Pin the Medal on the Chest (Medal Placement and Identification)

The fact they mention the Nuclear Deterrent makes me think the recent 5-6 month patrols are going to become the normal.

Got to say 180 days seems a bit much, I get that they want it to be more than the usual OSM but surely 3 months should be enough.

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As most deployments are three to four months, I think they’re trying to make it so you need more than one (as opposed to the 28 days usually required for operational medals).

Yeah. I see that as 3-4 months would get you one for the Falklands.

But that being said considering certain trade groups get lumbered with the Falklands repeatedly why shouldn’t they get a gong for it.

I know a Chef who came back from 4 months in the Falklands to find the details for his next tour of the Falklands waiting for him.

Shame it isn’t essentially a long service medal (ACSM) but for the non-medal earning.

180 days could leave people missing out again and again.

@Scrounger

Are the No1’s free issue to your staff ? When were they commissioned ?
I was measured at Cranditz Jan 2019 when they were free issued to CAFV, but not seen mine yet, and have the same parent unit as you.

Thanks

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Yes they are

The Wider Service Medal is backdated only to 2018, so those of us whose service ended before then couldn’t claim it.

I’ve never been that impressed by the 2008 GSM: the campaign clasps are for vast geographical areas rather than specifying the operation, and makes it look like one’s campaign service needs ‘plausible deniability.’ For instance, the Clasp ‘Global Operations’ which can be claimed retrospectively for nuclear armed submarine patrols might as well be titled ‘Nuclear Deterrence’ or something like that. The Gov.uk website gave the game of secret squirrel away by saying what the former title means. Nice medal: shame about the claspie vagueness, which reflects this era of ‘Forever Wars.’ :crazy_face:

Still, it ain’t my train set or armed forces anymore. My 1962 GSM clasps are at least more specific: but then so were the campaigns, which all ended on specific dates usually by us winning them*, because we Selected and Maintained the Aim of the operations throughout those deployments.

*Not including Clasps ‘South Arabia’ [the Aden Emergency] and ‘South Vietnam,’ but at least there were cut-off dates for those ops. :roll_eyes:

The Falkland Islands is arguably the best place to go on a tour if you are an outdoor person (fishing, wildlife watching, battlefield tours and mountain walking) and if you go there during the Austral Summer, by doing so you avoid the grotty British winter.

Plus you go there to directly defend British territory for once, and there’s no crazy and ungrateful people who have nothing better to do with their lives shooting and firing rockets at you. :thinking:

The 1982 Falklands War was that unique thing: a war with three countries winning.
The Islanders benefitted from not having their homeland sold to Argentina, and have since prospered due to the sale of fishing licenses within the Exclusion Zone.

The Conservative government were re-elected the following year off the back of the military victory, which prevented the Loony Left from regaining power and bankrupting the UK. Prior to 1982, the Tories were likely to have been booted out because of the domestic unemployment figures of 3,000,000.

The Argentine Military Junta was discredited and deposed, making way for a democracy to emerge, and Argentina to recover from years of oppression (17,000 citizens killed during the ‘Dirty War’ of the 1970s) and wasteful military spending.

Not that we get any gratitude from the Argentinians for that, of course. If they want us to give the Islands to them, maybe those Argentines of European descent should give their country to those of indigenous descent i.e. the native or Indian people.

The Falklands had no natives there when British mariners first discovered them, later landed there, and later still were the first to make a colony out of them, which our rivals at the time, the French, Spanish and Americans all could have done first, had they bothered.

Tough luck, losers. :grin::uk::sheep::penguin::whale::v:

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I’m sure it’s wonderful, especially if you’re female where you are more likely to be a victim of sexual assault than any other posting.

I’ve always heard it to be a place where you have two options
get fit
or get fat

either option you choose is easily achieved given the facilities available!

Well, it was wonderful when we went there. Nobody on my unit (15 Sqn RAF Regt in the air defence role) committed any criminal or military offenses when we did our tour of duty over the Millennium. It’s not the Falkland Islands or the British Forces stationed there who are to blame - it’s individuals and their weak leaders who are in immediate command of them.

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…which is why my WO granddad left the RAF 6 months before his official retirement date when he was told he was going to be posted to Mt Pleasant.

Mate, if you think the British Forces Falkland Islands is some sort of ‘hardship posting’ equivalent to being on the front lines in Ukraine, then… then… I don’t know what to say here… finally lost for words. :thinking:

No, I’ve got it: let the Russians tremble! What hardy and stoical personnel they have in their air force, Comrade!! The Falkland Islands! Makes Bakhmut look like a Spa and Wellness break! :grimacing:

The Falklands Islands were a second home to the four RAF Regt Rapier Sqns tasked with the air defence of Mount Pleasant Airport. That was in the days when the RAF had its own air defence units under the direct command of our officers. Now the RAF must once again rely upon the Army for air defence. That didn’t work in Norway, France, Greece or Crete in 1940-41, and guess what my money’s on next time around? :roll_eyes:

Based on your posts I assume you spent all your money on that ruddy great lamp you insist on swinging.

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Another factor which makes the Falklands War unusual is that the Argentines were the only enemy we have faced since the Afrika Korps who treated captured British combatants according to the Geneva Convention protocols.

This conduct might have come about because early in the war during the invasion phase - Operation Rosario - the Argentines wanted a relatively bloodless conquest of the British South Atlantic territories, and presenting such a Fait Accompli to the UN and UK Governments would have strengthened their case for the transfer of possession.

By the mid-1990s relations between the UK and Argentine governments were friendly again: the Argentine Army biathlon team were invited to the British and Services Championships at Ruhpolding, and there were AT expeditions to Aconcagua, for example. Indeed, the UK had sold two Type 42 destroyers to the Argentine Navy before the war, and the Royal Navy had been on joint training exercises with them in 1981. But there’s no room for compromise over Las Malvinas (not even a Spanish name: it comes from the French settler’s use of the name Malouines), and certainly not amongst the Islanders.

Back to topic… I think there never will be a medal issued for service with the BFFI: that would suggest that there were hostile relationships between our two countries. We did keep live Rapier missiles on the beams at all times when I was there (the Readiness State was later lowered, and they were removed), because their Skyhawks had been refurbished and were our main threat at the time. :thinking:

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Pull up a sandbag! :nerd_face:

How about you take it to PM and this thread can be for medals.

I agree but the less said about the hangar bash in the Timmy hangar the better! Still got my t-shirt somewhere.

Plus we got the Malaysia trip later in the year….the worm & pin global tour :wink:

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