ARmy Rumour SErvice

Originally Posted by The_Dragoon

In relation to the famous 15 being allowed to sell their stories.....

Col Bob Stewart, who commanded the British peacekeeping forces in Bosnia, said the MoD were in a "Catch 22 situation" as the soldiers would be "hounded" for their stories.

But he added: "The whole matter is extremely distasteful, because while these people are making a lot of money, six bodies have come back from Iraq in the last week or so in coffins, and their families will get very little indeed.

"They are not heroes by comparison."

Now then, is this man a total hypocrit ?

... I have a signed copy of his book that I have never read if anyone wants to make me an offer.

It was a unwanted christmas present in my defence... bless my wife!

Yep hypocrite with a capital H Bonking Bob was his nickname wasn't it??

Don't know if he was any good as a CO though? He might have been tip top. Can anyone shed any light? be interested...

Might even read his book as a consequence

I met the man recently. He came across as a brave and courageous leader. He freely admits he used the media, but there was no MOG in those days and he had little or no support in tackling the very difficult situation his battalion was in. Indeed nobody (UN, UK Govt) wanted to believe things were as bad as they were so the press were allowed to beam it live to our living rooms.

Remember the Cheshires were first in, no Optag then.

IIRC he only sold his story after leaving the service.

I would say he was instrumental in focusing the British Media on the situation in Bosnia, during those early days. His battalion did an outstanding job, in a nightmare scenario with little or no support.

WhiteHorse not quite true. People forget Croatia and Serbia had a good go at each other in Croatia prior to Bosnia, 5000 dead in Vukovar before anyone had heard of Bosnia. We provided Col Bob with his vehicles / comms for his recce (from in thearte) and the REs with us were in Sarejevo prior to him arriving.
Ref OPTAG, we went through what was potentialy the first OPTAG on the 'plain' - lots of securing up / defending buildings etc.

Things have moved on along way since!

Originally Posted by Jimmy_Bubbles

WhiteHorse not quite true. People forget Croatia and Serbia had a good go at each other in Croatia prior to Bosnia, 5000 dead in Vukovar before anyone had heard of Bosnia. We provided Col Bob with his vehicles / comms for his recce (from in thearte) and the REs with us were in Sarejevo prior to him arriving.
Ref OPTAG, we went through what was potentialy the first OPTAG on the 'plain' - lots of securing up / defending buildings etc.

Things have moved on along way since!

Very true, and put far better than my attempt.

Bonking Bob, what a credit to the 22nd Regiment! Fame and infamy all at once by the swipe of his dick!

For what it is worth, I do think it is a hypocritical thing to say.

Quite frankly, here in Afghanistan whenever Sky News comes on there is an audible groan and the channel is swiftly turned over. I can't speak for everyone obviously but certainly the guys out here that I work with are bollock bored with the whole thing.

Stewart is a v. good bloke, who used the media to the benefit of his Bn. and the local people when he was commanding in a very, very dodgy location, and an utterly wretched one for local civvies.

No personal profits from writing or interviews came to him until after he'd resigned, so far as I'm aware.

So there's clearly no hypocrisy in this instance.