[Oberon]

As Ronnie once said "People don't start wars, governments start wars."

The armed forces are doing the best they can in a terrible situation, in a war that...well...IMHO anyway, it's questionable that they can win with the resources and ROE they have been given. When one adds this to the continual shafting they receive year after year in the budget reviews, well, it's a small miracle that we haven't had Challenger IIs firing on Downing Street yet, and indeed a tribute to their restraint and belief that those above them know what they're doing...but then again, that's really how it has to be, because the moment you start questioning the orders you're given, when you start hesitating when given an order, then there's a good chance you'll be a goner before long. They do not teach obedience in basic just for kicks after all. Of course, one can argue that blind obedience can only go so far, and that's what the MOD and Defence Minister is supposed to be there for, but that seems to have gotten lost along the line somewhere...but such is the modern era.

I think the point of Armistice day, was first to honour the dead of the first world war, then post '45 the dead of the second...there will always be war, and there will always be soldiers coming back with their countries flags draped over them, it is a sad fact of human existence, but the point of the day is not to consider how they died, or where, but what they died for, they died for their country, for us. It is easy to separate the sides in a conflict to 'them' and 'us', but even in Afghanistan those who are killed are still someones family, even if they believe that it is their god given right to brutally murder someone elses family. It is a fact that war kills people, and Armistice day pays respect to that fact, that despite our great enlightenment, we still have a long way to go in terms of co-existence and human nature, it is a plea for 'never again' after every war, but with the solemn knowledge that there will be another time, another war, perhaps even another world war, but perhaps one day, people will actually remember...instead of just standing silently for two minutes thinking about their shopping, they will remember the crater ridden fields of Flanders, the ruins of Stalingrad, the streets of Berlin, the fields of Korea, the jungles of Vietnam, Kosovo, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan...they will remember the casualties of war, and they will realise that conflict, despite having some positive side effects in technological advancement, as well as the reduction of human growth patterns, is essentially a self-destructive man-made cycle.

Perhaps one day it really will be 'never again' but until then, let us think of all those killed by war, be they soldiers or civilians, let us really think...and then one day, perhaps everyone will really think together...

And no, I am not John Lennon, and yes, I am wishing for the impossible...but that's the cynic in me.

Personally, today, for me, has been about thinking of those in my family who fought in the First and Second World wars, and the Malayan crisis. They have been prominent in my mind today, and all those who served with them.