Our Servicemen/women deserve the best we can give them in the way of support and respect.
When in the uniform of the service they serve they represent our nation.
Any disrespect to them reflects upon us all and our Queen and Country.
Some have given their lives and limbs and any disrespect should be taken seriously as an ‘offence’.
(Could we treat any abuse of them as ‘Treason’?)
I am against sending our servicemen/women to any war outside of our country without 100% NATO backing.
Our services should remain in the UK in defence of our country and could be available for any emergencies here.
Unfortunately the fools in government choose to send our forces anywhere in the world that troubles erupt and consequently bring hatred to them both in the UK and abroad from a minority.
We are a small country with limited forces and should never be in a situation ‘where there is nobody at home when somebody calls’.

I have an over riding sense of unease that the wars in both Afganistan and Iraq have made Britain generally unsafer. I am also always amazed that despite a lot of service persons being unhappy with the wars that they still go in their thousands. Signing up should not meen abdicating all responsibilities for ones thoughts or actions. That said abusing any one in public for what is ostensibly for our protection is just plan rude, impolite and not more than a litte cowardly and just plain dumb.

to be honest the armed forces should be encouraged to wear there uniform in public because they have either been out in iraq and afganistan or are due to go out.the job they have done over there is an amazing one and they have risked there lifes to save ours.ma cousin has served in iraq and is goin to afganistan in april and i am realy proud of him and his brother is due to go to iraq aswell.

I think an important difference is that the servicemen of the past did not have a choice to join the forces and today’s troops have chosen to join up.
This, coupled with the WMD deceipt leading to the war in Iraq and the intangible enemy: “terror” just symbolises public distrust and the feeling of betrayal by leaders. The sight of squaddies reminds people of the unwanted wars and the fact that the government ignored the nation’s views on critical decisions.

If you want respect you have to earn it – in all aspects of life. You do not have it by default.

Could the abuse be nothing to do with the war and perhaps the usually disruptive behaviour of squadies within a community. Anyone been on a night out in Aldershot?

Wear your uniform with pride. There are some left in this country who truly appreciates what you do and respect you for that. You’ve earnt the right to wear the uniform so ignore the petty minded, ignorant minority and stand tall.

“In any event, soldiers do their job”

which is to conduct wars of conquest and occupation in the interests of neo-colonial empire. Are Iraq or Afghanistan better off for being invaded by the ‘coalition of the willing’, with at least a half-million civilians killed in Iraq alone?

if ‘insults’ help some soldier wake up and realize the role they’ve assumed in all that, all the better.

What a shame!

If any British soldier, sailor or Marine needs a pat on the back and a beer, I’m buying.

It’s a shame some your citizens are not as brave as your troops.

It is unfortunate that soldiers come under these attacks personally, as they are merely following orders, trying to do their best i suppose. However it is a direct consequence of the two aggressive, ILLEGAL (a fact that the English speaking press is keen to omit in recent coverage) wars which Britain has been engaged in alongside the unpopular imperial power of the day, namely the USA.

Also, the extent to which the troops returning from Iraq in particular can be dubbed ‘Heros’ like in the article above is rather dubious. Last year two SAS officers were arrested for planting a bomb in Basra. An official WAR CRIMES trial is being submitted for review this year, in which it is alleged that twenty or more prisoners, including civilians (source: BBC), were held in conditions that amount to torture and executed. This is on top of the photographs we have all seen of British soldiers beating hooded prisoners.
All the while the Army top brass denies any kind of endemic or institutional bad practice.

Actually, all those things considered, its a wonder that Soldiers don’t receive MORE abuse from the general public.

In fact, you could say that our Armed Forces have disgraced us, the British people, who can no longer rightly say that Britain stands for justice and THE RULE OF LAW.

p.s. Did I mention the complete illegality of the conflict in Iraq?

Dave Pritchard; Bullying? Shame on you! I’m thinking there are millions of South Koreans that would laugh in your face. There are also millions of Vietnamese that wish we would have lived up to our promises. Your mindset is very reminiscent of British appeasement prior to WWII.

“War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things.The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth fighting for is much worse. A man A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself”

Dave Pritchard; Please accept my apology. My comment was meant for John Bell.

I find it very sad that people would treat any member of the forces in such a dispicable manner. They are grateful for the help of the serving members when there are problems at home, they kept the fire engines running during the firemens strike, they worked non stop during the floods to ensure peoples safety and then this.

I find it strange that people want the freedom to do anything and say anything they want when they want but are not prepered to do anything to deserve those freedoms.

The type of people who do this to our service men and women are the poorest specimens of mankind walking and deserve to be treated with utter contempt.

I was proud to wear my uniform and serve my country - pity these contemptable lowlife are only capable of targeting the very people that are there fighting for their right of such scum to be dispicable

I think the idea that our Armed Forces are made up of pillars of the community who have selflessly devoted themselves to the protection of the people of Iraq and Afghanistan is naive.

Heaping praise upon an organisation of volunteers who have been involved in an illigal and unpopular campaign of epic ‘we know whats best for everyone else and we’ve got big guns’proporions is equally so

If service personel are abused in the street perhaps it beacuse they have lost the repsect of the public at large, I note that there are no reports of anyone taking the abusers to task, which suggests apathy or tacit agreement

The oft quoted idea that our Forces are the best in the world is a clasic example of ‘give a small man a big title and watch him work for you’

The Army in particular has an applaing record of recent human rights abuses and most people are aware of this, those that leap unthinkingly to thier defence are the same people that wanted to be friends with the school bully I suspect

Members of the services should be left to make their own decision as to whether they wear uniform when off duty and off base. There is also a clear difference between supporting our service personnel and supporting the wars in which they are engaged. The politicians sent them into these wars and it is the politicians who should receive the abuse of those who don’t like the wars.

The far bigger and more important issue here is that no-one in authority or in the media dare say (yet) who these so-called “members of the public” who are abusing the servicemen actually are. It will be interesting to see which, if any, newspapers have the integrity to ignore the government muzzle and print the truth.

Mike T,

I absolutley disagree, why should soldiers wear a uniform when off duty, policemen , nurses , ambulance staff, security guards, bin men , air force fighter pilots and tesco checkout people dont…………where’s the difference?

Equally , it most certainly is a matter for the individual soldier and not the state, as they are all volunteers, if we had conscription then it would be a different matter, granted some individuals have been signed up for some years, but someone who took the Queens shilling 12 months ago and is in Iraq now may reasonably be held to be supporting the view of the current Government, a Government you find to be guilty of muzzling the free press.

I ask again, why no’one stood up for these abused service personel ………there must have been numerous bytsanders………it can only be cowardice , apathy or empathy with the abusers…….or possibly lack of interest………I doubt cowardice and favour apathy……..which won’t be cured by a few badly ironed uniforms queing up at the cash point at lunchtime

There is no escaping the fact, that our armed services are the military wing of government.

Any thing that follows from that is a direct consequence of that government

Anyone who disrespects the uniform is a coward. They hide behind the uniform in times of crisis, beg for help during a disaster, and demand assistance when in need and yet they would disrespect the very uniform that protects them.

Everyone in uniform should wear it proudly, in fact I would encourage hundreds of military members to head straight to Peterborough and walk the streets in uniform. Cowards never want a fair fight.

Funny thing is, 400 years ago the cowards who disrespect the military would be sweeping chimneys and scooping crap for a living all the time scared for their lives but because of the military they’re teaching class at the local liberal university.