Wha' happen'd to tha forty-twa?

[Felix/FFDS]

http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/outpu ... 509t0.shtm

BLASPHEMY!

[SilverFox441]

I have a slightly different take on that....

Thanks for posting the link.

[ozzy72]

Welcome to Blairs Britain

[Flt.Lt.Andrew]

WOAH!

That is amazingly gay! How could they do that to The Black Watch?

For Shame.


A.

[dcunning30]

That's almost like sending the HMS Victory to the scrapyard.  It seems unthinkable, yet it's happening.  I don't understand this.

[Hagar]

Sadly this is not an isolated case. http://news.billinge.com/1/hi/uk/4049875.stm

Proponents of the "biggest is best" theory don't know the meaning of tradition, pride & loyalty.

[Cobra]

tradition, pride & loyalty.

To be honest i really dont think they have a place in modern warfare...possibly when you were fighting side by side with your comrades in the middle ages, and possibly up to WW2...but now the majority of fighting takes place without even seeing the enemy, and the guy with the biggest and best weapons will undoubtably win (IMAO )

[Hagar]

To be honest i really dont think they have a place in modern warfare...possibly when you were fighting side by side with your comrades in the middle ages, and possibly up to WW2...but now the majority of fighting takes place without even seeing the enemy

You must be one of the newer fellers. These are infantry regiments, the heart of the British Army. You can't fight wars from long range & in the end it's the PBI (Poor Bloody Infantry) that has to go & sort it all out. They will fight for their comrades & the honour of the regiment as they always have.

[dcunning30]

Cobra, that's not so, you still need ground forces to take land.

[Tweek]

Cobra, that's not so, you still need ground forces to take land.  Reminds me of when air to air missiles went into mass use.  the US had the bright idea that guns were obsolete, along with bubble canopies.  So, our Viet Nam era fighters had no guns and had no bubble canopies.  After their theories were put to the test during that war, bubble canopies and guns were reintroduced into fighters since then.

Sounds familiar. What about Duncan Sandys' 1957 'White Paper' favouring missiles over aircraft? What a huge, negative impact that had on British aircraft industries at the time.

Here, we have a total lack of nostalgia...

[Woodlouse2002]

Sounds familiar. What about Duncan Sandys' 1957 'White Paper' favouring missiles over aircraft? What a huge, negative impact that had on British aircraft industries at the time.

More than a negative impact. That "white paper" killed the british aircraft industry.

[Cobra]

Hagar and Co. i know what you are saying, i just really dont think that it plays an intricate part in war now...

All this traditon etc in the armed forces is just a loada bull to keep the squadies busy...

I know i may be wrong but i would far sooner be in a big army than a proud one!

[Woodlouse2002]

Hagar and Co. i know what you are saying, i just really dont think that it plays an intricate part in war now...

All this traditon etc in the armed forces is just a loada bull to keep the squadies busy...

I know i may be wrong but i would far sooner be in a big army than a proud one!

Moral is a huge part in all military circles. If moral is bad then how ever big your army it still won't perform as you would wish, if moral is good then even a small force can do great things. Disbanding and merging great historic regiments such as the Black Watch is not good for moral.

[eno]

Hagar and Co. i know what you are saying, i just really dont think that it plays an intricate part in war now...

All this traditon etc in the armed forces is just a loada bull to keep the squadies busy...

I know i may be wrong but i would far sooner be in a big army than a proud one!

The case in point is the first Gulf war ...... The Iraqi army was the 4th largest in the world, all be it with slightly aged equipment but still a force to be reckoned with by any standards. However when it came down to the fight most of them refused and gave up.
Therefore when it comes down to it those that have a pride in their history and tradition as well as their training will always have the upper hand.

[Scorpiоn]

And all this is why I think worrying about a North Korean invasion is silly.  Sure, they may have a million man army, but how will it fight?  Like Iraq's?  Remember all the hoo-hah on the news about the elite Republican Guard?  US forces steamrolled them.  Morale is just as important as size, training or fatigue.  'Twould be foolish to think otherwise.

And long range wars are only fought in organized warfare.  Anyone planning to take on China, Europe or the US would be foolish to try to win on technology alone.  An effecient guerilla force is more than capable of holding its own against a superpower's army, as demonstrated in World War II, Vietnam and, currently, Iraq.  By all accounts, almost all fighting in Iraq now is done in very close range (house to house, streetside to streetside), which is exactly when all this morale is needed.