Bored Room
Couple of pics I took in 2004 around the Ypres Area.
The Menin Gate, the main road to the front out of Yrpes.
Every day they stop the traffic and the Fire Brigade do the Last Post
It has the names of thousands of soldiers names with no know grave.
My Wifes Grand Uncle drowned in the mud.
DeMyer's Laws - an argument that consists primarily of rambling quotes isn't worth bothering with.
Deus ex ukulele
Sobering stuff. Thanks for sharing those photos and your thoughts.
"Standing on your mother's corpse you told me that you'd wait forever." [Bryan Adams: Summer of 69]
Forum whore
A few more photos - http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-28461026.
Forum whore
That C Class looks a bit jacked up in the rear.
In and out of jobs, running free
Waging war with society
Suffers from peterpan syndrome
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
...least we forget the sacrifices they made.
Stay well KBers...peace, not war, shall be our boast
When Life thows me a curve
...I lean into it!
Forum whore
Oh the irony...
TVNZ news on chan 1 last night cut over to some muppet reporter at Te Papa...
He talked right through the last post and the minutes silence... One of the Army guys sushhed him and he was getting foul looks but he kept on keeping on... Bloody disgraceful really.... We will remember them eh?
Forum whore
Thanks for sharing that. Some amazing photos. I never would have thought the ground would remain so scarred almost 100 years on.Originally Posted by Berries
Just faidin away!
Obviously we will remember "him" --- Who was he again? .................................................. .......................... Nice to see Vicky on the mend!
Bored Room
I think that instead of wars that the politicians from both sides should battle it out hand to hand in a large stadium Gladiator style....dang I think I got that idea off a Frankie Goes to Hollywood video...
100 years later and we're still at it.
DeMyer's Laws - an argument that consists primarily of rambling quotes isn't worth bothering with.
Nana
Most men don't fear dying or the loss of troops when deciding to enter battle. Be it in a platoon, as a kingdom or less organised groups like MCs. Battle is about ego over reason, testosterone over diplomacy.
I am sure this is different for those carrying out the orders.
Heavily rooted in the fact that most leaders are natural alphas with chronic narcissistic tendencies.
Key for example plays the affable fool quite handily but behind closed doors I'd be willing to bet the can be quite ferocious and ruthless. E.g every time it looks like the opposition might have something on him someone steps forward and under the bus.
If all world leaders had to be prepared die to be right it would not deter a narcissist who thought he was right because he would always believe he could win.
Apparently Hitler still believed the Third Reich would prevail days before his suicide. His retreat to the bunker was supposed to be tactical not just an attempt to prolong the inevitable.
Maybe if disfigurement was guaranteed their vanity would urge caution?
Most wars are a dick swinging competition at their core.
Would they begin if all wars were waged by placing your package on the table and taking turns smashing the opposition with a rock?
Nana
I don't think I is always wrong to participate in wars. I do think that I you are at the front you should know why you are there and what you might be about to sacrifice for.
Growing up I bought into the whole hero complex. I still do in many ways.
At 19 I would have considered it a privilege to go to war for my country. To serve my queen and all that goes with that.
At 40 I have a wider and perhaps more cynical view. Sitting here in the comfort of New Zealand poverty I would still feel proud to serve against a tyrant. I would still feel proud to stand for queen and country but now I would only enlist if there was a clear and present danger from something I believe in.
I wonder how I would feel in knee deep mud?
In the trenches 4 years after signing up believing this was a chance for a short adventure? For motives that are still disputed by historians?
We all know it kicked of over the assassination of archduke Ferdinand. But is that enough?
Bored Room
If I recall there were lots of Treaties around " if you get invaded we'll support you" and so on, and before you knew it you had Germany
rolling into France.
I think they thought it would be a ' quick one' as they did the same to the French in around 1870.
At that time I don't think the British had much of a full time army as they relied on the Royal Navy.
No one seemed to have the ability to stop it.
Clearly no one watched the American Civil war very closely and the rise of the machine gun and repeating rifle.
DeMyer's Laws - an argument that consists primarily of rambling quotes isn't worth bothering with.
Forum whore
Ever wondered why most cannon foddersoldiers are young males.........the older males usually have more sense.
- He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
Forum whore
Braking moderately heavily perhaps.......
There were many more complex layers than just that, although that was the straw that triggered it.We all know it kicked of over the assassination of archduke Ferdinand. But is that enough?
Within a month, the French & Germans had suffered over a million casualties!
My Grandfather spent his 21st birthday ironing lice out of his clothing seams in a bunker in the trenches.I wonder how I would feel in knee deep mud?
In the trenches 4 years after signing up believing this was a chance for a short adventure?
3 1/2 years in, after leaving New Zealand in August 1914, my Great Uncle was writing home telling his last brother not to come over(his other brother and most of his friends were dead by then - as was he 6 mths later). He, like a lot of the initial batches, was a Territorial soldier, who was mobilised almost immediately war was declared....it was an adventure to begin with.....
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/08/...-a-lovely-war/
- He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
Just faidin away!
Look how many times Churchill played at soldier and really fucked up ... now all is forgiven (not by me) and he is a media created hero FFS!
Did we ever really need him at all? ... Think hard about that! ... Hindsight and history is a wonderful thing of course!
They (TPTB) are all set to play silly buggers again (just look at the world around us) and like every other time before ... we will let them get away with it!
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks