Thread: An Open Letter to LCpl Joe Glenton

Originally Posted by Charm_City

Excellent letter by Wedge35.

I cannot feel anything but profound distaste for this individual and his attempts to find some grand moral justification for going AWOL. I fervently hope he receives all he deserves.

But Glenton should make the most of his moment in the sun. He will soon be forgotten by his current supporters, by the media, by the military. And I cannot help but wonder at the employment market for ex-RLC L/Cpls who take 'principled stands'. He is a seven days wonder, who will not even be a footnote in history - can anyone recall the name of the RAF MO who refused to soldier in Iraq?

C_C

I think it was Doc

Originally Posted by Recruiting_Office_reject

Wedge 35, I think many here would agree with those sentiments.

Could I also say, that if you really were a sapper in the RE then you were clearly wasted. There's many a Rupert that couldn't put together a letter with that quality of erudition and depth of argument.

How very dare you sir I will have you know we Royal Engineer are right smart we is

However I think my fellow sapper is wasting his time on this piece of shite.. Glenton should just sign-off and fuck-off

Good letter Wedge!

I hope to see it in the papers!

Joe Glenton is a disgrace. I've been reading some comments people have left on newspaper forums and I actually can't believe that people are applauding his disgusting actions. Is it true that he was AWOL in SE Asia for two years and now has come back with this political stance? I guess he must of run out of cash and needs to try and get himself out of trouble. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but the honourable thing to do would have been to hand his notice in when he got back from Afghan..... I wonder if he would be leading protests if he had done that. I'm a civvie, I browse ARRSE sometimes because one of my good friends is a serving soldier (currently away) and I just like to keep myself up to date on military goings on. This is my first post, I am so cross by some pro-Joe comments I have read on other sites that I just wanted to share my own view because it isn't just soldiers who think this man is a k**b.

Well, Fl Lt Kendall-Smith got 8 months - and he actually fronted up and said "not going, troop me" rather than going AWOL and coming up with an excuse later (and leading an anti-war march and ...)

Originally Posted by CRmeansCeilingReached

stacker1 & Fugly: agree. see below.

TalaveraTom: disagree. he doesn't have the right to communicate with the media unless cleared through the CoC. he doesn't have the right to free speech like a civvy. oh, and screw the anti-war lobby. we work for Her Majesty, not them.

wedge35: excellent letter. however, i feel you have taken a tack which reinforces the impression that this clown is a conscientious objector, because you fail to mention the "elephant in the room" voiced by stacker1 and Fugly.

this guy is a coward. he went AWOL for two years: any mention during that time of an illegal war? any publicity? nope, only when facing punishment on his return to the UK. he may or may not have gone AWOL because he was scared of deploying again - i know what i believe, we've probably all seen guys have the occasional wobble about going on ops.

this "illegal war" stance - it's a convenient excuse; it's retrospective justification. "oh dear, i'm for it now. rather than admit i was shitting bricks about going back on ops at some point in the future, and rather than simply signing off if i claim i genuinely disagreed with this 'illegal war'... i will now, after two years AWOL, try to reduce my punishment and improve my self-esteem by claiming it was a principled stand against government policy."

bollocks. if you are reading this, Glenton... you know, when you go to bed at night, what the truth is. I have seen principled objections to deployments before; your actions bear no resemblance. you are simply a coward, utterly lacking in moral fibre, who went AWOL. when your actions caught up with you, you then compounded your cowardice by dragging the name of the British Army down with your association with the "Stop the War" mob. you may occasionally forget the real reason you did this - fear of imprisonment - with your letters to the PM and publicity-whore status. you may be able to fool elements friendly to your "cause", that you are a conscientious objector and that is why you went AWOL: "it was all in protest." was it bollocks.

every soldier and ex-soldier can see through your pathetic facade in a second. you went AWOL, and this is a piss-poor attempt to salvage some self-respect by trying to assign some dignified motive to your cowardice and lack of professionalism.

man up, stop acting like a twat, and take your punishment like the soldier you claim to be. you might actually get some respect from your former colleagues for finally being honest about your motives.

and to the CM - i firmly believe that jailing this morally bankrupt specimen would see you applauded by every single serving soldier and officer. screw the press, screw the solicitors, screw the STM movement: he went AWOL and deserves to be punished. the aggravating factors merit the strongest punishment possible. so please send the snivelling wretch to jail to think about the error of his ways; you'll probably get dozens of pages of congratulations on Arrse, for standing up to this subversive, cowardly little shite.

Well said CR!

Lets face it ARRSE is sh#te heavy but every once and a while from the mud comes a gleaming nugget of calm reasoned intelligence. That letter sir was 24 carat. Well done Wedge! I couldn't have put it better... so I won't. Commission or no, I salute you.

DR

Excellent letter! Well thought out. You should send it to the Times! Although and abridged "Dear coward, if you cant take a joke you shoulkdnt have joined. Heres your white feather and blindfold" should suffice. Seriously tho.... send it!

Good effort.

Cracking effort. Brilliantly reasoned argument.

Originally Posted by morsk

"Dear coward, if you cant take a joke you shouldn't have joined. Heres your white feather and blindfold"

LOL read this and spat my coffee over my keyboard and screen whilst laughing - I will be sending bill for damages to equipment and emotional trauma suffered to Glenton (stopped using it's rank in respect to real soldiers) telling him to stick it up his ARRSE! LOL

Nice one morsk :D

Great letter. While he buggers off on some fake moral tirade, he's left a spot open that needs to be filled by someone else. Great example from a JNCO to junior soldiers meant to FOLLOW his lead...Bust his ass (hopefully literally) and throw him in Colly.

Now don't shoot me down immediately but......

Surely if this individual fears being locked away then by far the best punishment for him should be a stint in MCTC. Now here is the fun part.

He'll be bust back to private, then make him soldier on. After all various DIN's etc will 'apparently' prevent him from capitalising on his '15 mins' and completely embugger whatever plans he currently has to squander the ill gotten gains from this exceptionally cowardly approach.

After all he is likely to be treated with kid gloves when out of MCTC but for his actions it would be an exceedingly lonely existence with no-one trusting you in the unit.

Just my view, but keep him in and make him pay full price for his actions.

570

Good letter, Wedge. Excellent points, very well made.

I see that it has been claimed that Glenton is "the voice of the JNCO". I'd like to echo Wedge's closing point:

Glenton, you DO NOT speak for this ex-JNCO and nor, I suspect, do you speak for any other JNCO, past, present or future.

Radio 5 now interviewing his solicitor, who has just said that he has lots of support from his fellow soldiers who support him in his cause.

Only good thing was to hear that by going on the march he has landed himself with 5 extra charges

Sorry for dragging up a two month old post.

I was interested to know what feelings this chap has aroused in the army community - and this post seems pretty potent.

The letter on the first page is one of the most thorough, well-written and articulate I have ever read.

I thought it was particularly interesting that LCpl Glenton appears to have spent up to two years in Australia/S. East Asia!

Am I being cynical for thinking this chap basically went off for a bit of a jolly before deciding on his reasons?

It seems to me a more genuine protest would not have involved a two year travelling stint - the likes of which most of us would no doubt love to get onto!