LancsMike

Thanks mate, will do my best

Oi have less of that ! Bloody Wedges calling each other Fella all the time with their stable belts...

Ah fantastic ! goes to show it's a small world might see him about at some point. Sorry Sgt Major Lofthouse ! was a few whiskeys down by that point and a strong breeze may have blown me over ! Cheers mate hope you have been well and works picked up Thanks mate I'll do my best, even though I am RLC after all !

Ah cool Burgess, is he An AT too or Royal Engineers ?

How do folks as title says been awhile and hope you are all well Thought I'd share a bit about what I have been upto after I left Tree work. I joined the Army and finally completed my Trade course as an Ammo Tech, too many exams to count later finally earned my Flaming A know quite a few of your are ex forces and just thought you might be interested even though I went the other route of Tree work then Army lol. Hope business is picking up for everyone and we finally edge ourselves out of this Recession. Myself and best mate on the right

Can't even imagine what it's been like past year or so in Tree work, glad to hear things are picking up for you though mate

Been awhile since I've been on here, hope everyones doing well and work is picking up [ hopefully out of the Recession finally ] and as the title says, whats everyone been upto ? Haven't been able to keep touch with a lot of you. - Mike

Just for you Dean on such a happy topic.. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRAU11JXcvU&feature=fvst]Eve of Destruction --- Barry McGuire - YouTube[/ame] To be honest, yeah the information is there to say we are in trouble but it's like the news on the whole - bad news sells. What about the advances in technology out there that benefit mankind and reduce the likelihood of shortages of food ? New Scientist a couple of issues back covered that with GM Foods in particular and the issue after also looked at the new wave of Cancer treatments which are increasing the survival rate. Or go one step further and the idea of making new planets inhabitable using microbes ? As Andy and Stephen said.. lifes for living, rather be happy and well informed from both sides and my humble view is the future for humanity is looking pretty good, far from bleak and apocalyptic - sorry if that buggers up the Doomsayers paradigms

I even thought of doing this for the front corner where it's dinted inward for a few laugh's

Going to give this a crack in the next day or so, been doing a lot of Gym lately getting ready for Phase 1 which isn't far off for me. Been finding doing Rowing Machine on Max Resistance [10 on ones I use] and do 2.6km as fast as you can followed by a set of weights, then 2.6km best effort on treadmill, weights again, treadmill again, weights again followed by 10km on bikes and your advice awhile back was right Mark about weights - been doing 15 lifts, breather then doing 12 then 10 in each set and feeling the benefits already, gone upto 14 stone when earlier this year was just a shade over 10 stone. Either way rambling aside, will give the pressups a crack and post back here

Thats a lovely looking machine Geoff, definete dogs danglies for a Land Rover I still have the Ex Army Paint job on mine and some dint's like on the front driver side corner but I might get around to repainting it, even thought of doing it matte black.

Whether it '' washes '' or not, fact remains the internet, news outlets and many books cover this topic and past topics extensively, as said in a previous post if you want to bury your head in the sand by all mean's do that - just don't confuse that with Nationalism because it isn't, you're talking about Isolationism which didn't really work out so well as in the 1930's, letting Nations '' get on with their own business '' but that's another debate. We do our part when and where we can with medical care thats why we protect NGO's operating in there who give food, water, help rebuild infrastructure and medical care - just because you don't deem that '' appropiate '' medical care doesn't mean its not happening, Warzones are quite hard to operate in strangely enough plus I'm pretty sure I mentioned anyone who does get hurt by us or even the Taliban we give medical care to at the risk of our own Soldiers - which the Insurgents plan on by setting up Ambush sites for Chinooks Evaccing Casulaties, Civilian and Soldier. Think that'll be my tuppence on this debate, enjoy a great discussion

I agree, there's always hidden agendas and offshoots from any noble goal or aim but I don't think that is the case with Afghanistan, Iraq is another kettle of fish and we did get dragged into a proverbial excrement storm for lack of swearing. But Afghanistan's security like in times gone past is about a much bigger geopolitical picture in my own humble view, thats why the West and in particular Great Britain has been involved in Afghanistan for 100's of years now from Disraeli to present day. I didn't mean it to come off as I thought you were trash talking the lads and lasses out there, both in uniform or the civilians or the NGO workers. I just think it's a bit too reductionist to say it could be 1 or 2 agenda's. That Senior Officer just gave 1 viewpoint, a bit like 1 Tree Surgeon giving his view on the job and what it entails, speak to someone else and they offer another view. It's such a huge puzzle of how we got to peacekeeping in Afghanistan, to present day and the future of the Country and security it's going to take years and years of reading and studying to really grasp the whole picture and even then - like you said Andy not all files will be open to Joe Public due to OpSec.

You're speaking of the normal, decent people which is fair enough - this thread has been speaking on the ones who don't see reason and would rather use violence to get what they want via coercion on others, to sit and ignore that and only talk of the good ones is sticking your head in the sand and leaving the problem to be dealt with by someone else which is fine, because I have no problem doing that as I am enlisting and start in June along with family members who are already serving and ones who have served in the past. It's your right to disagree paid for by others, as much as you might not like that truth. @Andy, what that Leading Commander said is true to him, but it's just his opinion to be fair even though I can see what he's saying as accurate. I doubt most Politicians do give a damn about a Tribesman out in Helmand thinks or does but their job is Civilian Government, the PM and the Queen decided a job needed to be done so the Military acted on that request and are performing the job to the best of their abilities. I think it's a bit disrespectful to paint that type of picture because it's making out the sacrifices that have been made so far towards Security have been in vain but if thats your true belief, fair enough though I disagree strongly. As for the Falklands, same can be said of any Military scenario wherein an Invasion occurs, 99/100 you're not going to be totally prepared unless you act on Conscription and have the Army prepared to fight however we do have quite a substantial base on the Falklands and I doubt they are really going to broadcast all their capabilities, as well as Dauntless has set sail for the Falklands.

Hopefully if he does do time or community service he'll come to you afterward and help you rebuild and learn something from you. Good luck coming back from that mate, wish you all the best