Veteransforpeacebritain

VFP B Handbook

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A Scottish Soldier

Coming Events

Meet the Steering Group

FRAGMENTS by Aly Renwick

Photograph: Valery Tenevoy / https://plagness.com / July 14, 2019

FRAGMENTS:

Towards a True History of Military Service

by Aly Renwick

Peace Through Unity

<p>Veterans For Peace Britain unites ex-service members and supporters committed to ending war as a solution. Discover our mission to promote peace and justice in the 21st century. Join us in building a better future for all.</p>

Michael Elstub at the Conscientous Objectors Day, 15th May 2026, Tavistock Square, London

<h3><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s6p6"><strong>BBC Radio 4 Beyond Belief Tuesday April 28 2026 will be featuring VFP Britain member Michael Elstub.</strong></a></h3><h3><strong>This item is now available on the BBC Iplayer.</strong></h3><p></p><p></p><h3><strong>Statement on the US and Israeli attack on Iran</strong></h3><h3>Veterans for Peace Britain condemns the unlawful attack by the USA and Israel on Iran. We opposed the Israeli genocide that was, and is still taking place in Gaza and now we oppose the unprovoked attack on a sovereign country. Once again we see the Israeli tail wagging the USA dog with unproven allegations of weapons of mass destruction. How does that justify an attack on a school, leaving 153 people dead?</h3><h3>Once again we see a country that does not sell it's oil in US dollars being attacked.</h3><h3>A country that stops selling oil in U.S. dollars risks facing severe geopolitical pressure, including potential economic sanctions, diplomatic isolation, or military intervention, as the U.S. acts to protect the dollar's status.</h3><h3>However, this shift allows nations to bypass sanctions, reduce reliance on the U.S. financial system, and diversify trade using currencies like the yuan or ruble.&nbsp;</h3><h3><strong>Consequences of Moving Away from the "Petrodollar" System:</strong></h3><ul><li><p><strong>Geopolitical and Economic Pressure:</strong> The U.S. often views de-dollarization as a threat, as it weakens the dollar's global demand and, consequently, U.S. economic influence.</p></li><li><p><strong>Sanctions and Isolation:</strong> Countries like Iran and Russia have faced intense financial sanctions for moving away from dollar transactions, forcing them to find alternative, often less efficient, payment systems.</p></li><li><p><strong>Currency Risks:</strong> Selling in other currencies may expose oil exporters to volatility in those currencies, whereas the U.S. dollar offers stability and high liquidity.</p></li><li><p><strong>Alternative Alliances:</strong> Countries abandoning the dollar may seek stronger, alternative economic ties with nations like China or India.</p></li><li><p></p><div data-video=""><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-JascTlccAU?rel=0&amp;color=white" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" style="width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; border: medium;"></iframe></div></li></ul><h3></h3><h3></h3>

News

<p><strong>Some of our members will be attending</strong></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/national-march-for-palestine-4/"><strong>The National March For Palestine</strong></a><strong> on June 18th</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>The whole purpose of military training is to rewire the brain, and 18 year olds are at an age where this is easy as new connections are forming all the time. This takes away the natural desires to refuse to kill, to run away if danger occurs, and to think before acting. It is replaced by obey orders given by&nbsp; a superior, to advance at the perceived enemy, and to kill or maim on contact. Post military service these new pathways remain, no detraining takes place.</strong></p><p><strong>Many ex servicemen and women who have experienced combat are affected for life with flashback memories, moral injury, and no mental health help from military experienced therapists. They are effectively hung out to dry. Many end up turning to alcohol, street drugs, and violence in relationships, become homeless, unemployable, or serve time in prison as a result. Is this the future we want for our children and grandchildren. I hope not.</strong></p><p><strong>Michael Elstub</strong></p><p><strong>Member Veterans for Peace Britain.</strong></p><p><strong>Army Veteran.</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Veterans For Peace Britain unites ex-service members and supporters dedicated to promoting peace and opposing war as a solution in the 21st century. Join us in advocating for a more peaceful world through understanding and solidarity. Together, we can make a difference.</strong></p><p><strong>Veterans for Peace UK was formed in 2011 and closed in 2022 in circumstances which many members found difficult to understand.</strong></p><p><strong>Veterans for Peace Britain has been formed by some of the ex members of VFP UK who were not content to let it die.</strong></p><p><strong>Our resources are a Signal group for keeping in contact with each other, a Facebook group and this website.</strong></p><p><strong>At the moment membership of VFP Britain is via the Facebook group.</strong></p>

Our Mission and how VFP Britain came about.

<p>Interactive sessions educating communities on peaceful conflict resolution and the impacts of war.</p>

A beautiful idol of Lord Ganpati on display at a workshop in Mumbai, India for the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi

Peace Advocacy Workshops

<p>Hosting events to honour those affected by war and to promote a message of lasting peace.</p>

Memorial and Remembrance Events

<p>Collaborating with other groups with similar aims.</p>

VFP Britain supports this statement.

<p>Engaging with the public to further their awareness of Veterans for Peace Briain.</p>

Meetings and Socials

<p>If you would like a member of Veterans for Peace Britain to speak to your organisation or at an event, about our work etc please </p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://soloist.ai/veteransforpeacebritain#contact-1">Contact Us,</a></p>

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

- Colossians 3:15

Public Awareness Campaigns

<p>We are ading some of Aly's well researched and insightful articles to the website, we have started with his take down of militarism called "A Scottish Soldier", More to follow.</p>

Insightful Articles by Aly Renwick

Our Activities

Gallery

A Vietnam conflict veteran poses with his family for a photo during a commemoration ceremony and grand opening of the Return with Honor exhibit opening at the National Naval Aviation Museum onboard NAS Pensacola, Sept 19. The Robert E. Mitchell Center for Prisoner of War Studies has continued to honor and keep the faith to a grateful Nation’s warriors, the center’s mission has remained steady and true ever since Operation Homecoming (1973) by continuing to provide study results to the Department of Defense for training future warriors. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Jon Jezreel Andres)

War School

<p>Hoodies, T-shirts, Sweatshirts, caps are available. We order them on a one off basis from our supplier. Please let us know your requirements by using the Contact Us form and we will get back to you with the price.</p>

Remembrance Day 2018

<p>Veterans For Peace Britain unites ex-servicemen and supporters committed to promoting peace and opposing war in the 21st century. Our video shares powerful stories and visions for a world where conflicts are resolved without violence. Join us in advocating for a future built on understanding and harmony.</p>

Veterans For Peace Britain Mission Summary 2026

<p>Our mission is to build a narrative of peace. Using our collective experiences, our voices and by sharing our message through the promotion of peace as a priority to war and conflict .As a global organization of military veterans, friends, associates and allies, we aim to inform the public about the true causes and costs of war, while promoting and seeking to prioritise peace. Our mission is guided by several key principles, including:</p><p>• Education:</p><p>VFPB works to increase public awareness of the causes and costs of war, as well as the impact of militarism and militarisation on society.</p><p>• Advocacy:</p><p>VFPB advocates for a dismantling of the war economy: by encouraging the promotion of a peaceful and nonconfrontational approach to international relations</p><p>• Support:</p><p>VFPB provides support. assistance and solidarity to organisations and bodies that promote and share our vision focusing on healing and reconciliation.</p><p><br>• Work:</p><p>VFPB’s work and goal is ultimately to see an end to the promotion of war and conflict as the default policy of government.</p><p>Join us:</p><p>VFPB is politically and financially independent organisation made up of Veterans, serving personnel, friends and ssociates who share our goals, values and vision.</p><p>All welcome</p>

Why we love war

<p>Veterans For Peace Britain unites ex-service members and supporters advocating for peaceful solutions in the 21st century. Discover how this group challenges the norm that war is inevitable. Join the movement for a world where peace prevails.</p>

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<p>BRITAIN<br>CHALLENGE + INFLUENCE + INFORM<br>VETERANS FOR PEACE<br>BRITAIN<br>HANDBOOK<br>2024/25<br>date of update: 08.02.24<br>CONTENTS<br>1. INTRODUCTION<br>2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE<br>3. STATEMENT OF CONDUCT<br>4. CONTEXT<br>5. MEMBERSHIP<br>6. STRUCTURE<br>7. INDEPENDENCE<br>8. LEGAL STATUS<br>9. FINANCES<br>10. CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS<br>11. DIGITAL HANDBOOK<br>12. APPAREL &amp; LOGO<br>13. SOCIAL MEDIA<br>14. WEBSITE<br>15. ZOOM MEETINGS<br>Page 1<br>1. INTRODUCTION<br>Veterans for Peace (VFP) was founded in the United States in 1985 and<br>has now over 100 chapters. It has since grown and expanded into many<br>nations including the UK.<br>Veterans for Peace UK (VFP UK) was founded in London in 2011.<br>Veterans for Peace Britain (VfP Britain), was re-formed in 2023 from<br>original members of VFP UK.<br>Veterans for Peace Britain is a voluntary and politically independent<br>organisation of veterans, friends and associates, some who have served in<br>every conflict since the second world war with many friends and associates<br>who have worked for the cause of world peace.<br>As a result of our collective experiences we firmly believe that “War is not<br>the solution to the problems we face in the 21st Century”.<br>We are not a pacifist organisation; we accept the inherent right of self<br>defence in response to an armed attack.<br>We work to challenge, influence and inform our nations response to war<br>and its foreign and defence policy. We seek To highlight the effects of war<br>on individuals, our nation and the international community. We aim to<br>create and bring an informed dialogue by encouraging national and<br>international discussion forums and actions. We seek to cooperate with like<br>minded organisations and individuals who share our vision to seek and<br>promote the larger purpose of the cause of world peace.<br>Page 2<br>2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE<br>We, veterans, associates and friends, do hereby affirm our greater<br>responsibility to serve the cause of world peace.<br>To this end:<br>a. We will work toward increasing public awareness of the costs of war.<br>b. We will work to restrain our government from intervening, overtly<br>and covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations.<br>c. We will work to end the arms race and to reduce and eliminate all<br>weapons of mass destruction.<br>To achieve these goals:<br>members, associate members and friends pledge to use non-violent<br>means, to maintain an organisation that is both democratic and<br>open with the understanding that all members, associate members<br>and friends are trusted to act in the best interests of the group for<br>the larger purpose of world peace.<br>We urge all those who share our vision to join us.<br>Page 3<br>3. STATEMENT OF CONDUCT<br>1. We will use our anger at injustice as a positive, non-violent force for<br>change.<br>2. We will not assault, verbally or physically, in person or online, those who<br>oppose or disagree with us even if they assault us.<br>3. Our attitude, as conveyed through our words, symbols and actions, will<br>be one of openness, friendliness and respect toward all people we<br>encounter.<br>4. We will follow the directions of the elected leaders and any designated<br>coordinators during public actions.<br>5. We use consensus-based decision making within our groups.<br>6. We reject military clothing and symbols.<br>7. We speak as members of VfP Britain, but not for VfP Britain, unless<br>designated as a spokesperson.<br>8. Rank, unit, combat experience, age, gender, race, wealth, education,<br>class, religion and nationality carry no status within VfP Britain.<br>9. Sexist, homophobic, racist and any other inflammatory, discriminatory or<br>derogatory language or actions are not acceptable within VfP Britain.<br>Our words and actions will maintain the political and financial<br>independence of VfP Britain. Page 4<br>4. CONTEXT<br>The UK is one of nine nuclear-armed states<br>The UK is one of the worlds largest arms exporters.<br>The UK has military personnel deployed in over 80 countries.<br>The UK has permanent military bases in 14 countries and overseas<br>territories.<br>The military is a powerful institution which is often insulated from criticism<br>and public scrutiny.<br>The UK is one of only a handful of countries that still recruit children directly<br>into its military.<br>The military is regularly accused of abuse of its personnel.<br>British military personnel are excluded from human rights legislation.<br>Military personnel are not allowed to form a union and the UK has unclear<br>laws regarding conscientious objection.<br>Welfare concerns are prolific among the veterans community, particularly<br>regarding mental health support and provision.<br>Page 5<br>Arms manufacturers have excessive influence in education and youth<br>activities. Government policies and initiatives which promote the military in<br>every day life without proper oversight or critical appraisal to foster public<br>support for war and overseas intervention<br>The US has over 10,000 service personnel on UK soil.<br>Page 6<br>5. MEMBERSHIP<br>1. Applications for membership:<br>Applications for membership must be made through the website:<br>veteransforpeacebritain.com<br>All Applicants will register and provide; name, address, email address,<br>contact telephone number prior to membership being confirmed and<br>participation in group online meetings being approved.<br>2. Eligibility and conditions for full membership:<br>Applications for full (voting) Membership is open to all military veterans or<br>serving personnel of the UK and other nations. Applicants will provide proof<br>of military service within three months of registering as a member or they<br>will not be considered as full members and will be unable to vote.<br>Definition of a veteran/serving personnel:<br>Any ex or serving military personnel who have completed their basic<br>training and have been posted to a regular service posting and/or<br>three months minimum service.<br>3. Eligibility and conditions for Associate (non-voting) membership:<br>Associate Membership is open to all friends, relatives, advisors, supporters<br>and all those who wish to join VfP Britain in the struggle for world peace.<br>All Associate members and friends will register and provide; name, address,<br>email address, contact telephone number prior to membership being<br>confirmed and particiipation in group online meetings being approved.<br>Page 7<br>4. Record of Membership:<br>The Steering Group will ensure the maintenance of an accurate record of<br>the membership of VfP Britain.<br>5. Application for membership: The Steering Group has the authority to<br>admit, restrict or expel individuals from VfP Britain.<br>7. The Steering Group shall state their reasons in writing for any action<br>taken under this section.<br>Any action taken under this section may be appealed in writing to The<br>Steering Group.<br>Page 8<br>6. STRUCTURE<br>1. VfP Britain is governed according to the Digital Handbook, duly agreed<br>by the full membership and under the management of the nominated and<br>democratically elected Steering Group.<br>2. Proposed changes to the Digital Handbook will be presented in writing to<br>the Steering Group, scheduled for discussion and if appropriate inclusion<br>during any upcoming (quorate) scheduled online meeting. Changes will be<br>incorporated into the Digital Handbook within 14 days of agreement.<br>3. The Steering Group is elected at least annually. Nominations for<br>members to The steering Group will be from full members with at least 24<br>months of membership. A list of candidates will be published prior to the<br>election.<br>4. In the event of disputes between members, members may request an online<br>meeting chaired by at least two members of The Steering Group to<br>discuss any issues.<br>5. The authority of the membership is delegated to The Steering Group.<br>6. The Steering group will comprise of at least three full members and is<br>responsible for decision making on behalf of the membership. It is also<br>responsible for directing policy and strategy.<br>7. The Steering Group will elect a chair for each formal session that they<br>meet and will ensure VfP Britain policy and strategy comply with the Digital<br>Handbook.<br>8. Chair: All formal member meetings will be overseen by a chair who will<br>ensure the meeting follows a published agenda and any outcomes and<br>action points for the meeting are completed and followed up.<br>9. Treasurer: The role of treasurer within VfP Britain requires further<br>discussion and agreement.<br>10. Membership secretary: Will be a full member although does not need<br>to be a member of the steering group. The role with be agreed and Page 9<br>overseen by The Steering Group.<br>11. Projects: outreach and actions will be overseen by The Steering Group.<br>Tasks, management and coordination of projects may be delegated to<br>members as required.<br>12. Trustees: There is not currently a requirement for nominated trustees<br>within VfP Britain. As the need arises, trustees will be elected and agreed<br>by the membership during an online meeting.<br>13. Meetings: VfP Britain formal business will be conducted through online<br>meetings utilising the ZOOM application. An agenda will be published of all<br>issues that require discussion, posted prior to the meeting to allow all<br>members to contribute. Date and time of the meeting(s) will be published<br>on the VfP Britain Signal messaging application, on the website and on the<br>Facebook page. As other social media platforms become available,<br>notification will also be posted on these as well.<br>14. Frequency of meetings: It is important that membership meetings are<br>held at least monthly, but also as required. It is intended that all VfP Britain<br>business will be conducted through online resources to allow for the<br>maximum participation and ensure that as was previously an issue,<br>geographic location will not hinder involvement or participation.<br>Page 10<br>7. INDEPENDENCE<br>VfP Britain does not apply for or accept financial donations from individuals<br>or organisations deemed to speak or act in any way contrary to our<br>Statement of Purpose.<br>VfP Britain seeks to maintain financial and political independence.<br>VfP Britain does not:<br>Subscribe to any specific ideology or religion<br>Endorse any political party or politician<br>Endorse other groups<br>Work for governments<br>Page 11<br>8. LEGAL STATUS<br>As of 13.12.23, VfP Britain' status has yet to be discussed, agreed and<br>confirmed by members.<br>VfP Britain have no legal obligation to any regulatory body.<br>VfP Britain have no legal obligation to submit financial accounts or reports<br>to anyone outside of VfP Britain.<br>VfP Britain cannot enter into contracts, own property, rent premises or<br>employ people.<br>Liability: As of 13.12.23 and until status is confirmed and in any event, VfP<br>Britain cannot sue, or be sued.<br>Page 12<br>9. FINANCES<br>As of 08.02.24 there are no financial interests, accounts or monies held by<br>VfP Britain.<br>If in future, the membership decide that there is a requirement to include<br>financing and a need to account for funds, then agreement will be reached<br>by a quorate formal meeting of members. As previously, standard practices<br>for accounting, bank accounts and a fully transparent financial control<br>system will be incorporated.<br>In any event as required:<br>The Steering Group shall ensure that financial accounts are kept in<br>accordance with standard accounting practices.<br>Bank accounts will be maintained and held by any nominated treasurer with<br>any co-signatories. Overseen by Trustees as required.<br>Copies of the accounts shall be available on request.<br>The fiscal year for Veterans for Peace Britain shall be from 1st April through<br>31st March of the year following.<br>Dues, grants and expenses shall be included for discussion in any meeting<br>following the requirement for the same as required.<br>Page 13<br>10. CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS<br>A common problem that we face as an organisation, is the geographic<br>spread of members and potential members. To try to assist in promoting<br>and developing our campaigns and outreach and to foster camaraderie and<br>unity, It is intended to utilise online resources including social media as far<br>as possible to promote, organise and execute future projects.<br>This is not exclusive and in no way will replace outreach and direct actions<br>when called upon and duly organised. In fact, each method utilised should<br>compliment our work and make best use of our resources and members<br>expertise and knowledge.<br>With this in mind, it is proposed to launch two projects in 2024/25 which<br>will be focused around utilising on-line resources in the first instance,<br>before taking the campaigns to our communities.<br>Please look out for notifications and announcements on social media.<br>Page 14<br>11. DIGITAL HANDBOOK<br>The Digital Handbook is the governing document for VfP Britain.<br>Going forward, The Digital Handbook will now only be published in digital<br>format.<br>It will effectively become a 'Live' document that will be easily accessible to<br>all members. If a hard copy is required, individual members will need to<br>print it themselves.<br>This will help to ensure that The Digital Handbook can be kept up to date<br>and relevant with any amendments and changes being made quickly and<br>effectively. It also means that the costly production of a paper version of the<br>handbook is not required.<br>The Digital Handbook will be available for all registered members, associate<br>members and friends once personal details have been logged with the<br>membership secretary.<br>A non-editable copy of The Digital Handbook will be forwarded to<br>individual members utilising the email addresses supplied to the VfP Britain<br>Membership Secretary as part of a membership confirmation welcome<br>package.<br>The Steering Group will be responsible for any updates/amendments and<br>changes to The Digital Handbook.<br>Changes identified during regular meetings will be implemented/included<br>into The Digital Handbook within 14 days of the meeting . Page 15<br>12 APPAREL AND LOGO<br>As of 13.12.23. no final agreement has been reached regarding apparel for<br>VfP Britain.<br>However, for those members, associate members and friends wishing to<br>obtain their own items of clothing: Hoodies, jumpers, t-shirts, hats, beanie<br>hats, coats. Etc. it is suggested that the new VfP Britain logo be available to<br>download for members to use to take to a supplier/printer to produce their<br>own apparel. A list of suggested vendors is available from the steering<br>group on request.<br>The wearing of VfP Britain apparel on outreach events, actions and protests<br>is not obligatory. However, as in the past it makes us stand out and helps us<br>to foster camaraderie and unity within our organisation.<br>Please note: The colour normally used by VfP Britain for clothing is<br>'Indigo Blue'. Other background colours such as white printing on black<br>garments and black on white are also used by members.<br>Page 16<br>13. SOCIAL MEDIA<br>As you will have already have read, VfP Britain going forward is seeking to<br>become as digitally friendly as is feasible and utilise online resources<br>wherever possible.<br>This means that we will increasingly be posting items and information to<br>various social media platforms and will be asking members to help promote<br>and publish projects, campaigns and outreach on their own social media<br>pages as widely as possible to ensure we can reach the biggest possible<br>audience.<br>VfP Britain day to day business will be conducted on the Signal messaging<br>app groups, details of which will provided to all members on confirmation<br>of personal details. It is hoped that several working groups will be set up on<br>Signal to allow for a wide base of involvement and discussion and to<br>incorporate any projects, actions, etc.<br>Please ensure that as part of your membership you are included in the<br>social media list and groups and that as necessary you can access whichever<br>social media platforms you are registered with.<br>These will include:<br>Signal, Whatsapp, YouTube, TikTok, X (Twitter), and others.<br>As discussed previously, this will help overcome the perennial problem of<br>members being scattered around the UK and the world and bring us closer<br>together to achieve our goals. All members are welcome to participate<br>freely. Page 17<br>14. WEBSITE<br>As of 08.02.24, VfP Britain website is under construction.<br>The domain name is: veteransforpeacebritain.org<br>A draft version of the website will be available soon for perusal by<br>members.<br>Page 17<br>15. ZOOM MEETINGS<br>VfP Britain general meetings will be held using the ZOOM application.<br>All members, associate members and friends are invited to participate.<br>Meetings will be held regularly, but not less than monthly.<br>Date and times of meetings will be published through Signal Messenger,<br>and the website.<br>An agenda for each meeting will be prepared by The Steering Group. All<br>items for inclusion should be submitted at least no later than 48 hours prior<br>to the meeting so the agenda can be published for perusal by members.<br>Minutes of the meeting will be published as soon as possible after the<br>meeting including action points.<br>A secretary and chair for each meeting will be nominated and agreed at the<br>start of each meeting.<br>Page 18<br>War is not the solution<br>to the problems we face<br>in the 21st Century</p>

Veterans For Peace Britain: Handbook

<p></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.youtube.com/@veteransforpeaceuk2131">Brad Oliver's YouTube Channel</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.stopwar.org.uk/">Stop the War Coalition</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://thehumandivine.org/2018/11/07/my-name-is-legion-the-british-legion-and-the-control-of-remembrance-by-rod-tweedy/">MY NAME IS LEGION. The British Legion and the Control of Remembrance, by Rod Tweedy</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://caat.org.uk/">Campaign Against The Arms Trade</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://cnduk.org/">CND</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.forceswatch.net/">Forces Watch</a></p>

<h4>A SCOTTISH SOLDIER by Aly Renwick</h4><h4>For many centuries the people who inhabited the Scottish Highlands mainly lived a rural life in a feudal-style system of clans, who sometimes fought with each other in disputes over land and cattle. In the 18th century, however, there came a time when the Highland clans were regarded as a threat to the British monarchy and state. In 1745 a new British national anthem, ‘God Save the King’ was adopted, the 5th verse (which is not sung often nowadays) stated:</h4><h4>Lord grant that Marshal Wade<br>May by thy mighty aid<br>Victory bring. <br>May he sedition hush, <br>And like a torrent rush, <br>Rebellious Scots to crush. <br>God save the King!</h4><h4>The next year, in 1746, the wearing of ‘Highland dress’ was made illegal under the Dress Act, which was implemented after the battle of Culloden. The Highlanders were depicted as disloyal, as well as wild and formidable - ever ready to resort to violence to settle a quarrel, or stage revolts. A brutal crackdown ensued, with several punitive expeditions by British state soldiers taking place, forcing many Highland people to flee their native land.</h4><h4>While the fighting qualities of the clansmen was feared, those who had defeated them at Culloden sought to harness this for their own use. Seeing that the British Army had an ever-increasing need for ‘cannon-fodder’ as the Empire was forged and policed, they often sought to recruit the martial races they had defeated. The Gurkhas are a later example of this process.</h4><h4>In England, before the Civil War and Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army, there had been no standing army. Previously, the monarchy had raised armies to fight specific wars, after which these forces were disbanded. A permanent standing army gradually emerged from the period of the Civil War and the ‘Glorious Revolution,’ when William of Orange’s forces defeated those of James II.</h4><h4>Most of the rank and file soldiers came from the poor and dispossessed in England. Ironically, many who later filled the ranks were former enemies, including Irish and Scottish clansmen. During both the Highland clearances in Scotland and the famine in Ireland recruitment drives were undertaken.</h4><h4>Most clan chiefs were already incorporated into the establishment, with their sons being educated at English public schools. Dr Johnson noted that these chiefs then: ‘Degenerated from patriarchal rulers to rapacious landlords’. With the Highlands ‘pacified’ and the clan system repressed - then changed to suit the new masters – the enlistment could begin.</h4><h4>The Scottish writer, John Prebble, outlined the background to the recruitment and what happened next:</h4><h4>“Highland soldiers were Britain’s earliest colonial levies, first raised to police their own hills, then expended in imperial wars. The Gaelic people of the 18th century, three per cent only of the population, nonetheless supplied the Crown with sixty-five regiments, as well as independent companies, militia and volunteers. … He was often recruited by threat, or sold by the chief he trusted. Promises made to him were cynically broken, his pride was outraged by the lash, by contempt for his fierce attachment to his language and dress. The family he hoped to protect by enlistment was frequently evicted in his absence and replaced by sheep.” [Mutiny, by John Prebble, Secker and Warburg London 1975].</h4><h4>Scottish Highland soldiers, whose forbears had been hunted down for wearing their native garb, now wore a shiny new British military tartan to serve the Empire. ‘Ye Heilan Cheils’ is a song about the use of Highland lads in Britain’s wars:</h4><div data-video=""><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ORcw0meMEiE?rel=0&amp;color=white" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" style="width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; border: medium;"></iframe></div><h4>As Prebble wrote, ‘Contrary to romantic belief, the Highlander was rarely a willing soldier, his songs lament the day he put on a red coat’:</h4><h4>If I were as I used to be,<br>amongst the hills,<br>I would not mount guard<br>as long as I lived,<br>nor would I stand on parade,<br>nor for the rest of my life<br>would I ever put on a red coat.</h4><h4>While the navy protected the Empire and its trading routes at sea, it was the army that forced its extension on the ground. During Queen Victoria’s reign, from 1837 to 1901, British soldiers, fighting under the Union Jack, carried out the following colonial campaigns:</h4><h4>Anti-colonial revolt in Canada, 1837; Capture of Aden, 1838; First Afghan War, 1838-42; Against Boers, South Africa, 1838-48; Opium Wars in China, 1839-42; War in the Levant, 1840; War in Afghanistan, 1842; Conquest of Sind, India, 1843; Gwalior War, India, 1843; First Sikh War, India, 1845-6; Against Native Africans, South Africa, 1846-52; North-West Frontier of India, 1847-54; Second Sikh War, India, 1848-9; Second Burmese War, 1852; Eureka Stockade, Australia, 1854; War with Persia, 1856-7; North-West, Frontier of India, 1858-67; Storming of the Taku Forts, China, 1859-60; Maori Wars, New Zealand, 1861-4; Operations in Sikkim, India, 1861; Ambela Expedition, 1863; Yokohama, Japan, 1864-5; Bhutan Expedition, 1865; Expedition to Abyssinia, 1868; Red River Expedition, Canada, 1870; Ashanti War, West Africa, 1874; Expedition to Perak, Malaya, 1875-6; Galekas &amp; Gaikas war, Cape Colony, 1877; North-West Frontier, India, 1878-9; Second Afghan War, 1878; Third Afghan War, 1879; Zulu War, 1879; North-West Frontier of India, 1880-4; Transvaal Revolt or First Boer War, 1880-1; Bombardment of Alexandria, 1882; Expedition to the Sudan, 1884-5; Third Burmese War, 1885; Suakin Expedition, Sudan, 1885; End of the Nile Campaign, 1885; North-West Frontier of India, 1888-92; Minor Operations in India, 1888-94; Siege &amp; Relief of Chitral, India, 1895; Mashonaland Rising, East Africa, 1896; Re-Conquest of Egypt, 1896-8; Tirah Expeditionary Force, India, 1897-8; North-West Frontier of India, 1897-8; Boxer Rising, China, 1900-1.</h4><h4>Besides these conflicts, the Crimean War, 1853-6; the Indian Mutiny, 1857-8; and the Boer War, 1899-1902, involved the British Army in major warfare during this period.</h4><h4>William Ernest Henley was an influential English poet, critic and editor of the late Victorian era, who wrote verse which exalted the Empire.&nbsp;In ‘A New Song to an Old Tune’ the suffering of British soldiers was portrayed as a glorious sacrifice:</h4><h4>What if the best of our wages be<br>An empty sleeve, a stiff-set knee,<br>A crutch for the rest of life - who cares,<br>So long as the One Flag floats and dares?<br>So long as the One Race dares and grows?<br>Death - what is death but God’s own rose?<br>Let but the bugles of England play<br>Over the hills and far away!</h4><h4>Henley did not mention the casualties suffered by the conquered, perhaps, like many others, he did not consider this worthy of contemplation? In contrast, the then dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Jonathan Swift,&nbsp;in his poem ‘On Dreams’ commented on the ‘Redcoats’ in Ireland, who were ruthlessly enforcing the Penal Laws and putting down dissent:</h4><h4>The Soldier smiling hears the Widow’s Cries,<br>And stabs the son before the Mother’s eyes,<br>With like Remorse his Brother of the Trade, <br>The Butcher, feels the lamb beneath his blade.</h4><h4>Swift, who was also an Irish author and satirist, became best known for his book ‘Gulliver's Travels’. Like Swift, many of the subject peoples, over whose countries the Union Jack flew, had their own view of British rule. They called Britain’s flag the ‘butcher’s apron’ and when British politicians boasted that the Empire ‘was the place where the sun never sets’ they added ‘and the blood never dries’.</h4><h4>‘Civilisation’ and ‘Christianity’ were the oft-declared motives for empire, but, for the rich, the Empire was a cash-cow, which was ruthlessly milked for economic exploitation and maximum profit. Great fortunes were made, for instance, from the use and trafficking of slaves and forcing opium on the Chinese people.</h4><h4>In the popular Music Halls, some performers were ardent supporters of Britain’s expansionist wars, including Sir Harry Lauder, a Scottish singer and comedian. Sir Winston Churchill claimed Lauder was: “Scotland’s greatest ever ambassador … rendering measureless service to the Scottish race and to the British Empire’. During WW1 Lauder promoted recruitment and campaigned for the war effort, writing:</h4><h4>“I know that I am voicing the sentiment of thousands and thousands of people when I say that we must retaliate in every possible way regardless of cost. If these Germans savages want savagery, let them have it.”</h4><h4>The Run-Down of Empire</h4><h4>While Scotland had existed as an independent country up to the Acts of Union in 1707, there had been internal divisions due to the different systems of life and control in the Highlands and Lowlands. The British state victory at Culloden facilitated the suppression of the feudal clan system in the Highlands, which suited the lowland bourgeoisie as much as Westminster. Under the ‘Union’, the Scots then gradually developed a separate national consciousness, but one that was subservient to, and dominated by, a partisan British nationalism - and the money-making Empire.</h4><h4>Even today, there is still a romanticised view of Scotland that can be glimpsed on some shortbread tins; a world of noble stags, on brooding heather covered hills, amid swathes of tartan and claymore wielding kilted clansmen. In the 1960s, the military side of this tartan kitsch often featured in the ballads of the popular entertainer Andy Stewart. Most Scottish regiments were rigged out with their own distinctive tartan attire, but the core loyalty was now with the Union Jack.</h4><h4>The Second World War had left the UK almost bankrupt, so, as well as a patriotic ‘we won the war’ feeling, this was a time of the loss of overseas territory that mingled with the austerity brought on by the need for fiscal restraint. Which in turn created the circumstances of economic conscription that saw many youngsters, including myself, join the armed forces. In 1960 Andy Stewart, who was a big fan of Sir Harry Lauder, produced a patriotic hit single called: ‘A Scottish Soldier’:</h4><div data-video=""><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SCSB_BiNSZo?rel=0&amp;color=white" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" style="width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; border: medium;"></iframe></div><h4><br><br>In the song the soldier’s service ‘far away from his hills of home’ is depicted as ‘battles glorious’ and ‘deeds victorious’. The soldier’s death followed, but there were no explanations, or any questions asked. It was true, of course, that a lot of soldiers were dying then, because from the end of WW2, up to 1968, ironically called the year of revolution, the British military had been continually involved in many campaigns of varying intensity, which included:</h4><h4>Greece, 1944-47; Palestine, 1945-48; Vietnam, 1945; Indonesia (Java), 1945-46; India/Pakistan, 1945-47; Aden, 1947; Ethiopia (Eritrea), 1948-51; British Honduras, 1948; Malaya, 1948-60; Korea, 1950-53; Kenya, 1952-56; Cyprus, 1954-59; Aden (border), 1955-60; Hong Kong, 1956, 1962, 1966 and 1967; Suez, 1956; Oman, 1957-59 &amp; 1965-present day (Advisers, secondment of troops and mercenaries); Jamaica, 1960; Cameroons, 1960-61; Kuwait, 1961; Brunei, 1962; Malaysia (North Borneo and Sarawak) 1962-66; British Guiana (Guyana), 1962-66; Aden, 1963-68; Operation Crown, Thailand, 1963-68; Swaziland, 1963; Uganda, 1964; Tanganyika, 1964; Mauritius, 1965-68; Bermuda, 1968.</h4><h4>Most of these were colonial conflicts, because, from 1945, British governments, confronted with freedom demands from national movements in British colonies, used armed force in attempts to crush them. As the red of Empire gradually shrank in our school atlases, most people in Britain took little notice - except when new ‘trouble spots’ sprang to their attention. These engagements were often hidden from view and/or had their events distorted by biased reporting and therefore constitute a hidden history for most of the home population.</h4><h4>Just as the Victorian wars to build the Empire had been accompanied with waves of jingoism and propaganda, so the run-down followed a similar pattern. The late James Cameron was a journalist who covered many of these colonial conflicts, but his reporting was an honourable exception to the usual jingoistic type of coverage. In an article about Northern Ireland, published in ‘The Guardian’ in 1975, he made these comments about Britain’s small wars:</h4><h4>“I have spent the greater part of my working life watching British troops being pulled out of places they were never going to leave. The process started in the 1940s, when Mr. Churchill insisted that the British could never leave India, and of course they did. A wide variety of Colonial Secretaries in the years to come made it abundantly clear that their forces would never leave Malaya, or Kenya, or Cyprus, or Aden. All these places were integrally part of an imperial system that could not be undermined and must be protected, and one by one all these places were abandoned, generally with the blessing of some minor royalty and much champagne.</h4><h4>In most cases some rebellious nationalist was released from gaol, or its equivalent - Nehru, Nkrumah, Kenyatta, Makarios - given the ritual cup of tea at Windsor and turned into a President. The thing in the end became a formula, though the process wasted a great many lives and much time and money, and as far as I know on every occasion the formula followed the one before it: We shall not leave; we have to leave; we have left. At no time in our colonial history did one occasion leave any precedent for the next one, except for the statement that we would never pull out, which was always one thing before the last.” <br>[Guardian, 2nd June 1975].</h4><h4>During these conflicts, cinema news (later TV) took over from the music-halls, and with the press took up the task of imperial cheer leaders with a relish. Cocooned in a media web of ‘Our boys doing a jolly good job in trying circumstances’, ‘peace keepers’ amid ‘bandits’, ‘extremists’ and ‘terrorists’ - the folks back home rarely asked any questions. The truth was usually very different, as these ‘small wars’ were about power, hegemony, natural resources, cheap labour and profits - where intimidation, internment, torture and killings were systematically used by our Armed Forces to protect ‘British interests’.</h4>

Demonstration against the war of aggression Russia against Ukraine

A Scottish Soldier Part 1

<h4></h4><h4>Ordinary soldiers were not responsible for these colonial conflicts, but did have to serve in them. The military was then made up of regulars and others on National Service (which ended in 1963) and most obeyed their orders and carried out what they saw as their duty. Some, carried away on a tide of indoctrination and jingoism, believed passionately in what they were doing.</h4><h4>In 1977, a disabled Scottish ex-soldier, who signed on as regular soldier just after the end of WW2, wrote about his experiences in some of these small wars. While Andy Stewart had given us a sanitised patriotic version of the ‘Scottish soldier’, this veteran gave us a realistic vision of what service life was really like in the British Army:</h4><h4>“It is getting along to 30 years since I first signed on as a regular. I was out of work, and in trouble with the police. The army was much bigger in those days. Once in it I was convinced there was no way they would get me back to the slums of Glasgow. My own bed and locker. Good clean clothes. Plenty of good grub. Great comradeship from the men in my billet. What more could a young man ask? I had known poverty and hunger all my boyhood days. The army was a great life for me. It is hard for young working-class men to realise the attractions of such a life, unless they have known similar poverty and hunger.</h4><h4>In those days the army fought ‘the dirty commies’. We shot ‘the yellow slant-eyed bastards’ in the hills of Korea, chasing him back to the Yalu River, where ‘some bastard politician’ stopped us from going over and finishing them off for good. We went into the jungles of Malaya, and ‘routed them out’. It cut us to the quick to see ‘that evil bastard’ Chin Peng get all that cash for surrendering. He and his will-o’-the-wisps had given us a lot of trouble and sweat. Now the government was giving him a load of cash. It was crazy. If they’d turned him over to us we would have chopped him up into little cubes and fed him to the dogs that ran around in packs in Kuala Lumpur.</h4><h4>Out in Kenya we hated that ‘black cannibal’ Jomo Kenyatta. The officer from Intelligence who gave us our political lectures (did you know they gave such things in the British army?) told us Jomo wrote for the Commie paper, the ‘Daily Worker’. If we’d caught him in the forests of the Aberdares we would have chopped him up with blunt pangas.</h4><h4>In Cyprus we fought that ‘little murdering bastard’ Grivas. It was strange how nobody would turn the ‘little wall-eyed bastard’ in. It did not matter how much we kicked and beat them. The Greek Cypriots would never divulge his hiding place.</h4><h4>Came the day when I copped a packet. It was not pleasant. They took me on a stretcher, all strapped down, and flew me back for medical attention. I was paralysed from the waist down. Every jolt I got caused racking pains to tear through my body. Lying beside me on the plane was a young Scottish lad. He came from my native city of Glasgow. I guess they put him beside me because I spoke ‘Glasca’ like him. Maybe they thought the sound of his native accent would quieten him down. He was as mad as the proverbial mad hatter. When he looked at me out of his mad eyes, I felt myself shrink back in fear. After all, I was only an arm’s length away from him, and partially paralysed.</h4><h4>In different hospitals in various countries, experts prodded and poked me. They caused me a lot of pain. But months later I was still affected with terrific pain if I got any sudden movements. I went back to civvy street like an old man - shuffle-shuffle. It was in the Union Jack Club opposite Waterloo Station that my position was brought home to me. A young soldier like myself was lying dead drunk. His documents had fallen out of his jacket. I saw he had been in places out East that I had just been in. He was discharged just like me. But he could get no work.</h4><h4>I felt a wave of despair wash over me. How could I survive? Back in Glasgow I went to sign on at the Labour Exchange. They had no work for ex-killers. ‘So what if you do have ribbons from half a dozen campaigns? We need men who can work all day and every day. You can hardly walk!’ These clerks were all throw-backs to the means test days. They could not even manage a look of pity for a young man with a pale face, all complete with dark rings under the eyes for added effect.</h4><h4>How I hated mankind. Here I was, reduced from being a hard soldier, six feet tall, twelve and a half stone in weight, down to nine stone something. Yet nobody gave a dam about it. Even the ex-Regulars Association would not attempt to find me a job. The fat bastard ex-sergeant major had just the job I could have done. Nobody would help me. I would have to look out for myself.</h4><h4>I made it. No thanks to the bastards who run the country. They took my youth and young manhood. Today I still suffer pain. But my muscles have toughened a lot. As of now, they are able to bear me up. But what will happen when I get old and they become less strong? I just don’t fancy the idea of sitting out the remainder of my days in some establishment for infirm soldiers, raving about the days when we were young.</h4><h4>Oh! I forgot to tell you. I could not find a wife. You see, I am rendered impotent. Yip Ming was my last bed-mate. She was a Chinese prostitute I lived with, out in the Far East. She bore me two sons. But I could not marry her. The army would not permit it. She went back to China and I have lost touch with her. My sons will be in their twenties now. Probably they read the thoughts of Chairman Mao and curse their white-skinned father.”<br>[Socialist Worker, 12th Nov. 1977].</h4><h4>The Lament of Widows</h4><h4>In 1881, under the Childers Reforms, a new Highland regiment was created by amalgamating the 91st (Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of foot and the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of foot. The men of the 93rd had been acclaimed as ‘the thin red line’ in the Crimean War. The new amalgamated regiment, called the (Princess Louise’s) Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was to forge a reputation as ‘glorious’ and ‘honourable’ as any in the British Army - fighting with the Highland Brigade in the Boer War, won six Victoria Crosses in the First World War, and fought with distinction in the Second World War and Korea.</h4><h4>Most regiments in the British Army, however, have an unspoken ethos of: ‘What happens up the sharp-end – stays up the sharp-end’. This creates a ‘hidden history’ of conflicts, which only emerges in some veteran’s nightmares long after they have ceased serving - and rarely is exposed to outsiders.</h4><h4>In most colonial conflicts the minds of the young soldiers are indoctrinated by briefings, both verbal and written. In the early days of the conflict in Northern Ireland, for example, the Sunday Times Insight Team examined a publication given to soldiers just before a tour of duty:</h4><h4>“The Army rapidly produced a booklet; called ‘Notes on Northern Ireland’, with the praiseworthy aim of giving its men some idea what the trouble was all about. ... The booklet printed in full what purported to be the oath of the IRA’s political wing Sinn Fein. As a case-study in psychosis, it deserves reprinting:</h4><h4>‘I swear by Almighty God ... by the Blessed Virgin Mary ... by her tears and wailings ... by the blessed Rosary and Holy Beads ... to fight until we die, wading in the fields of Red Gore of the Saxon Tyrants and Murderers of the Glorious Cause of Nationality, and if spared, to fight until there is not a single vestige and a space for a footpath left to tell that the Holy Soil of Ireland was trodden on by the Saxon Tyrants and the murderers, and moreover, when the English Protestant Robbers and Beasts in Ireland shall be driven into the sea like the swine that Jesus Christ caused to be drowned, we shall embark for, and take, England, root out every vestige of the accursed Blood of the Heretics, Adulterers and Murderers of Henry VIII and possess ourselves of the treasures of the Beasts that have so long kept our Beloved Isle of Saints ... in bondage ... and we shall not give up the conquest until we have our Holy Father complete ruler of the British Isles ... so help me God.’</h4><h4>The interesting point is that the oath was never taken by members of Sinn Fein. Sinn Fein, indeed, had no oath of any kind. The version the Army got dated from 1918, when it was forged by a group of over-heated Unionists. It has since appeared regularly in Loyalist Ulster news-sheets, most recently in Paisley’s ‘Protestant Telegraph’. It bears exactly the same relation to reality as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion - indeed, in its constant dwelling on blood, it has much in common with the Protocols. As a document, therefore, it tells one nothing about Sinn Fein, though quite a lot about the impulses to violence in Unionism.” <br>[Ulster, by the Sunday Times Insight Team, Penguin Special 1972].</h4><h4>The question might have been asked: How did this piece of blatant Unionist propaganda find its way into a British Army publication, issued to our young soldiers just before a tour of duty? One can envisage, however, how it would have influenced their outlook and attitudes. And some subsequent events suggested what results such indoctrination can have.</h4><h4>In Northern Ireland in 1972 two Catholic men, 31-year-old Michael Naan and 23-year-old Andrew Murray, had been found murdered at isolated farm buildings in County Fermanagh. Murray had been stabbed 13 times and Naan 19 times through the heart and chest. Michael Naan had been a prominent member of the Civil Rights Association and had taken part in a number of protest marches. <br><br>The pathologist said Naan’s wounds were ‘consistent with an attack by someone who had gone berserk.’ The murders had taken place in a mixed border area where tit-for-tat killings occurred and a sectarian motive was attributed to the slayings. Loyalists were suspected of carrying out a crime, which became known as the ‘pitchfork murders’, after the suspected murder weapon.</h4><h4>Back in Britain, later in the 1970s, people were horrified by a series of brutal murders of young women, many picked up from ‘red light’ areas in northern English cities. Reading about the latest ‘Yorkshire Ripper’ murder in 1978 had a profound effect on a Scottish ex-soldier. The lurid accounts of the multiple stabbings of the latest victim had evoked memories of a night, six years before, when he had been on a tour-of-duty in Northern Ireland.</h4><h4>The veteran knew who had really carried out those killings of Naan and Murray in 1972 and the similarity between those and the Yorkshire Ripper murders began to prey on his mind. Convinced that the same people must have carried out both the ‘Ripper’ and the Northern Ireland slayings, he contacted the police and gave them full details of those killings in County Fermanagh.</h4><h4>In reality there was no link between the two crimes, but the police were under intense public pressure to catch the ‘Ripper,’ so, they began to investigate the ex-soldier’s allegations. Subsequently, in 1980, two former compatriots of the ex-soldier, a staff-sergeant and a sergeant, were tried and jailed for life for the murders of Naan and Murray. When the staff-sergeant confessed to the police he broke down in tears and said:</h4><h4>“I did it. I did the killings. Oh my god. Yes, I did it. I killed them. They would not stop screaming – I have been having bloody nightmares about it ...”</h4><h4>A one-year suspended sentence was given to the officer-in-charge, who was described as an ‘exemplary officer’. He had attended Harrow and Sandhurst and came from ‘a distinguished military background’. The officer told the court he’d been in charge, and, although he was not on the patrol himself, he had found out about the killings later. He then admitted why he’d kept quiet:</h4><h4>“I mulled the whole thing over in my mind and decided that for the good of the army and the regiment it must never go any further.” <br>Another member of the patrol, who was a private at the time of the killings, received a four-year sentence for manslaughter. In 1970 he’d been pictured in some papers being inspected by the Queen, while on Royal Guard duties at Balmoral. It also come out during the trial that the murder weapon was not a pitchfork as first thought, but the stabbings were in fact carried out with a bowie knife that one of the soldiers possessed; it subsequently emerged that many of the troops in Ireland carried ‘personal weapons,’ to which those in authority were turning a blind eye.</h4><h4>This information only saw the light-of-day, because a veteran had the events on his conscience and he’d made the wrong connection to the ‘Ripper’ killings. The story did not end there, however, because the veteran who had revealed the information had received several death threats during the trial, which he believed had come from members of his former unit. So, upset and angry, he handed over to the Scottish ‘Sunday Mail’ paper a dossier containing information on up to forty killings carried out by fellow soldiers in Aden fourteen years previously.</h4><h4>The paper printed many of these in early 1981 and a controversy ensued, with the ‘Sunday Mail’ being inundated with letters. Serving soldiers complained bitterly about ‘former mates telling tales out of school’ and attacked the paper for printing material detrimental to ‘the honour of the regiment’.</h4><h4>Others, mainly ex-soldiers, wrote in telling how the terrible events in Aden had been on their minds. Unable to forget, they welcomed the opportunity to unburden themselves and some wrote of their own experiences, telling how:</h4><h4>The Yellow Card instructions – which laid out the circumstances in which soldiers could open fire – were abused. To detain an Arab, soldiers were taught to shout “waqf” – pronounced as “wakeef” – meaning halt. If three warnings were ignored troops were then entitled to shoot, but some soldiers treated this as a joke and shouted “fuck off” or “corned beef” instead. Not surprisingly, most Arabs did not understand this and several were just gunned down.</h4><h4>The army had set up machine-gun emplacements on high ground overlooking the Crater district and some nights – especially if there had been attacks on soldiers – those heavy guns were fired into this deprived area as a punishment. Ripping through the thin walls, the heavy velocity bullets must have caused untold deaths and destruction.</h4><h4>The bodies of Arabs killed by soldiers were taken in a three-ton truck and dumped off a bridge into the bay, some of the dead were suspects who had been arrested, or wounded Arabs who had been taken to the army medical centre. A soldier who had carried out the “dumping” of the bodies stated: ‘Some of the prisoners’ bodies had gunshot wounds, but some had been given injections’.</h4>

Black Lives Matter London Protest, 6th June 2020.

A Scottish Soldier Page 2

<h4>Clearly showing the racist way Arabs were viewed by the military, officers had initiated inter-platoon rivalry by awarding Robertson’s Jam ‘golliwog’ stickers to units for each killing of an Arab. An ex-soldier recollected: ‘At one stage my platoon had notched up 13 kills and another platoon were one kill behind. Their corporal even told the privates to use their bayonets, for it was to be that sort of killing. They went into an alley and killed a young Arab who was out after curfew’. <br><br>The ‘Sunday Mail’ passed the dossier to the Scottish Lord Advocate who promised an investigation. But this time there was no pressing reason to examine these events. Two years later the ‘Sunday Mail’ printed a tiny article saying that the Lord Advocate had decided that ‘no proceedings should be instituted in this case’. <br>[Sunday Mail (Scotland) 17th Dec. 1978; &amp; the editions of 26th April, 3rd May, 10th May and 17th May 1981. Also ‘LOST LIVES’ (656 &amp; 657), Mainstream Publishing, 1999].</h4><h4>The military unit involved in those incidents in County Fermanagh and Aden was the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. In Aden the 1st Battalion of the regiment had been led by Lt-Colonel Colin ‘Mad Mitch’ Mitchell, a British ‘war hero’, who ‘pacified’ the Crater district and whose ‘strong-arm’ methods were acclaimed by much of the British media.</h4><h4>As the fighting against the rebels in Aden had intensified Andy Stewart was on hand to lend patriotic support with another hit song, ‘The Barron Rocks of Aden’, set to the military pipe tune of that name:</h4><div data-video=""><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ex4J6X8kIts?rel=0&amp;color=white" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" style="width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; border: medium;"></iframe></div><h4>In 1966 Amnesty International produced a report chronicling the torture of detainees in Aden, which included: stripping prisoners and forcing them to stand naked during interrogations; hitting and twisting genitals and pushing lighted cigarettes against prisoners’ skin; keeping prisoners awake in cells by detaining them naked in supercooled cells; forcing naked prisoners to sit on poles directed towards their anus.</h4><h4>A Scottish soldier, George Lennox, who was a corporal in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, was stationed in Aden during the country’s last years under the Union Jack, and a decade later he explained to me how the soldiers had operated:</h4><h4>“Most of the soldiers who went into the Adenis’ houses, who arrested them, shot them, who even tortured them, never asked the question, ‘Why am I doing it?’ This is not part of your thinking while you’re in the Army. You haven’t got the experience to think for yourself which is one of the reasons why you join the Army, and if you did you’d probably come up with a lot of unsatisfactory answers and I think you would question your role.</h4><h4>So it’s very easy for the politicians to use a military force, those in uniform, to perform tasks such as the Army was doing inside Aden and that was to crush any political opposition. Because the people who are performing that task, who themselves are the people who are being killed and injured, don’t ever question why they’re doing it. That’s always been a fact.</h4><h4>I know that when I was in Aden we never talked about the political situation there. Our level of consciousness, or our level of conversation of talking about the people there was, ‘Oh these fucking wogs’, etc. which was essentially I think to be expected of any army or military personnel under active service. We were conditioned to think in terms of, ‘That is the enemy, this is who we’re fighting’, and never question it.”<br>[British Soldiers Speak Out on Ireland, edited by Aly Renwick, Information on Ireland 1978].</h4><h4>Aden had been taken over by the British East India Company in 1839, after Royal Marines had landed and secured the territory. Regarded as a vital part of the fabric of British world control, it was used mainly to protect the Empire shipping-trade using the Suez Canal. Despite the level of repression, Aden proved a failure for the Army’s counter-insurgency methods, and Britain was finally forced to withdraw in 1967.</h4><h4>By then, however, Britain was already strongly entrenched in neighbouring Oman, which was under the rule of a despotic Sultan. In 1970, Britain’s grip on the Omani state machine enabled them to mastermind the overthrow of the old Sultan in favour of his son, Qaboos, a Sandhurst graduate. Supposedly more ‘liberal’, the new Sultan was not any more democratic - and even today Britain continue to ensure his rule.<br><br>The casualties suffered by Britain’s forces in Aden amounted to around 120 killed (including over 90 servicemen) and 550 wounded; while the rebels had about 400 dead and 1,750 wounded. The non-combatant civilian casualties are unknown, but are likely to be considerable. Tragically, people in this area are still being attacked today by British made aircraft and missiles, which have been sold to Saudi Arabia by UK armament companies, for huge sums of money.</h4><h4>After leaving the army ‘Mad Mitch’ Mitchell became a right-wing Tory MP. In 2006, 39 years after the ‘Emergency’ in Aden had ended, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were amalgamated into the Royal Regiment of Scotland.</h4><h4>Two-hundred-and-twenty years before the regiment were carrying out their operations in Aden, British state forces were carrying out similar actions in the Scottish Highlands. ‘The Highland Widow’s Lament’ is a song about the repression suffered after the government’s victory at Culloden in 1746 - and the pacification of the Highlands that followed:</h4><div data-video=""><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BFHGUTHsmsQ?rel=0&amp;color=white" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" style="width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; border: medium;"></iframe></div><h4>Then, it was the Scottish Highlanders who were being stereotyped as a lessor people, denigrated as bloodthirsty vermin, and forced to migrate from their native homes by the forces-of-the-Crown. But today, how many widows and mothers are there, across the world in many places, who are lamenting the loss of their husbands and sons at the hands of recent soldiers-of-the-Crown, including those in Highland regiments?</h4><h4>Reclaiming Our History</h4><h4>Cyprus was another territory taken over by Britain in the Late Victorian period, to protect Empire trade-shipping on the Mediterranean side of the Suez Canal. In February 1955 an ‘Emergency’ was declared in Cyprus and the following year British troops opened fire on a demonstration of students and school children in Famagusta. During which 18-year-old Petrakis Yiallouris was killed by a bullet from a soldier’s sten-gun.</h4><h4>When the British media tried to justify the soldiers’ actions, the Scottish poet, Helen Fullerton, gave an alternative view in her poem ‘Cypriot Question’. In it a Cypriot mother has an imaginary conversation with the mother of a British conscript soldier:</h4><h4>In Famagusta, one February morning<br>The market place and the streets were full<br>When crowds of children marched protesting<br>That General Harding had closed their school:<br>Then the British Army went into action<br>With baton charges and tear gas drill<br>And the children’s stones were met with bullets<br>For the troops had orders to ‘shoot to kill’.</h4><h4>Ah, British Mother, had you a boy there?<br>No blame to him for the evil done<br>Or that a sorrowing Cypriot couple<br>Lost that day a beloved son<br>When at eighteen years, in the cause of freedom<br>Petrakis Yiallouris met his eclipse<br>Shot through the heart, by a conscript soldier,<br>‘Cyprus, Cyprus!’ upon his lips.</h4><h4>When the dockers heard it, they struck in anger<br>And our shops were closed and our streets were still<br>And we drew around us our little children<br>Your troops had orders to ‘shoot to kill’;<br>But they feared Petrakis more dead than living<br>And they made us bury him out of sight<br>Fifty miles from the scene of the murder<br>In lashing rain and by lantern light.</h4><h4>Scotland’s hero, brave William Wallace<br>They slew for the love he bore his land<br>And they shot James Connolly as he was dying<br>And made a mighty crown of the felon’s brand;<br>They make the widow, they make the orphan,<br>They shoot the children - it’s come to this:<br>But ah, British Mother, had they a quarrel<br>Your conscript laddie and our Petrakis?<br><br>The powers-that-be who initiate and conduct our wars, also seek to falsify the history of them and obscure our military involvement with a cloak of patriotic ‘honour and glory’. Behind this ‘rally-around-around-the-flag’ bunkum, they insinuate that any questions, or criticism, will be disloyal and against ‘our boys’. But surely it is in the interests of all of us – service-personnel as well as civilians - that it is the actualities, and not fabrications, which are revealed.</h4><h4>By writing, or speaking, about their experiences, veterans can help to confront those in power with the truth. One veteran who did so was Hamish Henderson (1919 – 2002), who was born to a single mother in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, shortly after the end of WW1. Like many others from this time he became determined to see an end to all wars, but two decades later, as Henderson reached manhood, the world was hurtling towards another global conflict.</h4><h4>Just before the start of WW2 he was a visiting student in Germany, where he helped a Quaker network that arranged for refugees to escape the Nazi regime. Back home in Scotland, Henderson was reluctant to join the war, but he realised that if the fight against fascism was to be successful then German military power had to be confronted. So, he served as an intelligence officer with the 51st Highland Division in the Western Desert and then in the invasion of Italy.</h4><h4>Throughout WW2 Britain’s armed forces had continued with their hierarchies intact, but many anti-fascists had joined up to fight Hitler. They did their best to subvert establishment views, circulating books like Jack London’s ‘People Of The Abyss’ and Robert Tressell’s ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’. Informal discussion groups were also organised and , in Egypt, the ‘Cairo Parliament’, which regularly attracted hundreds of troops to debates, became so radical that the brass-hats eventually suppressed it. It was activity of this sort that helped secure the large, serving, and ex-services, vote for Labour after the war had ended. <br><br>During the war Henderson collected the songs and poems of his fellow soldiers and produced a substantial amount himself. His poem sequence about the desert fighting in eastern Libya, ‘Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica’, expresses a compassionate view of the war. He refused to let his humanity be consumed by the fighting and viewed the ordinary German soldiers as like himself and his companions - caught up in events that were difficult to comprehend and in a conflict that neither wanted.</h4><h4>In his songs Henderson often reflected the feelings of his fellow soldiers in their war against Nazi fascism and one of his best known was ‘The 51st (Highland) Division’s Farewell to Sicily’, which is sometimes shortened to ‘The Banks of Sicily’:</h4><div data-video=""><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q_cZ05bOFj0?rel=0&amp;color=white" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" style="width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; border: medium;"></iframe></div><h4>Henderson celebrated the 1945 Labour election victory in a now liberated Rome, but found it difficult to find closure after returning home. He went back to Italy and translated the prison letters of Antonio Gramsci, the philosopher and communist who had died during the war in one of Mussolini’s prisons. Henderson later used Gramsci’s theory of hegemony as a way to view and understand his own home culture in relation to establishment rule in Scotland. <br>In 1951 the American folklorist Alan Lomax arrived in Scotland and Henderson accompanied him on a tour around the country, which helped to provoke an upsurge of interest in Scottish folk memory, tradition and melodies. Folk clubs became commonplace and traditional songs, as well as new - often political - refrains, became routine. On his retirement, Henderson’s efforts in the field of folklore, and his own vast output of work, was rewarded when he was made an honorary fellow of the School of Scottish Studies.</h4><h4>In 1983 Henderson refused an OBE in protest at the nuclear arms policy of the Thatcher government. He was also aware of the part that Scottish soldiers had played in building and holding the Empire. And one of Henderson’s most notable songs was his ‘Freedom Come-All-Ye’, which he wrote in the Scots Language:</h4><h4>Roch the wind in the clear day’s dawin<br>Blaws the cloods heilster-gowdie owre the bay<br>But there’s mair nor a roch wind blawin<br>Thro the Great Glen o the warld the day<br>It’s a thocht that wad gar oor rottans<br>Aa thae rogues that gang gallus fresh an gay<br>Tak the road an seek ither loanins<br>Wi thair ill-ploys tae sport an play</h4><h4>Nae mair will our bonnie callants<br>Merch tae war when oor braggarts crousely craw<br>Nor wee weans frae pitheid an clachan<br>Mourn the ships sailin doun the Broomielaw<br>Broken faimlies in lands we’ve hairriet<br>Will curse ‘Scotlan the Brave’ nae mair, nae mair<br>Black an white ane-til-ither mairriet<br>Mak the vile barracks o thair maisters bare</h4><h4>Sae come aa ye at hame wi freedom<br>Never heed whit the houdies croak for Doom<br>In yer hoos aa the bairns o Adam<br>Will find breid, barley-bree an paintit rooms<br>When Maclean meets wi’s friens in Springburn<br>Aa thae roses an geans will turn tae blume<br>An the black lad frae yont Nyanga<br>Dings the fell gallows o the burghers doun.</h4><h4>In the fourth line from the end Henderson mentions John MacLean, who was arrested under the ‘Defence of the Realm Act’ for opposing the First World War. A Scottish socialist of Red Clydeside fame, MacLean was jailed five times for his socialist and anti-war activities. He was sentenced to 4 years in jail after his last arrest for ‘sedition’, but at his trial he made a 75-minute speech from the dock, in which he stated why he thought wars like WW1 occured:</h4><h4>“For the full period of my active life I have been a teacher of economics to the working classes, and my contention has always been that capitalism is rotten to its foundations, and must give place to a new society. I had a lecture, the principal heading of which was: ‘Thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not kill’, and I pointed out that as a consequence of the robbery that goes on in all civilised countries today, out respective countries have to keep armies, and that inevitably our armies must clash together. On that and on other grounds, I consider capitalism the most infamous, bloody and evil system that mankind has ever witnessed …”</h4><h4>In the lines: “Broken families in lands we’ve subjugated, Will curse ‘Scotland the Brave’, no more, no more”, Hamish Henderson’s song suggests that Scottish soldiers should no longer be doing the dirty work of the British state, or Big-business. During and after his service, the WW2 veteran has left us an example, based on truth and a striving for justice, that offers veterans and others, not only a way to reclaim our past, but also a nobler way forward.</h4><h4>Henderson set ‘Freedom Come-All-Ye’ to the tune of a pipe march, ‘The Bloody Fields of Flanders’, which he heard for the first time in 1944 on the beachhead at Anzio, in Italy. The version here, which includes a photo of Henderson, is sung by Luke Kelly of the Dubliners and contains Scots and English subtitles:</h4><div data-video=""><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rIDqtL0s-w4?rel=0&amp;color=white" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" style="width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; border: medium;"></iframe></div><h4>‘Freedom Come-All-Ye’ is Henderson's most important song, in which the veteran suggests, or hopes, that a wind-of-change will blow through Scotland and the world at large, which will sweep away exploitation and imperialism. The song then rails against the tradition of the Scottish soldier as both imperial cannon-fodder and colonial oppressor. And Hamish Henderson ends his song with an internationalist vision, to which we should all concur, of a future global-society, which is peaceful, multiracial and just. <br>…………………. <br>Information compiled and written by VFP member, Aly Renwick, who was born and reared in the Scottish Lowlands. He joined-up at 16 and served for 8 years in the British Army from 1960-8.</h4>

Rally to Support Ukraine at Trafalgar Square, London on the 20th of March 

A Scottish Soldier Page 3

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.friendsofdurhamminersgala.org/">Durham Miners Gala Saturday July 11th 2026</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk/festival">Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival, 17th - 19th July 2026, Tolpuddle, Dorset.</a></p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.ppu.org.uk/civicrm/event/info%3Fid%3D367%26reset%3D1">National Alternative Remembrance Ceremony Sunday 8th November 2026, Tavistock Square, London</a></p><p></p>

<p>Served in the RCT from 1971 -1976 . CND supporter, antifa, peace activist .</p>

Brad Oliver

<p></p>

<p>Army veteran 16 years. VFP member 10 years, former Chairman, then Trustee of the old VFP UK. National speaker for VFP on militarisation of children, nuclear weapons, and veteran health.</p><p>I was also on the National list of speakers to accompany the documentary "War School" and lead for a while on the Neutral Britain campaign.</p>

Michael Elstub

<p>I joined the British Army in 1968 and went on to serve for 14 years in both regular and territorial service.</p><p>Over time, and through experience, I began to question the narratives I had been given about war and defence. I came to see that many military conflicts are driven less by the protection of people and more by the pursuit of oil, natural resources, and strategic dominance — reinforced through the expansion of overseas military bases.</p>

Norman Lynch

<p>Joined the army (Royal Signals) 1976 - 1990 served in several theatres and operational tours. After leaving, worked in the IT industry until forming a logistics company in 2005. After the company closed, worked in disability support for many years and volunteered in veterans advocacy. Became increasingly aware and angry at the growing issue of the costs of war, militarism and militarisation in Britain and worldwide. Was drawn to activism to try to redress the disinformation and propaganda from government, the military and arms industry. Joined Veterans for Peace UK in 2017 and served as chair for a while. Alongside other ex VFP UK members, we reformed VFP Britain in 2022 to build on and continue the work.<br>Recently retired and looking to continue the activism and support the disabled community as a volunteer.</p>

Ian Johnstone

<p>Alan was born in Taunton, Somerset in 1949. He attended Monkton Heathfield Primary School and Huish's Grammar School. He joined the Royal Navy at age 16 in 1965, as a Marine Engineering Mechanic (stoker) He trained At HMS Raleigh, a shore base at Torpoint, Cornwall. After basic training he joined HMS Forth at Chatham. The ship then went to Singapore for a long term commission. After 18 months Alan returned to the UK and joined HMS Torquay, a ship of the Dartmouth Training Squadren. The ship spent time in Scandinavia and the Mediteranean. His next ship was HMS Puma where he spent 2 and a half years. During which the ship did a complete round the world voyage for 6 months plus a lot of time in the Meditaranaen. He was then shore based in Plymouth but joined HMS Fox for a short period on a loan draft and visited Monaco. He bought himself out of the Navy in 1972 at age 23.</p><p>After his time in the Royal Navy, Alan was looking for a new career. He tried plumbing and got a job as a maintenance engineer at the Holiday Inn, Plymouth, it's now called the Crowne Plaza, and he worked there for 4 years. He then thought that he would try to get into computers. He was lucky enough to get accepted onto a Government Sponsored TOPS training course in computer programming. He then spent 25 years working in the IT industry. Ten years for the Engineering Industry Training Board in Watford, Six years for British Gas in Enfield and nine years for Cap Gemini, in Bedford, Birmingham, Ware, Glasgow and Telford.</p><p>Alan currently lives in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. He is married with two daughters and four grandchildren.</p>

Alan Chick

VFP Britain Steering Group

<h4></h4><h4><br></h4><h4></h4><h4>From very early times physical conflict between peoples has induced shock among many of the combatants and problems can also occur for veterans long after the conflict has ended. Many centuries ago Roman historians, like Suetonius, had recorded incidents of the adverse reactions of some soldiers to battle. In the US Civil War (1861-65) a condition called ‘nostalgia’, ‘soldier’s heart’, or ‘camp disease’ was noted that was marked by a ‘lassitude of the spirit’, which veterans might be ‘laughed out of’ by his comrades, or by ‘appeals to his manhood’.</h4><h4><br></h4><h4>Sixty years later, during WW1, over 300 British soldiers were shot at dawn by firing squads from their own side. A few were accused of crimes, but most had been charged with cowardice and desertion. Due to the horrific nature of the warfare, however, many were suffering from ‘Shellshock’ - the name used then for PTSD.</h4><h4><br></h4><h4>In the decade after the ending of WW1, pension boards examined over 100,000 cases of former front-line troops suffering from psychological disorders. Many of the worst cases were kept out of sight, often locked away in mental institutions till they died. At the start of WW2, the British Government was still paying £2 million pounds a year towards shell-shocked veterans of the First World War.</h4><h4><br></h4><h4>Five centuries before William Shakespeare (1564 -1616), who is often called the greatest writer in the English language, did not have a name for this condition that affected many veterans, but he knew and wrote about it. In his Henry IV - Part One, Act 2, Scene 3, Shakespeare has Lady Percy express concern about her warrior husband Hotspur:</h4><h4>“O, my good lord, why are you thus alone?</h4><h4>For what offence have I this fortnight been</h4><h4>A banish’d woman from my Harry’s bed?</h4><h4>Tell me, sweet lord, what is’t that takes from thee</h4><h4>Thy stomach, pleasure and thy golden sleep?</h4><h4>Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth,</h4><h4>And start so often when thou sit’st alone?</h4><h4>Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks;</h4><h4>And given my treasures and my rights of thee</h4><h4>To thick-eyed musing and cursed melancholy?</h4><h4>In thy faint slumbers I thee have watch’d,</h4><h4>And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars,</h4><h4>Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed,</h4><h4>Cry ‘Courage! To the field!’ And thou hast talk’d</h4><h4>Of sallies and retires, of trenches, tents,</h4><h4>frontiers, parapets, of cannon,</h4><h4>Of prisoners’ ransom, and of soldiers slain,</h4><h4>And all the currents of a heady fight.</h4><h4>Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war,</h4><h4>And thus hath so bestirr’d thee in thy sleep,</h4><h4>That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow</h4><h4>Like bubbles in a late-disturbed stream;</h4><h4>And in thy face strange motions have appear’d.</h4><h4>Such as we see when men restrain their breath</h4><h4>On some great sudden hest.</h4><h4>O, what portents are these?</h4><h4>Some heavy business hath my lord in hand,</h4><h4>And I must know it, else he loves me not.”</h4><h4><br></h4><h3><sup>Those close to a veteran are usually the first to see how different they can be after conflict, from how they were before they went off to war – and close family members often think it is a stranger who has returned to them. So, Lady Percy was expressing anxieties often felt by family members on the return of a veteran from conflict and her description of Hotspur’s condition indicates that:</sup></h3><h3><sup>He was anxious, tense and preferred to be alone and had lost his appetite for food and sex.</sup></h3><h3><sup>He appeared depressed, was easily startled and his mind was still in ‘a heady fight’.</sup></h3><h3><sup>He was experiencing problems sleeping and when sleep came it was troubled, with murmurings and nightmares about the wars.</sup></h3><h3><br></h3><h4>All these suggest that he was suffering from post-battle trauma, which we would now call combat-related PTSD. This condition was not recognised during the time of Shakespeare, but he did provide us with one of the first detailed accounts of this type of psychological disorder. We now know that combat-related PTSD can often occur among those who fight in brutal conflicts and you can listen to Lady Percy’s dramatic speech here:</h4><div data-video=""><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZJ2vF2zQIDo?rel=0&amp;color=white" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" style="width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; border: medium;"></iframe></div><h4><br></h4><h4><br></h4><h4><br></h4><h4><br></h4><h4><br></h4><h4><br></h4><h4><br></h4><h4><br></h4><h4><br></h4><h4><br></h4><h4><br></h4><h4><br></h4><h4><br></h4><h4></h4>

William Shakespeare: his recognition of combat-related PTSD

<p>&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h4>In 1886, one hundred and thirty-nine years ago, Robert Louis Stevenson’s book, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, was published. In his book, Stevenson explored the idea was that most people, especially men, have competing impulses within them: Good vs Evil, Truth vs Lies, Love vs Hate and Friendliness vs Aggression.</h4><h4>Stevenson’s book depicted the kind and caring Jekyll drinking a special potion and changing into the inhumane and violent Hyde. At the start Dr. Jekyll, who’d developed the concoction, can control his conversions into Mr. Hyde. Later, however, he begins to lose control, and the transformations increasingly happen in an involuntary manner.</h4><h4>Perhaps, the potion Dr. Jekyll took acts in a similar way to army training? After all, many family members often comment how a spell in the army has changed their son, husband, father etc. - ‘It’s made a man of him’, they often say. They usually regard this as a good thing, but can start to question it, if they experience the sudden turn-ons to violence many veterans return with, especially after serving in conflicts.</h4><h4>Military training is designed to mould squaddies into the Army’s way of thinking and sense of purpose - and ensure the recruits bond with their fellow soldiers. Surgeon Commander Morgan O’Connell, then a Navy psychiatrist just back from the Falklands War, explained the process to the Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee: <br>“Yes, we indoctrinate them in the forces. Otherwise, they wouldn’t fight. That’s why we cut their hair the same, make them wear the same uniform, make the same salute, and march together. We indoctrinate them in order to enhance group cohesiveness. That’s how you get people to fight.” <br>[Guardian, 1st Nov. 1982].</h4><h4>Army training and indoctrination is also intended to replace ‘civvy softness’ with ‘military toughness’, to produce soldiers who will kill, or die, when ordered to do so. Frank Percy Crozier, who became known as a WW1 ‘war-dog’ front-line army commander, later wrote about the combat training of his battalion. Describing the British soldier as ‘a kindly fellow’ he then added ‘it is necessary to corrode his mentality’ and Crozier went on to describe the part indoctrination and training took in this process: <br>“I, for my part, do what I can to alter completely the outlook, bearing and mentality of over 1,000 men ... Blood lust is taught for the purpose of war, in bayonet fighting itself and by doping their minds with all propagandic poison. The German atrocities (many of which I doubt in secret), the employment of gas in action, the violation of French women, the ‘official murder’ of Nurse Cavell, all help to bring out the brute-like bestiality which is necessary for victory. The process of ‘seeing red’ which has to be carefully cultured if the effect is to be lasting, is elaborately grafted into the make-up of even the meek and mild ... The Christian churches are the finest ‘blood lust’ creators which we have, and of them we must make full use.” <br>[A Brass Hat in No Man’s Land, by F. P. Crozier, Cape 1930].</h4><h4>This training was accompanied by a propaganda campaign in all the country that turned the Germans from friendly neighbours into ‘brutal Huns’. Stereotyping of enemies – ‘the other’ – has continued and increased in our own time. With ‘gooks’ in the Vietnam War, ‘micks’, or ‘paddies’, in Northern Ireland and ‘ragheads’ in Afghanistan and Iraq.</h4><h4>Warrior-Janissaries<br>In modern conflicts, some soldiers, intensely trained and indoctrinated for tours-of-duty often became hyped-up, aggressive time-bombs - ready to explode at any minute. In his book, Shoot To Kill, Michael Asher outlines his experiences in the Parachute Regiment. In graphic detail he wrote about his tours of duty in Northern Ireland and described how some Paras were affected by the extremes that training, conditioning and alienation brought out: <br>“One group of soldiers would hold so-called ‘gunge’ contests. They sat round in a circle and tried to outdo each other in acts of gross obscenity, like eating shit and drinking urine. During house searches they vented their anger on their victims, smashing down doors and breaking up furniture, kicking and rifle-butting anyone who resisted, making lewd suggestions to the women of the house and threatening the children.” <br>[Shoot To Kill – A soldier’s journey through violence, by Michael Asher, Penguin Books 1991].</h4><h4>Throughout the period of this conflict and just before their tours of duty, soldiers were given an increasingly more intensive period of ‘upped-training’. This occurred inside ‘Tin City’ mock-ups of an Irish estate, which were built at army base-areas in Britain and across the world. First known as IS (Internal Security) training, the drills at these locations later became known as NITAT (Northern Ireland Training Advisory Team) training and many veterans have vivid memories of their time there.</h4><h4>In his book Asher depicted how this type of training and the circumstances of their tours-of-duty had turned them into ‘savages’: <br>“The circumstances of our training, coupled with the peculiar nature of our existence in Northern Ireland - a blend of boredom, frustration and occasional terror - turned us into savages. We begged and prayed for a chance to fight, to smash, to kill, to destroy: we were fire-eating berserkers, a hurricane of human brutality ready to burst forth on anyone or anything that stood in our way. We were unreligious, apolitical and remorseless, a caste of warrior-janissaries who worshipped at the high-altar of violence and wanted nothing more.” <br>[Shoot To Kill – A soldier’s journey through violence, by Michael Asher, Penguin Books 1991].</h4><h4>War In Angola<br>Probably, the worst thing you can do as a civvy is to go out and kill another human being. A soldier, however, is trained to kill - and is expected to do so quickly and effectively. Costas Georgiou was a soldier who excelled at this, both before and after he became a mercenary known as ‘Colonel Callan’. Using that name, he came to world attention, when, on 10th July 1976, four mercenaries, who had fought for armed opposition groups in Angola, were tried, found guilty and executed by a government firing squad.</h4><h4>The civil war in Angola happened a few decades after World War 2 and occurred during the global ‘Cold War’ period. Then, there were many ‘proxy wars’, and after the country won its independence, rebel groups in Angola were armed by the CIA and backed by the US, UK, the then apartheid South Africa and Western business interests. While Angola’s Government forces fought them with the help of Russian tanks and Cuban soldiers.</h4><h4>Within a few years most of the mercenaries were rounded up and imprisoned - or shot by Angolan Government firing squads. Three of the executed men, Costas Georgiou (Colonel Callan), Derek ‘Brummie’ Barker and Andy McKenzie were former members of the British Army’s Parachute Regiment and veterans of the Northern Ireland conflict. The fourth man, Daniel Gearhart, was a US ex-Special Forces Vietnam veteran.</h4><h4>During his trial as ‘Colonel Callan’, it became clear that Georgiou had been responsible for untold deaths, both on his own side and that of the ‘enemy’. A BBC Panorama programme on the mercenaries said: <br>“In Angola it was the psychopathic exploits of a mercenary leader, the self-styled Colonel Callan that caused public outrage. Callan, a dishonourably discharged paratrooper, ordered the execution of twelve mercenaries … when they refused to fight.”</h4><h4>The John Wayne Syndrome <br>Costas Georgiou came from a family in the large Greek Cypriot community in north London and before he joined the British Army he had been described as: ‘A quiet, introspective youth’. During Georgiou’s initial army training, as experienced NCOs hammered the recruits into line, he responded resolutely and threw off his quiet, introspective side: <br>“Once in the army … a more aggressive side to his character emerged. He seemed determined to prove himself the best soldier in the entire British Army. And, for a time, he came close to achieving his ambition: during training at Aldershot, he picked up awards as best machine-gunner, best Self-Loading Rifle shot and best al-round recruit in the camp. Not content with this, he became a fitness fanatic, soon excelling at the physical side of army training.” <br>[Fire Power, by Chris Dempster and Dave Tomkins, Corgi 1978].</h4><h4>Costas Georgiou responded in kind to his training and adopted a hard persona: <br>“He went out of his way to develop a tougher, more aggressive image than anyone else in his unit. He spent hours in front of a mirror, perfecting the toughest, meanest scowl he could devise. When off duty he adopted a solid, swaggering walk that John Wayne might have been proud of. Such stunts were crude but they paid off – his officers took notice of him. Of all the men in his regiment, Georgiou was the one chosen for the prestigious position of bodyguard to his Commanding Officer in Northern Ireland.” <br>[Fire Power, by Chris Dempster and Dave Tomkins, Corgi 1978]. <br><br>From Costas Georgiou to Colonel Callan <br>While serving in Northern Ireland, Costas Georgiou had received a dishonourable discharge and a prison sentence in a civvy jail for an attempted Post Office robbery. He arrived in Angola a few years later as Colonel Callan, a name he’d taken from a ‘tough-guy’ TV character. <br><br>Georgiou, like most soldiers, joined the army at a young age, and the military, not having access to Dr. Jekyll’s potion to unleash his blood lust, relied on their tried and trusted training programmes instead: <br>“The shock of the first couple of days was intentionally brutal … in a system of basic training designed to suppress individuality, restrict freedom in every possible way, install instinctive obedience without a question of any kind, increase physical fitness, and generally so depress the conscript into a common mould that he would instantly serve the force’s purposes in anything that it asked him to do: to the point of killing fellow human beings, or of offering himself to be killed. The forces had learnt how to train men quickly and intensively in the Second World War; the absolute necessity of training them to this zombie-like state had been taught in the trenches of the First, when an order over the top to almost certain death had to be obeyed instinctively or it would not have been obeyed at all.” <br>[All Bull: The National Servicemen, from the introduction by B S Johnson, Quartet Books 1973].</h4><h4>Around one hundred-and-ten years ago, it was training like this, combined with indoctrination, that produced the ‘brute-like’ soldiers for Frank Percy Crozier’s ‘Great War’ battalion - and for many more conflicts since. Over fifty years ago, it was training and indoctrination, combined with a tour-of-duty in Northern Ireland, that changed Costas Georgiou into Colonel Callan and made him a good and efficient killer. And, as he walked out to face his firing squad, he had ‘MADE IN THE BRITISH ARMY’ stamped all over him.</h4><h4>So, what had changed the quiet Georgiou into the brutal Callan? If army training is designed to dredge up hate and aggression in recruits in order to turn them into efficient killers, perhaps, it does do what Dr. Jekyll’s potion did to produce Mr. Hyde? As well as tough and brutal training, Paras are encouraged to regard themselves as superior to other soldiers, whom they scornfully call ‘craphats’. But, if military training draws out the negative qualities in recruits, like hate and aggression, to make good and efficient soldiers, does the MoD not have some responsibility to help turn them back to more positive qualities, when they go back to Civvy Street?</h4><h4>It is certainly true that, after conflicts, some veterans back in Civvy Street struggle to retain the Jekyll part of their old selves, but find the Hyde part keeps turning up instead. Some may even be proud of what their army training has turned them into. As a fellow veteran viewing the case of ‘Colonel Callan’, however, all I feel is anger and sadness - mainly, for his victims in Ireland and Angola, but also, for the loss of that ‘quiet, introspective youth’, the pre-army Costas Georgiou.</h4><h4>One of the initial tests for the Paras is called ‘milling’, when recruits fight each other for a set period. Win or lose, they are expected to show sustained aggression and will be rejected by this elite unit unless they do so. Click below to view a milling session: <br></h4><div data-video=""><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YR2ZARY6SoE?rel=0&amp;color=white" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" style="width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; border: medium;"></iframe></div><p></p>

The Jekyll & Hyde of Soldiering: from Costas Georgiou to Colonel Callan

<h4></h4><h4>In Britain, anyone raising the issue of combat veterans who are suffering from psychological problems, or who carry out violent acts in Civvy Street after their tours of duty, can expect to face hostility from the military establishment. The Defence Ministry even take umbrage about newspaper articles, and especially TV programmes, that touch on the problems that many veterans go through. In 1992, Lynda La Plante’s TV drama, Civvies, was a good example of this occurring.</h4><h4>La Plante, a former actress, is an award-winning author and screenwriter, who is best known for writing the Prime Suspect TV crime series, which starred Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison. <br>In 1993 and 1994, La Plante received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Mini Series for Prime Suspect and in 2001, she was presented with a BAFTA - the Dennis Potter Award - for television writing. In 2008 La Plante was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to Literature, Drama and Charity.</h4><h4>Previously, in 1992, La Plante had written Civvies after some ex-Para Northern Ireland veterans had done some building work in her home and told her about themselves. Civvies was based on the violent lives of these Para-veterans, as they tried to adjust to their return to Civvy Street. It was first published as a paperback, then became a TV series.<br><br>Towards the end of 1992 the Guardian newspaper published an interview with the director of the Civvies TV series, Karl Francis, who said he believed that: ‘Civvies reflected a much bigger real life story, which had yet to be told’. And that as a self-styled radical film maker, Francis admitted to finding the theme of Civvies a challenge: <br>“Instead of looking at the hearts and minds of the communities the soldiers have tried to conquer, it looked at the minds of the soldiers themselves - trying to conquer their own demons and live with them afterwards. ‘I’ve got cousins and friends who’ve been in the army’, he says. ‘I’ve heard how they try and deal with the stress - their wives have told me. I’ve met the soldiers who ended up pill-poppers and drug addicts. I’ve listened to the awful stories of their dreams. People respond to soldiering in different ways. Being a soldier doesn’t make you a good or a bad person. The lads in Civvies came out of the army still fighting, they were all wounded emotionally, they wanted healing’. He does not lean towards sentimentality: ‘They were screwed up. And yes, they were victims. But they dished it out as well, and if you deliver hell, sometimes it comes around on you and you have to live with it’.” <br>[Guardian, 4th Nov. 1992, The mind as combat zone, by Martin Collins].</h4><h4>Lynda La Plante had made friends with the group of ex-Paras she had based her drama Civvies on and she tried to help them settle back into civilian life. By the time the show was broadcast on TV, however, every single one of the soldiers she’d met and found jobs for was in prison. La Plante then stated: <br>“It made me deeply angry … the show was an angry plea to the Government to do something about PTSD.”</h4><h4>Civvies proved to be La Plante’s most difficult and controversial series. Because, while her subsequent work received widespread acclaim, Civvies was denounced by the military establishment. It was described as ‘offensive’ by the Defence Ministry, and as ‘inaccurate, belittling and will demoralise the troops’ by the Parachute Regiment.</h4><h4>Later, Lynda La Plante answered back at these critics: <br>“Civvies is an open wound ... Nothing in Civvies hadn’t happened. It wasn’t a fictional drama. It was fact, all of it. Yet I was vilified and abused by everybody.” <br>[Observer Life, interview by Andrew Billen, 10th March 1996].</h4><h4>In the Observer interview La Plante also mentioned: <br>“The shoals of letters I still get: ‘That was my brother, that was my father, that was my uncle, that was my husband’.”</h4><h4>The military establishment wants the problems that are suffered by many veterans - like combat-related PTSD and/or installed aggression - to remain hidden. But, in the screen depiction of the Para-veterans in Civvies, many viewers had seen aspects of their own family members traumatised and often violent behaviour, after they had returned from tours of duty in Northern Ireland. You can view some of the action from Lynda La Plante’s TV drama Civvies here:<br></h4><div data-video=""><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v1gLKHTlKaQ?rel=0&amp;color=white" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" style="width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; border: medium;"></iframe></div><h4>……………………………………… <br>Articles by Aly Renwick, a veteran who served for 8 years in the British Army (1960-8).</h4>

Lynda La Plante & her TV Drama, Civvies

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