The Victoria Cross: The Battle of Jutland

So finally I have the chance to sit down and write this!

The idea came to me a while back while brushing up on the Battle of Jutland, so that's where we're going to start today. Basically I just want to do some occasional posts looking back at some of the Victoria Cross winners. It occurred to me that in this age of TV fame and celebrity, it seems odd that the memory of some of these great men has fallen by the wayside. 

Of course there are still many who remember them, but it does seem odd and even a little embarrassing that off the top of my head I can't name many winners of this most prestigious of medals, awarded only for the most gallant acts in the face of the enemy. So this series is my modest attempt to put some of that right - if only in a small way - by highlighting some of these immense acts of bravery and self sacrifice.

Update 20/09/13

I know, I know. I said something was coming and it isn't here yet. Such is the joy of blogging in your spare time, namely that if your spare time gets consumed then the blog often falls by the wayside for a little bit. I thought I was going to have a much easier week but it turned out not to be the case. This weekend though things look a lot brighter, so hopefully I'll get that next post done. Fingers crossed.

The plan

Of sorts. So with the Syria situation bubbling on the back burner as Assad and Putin try to come up with a plan that will leave Assad in power, things have gone a little quiet. Which means I can get back to my list of articles which I want to write, a list that seems to get longer every time I look at it.

Part of the reason for that is that I keep thinking of ideas faster than I can write the articles and one that I'd like to dip into next is a new occassional series about the Victoria Cross and its various winners. It struck me that considering the exceptional level of personal courage that is represented by the award, I couldn't name more than one or two of the winners. That seems an odd state of affairs to me.

So at some point this week I shall start this new trip down memory lane, trying to highlight various winners and their deeds as we go along.

Some goings on

Aside from all the Syria news as usual, two interesting bits cropped up on twitter today. One is that the Royal Marines are happily blowing s**t up in Albania on exercise, this time turning their (simulated) wrath against a former submarine base. It's a sign of the times that some of the enemy in the scenario were listed as terrorists and other such murky, non-state/semi-state actors.

Meanwhile the RAF has been playing host to members of the Royal Saudi Air Force for a UK-Saudi version of the Green Flag exercises normally held in the US, which are generally designed to test ground attack capabilities, specifically in cooperation with ground troops. I mentioned in a post a while back that this is something I'd like to see more of, and it seems that wish has come true early.

Which leads to me a question; @Topman, is that the thing you were referring to keeping an eye out for?

Reaction to the "No" vote on Syria

So the vote is done and now the party political battles begin. 

What's that you say? National interest? Obligations to the International Community? Sowing seeds for our children to reap later? Pfff, get out of town! Don't you know there's a (party political) war on?

As you can imagine, I'm quite annoyed about the no vote in Parliament yesterday, which I intend to explain here, using the context of a question that Think Defence asked;

"What is the short and long term impact on the UK of this vote against the following categories:

- Democratic health
- International prestige and influence
- Defence funding
- International relations with the US, Middle East and Europe,

So let's begin;

A few additional points on Syria

As a follow up to my post on Syria I thought this might be worth posting, summarising some important points. It was originally a comment I tried to post on Think Defence, but one that appears at the minute to have been eaten by the Internet goblins. It's worth keeping that in mind, as the tone and character of the post is one of responding to other comments on a forum:

The Impending Intervention in Syria

Seen as how it's the hot topic right now, I thought I'd pitch in with my own thoughts on Syria and the possibility of air strikes against the Assad regime. For additional opinions, there's two articles that have gone up recently on Think Defence which are worth checking out, one from the blog host Mr. TD himself (click here) and another from his guest contributor, Phil (click here).

The other story in the news today

It's the Bank Holiday, so this is not an article so much as a footnote.

I just found it interesting that while the situation in Syria has dominated the headlines, there has been another story making the news over the last few days that interests the UK defence community. That being the fatal crash of a Puma helicopter carrying workers out to a North Sea oil rig. It's the fifth crash involving a Puma helicopter over the last four years.

Now remind me again, which helicopter type are we pouring money into to keep flying. Oh dear...

Just call me (Dagenham) Dave

Something a little more off the cuff today. We're going to be talking second hand dealing, obviously on the military scale. Could the answer to Britain's multiple defence procurement woes come from dipping a foot into the used equipment market? Let's have a look.

Update 18/08/13

I'm working on a post related to second hand dealing. Whether it goes up today or tomorrow depends much on how Sunday dinner goes and what the delights of Sunday telly can muster.