Cyprus-Forum.com

[SSBubbles]

That was for Richard ... I didn't want to upset him about the less wholesome aspects of Soldiering.

My "Village Red" as I mentioned once a long time ago is Triantafillo ... Rose Cordial.

Bubbles I've told you before .. I don't like the taste of alcohol and I don't need it to loosen my tongue

O dont bother trying to explain your motives to bubbles



That's me told then! but you are too late, we have already conversed. I thought that was the whole point of this forum

So long as you've had your fun then that is all that matters Bubbles.

Some of us were actually having a debate on an interesting adult topic ... and if we make the odd off-topic comment it doesn't take over and become the highlight, it is like a pause to draw breath and then we hope to carry on with the topic!

What fun? I was deadly serious! Is it my fault you post posts that confuse people? By you have changed in the last half hour or so! Had some outside influence?

This thread did not lose the plot because of me! Read it and weep sister!

I was enjoying this thread - STOP BEING SO NEGATIVE AND GO AND HAVE A VILLAGE RED BEFORE YOUR imho PARANOIA TAKES OVER

[Oracle]

That was for Richard ... I didn't want to upset him about the less wholesome aspects of Soldiering.

My "Village Red" as I mentioned once a long time ago is Triantafillo ... Rose Cordial.

Bubbles I've told you before .. I don't like the taste of alcohol and I don't need it to loosen my tongue

O dont bother trying to explain your motives to bubbles



That's me told then! but you are too late, we have already conversed. I thought that was the whole point of this forum

So long as you've had your fun then that is all that matters Bubbles.

Some of us were actually having a debate on an interesting adult topic ... and if we make the odd off-topic comment it doesn't take over and become the highlight, it is like a pause to draw breath and then we hope to carry on with the topic!

What fun? I was deadly serious! Is it my fault you post posts that confuse people? By you have changed in the last half hour or so! Had some outside influence?

This thread did not lose the plot because of me!

If you remember correctly it was I who stated that I was enjoying this thread - STOP BEING SO NEGATIVE AND GO AND HAVE A VILLAGE RED BEFORE YOUR imho PARANOIA TAKES OVER

No one was interested in whether you were enjoying it!

... all it did was draw attention to you and stifle the flow of the criticisms.

I've told you this before ... you just never know when to stop.

Everything has to turn into a fight if I dare to raise any objection with you. So I have to pussyfoot around you.

Well that's not conversing and it certainly is NOT DEBATING.

Your harm is done .... as far as I'm concerned, but as you said you were just conversing

[Oracle]

Attempt to get back to topic ......

.... An estimated 30,000 children in the eastern part of the DRC [Congo] were attached to the armed forced and armed groups in the conflict zones... It is estimated that 12,500 girls made up that total.

Under international law, the recruitment and use of children under 18 is prohibited. The recruitment and use of children under 15 is considered a war crime.

There is what I consider an underhand recruitment drive in some UK schools, aimed at as young as 11 years old.

They even have mini-barracks on school grounds and rifle-shooting ranges. Wednesdays devoted to coming in to school in camouflage flacks instead of uniform. All very appealing to a shy, awkward 14 year old boy .... the Army via the Cadets makes an indelible impact in their psyche.

Financial inducements are offered in the form of grants for study, from the age of 14. The payback is a certain number of years in the Army upon graduation.

Do you consider this type of surreptitious recruitment a war-crime?

[roseandchan]

yes i do. i think back to when my eldest boy was 18. even then i wouldn't say he could have gone into a war. i think the age limits should be raised to at least 21.

[purdey]

Rifle ranges and camo at schools. Are you referring to some of our long established private schools. The one's that provide the majority of entrants to Sandhurst. Army cadets, RAF cadets, Scouts, Boys Brigade have been around for a long time, there is nothing new there.

[tessintrnc]

That was for Richard ... I didn't want to upset him about the less wholesome aspects of Soldiering.

My "Village Red" as I mentioned once a long time ago is Triantafillo ... Rose Cordial.

Bubbles I've told you before .. I don't like the taste of alcohol and I don't need it to loosen my tongue

O dont bother trying to explain your motives to bubbles

I perfectly understood this thread

If it hadn't been hijacked by certain members it could have been a good even if somewhat contrerversial topic.

It has been somewhat discussed before on Forum in the case of Louise Jansen the Danish girl raped by British soldiers a few years ago. I thought some one else may have related to this earlier in the thread. But it seems that I am the only one who remembers!

When it was first posted I under stood you to be talking metaphorically about rapes and abuses by soldiers

But it seems others picked up on the thread literally

I wish you and the best and long may you keep this Forum alive

Very interesting point, but did they rape and kill because they were soldiers or because they were just bad people - and would have, under a drink fueled night out have done it regardless of what career they persue?

[purdey]

Exactly Tess, thank god for common sense !!
Richard I note you understood what the thread was all about, I for one did not see it, along with many others. Maybe plain English is the order of the day rather than veiled threads which have to be explained half way through the discussion to maybe detract from any unwelcome comments.

[Nikitas]

Oracle said:

"It is a well known fact that the "shame" factor prevents report of this crime."

So how do you know that 25 per cent of all female recruits in the States have been raped if they are too ashamed to admi it?

I am not talking about suing a rapist, I am talking about suing his much richer employer who allowes rape to go on to such an extent that it becomes a tolerated situation, an can be reasonably interpreted as policy. Such cases have been succesufl in other venues in the states, where employers allowed harassment to occur.

The women may be too embarassed but some, a few, would not say no to a fe million dollars in damages I am sure.

You are trying to establish a non issue.There are nations that have no military traditions, Cyprus being a prime example, but which have a rich history of violence, Cyprus again being a good example. And there are nations that have a rich military tradition but have no violence to speak of, like Switzerland. The culture which influences the community will also influence its armed forces, so yobbery is common in all aspects of UK life, including the army, and not the other way around. Notice how in Cyprus there are contingents from various countries in the UNFICYP, but violent crimes tend to be carried out mostly by UK soldiers. This should tell you something.

[BOF]

Rifle ranges and camo at schools. Are you referring to some of our long established private schools. The one's that provide the majority of entrants to Sandhurst. Army cadets, RAF cadets, Scouts, Boys Brigade have been around for a long time, there is nothing new there.

tut tut old boy not just some of our private schools some of the ordinary ones did too. i joined the air cadets at school, didnt have any inmpression on me - i did twelve years in the TA in a NATO reserve battalion of the greenjackets!
BOF

[Oracle]

Rifle ranges and camo at schools. Are you referring to some of our long established private schools. The one's that provide the majority of entrants to Sandhurst. Army cadets, RAF cadets, Scouts, Boys Brigade have been around for a long time, there is nothing new there.

I am not concerned regarding its novelty; merely whether it is a tradition we wish to maintain?

The school I had in mind is a run-of-the-mill, fee-paying, academic-professing school and by no means a feeder for Sandhurst etc.

Yet the Army has a very strong presence in my opinion. Sometimes hiding behind the guise of the "Duke of Edinburgh Awards".

The CCF excite the kids with helicopter displays, and even offer rifle-shooting games to the prep-school at School Fetes.

One mother was horrified to find out her son had been given details (having had an interview with an officer during school time and without her knowledge), of how much money was on offer as a grant towards him studying medicine. The boy was only 14 and she had a hard time subsequently dissuading him with promises and assurances they could put him through Med school when the time came, and without him having to do some half-dozen years in the Army to pay it back.

But imagine a child whose parents could not afford to put them through University?

Is that sort of bribe / temptation fair?