List Only - Why are our armed services treated so badly in the UK?

Why are our armed services treated so badly in the UK?

I know this story is a week or so old now but it made me so mad: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/blog/editors_corner/article/1216/ In America, a soldier will get treated like a hero, all his drinks and food will be "on the house" etc. Over here, our boys get treated like dirt. Thts not to mention the ex soldiers who are left homeless on the streets (whilst the Government gives council housing and benefits to fraudulent asylum seekers like the men who hijacked a plane at Heathrow airport and threatened to kill all the passengers if they weren't granted asylum. Guess what - they were. Plus free housing and all the freebies they could wish for). Enough of my ancestors have fought and died for the UK in 2 world wars and it makes me very angry to see the way these brave men and women get treated when they come home. They deserve a hero's welcome! Apparently this soldier has been offered a room at the Ritz, with dinner and breakfast thrown in, all at the hotel's expense. As for the "Metro" hotel, I'm boycotting this chain in the future and I hope lots of other people do as well! Helicreature - I'm not saying they want the same OTT treatment as soldiers in the US sometimes get but a bit of decent common courtesy and respect might be in order, something which CPL Stringer was denied. Also "Ex Soldiers fall on hard times for exactly the same reasons civilians do...because they are boozers, or work shy." This is very unfair. I know cases of men who suffered severe injury or PTS etc (incurred in the line of duty) who have found it nearly impossible to adapt to live in civvie land or hold down a job because of their conditions and the Government just don't give a damn about them. My late father (ex army) had a nevous breakdown as a result of untreated PTS in the late 1960s. it destroyed his life (and his family's) and he was given no support at all! Things obviously haven't changed. http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1089966.0.one_in_10_of_city_homeless_is_a_former_soldier.php http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/index.html

Public Comments

Lack of f**king respect! What ever anybody thinks of Americans they would never stand for something like this and yes everybody i know would never use that Hotel chain!Even if they gave away free rooms
cos' this country is a load of ball-ox, and the ministers think that they are the hero's for sending our troops out there, ministers are good for nothing overpaid shite and some of them don't even know what they're friggin job entails. Stop asylum, Stop phoney wars , Stop handouts to immigrants and Stop the labour party.
It has always been that way, Kipling wrote a poem about the lack of respect for soldiers.
thats what happens when people vote labour.
I have noted that in the U K y'all treat the American military better than you do your own I understand the women doing this as they are Americans but I don't understand the whole of the country doing this
People simply disagree with the war in Iraq and Afganistan. I myself disagree with the UK's rreasons for going to war. But taking it out on soldiers who are doing nothing but helping to re-establish peace in these countries is terrible. They are trying to help and the taliban and insurgents would quickly take over again and cause massive problems if they left now. We entered this war and now we have to finish it. We should have massive respect for the brave men and women who are prepared to put there lives on the line to keep the peace and restore law and order. The actions of a minority shouldn't tarnish the rest.
I think the first thing is that you need to be *far* more suspicious about what you read in the papers -- most of the examples you cite are bogus, invented by a media with a political agenda (for example, the asylum seeker is heavily loaded against the seekers, as is shown by the majority of appeals succeeding) so there will be *very* few fraudulent asylum seekers on benefits -- the much more common result is that genuine asylum seekers end up destitute). As for the attitude towards the armed forces, I suspect there's a bit of emotional confusion between the roles of the soldiers and politicians. Too often the armed forces seem to called on not to defend the realm but to defend failing politicians. The poor squaddie or whatever gets the blame for the actions of the morally bankrupt government (and that was a true under the tories as it is under labour). As the old music-hall song has it, "It's the same the whole world over, ain't it just a bloomin' shame, it's the rich what gets the pleasure, it's the poor what gets the blame".
you are right lady moon, its an absolute disgrace. the labour party went all out to destroy the pride in Britain and they have done it. how El's could they have given the country away to the nazi style EU without watering down the people with uncontrolled immigration. terrorism and the hugely success full racist card. they have trashed this country and all it ever stood for with the help! of all the anti racist thickos that have virtually shot themselves in the foot. but the British people are to blame. they stand for it. you cant even get them interested enough to get off of their lazy @rses to defend their own country let alone their own soldiers.
I live in Married Quarters quite close to this particular hotel, and I am quite sure that they won't be hosting any of our friends or relatives any time soon! However... this is an isolated incident, and in terms of the difference between the way Soldiers are treated by the general public, you need to take the cultural differences between us and the Americans into account.We were posted to The U.S for two years & We ARE different in that British Servicemen simply don't WANT to be slapped on the back for doing their job. I have yet to meet a British Serviceman (and I know thousands) who would not be deeply embarrassed to be accosted in public in the way American Servicemen are. My husband has a substantial command and he does not allow his Soldiers to wear uniform off base, and expects everyone to simply do their job, quietly, well, and without fanfare. Contrary to tabloid hype The British Army treats it's own well. Soldiers and their families are comfortably housed, well paid if they work hard and climb the ranks (and if they don't they still do better than they would on Civvie Street), have excellent medical facilities and welfare services, and good pensions. Ex Soldiers fall on hard times for exactly the same reasons civilians do...because they are boozers, or work shy.They have pensions, and access to resettlement before they leave. When my husband comes home from deployment he doesn't want flag waving strangers lauding him to serve some sentimental need of their own, he wants to come home to his family and get on with his job. No one has ever treated us 'like dirt' and on the odd occasion when my husband has used his Military ID in a civilian situation, it usually is met simply with polite interest of the 'what's it like in Iraq' kind. British Soldiers are to a man and woman modest people and anything else would embarrass them. I think you need to know a little more about how British Servicemen think & operate before you take this stand on their behalf! Edit: What regrettably happened to your Father is NOT what happens now. PTSD is recognised, in fact one of my neighbours, (an Army officer) specialises in it and goes all over the World lecturing Troops about it .Deployment booklets with which every Soldiier is issued before he is deployed tell them exactly what to do if they find themselves suffering. All you are doing here is re-working what you read in the tabloid press, and re-hashing outdated information. You really shouldn't be getting into high dudgeon about something you obviously know so little about.
As an American army and navy veteran, I wish to thank you for your support of members and veterans of the UK armed forces (my comrades in arms). Citizens of free countries (like the UK and the USA) are allowed to voice their opinions no matter how contrary they may be to the majority. I only hope that those who do not support the armed forces, or their veterans, are in the minority. I suspect that this "metro" hotel may some day be identified and suffer some negative publicity. That may result in a public apology.
must be loads of people living in uk who are simply not patriots
Helicreature What a load of complete crap you just spouted