On average 40 million Britons wear a poppy in the days leading up to and including November 11.
I would have written something of my own but it is a bit of a struggle typing so I will leave it to the Royal British Legion....
Dear Alison
At 11 am, on the 11th day of the 11th month, silence will fall over many parts of the country. In town and country, the nation will salute the men and women who lost their lives while courageously protecting our country.
It is now 91 years since the guns fell silent on the Western Front. 90 years since the Two Minutes Silence was first observed in London in honour of the men who fell on the battlefields of the Great War.
Today, young Service men and women face dangers daily in Afghanistan – over 200 heroes have already paid the ultimate sacrifice and died thousands of miles away from their families.
Whether you are at home, at work or out and about, please take the time to bow your head and pay your personal tribute to the courage of so many members of the Armed Forces who never returned home from the front line.
Thank you for respecting this important tradition of Remembrance.
Russell Thompson OBE Director of National Events and Fundraising. Royal British Legion
As the newspapers, Labour haters and blogs ratchet up the negativity and defeatism about Afghanistan I thought I would share this amazing piece from FrontLine Bloggers.
"Be in no doubt that we are in the fight of our generation, the future of this place will be decided in part by what we do now. In such times we live that young men will give all and in doing so sacrifice their precious futures.
On the news they will show impressive graphic projections and they will discuss the merits of one vehicle against another until you the supporters of the Regiment are confused or disillusioned. Allow me if I may to make things very simple, the fight we are in is to dominate key ground, this ground has been the home of insurgents, bandits and drug lords for some time and if we are to proceed with our mission of bringing peace we must remove these men and replace them with stability and law.
Key terrain like this can only be taken by soldiers making the hard yards on the ground. For these men their world is what they can see in the front of them as they fight metre for metre with a ruthless cunning and determined enemy. With a sweep of his or her arm the news presenter will allude to the ground being covered and taken, the reality of which is that every metre will be paid for with blood sweat and brute force.
This is nothing new and Infantry soldiers have done the same thing since records began, that is why they exist and are so very much in demand here, where ground that is not held by force will be occupied and subjected to the lawlessness of insurgents and violent men.
At the beginning of the tour in an interview I was asked what I thought of the troubled times that may be ahead. My answer is the same now as it was then, your Mercian Soldiers and their colleagues from many fine Regiments will be more than the match for those who believe we will be forced to leave here in ignominy and defeat. Despite the cost we will become stronger as your soldiers become tempered like steel in the Helmand fire"
Royal Marines and soldiers from 42 Commando take an opportunity to play rugby, during a stand down from Operation Aabi Toorah - February 2009
A medic checks an x-ray image of a gunshot wound victim at the field hospital at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. The Medical Treatment Facility (MTF), which is housed in one of the few solid buildings at Bastion replaces the tented field hospital that has been used since 2003. The temperature-controlled building allows the medics to better avoid the heat, cold or dust that come with the Helmand territory. With a fully equipped operating theatre supporting two operating tables, the MTF also supports up to six beds for the most critically injured in an Intensive Treatment Unit (ITU). Two general wards handle patients with recovery needs and there are an additional two separate, private rooms, supplying a total capacity of 37 beds, with room for expansion.
August 2008: Picture 3 of 5 in a sequence. A Paratrooper from 3 Para stumbles and recovers whilst underfire during Operation Oqab Tsuka in Afghanistan. Meanwhile another soldier provides return fire from an opening in the compound. Operation Oqab Tsuka was of vital importance providing a hydro-electric turbine to the dam at Kajaki in Helmand Province.
Soldiers of the Parachute Regiment take a brief opportunity to relax during a patrol at Zabol, summer 2008
A soldier from the Parachute Regiment crouches awaiting the order to move during a patrol
Feb 2009: Royal Marines and soldiers from Plymouth based 42 Commando on patrol during the initial stages of Operation Aabi Toorah, in the southern most regions of Helmand. Their mission was to provide critical information and intelligence for subsequent operations, in an area never before visited in such strength by allied forces.
A Paratrooper from 3 Para prepares to return fire on the enemy from an opening in a compound during Operation Oqab Tsuka in Helmand Province.
Op Oqab Tsuka was of vital importance to deliver a hydro-electric turbine to the Dam at Kajaki, thus giving 2 million Afghans access to electricity.
A Paratrooper mortar platoon team fires 81mm shells at Taliban positions in support of a patrol from X Company, 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment at FOB Zeebrugge near Kajaki. It was of vital importance that security was maintained around the area of the power station, so that engineers could continue to provide electricity to the local population of Southern Afghanistan. The operation to provide a second hydro-electric turbine to Kajaki Dam and thus bring power to over 2 million peeople, was the biggest reconstruction project to take place in Afghanistan up to that time
Troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade sit in the rear of a C130 Hercules transport aircraft at the end of their 7 month operational tour in Afghanistan in 2008 and start the first leg of their journey home. The Hercules C130 will fly out of Camp Bastion under the cover of darkness and deliver the transiting troops to Kandahar Air force base ready for the next part of their journey back to the UK.
A Royal Marine who lost both legs whilst on duty in Afghaistan in 2008, is treated by a civilian physiotherapist on the Military Ward at University Hospital, Selly Oak, Birmingham for the exclusive use of military patients
Check Ross Kemp in Afghanistan via youtube for the last two years coverage.
I'm not gonna tell you what I think of Maggie's Place hyperbolic vox pop reviews of "unfree" " in-slave chains" "socialist" nations such as mine right now - whilst these guys have been out there all this time doing the above. Not that I vote Labour or subscribe to socialist views. But...ah never mind. I can only offer that site two words and they ain't very poetic!
Help for Heroes - a charity to which we'll be donating money we raise from a summer triatholon. I'll fill you in on it sometime later this year!
Update:
Can't find the Kemp footage shown on TV for the last 2 years of our men in Afghanistan. All removed from Youtube. But these guys were featured. And this is who we will turn the country over to when we can leave. Hmmmm. I can see that working out if we don't buy up that drug supply and opium crop, can't you?
