So we've had:
1. Some Paras shooting at a poster
2. Allegations of sexual assault
3. A big ******* rant by CGS, effectively making it look like the Army is full of rapists, criminals and general bad bastards.
We all know that the public perception and popularity of the Army (We don't count the Navy and RAF 'cos Joe Public don't give a shit about them) comes and goes with the passing of the tide. Best summed up by Kipling with the poem 'Tommy'.
In recent times, we've had the full support of the country as we went through Telic and Herrick. Yes, there may have been lots of opposition to us being in Iraq in the first place, but most of them were Vegans so their opinion didn't matter.
2007 saw not only the end of major hostilities in Iraq after the JAM were brought onside and they stopped rocketing the shit out of us, but also the founding of Help for Heroes which, whilst it seems intent on helping people with convictions for rape and sexual assault get houses, did a powerhouse of PR work and really brought the country behind us. You couldn't ******* fart without having a H4H Sponsorship sheet for it (though by being so saturated, H4H in itself started to cause damage to our reputation because it made people frankly sick of the ******* concept of H4H and the 'poor soldiers who need our help.).
Herrick helped our cause as well, mainly because of the kinetic nature and the losses sustained. People again disagreed with us being there, but regardless how and why we were there, this nation struggles to be anything other than supportive and full of kindness when its boys are coming back in boxes - because we know that the lads and lassies out fighting are just that, lads and lassies and someone's son or daughter.
With the draw down from Herrick, the public lost interest as it does in these scenarios, and the Army was more or less forgot about. Many people didn't even know until the latest one about the Para's that we actually still had troops out there.
We've also had the latest round of radio and news exposure about Bloody Sunday and calls to revisit it all over again as well, which stirs lots of old and painful memories.
So is it time for public perception to swing against us? Certainly there's enough here to start some key groups thinking about how they perceive us and as I've mentioned elsewhere, the CGS rant, because let's be honest, that's what it is, is not only embarrassing, it also gives the impression (as people who have no connection to the forces have told me) that the army is full of horrible bastards who need to be publicly reprimanded, and I think to be fair, the CGS video does more reputational damage, than the first two incidents put together.
A good marker for how we're currently being viewed is The Sun newspaper. If it's screaming about us, then it's tough times ahead. As it is, these stories only got minimal exposure on their site.
So, thoughts? Having gone from supportive, to a lull, can we see there being a subtle change in attitude towards the Army again, as we've seen time and time before?
Note, this isn't a place to discuss the Paras or the allegation of sexual assault, other threads are out there for that. The CGS rant is fair game though, because I do truly believe it completely skews the public perception of us.
1. Some Paras shooting at a poster
2. Allegations of sexual assault
3. A big ******* rant by CGS, effectively making it look like the Army is full of rapists, criminals and general bad bastards.
We all know that the public perception and popularity of the Army (We don't count the Navy and RAF 'cos Joe Public don't give a shit about them) comes and goes with the passing of the tide. Best summed up by Kipling with the poem 'Tommy'.
In recent times, we've had the full support of the country as we went through Telic and Herrick. Yes, there may have been lots of opposition to us being in Iraq in the first place, but most of them were Vegans so their opinion didn't matter.
2007 saw not only the end of major hostilities in Iraq after the JAM were brought onside and they stopped rocketing the shit out of us, but also the founding of Help for Heroes which, whilst it seems intent on helping people with convictions for rape and sexual assault get houses, did a powerhouse of PR work and really brought the country behind us. You couldn't ******* fart without having a H4H Sponsorship sheet for it (though by being so saturated, H4H in itself started to cause damage to our reputation because it made people frankly sick of the ******* concept of H4H and the 'poor soldiers who need our help.).
Herrick helped our cause as well, mainly because of the kinetic nature and the losses sustained. People again disagreed with us being there, but regardless how and why we were there, this nation struggles to be anything other than supportive and full of kindness when its boys are coming back in boxes - because we know that the lads and lassies out fighting are just that, lads and lassies and someone's son or daughter.
With the draw down from Herrick, the public lost interest as it does in these scenarios, and the Army was more or less forgot about. Many people didn't even know until the latest one about the Para's that we actually still had troops out there.
We've also had the latest round of radio and news exposure about Bloody Sunday and calls to revisit it all over again as well, which stirs lots of old and painful memories.
So is it time for public perception to swing against us? Certainly there's enough here to start some key groups thinking about how they perceive us and as I've mentioned elsewhere, the CGS rant, because let's be honest, that's what it is, is not only embarrassing, it also gives the impression (as people who have no connection to the forces have told me) that the army is full of horrible bastards who need to be publicly reprimanded, and I think to be fair, the CGS video does more reputational damage, than the first two incidents put together.
A good marker for how we're currently being viewed is The Sun newspaper. If it's screaming about us, then it's tough times ahead. As it is, these stories only got minimal exposure on their site.
So, thoughts? Having gone from supportive, to a lull, can we see there being a subtle change in attitude towards the Army again, as we've seen time and time before?
Note, this isn't a place to discuss the Paras or the allegation of sexual assault, other threads are out there for that. The CGS rant is fair game though, because I do truly believe it completely skews the public perception of us.
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