To the Last Man...

Image by law_keven via Flickr

Today seams like any other day, the sun comes up, we get up, we go to work and the birds are singing. We all go about our daily lives in the routine that we have set for ourselves. However, there is something different about today although most people wont notice or even care.

No one felt when it happened, there was no awareness, there was no major fan fair or media frenzy or earth shattering announcement. What is different about today than just a few days ago is that the last Combat Veteran of the First World War has passed away.  Claude Choules has completed the role call and the last man is now present. All the ranks are now filled.

Lets think about that for a minute. There is no one left alive that can say that they fought in the Great War.  That conflict, more than any other shaped the world we live in today.  For the most part it was a war of empires, but for the common man, many believed on both sides that it was a duty and an honour to serve a nation. That war gave rise to the nuclease and causes that started the Second World War and once again many of the same soldiers went to war again. Just like Claude Choules.

I am not suggesting that any war is just or good, but the ideals that drove these men and women to the fight are things of the past. Things like duty, honour, respect, dignity and the simple belief that they were doing the right thing. These are the things that are the true loss with the passing of this great generation.

I am not really sure what to feel about the passing of a person I have never met. I am sure there are those that ask why  I should feel anything at all. I have to say that the indifference that is shown or even the lack of indifference is troubling to me. Indifference would imply that some thought was given to the subject, but even the thought is absent.

I suppose that is the fate if important people and events, to fade into obscurity with the passing of time. However even with time passing are the emotions and feelings that were expended almost 100 years ago any less important? Is the heart breaking lose of a loved one any less valuable today then it was then? Is the pride in victory and the despair in defeat any less important 100 years on? These are the types of questions that plague my mind. If these simple things have no relevance then the act of remembrance has no meaning. 

Related articles

• To the Last Man... (thetrenchline.blogspot.com)
• Claude Choules, 1901-2011 (theawl.com)
• Claude Choules, World War 1's Last Combat Veteran, Has Passed Away (rightpundits.com)
• RIP: Claude Stanley Choules (thedailywh.at)
• RIP Claude Stanley Choules (news.icanhascheezburger.com)
• Claude Stanley Choules, Last World War I Combat Veteran Dead At 110 (inquisitr.com)
• Claude Choules: a place in history (telegraph.co.uk)
• First World War hero Claude Stanley Choules dies at 110 (mirror.co.uk)
• Last British veteran of WW1 Claude Choules dies - Telegraph.co.uk (news.google.com)
• R.I.P. Claude Choules (neatorama.com)

I joined the Army because of a Women !!

The world is a different place now then when I joined the army so many years ago. It was 1986 and I had just turned 17 years old. The enemy in those days were the Russians and Communists then came Iraq  and now it is the terrorists and religious extremists.   I always told my mother and father that I was going to be in the Army in some fashion. By the time I had turned 12 years old my father no longer lived in our home and my mother was now a single mom.
For my mother it was tough going raising three kids and having an ex-husband that didn't pay much of any Child Support. My mother worked, and worked hard. She was never on welfare although the extra money would have  helped us out a bit. I never really saw my father that much. At first that was his doing then later on by my choice.

I had been in the Sea Cadets for a number of years until I hit 16 when my mother saw an advertisement in the local news paper. The local reserve unit was looking for new soldiers. She took me to the Armoury and I signed the line in November 1986. I had to wait until I was 17 years old, but shortly after that, life would never be the same.
I think that my mother was relived that I had actually taken that step. Although I didnt see it then, I think she noticed that there was something missing from my life. I think she felt she couldn't teach me some of the things I needed to learn. My father wasn't going to teach me, so she had to find a way.

I grew up hearing stories of the soldiers in my family, my grandfathers and uncles and even my mother  had there own stories of  life in the service. I m sure there were many things that  she believed I needed to know.  One of the things I am most thankful for and I do owe this to a tiny INDO immigrant woman, she found a way to make me strong. She found a way to give me the tools to meet life head on and to move forward under adversity and hardship.

I also think that she knew that I wouldn't be going to a community college or university, simply because there was no money to pay for it and because I just didn't do well in school. She needed me to find my way in the world and  to do that she lit the fire. It also helped that I got paid for my service, I mean a kid in High school that made  his own money lived like a king. But I think mom knew that would be the the case as well, once I got the feel for the green stuff there was no going back.

She pointed me in a direction that she knew I needed to go, her picking up that paper and geting me to go to the Armoury is one of those moments that we all have  in life. That moment in time we look back on and say that could have turned out different. Just a simple action can change an entire outlook on life and the things that happen in it.
Also my reasons for joining the army, are also personal. I could spend hours and hours writing about all the reasons why I am a soldier, but for now it will just have to do that it was the push of an Immigrant women  that set me on this path.

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Osama Bin Ladin Is Dead

Finally the day is here. The day that has been looked forward to for so long by so many is finally here.
I would like to say that this was an awsome bit of soldiering for those  Seals that conducted the Op. and for the support units that allowed them to carry out their historic mission. WELL DONE LADS!!!

Now to those who say that the USA has acted like God and dicided the the death of of a foregn national in a sovereign nation. I say Bull shit.

The USA has inacted the rule of law on criminal that has killed as many muslems as he has infedels. Osama Bin Laden chose to try and enforce his ideology on the world and he now has paid for that effort. Currently the eastern world is in termoil fighting and  dying for those exacte ideas that Bin Laden was trying to eradicate and compared to the will of satan.  The only good thing that I can say about Bin Laden is that he chose to meet his end with a weapon in his hand. At least in the end he showed some courage unlike the past years hiding and sending others to die as marters for the cause.

It was a grand bit of soldiering that brought a little peace to the World today.