Fighting talk...

It has been an interesting week in terms of the reactions of the public to the Armed Forces.  First an army parade in Luton was the scene of protests by those opposed to the war in Iraq.  The led to a very emotional debate on free speech and the right to protest across many radio stations and newspapers.

 

The pragmatic approach appeared to be along the lines of “by all means protest at the government for their decision to take us to war in Iraq but do not direct protests at the troops that are carrying out decisions made by others.”  It is an approach I have a lot of sympathy for.

 

With great timing, the BBC is currently looking at people’s views on the military in light of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.  The debate is taking place on Radio 5 Live and online.  One of the interesting aspects of the debate is the views of people who live in military towns.  It is easy to forget how many people live close to military sites.

 

We do.  Our village has a large military area, which seems to intrigue those who live nearby.  There are plenty of rumours of various different activities taking place on the site.  I have no idea what is true and what is not.

 

Generally, it is rare to see military personnel in the village.  You may get stuck behind a convoy of vehicles or meet a few people in the local shop.  But it is not a daily occurrence.  You do hear gunfire a lot when exercises are taking place and we have a disproportionate number of Chinook helicopters that fly over the village.  There is no obvious impact of having a large military base nearby. 

 

Or at least there was not until Sunday morning, when at 7am a number of huge explosions took place that shook our house.  I am not sure what the purpose of the exercise was, but I hope it was a success.  Because the whole village was awake and I would hate that to be for no reason.