Excellent news. Sgt Alexander Blackman has his sentence reduced.

I've seen plenty of comments like the ones Penstemmon has seen. The victim has been completely dehumanised in some people's eyes.

It's my experience that many families have some kind of public service commitment running through them. It was evident when visiting foster carers, many of whom had adult children in the military, police, nursing, etc.
It's true that former service personnel are over represented in drug/alcohol prison communities. Some of that is due to ptsd and some to the vulnerability the young service personnel took with them when they signed up. No amount of "training" will prevent a proportion of people suffering the consequences of exposure to dreadful things. It's true in many types of employment, including medics, police, social work, teaching - most of us have a break point. Medics, police, social work, teaching often have support services/counselling provided by their employer. Service personnel don't work in an environment where that is considered the norm, it's more a case of 'get on with it'. That's what Sgt B did, he got on with it until it got on with him. No one is defending his actions. I can't find it in myself to criticise his supporters for 'celebrating' the change in his conviction from murder to manslaughter. Our armed services are ordinary people, expected to do extraordinary things on our behalf. To take a superior attitude by saying they are either seduced into joining up because at 16 they're too dimn to realise what they're doing misses the point and suggests they deserve all they get.

Excellent post Iam64.
I agree that no amount of training will turn around the lives of some young people or that exposure to dreadful things will not affect them or have an effect on their often very young wives when they return from a tour of duty. Many young families do split or need a considerable amount of help to prevent this happening. But many have married at an extremely young age to get away from home and to get a quarter and relationships may not have survived anyway.
There is welfare available and support from Forces charities which will help families as well - the hardworking members of charities are often ex-service personnel themselves or their families, some in their 80s but still with that public service commitment and unselfish desire to help others.

For many the Forces does provide an apprenticeship, a training which can be a springboard to opportunities in later life which they may otherwise not have got.

Reading remarks from trolls online does not necessarily mean these are the views of service or ex-sevice personnel or thoe of Sg Blackman's supporters - there are nasty-minded malicious people lurking everywhere with the opportunity to state their views online.

Two excellent posts.

It seems to me that W M N has a distinct dislike of the military - tinged with a bit of jealousy perhaps ".....even better paid when retiring at the ripe old age of 40". May I ask what W M N did for a career? Did it involve risking her life from bombs and bullets? Would she perhaps be happier to see all our armed forces disbanded leaving us even more vulnerable? I would however be happier if no member of the services went abroad on a "jolly" to places like Afghanistan, Iraq etc.

I realise that comments by trolls don't represent a cross section of opinion. However, such comments are widely read by some groups of people. They have been a common feature in the history of so-called lone wolf attacks. They do influence people and sometimes legitimises opinions. Unfortunately, some of these people will take action.

I understand that Sg Blackman and his family have been advised to move home and assume new identities for their own safety.

What, even his mother?

Why? Would they be under threat from pacifists?

Are you privy to informtion that the rest of us cannot access, daphnedill?

Yes, are you daphnedill? I can't find any reference to this anywhere either...

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/28/marine-a-alexander-blackman-court-martial-appeal-insurgent

Read it yourself!

Some people just can't help being rude, so it seems. Anyway, I'm not in any mood for this kind of thing.

Thank you daphnedill. When I googled it, nothing came up.

Nor me (or my pc)

I wasn't being rude, just curious as I couldn't find it.
I'm sorry if you are in a bad mood, hope it's not GN making you so.

I don't think anyone was being rude, just interested!

Your opinion. Sarcastic and snipey is mine.

Anyway, I have other things to do.

It was a straightforward question.

Ouch!!?

It's so sad , this soldier , regardless of his mental health , killed the injured man through the same emotion as the taliban kill - hatred

That's true annnie, but after what he had witnessed maybe a bit understandable. Let's face it the Afghanistan involvement was a complete mess to say the least as were all our Middle East adventures! Let's hope we've learned some lessons and won't let ourselves be drawn into foreign situations again.

Thanks for posting the link to the Guardian article daphnedill. I haven't had time to read the paper today (it's sitting on the kitchen table, waiting) so I hope to also catch up with the Gabby Hinchcliffe take on this.

I'd read earlier in the week and heard during a radio 4 interview, that the Blackman's had been advised to leave their home because of the risks from terrorists/avengers. At that stage, Mrs Blackman was saying that as they live in a town with military associations, she felt they took reasonable precautions. That may not be enough once her husband is released.

The problem with the wars British soldiers have been sent to in Afghanistan and Iraq for example, is that they were in the case of Afghanistan, clearly "unwinnable" (whatever that may mean) given its history, Russian involvement etc. Iraq was just plain wrong, as was demonstrated by the demonstrations by ordinary members of our country, agains the invasion "not in my name" was the slogan. I live in an areas with a large Pakistani Muslim population and it seemed obvious to me that many of my neighbours would see the invasion of Iraq as an attack on Islam, as well as well, just plain wrong. It was clear at the time that it would take generations to undo the harm caused in our own country, never mind in Iraq itself. This of course, is history. Nothing we can do to change that, or its legacy. What we can and should do, is to offer compassion and practical support to the military sent out there, poorly equipped to do a job that they knew most of the people at home disapproved of. A bit like Vietnam?

The article was in Tuesday's Guardian, Iam64. Obviously you missed it then, not today.

Ah, thanks Ana. It's been a very busy week here at base control.

True Niggly, but still very sad to go down to the same level as the enemy

Oh heavens yes, it is annie, let's hope this was the last of these foreign adventures.

We can but hope and pray niggle , I wasn't judging the man, just watching the video again helped me realise he must have hated the man, wars feed hate don't they

I doubt he had enough time to feel hatred for the man. He may have had other feelings towards him (after all, he was the 'enemy') but I think hatred is too strong.