The Prince of Wales flew into Basra today to visit the troops. A few images:
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He's wearing the Parachute Regiment uniform. One of its battalions (I think 2nd) is in Iraq. Here he is with Maj. Gen. Andrew Stewart. -
Secret squirrel escortComment
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It looks like soldiers of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Wales here:Comment
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More 1/RRWComment
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Coming in to Basra by Chinook. Note flak vests.Comment
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Chinook on the ground and more secret squirrelsComment
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More of the sameComment
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SameComment
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Cuppa anyone?Comment
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Hi DaveOriginally posted by Dave Danner
Absolutely right, 2/PARA are currently in Iraq. Amongst other things, HRH is there to present them with the Wilkinson Sword of Peace.
Superb photos by the way, especially the ones showing the close protection team.
All the best
Paul.Comment
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Did he stay long enough to qualify for a medal?
Some of these modern medals only require you to look in the direction of a war zone........Comment
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Au contraire mon ami. The criteria for some of the recent operational issues are quite baffling. I doubt Chas will qualify for whtever is decided upon for the war's aftermath, as he only stayed for a few hours.Comment
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Oh come on Tony,Charlie'll end up looking like Kenny Everett if they give him any more tin.I'm sure that the widow of the tank regt. sergeant is pleased to see that he got the correct body armour.I'm all for the Royal family (despite my joke profile of them the other day) but the clown's from M.O.D. procurement who sent our lads out there YET AGAIN without desert warfare uniforms,boots,body armour/ancilliary plates,sunglasses,goggles,radios (that work..Talisman
),rifles (SA80 Action Man Specials 
),sleeping bags "Well it's warm there isn't it ?" ...the list just goes on and on.I fear one of these days if we ever go after someone properly equiped and not just conscripts screwing the last few days out of some ex-Soviet scrap,things could get real messy. I used to shoot SLRs and even old Lee Enfields....at least they didn't fall apart with one knock,and jam in anything warmer/colder/dustier than optimum conditions.
Cheers,Ian.Comment
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Ian
Incompetence in logistics and procurement is a well established tradition in the British Army, why who could forget the shambles of the Crimea, the farce of Gallipoli, the cluster f**k in Norway 1940. Yep, Tommy Atkins is following the proud tradition of paying for the mistakes of the bean counters and the higher ups.
and the most amazing thing is that Tommy in spite of it all has still managed to pull off some incredible feats or arms over the centuries.
it's by far much better to waste billions on bloated projects for stuff which will arrive years late and won't work the way it should when it eventually does turn up, rather than spend money on basic and relatively cheap bits of kit.
Bitter? me?Collecting German award documents, other paperwork and photos relating to Norway and Finland.Comment
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