to The Sun newspaper to highlight Headley Court? And raise funding for it?
Why don't our troops have enough equipment and essential basics....like water! Why did my son opt to buy his own "better" (expensive) body armour rather than use regular army issue? In fact, he's spent nearly every penny of his 'deployment month' wages on equipment that he will need for your war.
Tell me why. Why does it feel like Groundhod Day? Why are you so unaccountable? How many more soldiers will be unlawfully killed as a result of your negligence?
I was looking forward to seeing you on SATURDAY 15th MARCH. Where were you?
much love
xxmandyxx
50,000 people marched for PEACE on the 15th March in London. All ages. All colours. All creeds.
How come there is no coverage in the media?
When no-one turns up to welcome soldiers home there is an outcry in the press. When Prince Harry came home the world and his uncle knew about it. What about the injured soldier that came back with him?
50.000 PEOPLE YESTERDAY QUESTIONED WHY THEY ARE EVEN THERE? It felt great to be a part of it. Our military should be for our defence. SHOW OUR SOLDIERS HOW MUCH WE STAND BEHIND THEM.......YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO BE IN FRONT OF THEM!Gordon Brown says, "I've got nothing but praise for our Armed Forces." PRECISELY!!!!!! (Jean Humphries, Surrey, in a letter to the Daily Telegraph.)
Do not forget that Brown has been Chancellor for 10 years and responsible for Defence spending.
'Army Officers will tell you that they can only pay out for so much with the pittance the Treasury allows them. Budgets all across the MoD are going to be cut even more this year.' (Tom Newton Dunn Defence Editor of The Sun Newspaper)
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I need to say how proud I am of our soldiers. I pray for them and their families.
I wrote The Poppy Song.
It leaps from my heart. My head should never allow it.!...so my children say... and even though I have no musical background(!) can you tell what it is yet?...!!!) some things just need to be said. (or sung very loudly!) I just love music!
I am totally priviledged in that I am allowed to 'bash' (!) my guitar at my infant school, accompanied.....by 200 very loud children!.............and a fantastic music teacher/singer and would just like, at this point, to offer my support to all those Teaching Assistants in Northern Ireland.....Go on the girls!..........and so, alone, ........alone with four chords and a capo (I joke not!) here goes! Many thanks to ISA and Musical Records Ltd for this demo.
....the last word goes to:
Mr Blair........... and Mr President over there.....
you don't care, why should you care - fallen men ......don't kiss and tell...
Oh did you serve your country well,
Oh did you serve your country well?
With a Passport in your hand?
and a cheque book for more land...
lets walk the road from Hell
Your story should sell well....... Hey!! should I (C) that??? It's not half bad!!!!
My son 'doesn't mind this song'...........(but as any parent will tell you, it's their DUTY to embarrass the kids wherever possible) and he sure as hell doesn't know about this page....He just wants to get on with his job, and I had to promise his girlfriend no photos...would he ever live it down?????????????
I have had sumo support from my man Ian who bought me my 'Norman' guitar and my fellow buskers 'Highly Strung' and of course both Chris S , 'it's my favourite! ' and Chris D who was, and will always be, total inspiration for me....
join this page, be added, make a difference...... pray for, and support our soldiers.
Check out www.brokencovenant.org.uk and sign their petition online.
'Hello' to the gorgeous, GORGEOUS Auntie Sue, Claire, Stanley and Freddy - who taught me 'Wild Thing' on the guitar........do they know what they started???????
Hats off to Sue though, thinking that deployment meant our troops were all coming home!!!! And her a military child too....lol
Well, ok! I concede........I have to have the very last word......lol.......so come on in and we'll have a chat
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