A little thank you

[Dan from Britannia]

At our Colchester Gladiator show last weekend (For Eventplan) Britannia presented Major Peter Harclerode of the ABF a cheque for £1,000 out of club funds for the Army Benevolent Fund (ABF).

We have a few guys who are ex services and pictured here is Derek Clow (Normally our senator who presides over the games). He is ex 1 Para and we asked him (along with guest Len Morgan from the RMRS- also a fundraiser for the ABF) to present the cheque in a scroll tube.

We wanted to say thank you to our lads especially after seeing the heartbreaking news footage of the hearses driving through Wootton Basset, and our hosts at Colchester the 16 Air Assault Brigade suggested that the ABF are an excellent charity (they not only deal with supporting the service men & women and families of recent conflicts, but also the care of elderly veterans and their families from WW2. They are not a large charity and need 5.5million a year to function).

Check out the website - top people!

http://www.armybenfund.org/

[Medicus matt]

Nice one mate, well done.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

We raised money for them last year out of our christmas charity.....definately a worthy cause.
We had very little complaining of who chose the charity to benefit, for once.... :roll:

[Marcus Iulius Chattus]

That´s really great work, Dan.
Here in Germany we didn´t have anything like your ABF, not for our soldiers in Afghanistan and surely not for veterans, and there familys, of WWII!

[Dan from Britannia]

Sorry to hear that Marcus, I thought Germany had a good recent record for that sort of thing (I am surprised).
Without getting all political... our current government seems to be (on the face of it) a little shoddy in its treatment of serving soldiers and veterans.
Whatever ones views, it (the government) doesn't have a good image where service people are concerned, so a lot of public support is given to charities of service people (The Royal British Legion, Help for Heroes etc) even if people do not support the wars, or reasons behind them, they (the ordinary people of many faiths & backgrounds) have chosen to support the service-people involved.

[Marcus Iulius Chattus]

@ Dan
Here in germany, most people have a problem with army, war and soldiers, but especially with WWII! In the schools, the german history reaches from stone-age to 1914 and starts again at 1949, the time between is a black hole. The veterans of WWII become no help from the gouvernment or even from charity, because they fought a wrong war in the eyes of most people!
And even those soldiers, who return from Afghanistan, hurt on body and soul, are mostly let alone, even by the army! On of my friends suffered in Afghanistan a post-traumatic-stress-disease, and the army didn´t help him. He must pay everything by his own money, and he went 4 times a week to a special doctor and is often in a psychiatric-hospital. No one feels responsibility for.
It´s really sad.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

That is sad to hear, as people who step up to fight /defend their country, should be taken care of by the country, as they do not decide which wars they fight.

[Marcus Iulius Chattus]

Exact, Byron.
But, the war in Afghanistan isn´t declared as "War" by the german gouvernment, it´s a "peace-mission"! Every german soldier who get´s killed by weaponsfire is declared as "dead by accidend", even, the gouvernment didn´t use the german term "gefallen" for the deads............

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Well, i won't say what I think of that, but the men and woman serving all our countries deserve our govt's and our support at this time,
regardless of what label they want to give the conflict.
OK, I can't help it i will say, 'that sucks'! I am sure the poor individuals who are casualties do not deliberately get them selves in the path of the cause of their injuries, so even if they are 'accidents' they are still doing their duties, and deserve the support of the (respective)govt.
What is the west comming to? :oops:

[Marcus Iulius Chattus]

Byron, be happy that you live in Britannia and that the soldiers of your country have a gouvernment that take care of them! I hope that my son will never defend his homeland in a foreign country, and that my country forget my Reserve-Status in there recent search of more soldiers for Afghanistan.......

And now i put my roman-kit in my car because tomorrow i went to Obernburg, visit the guys of the Antonine-Guard and pray that i understand there Scots Dialect

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Well, the story seems the same! Hence the need for charities to help them out.
Wish I was going to an event somewhere!! Enjoy, and take care...

[Marcus Iulius Chattus]

yes, the idea and work of such charities is great, i wished they were established after the war in germany to help the uncounted widows like my grandmother.......
no, i´m only a visitor at obernburg to visit some old (and new) friends and refresh my english, i didn´t speak it for a long time! Should i take care from the scots, Byron?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Yes definately.....lock up your pet sheep......and your beer and any other alcohol....... :twisted: :lol:

[Marcus Iulius Chattus]

I didn´t have a pet sheep (i believe with some scots it´s like with Templars, they LOVE there sheeps isn´t it? :lol: ) and i didn´t drink any kind of alcohol, so i´m safe, i hope :lol: