Scottish Defence Force

Again we have the BBC in Scotland putting out scare stories on behalf of their masters in Westminster. We have the BBC quoting Philip Hammond, Defence Secretary. He said:

"The idea that you can break off a little bit like a square on a bar of chocolate-and that would be the bit that went north of the border-is frankly laughable."

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the idea of having squares on bars of chocolate is so that you can break a bit off? If it was not possible to do then how did the UK government manage to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland? The concept of bringing home our regiments to the their country of origin seems to me to be a perfectly feasible idea. What he is worried about is the idea that HIS country's (UK) armed forces will be short of the military personnel and equipment that they think is what they require to continue illegally invading countries to get at their natural resources. Well, Mr. Hammond, that may be your problem but it will not be ours post independence. Of course, any Scots currently serving in the UK's military will have the option, if they desire it, to continue with the rUK. There will be no pressure put upon them to return with our military resources that rightly belong to Scotland. If they so wish they can transfer to a rUK army, navy or air force unit. So what is the problem? The problem for Mr. Hammond is that he doesn't understand that an independent country can decide what it wants to do with its forces. We Scots have more than contributed to the UK's armed forces, not only in manpower but also money, and deserve, upon independence, to have our fair share returned to us. I suspect that the top nobs in the military are already sorting out contingency plans plans for when/if independence comes; they would be foolish to do otherwise. I suspect this is just one of the opening shots in the run up to independence and the partitioning of the debts and assets of the UK.
Then Mr. Hammond goes on to talk about the removal of nuclear weapons from Scotland and hints that we Scots would have to pay for that. Now he is being ridiculous. He uses the excuse that a new port will have to be found to cater for this removal of the nuclear submarines. I suggest that he picks one from this list-minus the Scottish deep water ports of course. From the look of the lists it looks like Wales will have the pleasure of hosting those expensive toys. I suspect that the English voters in their ports will be up in arms at the thought of having nuclear weapons situated in their vicinity. It doesn't matter about the Welsh because they aren't English.  I wonder what the Welsh will say about that? You can be sure that the MOD is already looking at alternatives.

The cost of military equipment

Having read this article on the BBC about the theft of military equipment I was shocked to find out that night vision goggles are costing us £45,000 a pair. Why so expensive?

I remember being told during my training that army equipment needs to be 'soldier proof', meaning that it needs to be virtually indestructible. Of course this extra protection will cost more money but in doing a little bit of research online I found goggles averaged out at about $4,000. So why such a huge disparity?  I have spent the last 2 hours trying to find these goggles online but failed miserably. If anyone can recognise these glasses then tell me and I will update this.
Anyway, my father always told me that in the army if it wasn't nailed down it was stolen.

The Battle of the Hook, Black Watch,Korea 1952

I was reading up on the Korean War and the Battle of the Hook, Korea, 1952 in which my father took part as a member of the Black Watch.

My father, like many soldiers, just wouldn't talk about it and the only way that I was ever able to gain any information about it was to get him drunk, normally rum & pep [peppermint], and join together little bits of info that he let loose. You never know, in those types of situations, whether all these things happened to him personally or happened to other people and he related them as happened to him. That aside it was still interesting listening to him and his cronies about those days. I'll relate what I can, but, obviously, there is some stuff which I will keep to myself; for obvious reasons.

Corp. George Mitchell

On the way out to Korea the Black Watch boarded a ship which took them out there. My father, being the type of man he was, realised that the sailors were entitled to their daily grog and, as was his want, ingratiated himself with the sailors to get his 'share'. One day, in the Med, as they headed towards the Suez canal, he got so drunk he fell overboard and the ship had to stop and return for him. The omens for him weren't too good.

After the Black Watch landed in Korea they were met by an American army band who were playing jazz tunes. The band major [if that is what they were called], after looking at the disembarking Scottish soldiers, enquired of them: "Where are your niggers?" [I know but that's what it was like in those days]. It was politely explained to them that the term 'Black' in Black Watch was a description of their tartan.

Anyway, they proceeded up to their positions on the Hook on the 14th of November, 1952 taking over from the battered US 7th marines. The positions the Black Watch took over were considered inadequate by The Black Watch's C.O., Lieutenant Colonel David Rose. So he ordered the men to start digging and improve the trenches. As usual with men, they complained, but his foresight enabled many of his men to survive when they were overrun.

Rose (right), in command of 1 BW in Korea, accompanies General Collins, the US Army Chief of Staff, during the latter's visit to the Battalion Command Post on The Hook.

During one of the Chinese attacks on the Black Watch's lines my father, who was in charge of a Bren gun post-which was positioned in front of the lines-and was meant to mow down as many Chinese as possible then pick up the gun and return, post haste, to their lines, set up and continue firing. [Not being infantry I don't know about this and just assume that this was the case. Maybe someone will be able to confirm or deny that.] Anyway, as someone once said: "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." While stationed at his post the call for chow was made and my father and his mate left their post to get fed. While waiting in line a Chinese mortar attack happened. After the attack was over my father and his friend rushed back down to their post, stopped, took one look at the Bren gun which was completely bent over, because of a direct hit, and rushed back to their lines. When the fight was over they went back down and took a photograph of it. We have it somewhere and if I find it I shall post it on here. The most interesting point, from my perspective, is if chow hadn't been called my father and his mate wouldn't have been here and neither would I.
Another incident happened when my father was blown up by a mortar. he told me that the only thing that he remembers about that was flying through the air. When he groggily woke up he felt this terrific wind blowing past his head all down his body. He then realised that he couldn't move his arms or legs but managed to move his head to one side and realised that he was several hundred feet in the air strapped to a helicopter. In those days it wasn't the fantastic helicopters that we have nowadays but a 'Whirlybird' helicopter. He told me that he 'shit himself'. Whether he actually did or was just an expression; I don't know but I can fully understand his shock.
He was later found to be suffering from shell shock and was sent back to help with the stores. Bad move for the army. Anyone who has served in the military knows that if it wasn't nailed down it was stolen. My father had a field day. He told me that the only thing that wasn't worth stealing was petrol. The sides of the roads were crammed full of Jerrycans. All you needed to do if your vehicle needed petrol was to pull over to the side of the road, grab what you needed and fling the empty cans at the back of the pile. One day he met an American stores sergeant who told him that it was possible to make alcohol out of chewing gum and would be happy to supply him with as many boxes of chewing gum as he needed in exchange for the winter clothing that the Black Watch had. The American uniforms, though wonderfully smart, were no use for the winters in Korea that were similar to the winters we have in Scotland. However, he had to arrange his own transport. this stumped my father until one day a couple of lorries from the RASC arrived at the camp stores and out jumped a corporal whom he knew from back home. After reaching a deal with him my father's venture in the distillation of chewing gum business was up and running. he was so successful that he was even selling it back to the Yanks. I think he was sorry when the Black Watch had to leave Korea.

Bell H-13 Sioux

It wasn't all mud and guts and as Pathe portrayed there was some fun.

On the left, Private Jim McHale and on the right Corporal Kim Man Kyogh of South Korea

On the extreme right is 2nd Lieutenant A T Baillie, the Platoon Commander. On the extreme left is Sergeant Atholl Bluck, the Platoon Sergeant.

George Mitchell acting as 'God knows what'

USA's prior knowledge of an attack on Pear Harbour

There is enough evidence floating around to point to a conclusion that the USA had prior warning that an attack on Pearl Harbour was imminent. Why, you ask, would the USA want the Japanese to attack and destroy their fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbour? Because they wanted to get into the war but the American people would have kicked out anyone who would have brought them into the war. The American people were not interested in getting involved in what they saw as another European war. Therefore the government of the USA needed an excuse to join in. What better than to shock the American public with an undeclared act of war by an aggressor. Now let's look at some of the facts, some of the facts might shock you while others might not seem to be of importance until you view them in the context of the time.
The Japanese were on an empire building conquest of Asia because it needed the natural resources that it's own country did not possess. Japan was desperate to pull itself into the industrial age of the 20th century but lacked the natural resources to do so. Japan had no coal, oil, rubber or anything raw materials. According to the CIA World Factbook Japan has no natural resources whatsoever:
 'negligible mineral resources, fish

note: with virtually no energy natural resources, Japan is the world's largest importer of coal and liquefied natural gas, as well as the second largest importer of oil'

After the the Japanese were forced, by the USA, into signing the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854 where they were forced to open their ports to American ships, the Shogun era came to an end. It seems that Japan had no answer to the USA's military and industrial might and were determined never to be in that position again. The problem they had was the lack of resources and, therefore, set their sights on the Manchurian coal mines. After several wars with China and Russia the limits of Japan's empire began to grow but it still needed the raw materials that the colonies of the French, in Indo-China and the British in Malaysia had. To do that the Japanese first had to deal with the might of the USA and their Pacific fleet. This is what led up to the attack on Pearl Harbour.
It has been claimed by the USA that the attack was a surprise and, what information they did have was lost in a compounded series of mishaps and untimely intelligence failures. On top of that the USA had said that they had 'lost' the Japanese fleet as they had kept strict radio silence. This is all lies. The USA had broken the Japanese code in the autumn of 1940; a full 15 months before the attack. On top of that the Japanese fleet was in daily radio contact with their HQ back in Japan. The USA knew that the Japanese had plans to bomb Pearl Harbour. FDR [the American president] had sent the Pacific fleet from its base in the mainland to Hawaii in 1940. Many thought this was a good move to threaten any Japanese moves in the Pacific. FDR gave instructions for the fleet to remain in Pearl Harbour but admiral Richardson, in charge of the US fleet, complained so much about this that he was replaced by admiral Kimmel. He too complained about keeping the fleet in the Harbour. But back to the attack on the 7th of December, 1941, a few hours before the attack the aircraft carriers had slipped out of Pearl and were not there when the attack occurred; lucky for them but not so lucky for the 2,402 US personnel who were killed during the attack.

So, we have the USA sacrificing their own personnel to enable the USA to join in on the war against the Axis powers. This was not the first time that the USA have sacrificed their own citizens to enable a war to start and it wouldn't be the last.

Why Irish soldiers who fought Hitler hide their medals

I've just read this article about Irish soldiers, who fought for us in WWII, and their treatment by their own government when they returned after the war.

here

It is sad that the Eire government treated their citizens in this way; or is it? Let's look at the facts instead of the heart-rending slant the BBC is putting on this. They were already in the Eire army and deserted to go and fight for a side in the war that was not supported by their government, the same army [British], a few years earlier had wrecked havoc in that newly emerging nation. So, is it any wonder that the Eire government was not too happy with their desertion? What would we, the British, have done to a deserter at that time? A long time in a military prison would be the correct answer. These soldiers did not receive that barbaric treatment instead, they were 'sent to Coventry' by their own government in such a way that their government [who was a poor nation at that time] refused to allow them to take government backed jobs [which was meant for those who were loyal to their country] or government money. Personally, I think the Eire government did the right thing.
So, why didn't the British Government take care of them, seeing as they fought for us? The British army never has taken care of its own; up until recently, and even then it is atrocious the way we treat our heroes. Remember the way in which we have treated the Gurkhas, and still do? The BBC might have the decency to have a go at their own government instead of trying to blacken the name of their neighbour.
As an aside to this story there is the question of Scottish soldiers still fighting for the rUK. I think that this has already been answered by the SNP who have said that they will allow Scottish citizens [we will be citizens post-independence as opposed to being 'subjects'] to continue serving the rUK for as long as it takes. The question is: "Who is going to pay for the long term treatment of wounded Scottish soldiers when they are no longer fit to serve?" Can we expect the rUK to indefinitely pay for their treatment or will that burden fall upon the Scottish taxpayers? Keep in mind, when they are serving for the rUK then their taxes will be going to Westminster and not Holyrood. I begin to see the Eire point of view even more now.