Squaddies on the Rampage 2100 Ch4

[Pox_Dr]

Tonight (07/07) Channel 4 2100hrs

Report on "the violent attacks by British soldiers against locals & holidaymakers in Cyprus over the past ten years, & the role of alcohol intake in these incidents."

I wonder how we will be portrayed in this one.

 

[PartTimePongo]

Of course, there will be absolutely no mention of the ratboys that go out baiting squaddies in gangs, or the rape of squaddies by local males, or the unprovoked attacks by the local nationalists and pissed up British holiday makers. Anyone remember the famous "Squaddies gave me a kicking" story in The Sun some years ago? "Ooooh he's such a good lad, never been in trouble, they just started on him" etc etc . Till it was revealed he was a gobby little shite and the locals said he and his mates had started it.

Is there a right to reply for this programme? Think I need to get in a pre-emptive strike  

 

[Chuzu]

this really pees me off what does there day job have anything to do with there night behaviour it shouldnt matter

 

[Lifesaver]

this really pees me off what does there day job have anything to do with there night behaviour it shouldnt matter

I disagree entirely with the above statement.

Of course one's behaviour matters whether on or off duty.

Surely you hold responsible jobs and are respected by society...............and are adults.
Why damage the public's perception of your profession by behaving an a loutish way?

It's OK having a laugh, but c'mon bringing disrepute onto your peers is unacceptable.

 

[Woolyback02]

Lifesaver.... Totally agree with you. British forces around the world are respected and admired, behaviour (Lager loutish) which im sure we will see tonight should be kept to the NAAFI, barracks area.

:-[ :-[ :-[ :-[

 

[flash_to_bang]

circa 1998 8 or 9 members of the Kings Regt were had up for attacking a uk tourist -the scrote mentioned in previous posts-and there was blanket coverage.

When all were aquitted (mostly due to the fact that they were 30 miles away at the time) there was not a whisper from the press.

This is obvioulsy the way a nation shows its gratitude for the efforts and sacrifices we make.  In 17 years in the mob, the worst I have ever done is be "advised" by a good natured copper to be a little quieter on the way home.

I suspect that most arrse posters are the same-as are most civvies.  But the slimeball press are not interested in that are they-or perhaps the producer would like to post his reassurance that the issue will be dealt with fairly and correctly

I doubt it!!

 

[TheLordFlasheart]

Seems the media at large has decided that 'our boys done good in GW 2' is getting boring and routine. Back to scandal, misinformed reporting and general headline grabbing squaddie bashing. Ho hum! It wouldn't happen if we were a dictatorship!

 

[COatELMPT]

I have just watched the said programme and we came over pretty poorly.  As mentioned earlier there was nothing said about the attacks on our soldiers or the loutish behaviour of the 'Crazy gang' (brits on holiday).  At the end of the programme the Cypriot police refused to talk about any attacks since 1998.  That is probably due to the fact that there were none.  Channel 4 have a habit of attacking all good British Institutions.  Next week they have a programme at the same time, all about soldiers dying during peacetime, and I think Deepcut may suffer again.

 

[woopert]

I just watched the programme, very one-sided. The only soldiers they interviewed are long since out, and I suspect that they were picked because they said what the producers wanted to hear, namely that soldiers are out of control and that the army knows and doesn't care. The Cypriut (sp?) Pathologist wanted an all out ban on soldiers drinking in the towns AND in the barracks and couldn't understand why it hadn't been banned.

The fact is that officers command by consent. Forget the QRs and the Armed Forces Act, if a soldier doesn't want to be led, no matter how disciplined a soldier he may be, he will not be led. If the army banned drinking altogether in Cyprus I would give it 3 weeks before there was a showdown and a forced climbdown to a crappy and unworkable compromise. The fact is that soldiers do get drunk, and that they do from time to time misbehave, it's a fact of life and it is a nonesense to suggest that banning drinking would bring about an automatic solutions because they would just find ways of getting hold of contraband, either by sneaking it into camp or by bewing their won. In any case we can't confine them to camp because they are not under a prison sentence and they are free to do what they please in their free time the same as anyone else.

To watch this programme you would think that no tourist has ever got drunk beyond the point of reason, or ever got into a fight, done something stupid, or commited a crime. You only need to watch Reps Uncovered or similar on Sky One most weeknights to know that that assumption is crap, so why because a soldier is a soldier does it mean that they either have to behave like the saints that they aren't or that they should be deprived of the same liberties and freedoms that a civilian enjoys because of a few idiots?

 

[Lifesaver]

I agree with you completely Woopert.
There is no way I would even consider going to Ayia Napa or Limmasol on holiday - not because of the alledged behaviour of the Military Personnel, but because of the disgusting behaviour of the Brits abroad.

What wasn't portrayed how the Lager Louts behaved towards the soldiers - lets face it, some of these tw@ts with drink inside them think they are the hardest thing on our planet and have to 'prove' themselves to their mates.
What better way, than to pick a fight with a soldier.  :Appalling behaviour.

 

[COatELMPT]

Notice they interviewed Gilbert Blades.  He is the Lawyer that has taken the MOD on in more cases than anybody else.  He took the MOD to the European Court of Human Rights over the 'gay' issue.  He used to be the Chairman of Lincoln football Club and he represented one of my soldiers earlier this year at Court martial.  I wanted the soldier discharged and Blades obviously didn't.  84 days later and he is now a civvie.  Up yours Gilbert old boy.

 

[ex-dvr]

Squaddies were shown in a bad light.
My view is that it was about the murder of that girl by the 3 squaddies, and the rest was thrown in just to beef- up the programme.

Yes, they covered several other incidents, by showing  clips from paper columns and the word alledged was bandied about a bit.

I wonder if they will show a program about civies on holiday abroad, and foreigners and violent crime in this country and at home and then give pro-rata figures.

 

[TheLordFlasheart]

We already have those programs, mate, As was mentioned earlier, Ibeefa uncovered etc. Hypocritical to the extreme.
Example, if a squaddie gets pi55ed up in a Garrison town, he is subjected to the usual media frowning and put down, if that same squaddie was on an 18-30 in the Costas, it's lad's living it up with a wry wink, knudge, knudge from whatever no-mark production company is filming there. The film crews actually encourage the behaviour. As was also said, it's fashionable to knock the establishment. We are, wheather we like it or not, the face of the govn. Any easy target when it suits the media. It sells air time. Fighting civvies or fighting ragheads, they don't care. Tommorrows fish wrappers.

Come the revolution, etc, etc.

 

[Pox_Dr]

I can’t believe that they asked Dr Marios Matsakis his opinion, that scum was responsible for the riots in 2001.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cyprus/story/0,11551,639530,00.html

In which his precious law abiding Cypriot community kicked the sh@t out of the 33 local SBA Cypriot coppers, burnt the police station down, then with Matsakis at the head of the mob moved on to Akrotiri & tried to rip down the aerials etc.

Mind you the lads from 2LI & I think it was 1 KORBR evened the score slightly that night. That was also the weekend the so called environmentalists set fires up & down the main drag to Akrotiri if an effort to draw the Fire Brigade in to the open. Back fired slightly when RAF Akrotiri despatched an airfield tender. These thing stick gallons of foam out in seconds. Seeing the locals all chocked up made my day.

 

[mkw]

I remember gangs of cypriots waiting outside nightclubs to get the odd soldier who decided to go out on his own, Faaking Wa*kers, they wouldnt dare if there were 2 or 3 of us. How about showing that on TV

 

[Brakpier]

What a wonderfully balanced piece of programming we were priviliged to see last night. Its heart-warming to see C4 maintaining its high standards of investigative journalism allied to cutting edge reporting - guess they are after Al Jazeera's crown (crud).
On one side we have the BBC broadcasting programmes (Sunday 21.00 BBC2) on the Armed Forces demostrating the spirit of the soldier (and airmen) at its best and on the other side C4 broadcasting (or should that be defeacating) a poorly produced, politically biased (It's a great coup for that zealot Matsakis), factually erroneous piece of drivel. What really made me laugh was the fact it was produced by Insight(?!) Television.
The actions of the soldiers concerned cannot be condoned but we are, after all, a microcosm of British society and whilst we have ********* in civvie street, some of them are going to be recruited by an unwitting Army, struggling to maintain its numbers.
Sad, sad, evening for C4. RIP.
Afterthought: Why not bombard C4 with indignant e-mails?

 

[flash_to_bang]

Indeed www.channel4.com will be my next port of call-they focussed on the activities of 2 or 3 people.  One of the incidents they refer to was "squadie bets up copper-nicks car-burns it out".  Said car was found not far from our camp.  A few days later we got the word that it was not soldiers but locals trying to finger us-channel4 didn't mention htis fact-strange that

 

[flash_to_bang]

viewerenquiries@channel4.co.uk

give 'em some stick

 

[BriteGirlie]

I honestly can't see why anybody's getting wound up over this.  Anybody watching last night's programme (who is in possession of at least half a brain), would know that there are idiots in all walks of life..... and that includes the armed services!  

Whilst the majority of army personnel are decent people, only willing to fight for 'Queen and Country',.... there is a small amount who are willing to fight for any reason.  

It doesn't begin and end in the army though,...... it's all over, in every town,..... you've only gotta be out on a weekend to see that!  Some guys can handle alcohol, some can't,....... it's always been the same, it's never gonna change.

Any person (military or civilian) who has a problem with alcohol making them agressive, should either seek professional help, or not drink at all!

 

[woopert]

I don't think the issue is that we don't recognise the army has as many idiots as any other organisation its size, the issue was the rather biased reporting that seems to suggest that we are all like that. The fact is that the majority of soldiers, while they will all admit to the odd stupid drunken act, are not all violent psychos of the type that the programme focussed on. Neither is it right to suggest that if you train a man to be a soldier he is a pent-up psycho who onl needs a few beers down his head to turn him into a murderer. I also took issue with the comment that was made in the narrative at the beginning of the programme that all soldiers who go through training are psychologically damaged by the system that trains them.

I think that there was enough there to take issue with outside of the representation of the average squaddie.