Civil servants are being awarded the same campaign medals for serving in Afghanistan as soldiers risking their lives on the front line.Oh, FFS..!
Critics said it was 'offensive' that Ministry of Defence bureaucrats manning desks at the British HQ, Camp Bastion, are handed the Operational Service Medal which is also given to squaddies facing Taliban bullets and bombs.I’d say perhaps these civil servants could be shamed into not accepting them.
Until I read this:
Penpushers receive the honour from ministers at formal presentation ceremonies, which were introduced after protests that the medals were being posted to them in plastic bags.Not protests that maybe they shouldn’t have them in the first place, you’ll note. Protests that they weren’t being presented with enough ceremony…
One civil servant who recently returned from Afghanistan said: 'We are not on the front line facing the Taliban, but could be blown to pieces at any time. I shall wear my medal with pride inside and outside the office.'I don’t think you have the slightest idea what ‘pride’ really means…
As Quiet Man puts it:
"There are some things that irritate, there are a few things that annoy and there are some things that get the red mist in front of the eyes."
They shall grow not bald, as we that are left grow bald:
ReplyDeleteFiles shall not weary them, nor Audits contemn.
At the going down of the tea-trolley and in the rest room
We will remember them.
Don't forget they will also be getting overseas pay and bonuses. I rather suspect, considerably more than the troops.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of soldiers who fit the same bill too though. Fancy denying a medal to some of the medical staff who work at the hospital at Camp Bastion? The military has always given medals based on days spent in the operational theatre rather than exposure to danger. This is generally accepted by the military. If MOD civil servants fulfil the same criteria then whats the issue?
ReplyDeleteThe difference is the £8000 a month they get in danger money, about 5 times that of a normal soldier. Campaign medals should be for the military, if they want to give out an award to civilians, that's fine, but it should not be the same as the military medal. Civilians have a choice, the military rarely do.
ReplyDeleteUnbefuckinglievable.
ReplyDeleteThanks for drawing this to my attention.
Satire is already done....but as an ex-serviceman, the rant is brewing and it's going to be HUGE.
D
@DC
ReplyDeleteThese medals are being given (and I use that term carefully) to civil servants for as little as a 5-day 'tour'.
Care to enlighten us as to how long your medic would have to serve on their tour?
This is totally - TOTALLY unjustifiable. There is no excuse.
D
N-NW - much :)
ReplyDeleteThe qualification period for the OSM Afghanistan is extremely weird. And runs to pages.
A civil servant taking 5 days to qualify would be doing extremely dangerous work with special forces. I doubt there are any - unless, of course, there are civil servants serving as reservists with UKSF(R). In which case there should be no doubt they deserve it.
The medic would have to serve the same time in the same circumstances.
I have to say that any civil servant who thinks they are regularly going to be wearing their medal in civilian clothes is utterly deluded. And, yes, CS get somewhat more than regular soldiers in terms of op allowances. But less than quite a few TA soldiers get in Reservists' Allowance.
"They shall grow not bald, as we that are left grow bald:
ReplyDeleteFiles shall not weary them..."
Heh! Excellent...
"Don't forget they will also be getting overseas pay and bonuses."
That's just rubbing salt in the wound...
"The military has always given medals based on days spent in the operational theatre rather than exposure to danger. This is generally accepted by the military. If MOD civil servants fulfil the same criteria then whats the issue?"
As QM says, medals should be for the military, not for civil servants.
"I have to say that any civil servant who thinks they are regularly going to be wearing their medal in civilian clothes is utterly deluded."
Oh, I don't know. Perhaps it becomes regular attire at meetings and conferences?
Would any of them dare enter the local British Legion wearing them ?
ReplyDeleteThe MOD civil servant who never retreated, but did backspace on the typewriter
ReplyDelete