Honouring our armed heroes

There’s talk of a new Bank Holiday, a National Armed Forces & Veterans Day celebrating our incredible army, navy and air force, writes Shropshire Star blogger Emma Suddaby.

I for one would welcome the first bit of good sense I’ve heard on the news for some time.

We should celebrate the fact that young men and women are still willing, despite the bad press and scare stories, to join up and put their lives on the line in order to defend the rest of us.

When you really think about it, it’s amazing that our vulnerable little island has never been invaded by any of its bigger, seemingly more powerful neighbours.

It’s testament to the bravery and skill of those defending us, and the fear they inspire in our enemies around the world - they are the best of the best.

I’ve been saddened over recent months with the tide of negativity being aimed at the Forces.

Not long ago there was a ruckus in the Press about whether the armed forces should be allowed to attend careers days at schools.

Traditionally, along with representatives from other industries, Forces careers advisors would go along and explain the various job-options available, with the hopes of recruiting school-leavers.

It was suggested that this was morally questionable - that kids shouldn’t be encouraged to join an organisation in which they might be expected to risk their own lives and, let’s face it, in which they’d be expected to deliberately risk the lives of others.

How ridiculous - if they don’t, who will?

And what an insult to the thousands of British men and women who are right now, hunkering down in ditches, flying through hostile skies, enduring all sorts of hardship in defence of each and every one of us.

We should be encouraging school-leavers to look up to those brave servicemen and women. We should be holding them up as a symbol of pride and achievement, and if an Armed Forces & Veterans Day helps to engender that, and helps inspire kids into similar achievements, then let’s do it.

It’s time we started appreciating what these people do for us on a daily basis, and saying thank you, loud and clear. Let’s face it, the Forces have had it rougher than most for some time now.

Their pay is atrocious, and in no way takes into account the sacrifices they all make - a lad joining the fire service can earn significantly more than he could if he’d joined the army. They are often badly equipped while doing their jobs, and housing provided for them and their families is often decrepit and inadequate.

Then we have incidents like the entire military base which was ordered not to wear uniforms while out and about in the local area after two servicemen were attacked and vilified in the nearby town.

How they cope with such ingratitude, I don’t know. But thank God they do, or our lives could be very different.

War is horrible, senseless, gritty and unfashionable, but war is what we’ve got. It’s about time we stopped punishing those who are up to their armpits in it on our behalf for reminding us that it’s happening.

So come on, we’ve never been a nation to knock back an opportunity to down tools . . . roll on National Armed Forces & Veterans Day!

• Inspirational Emma Suddaby shares her ” highs, lows - and various murky places inbetween” - with her blog. Emma, a finalist in the 2007 Shropshire Star Woman of the Year competition, was diagnosed with aggressive, destructive rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 22. She has since won a dream flying scholarship with the charity Flying Scholarships for the Disabled and is now training for a National Private Pilot’s Licence.