Wars and ConflictsΒ permalink
Most in awe of...?
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Message 1.Β
Posted by Herewordless (U14549396) on Tuesday, 20th July 2010
Having read history widely, i wondered what other people might think were the type of armed service personnel, or armed historical warriors, that they most held in awe?
For me, it has to be the Bomb Disposal men of the Royal Engineers (or 'Royal Army Ordnance Corps' in WWI)- or indeed of any army/police force worldwide.
Even today, these incredibly brave guys have to approach a suspect bomb bare-handed, so as to handle any device carefully.
This isn't to say that I don't hold the Alexandrian Silvershield, Carthaginian warrior, Roman legionaire, Viking Beserkir, huscarl, zulu, etc etc in jaw-dropping respect when I read of their deeds. -
Message 2
Posted by Catigern (U14419012) on Tuesday, 20th July 2010
The RAOC and its successor elements of whichever huge Corps has swallowed it up still does bomb disposal these days. I think the ATOs (Ammunition Technical Officers) in Northern Ireland are these guys, rather than being Royal Engineers.
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Message 3
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Wednesday, 21st July 2010
It takes a special kind of guts to make that long walk. Many men (And women) can perform an act of bravery on the spur of the moment, but to stand there and having collected your kit, walk towards an U X B, not knowing if you will come back. Indeed many used to insist that everything they did was recorded so that if they died, the next person may not make that same mistake.In places like N I and now Afghanistan, the bombers placed secondary bombs to kill them. But even today these people still make the long walk.
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Message 4
Posted by BashfulAnthony (U10740638) on Wednesday, 21st July 2010
I think Henry V's men at Agincourt were amazing. Half-starved, disease-ridden, poorly clothed with inadequate clothing and equipment (apart from the long bow, of course!); horribly out-numbered and against ostensibly vastly superior knights. Yet they won one of the greatest victories in the history of warfare.
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Message 5
Posted by RedGuzzi750 (U7604797) on Wednesday, 21st July 2010
The CMF men who fought on the Kokoda Track. I know one of them, and he's a wonderful human being.
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Message 6
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Thursday, 22nd July 2010
M_U
Explosive Ornance Disposal (EOD) - bomb disposal - was, and is, the responsibility of the Royal Engineers.
Disposal of faulty ammunition and other ordnance was the responsibility of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (now part of the Royal Logistic Corps), and from this their Ammunition Technical Officers (ATOs) acquired responsibility for countering terrorist Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)in Northern Ireland.
Both Corps have responsibilities in Afghanistan.
It is probably worth noting that the Royal Navy also have bomb disposal specialists (it is part of the Diver trade) - two were killed trying to defuse a bomb in a frigate in San Carlos in 1982. The RAF also has bomb disposal experts.
All three Services were involved in the "Danger UXB" heroics during WWII.
LW -
Message 7
Posted by Herewordless (U14549396) on Monday, 26th July 2010
Many thousands of Henry's troops had been shipped home soon after landing in France- having eaten unreip or infected sea food which was locally caught, but from inland waters where human waste was cast into the sea.
Those c.5,000 Longbowmen, and perhaps also the men-at-arms, were suffering from dysentry, with their frequent runny excretia trailing through the opened flaps in their hose! -
Message 8
Posted by BashfulAnthony (U10740638) on Monday, 26th July 2010
Man -Upstairs,
It's little short of miraculous that Henry's men were able to fight at all, let alone win! -
Message 9
Posted by Herewordless (U14549396) on Monday, 26th July 2010
Hi BashfulAnthony
Yes, I've often wondered that. In their medically weakened state, they must have just been driven by sheer adrenalin, and then flaked out by physical and nervous exhaustion afterwards? -
Message 10
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Tuesday, 27th July 2010
Merrill's Marauders seem to have been in a similar state at Myitkyina - and for sheer endurance, and bloodthirstiness, I reckon Morgan's buccaneers took some beating. However, the cold courage needed for bomb and mine disposal is without equal.
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Message 11
Posted by Herewordless (U14549396) on Tuesday, 27th July 2010
Yes, the Marauders and the Chindits were extraordinary warriors, as were so many other WWII service personnel, from many earlier ages too, but as I posted originally...Bomb disposals- I shiver even thinking about what they did/do?
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