I am not one to rant

big soft moose said:
sigh, wrong on both counts

"the afghan" is what the troops call it (or at least called it when we had a decent number in country) and in Afghanistan "the green zone" is the name given by UK/US forces to the band of lush jungle like vegetation which runs along the river helmand , so called because viewed from the air the country is pretty much brown until you get near the river. It is also where there is the most trouble as the lush vegetation made it easy for insurgents to hide and to ambush.
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Righty-oh Pvt. Pete :sleep:
 
I tend to pick stuff like this up from my friends who are still serving ( with Rifles, Royal Marines, and 2 Mercian), I don't generally watch movies about "the Afghan" as they tend to annoy me by glamourising what has been a very dirty war.

That said I would recommend the documentary "Restrepo" by Sebastian Junger (and his accompanying book "War" ) which is about an American battle group's tour in the Koringal

(If we are being techinical it would be potential officer candidate pete - I got washed out with the assessment "would make an excellent combat officer but does not have the qualities required for a peace time army" - ie too likely to f*** about if he gets bored ... but hey that was a long time ago so you don't have to use the rank ;) )
 
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Blank_Canvas said:
This isn't just from the movies. It's. very much in use today. Virtually every word or situation is either shortened or given acronyms, Example. In a very hot place recently the traffic lights were out at a major junction. It didn't matter what direction the cars were coming from everyone just went through it at full tonk without slowing down. So infamous and dangerous was this. That within hours this was universally known as 'malfunction junction' the military have it's own ever evolving and changing vocabulary.
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:thumbs:
Wasn't the original malfunction junction in Tampa (Florida) ? - I'd guess that it was murricans who named the hot place one. ( Mind you don't they drive like that all the time in some hot places :lol: )
 
I believe the way kids behaviour is a direct reflection of how the parents behave. Hitting and shouting never works and just causes stress in the child. Talking to kids and explaining to them why they shouldn't do stuff and why is a far better option IMO. I was hit, shouted at and shown boundaries. It turned me into a rebel. It wasn't until I was a adult that I started to settle down.
 
We had a terrible time with a very active, vocal 3 yr old but got it stopped with the help of the local supermarket manager.

We'd tried the ignoring the temper tantrum in the shop , we'd walked away from her doing her temper tantrum - didn't work.

Eventually we enlisted the help of said male shop manager and her great aunt.

Went into the shop with madam and her Great Aunt - a VERY stately lady who madam really loved.

Great Aunt did the little one's ' Please I would like.... ' She was told 'No' so Great Aunt got down on the floor , wriggled about and squawked blue murder - a truly wonderful tantrum :)

Little one stunned ! Shop manager kept folk away - how he wasn't laughing fit to burst I really do not know.

Little one to beloved Great Aunt " Get up Aunty ...... You look really silly "

Aunty got up and said to little one " And that's just the way you look when you do that "

No more tantrums in public places after that - a quiet sulk, which never lasted long, was substituted but when madam was reminded that people could see how silly she looked, those also stopped :)
 
I go to the zoo quite a lot at this time of year so do see some of the behaviour that the OP is talking about
Most kids are OK tho the only time I get cross is when one grabs hold of my tripod and the parent is watching and does nothing
It happened the other day I just carefully pulled kids hand off my tripod leg and said firmly don't touch!
Amazed that even then the parent didn't respond
 
Good point well made - Tim Hetherington is the cameraman , Sebastian Junger is the journalist , they were both there for the making of the documentary, but Junger also made extra trips without Hetherington for the book
 
LCPete said:
I go to the zoo quite a lot at this time of year so do see some of the behaviour that the OP is talking about
Most kids are OK tho the only time I get cross is when one grabs hold of my tripod and the parent is watching and does nothing
It happened the other day I just carefully pulled kids hand off my tripod leg and said firmly don't touch!
Amazed that even then the parent didn't respond
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The parent is probably busy calling you a nonce on mumsnet/net mums - after all they 'know' conclusively that all photographs are weirdos and you 'touched' her child , how very dare you :lol:
 
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