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[vernon]

Hi, I know this is nothing to do with Panic/Anxiety etc but what I am seeing here really upsets me. I have a son in the army he served in the Iraq war and is now there for the second time, he has been there since October so has had no Xmas with family and friends , his birthday is in December too so that wasn’t a nice time for him. When the News of the World published about British troops beating these Iraq people I was pretty upset and annoyed that news and media have to do these things. Anyone who has family in the forces knows different and only people with close friends of family in front line forces out there know the truth about whets really going on. These kids; I say kids because most are young men mostly 19 to mid 20s. Sleeping in bad conditions and dirty surroundings day and night, no going home in the evenings and weekends like any other job and even when it is the evening, they are scared because of constant attacks and can’t drink alcohol to relax as it’s against the law there. Every time they go out of the camp on patrol they drive over roadside bombs daily, but are protected by there armoured vehicles, then when on foot in built up arias they are getting stones and petrol bombs thrown at them. And there are lots lots more injuries to the soldiers than people would believe unless they have close friends or family there to tell them. Soldiers do get injured daily. Broken bones and lost limbs we never hear about on the news or in the papers. Innocent Iraq people are protected by the soldiers not beaten. I have many pictures that my son and his friends have took in Iraq and I see soldiers playing football and games with the children there and see them laughing and joking and mixing with Iraq people (why don’t the news and media show these? I do believe these soldiers have beaten some of these people but have anyone ever asked why? the people you see getting beat have been constantly throwing stones, bricks, petrol bombs and shooting at the soldiers even while they try to sleep in there own camp. If you where to go there and ask a lot of the Basra every day people they would tell you the soldiers play games with there kids, protect them from terrorists and have an all round good relationship with the people who want to live in peace. Why don’t the news and papers show kids playing Football and different games with soldiers, why don’t they show how many really get injured, not just publish when a life is lost? At the end of the day the Soldiers jailed the forces to protect us and protect British interest over seas, this war isn’t really anything to do with us and none of our kids want to be there.

[tara]

Hi vern , the news is there to shock and lets be fair when do we ever here anything nice on the news, it's all about killing, violence, mugging, murder!
I remember just before christmas i had to turn the news off, honestly, because i was sick to death of hearing about the bad things that is happening all around the world!
I have a friend who came back from irac a year and a half ago and deeply distressed at it all and now suffers with anxiety and panic attacks due to what he saw, how he had to live, he said he and his fellow mwn spent more than 6 days continious inside the tank, how crazy huh!

[Jenny]

I don't know if anyone agrees with me on this. but I think we see too much of the violence that goes on. During the last two world wars there wasn't televisons or high technology that there is now. There must have been many things happening that we know nothing about. Lots of men and women who served in those wars don't want to talk about what they saw. No adays it is all hyped up, and supposedly make good television (not in opinion) Yes I agree we should see more positive things like our lads out there who are helping and getting on with the people. I am sure for such as you Vernon and all other families with sons and daughters in Iraq it would give you a bit of comfort to know not everything is bad.
Best wishes to you and your family Vernon and everyone else who has family in the armed forces. Lets just prey they come home safe and sound in mind and body.

Jenny xxxxxxx

[Piglet]

I agree with you Verny the proganda in the press is disgusting - who knows what to believe half the time.

You have a son to be proud of there Verny and I wish him well

Love Piglet xx

[Ma Larkin]

I totally agree with you Vernon. I have heard about this particular instance (believe it happened in 2004), but it only shows what happened AFTER the locals had stoned and thrown hand grenades at these particular British soldiers. There is a well known saying "don't believe everything you read in the press". They do it to get the best headlines, hence more readers. Personally, I think most of it is trash & not worth the paper its written on. Like you say, they shouldn't even be there in the first place. I say bring our soldiers back and let them sort their own affairs out. You don't see people rushing over to our country every time there is a terrorist attack. Why should we have to come to the aid of every country who is hellbent on causing riots and killing their own kind due to their beliefs, be it religious or financial. We should look after number 1.

Les

[vernon]

Thanks all for the replies. I do believe the solders do beat some bad people they catch. But just think soldiers are all like a big family who love and look after each other and your life there is in the hands of your friends who watch each others backs. How would anyone feel having there camp, like your only bit of home and rest place, stoned, petrol bombed and people trying to blow u up? These lads have had there friend killed and badly injured, so when they do capture some of the culprits what are they supposed to do? Kiss them. What would most people do if they had there home stoned, petrol bombed and people trying to blow it up? And yes you are so right the press and the media shouldn’t be there, It was hell for us and all other parents and families of forces there during the war with 24.7 coverage, And any forces will tell you the media makes the soldiers life more dangerous because they have to look after and protect the press, and fight, when the press shouldn’t even be there. Just think if one of them soldiers you see beating an Iraq person, (who wasn’t an innocent civilians you could see them throwing things just before) just had one of his friend killed of badly injured.

[looby]

Hi Vernon,

Firstly, can I congratulate you on having such a brave son! I don't know hwo anyone could do it and am constantly in awe of them - nothing to do with the uniform honest!!!!

Seriously though, I haven't been able to watch any of the news with that on because it's sickening. Maybe the ones who were getting beaten were throwing things etc as there is a minority who wish to carry on this war!
But it really p's me off when I see that the papers are slagging our boys and girls off!! They are risking their lives daily and we should be supporting them and offering our thanks and prayers for them risking their lives!!!

Take care vern, and i hope your son and his friends all return home safely soon!

L
xxx

[vernon]

Thanks so much Looby, You are so right and the papers printing that just put our kids in more dager as it gives them another excuse toprotest and suport terrorists against out forces. thanks looby TC vernon

[mico]

Hi Vern.

This is the exact reason I don't take any interest in the general media. Some people see this as being ignorant and poorly educated in current affairs. I don't see it that way. I see it as being poorly educated in an imaginary perspective of the world, which can only be a good thing. I'd much rather figure out what's going on myself than have someone repeatedly tell me lies about it every morning, which is pretty much what the media do these days. Even if it's not lies, it's a vastly skewered and biased perspective.

Although by nature people are generally good souls, unfortunately we all have some dark inbuilt mechanism which gets us excited by the misfortune of others. That's not to say we laugh at others, but we have all been entertained by the misfortune of others at some point in our lives, and no doubt we will continue to do so. This is most probably part of some deep psychological survival tactic passed down through evolution, which is probably best not to go into here.

The trouble is, this dark side of us always rears its head from time to time but we don't always realise the consequences of our actions, also known as cause and effect. Until people stop buying these papers, or refusing to watch it on TV, then it will always be there. But, sometimes you just have to accept that the world we live in is far from perfect, there'll always be negativity, and there'll always be positivity to balance it out (just not in the newspapers )

The worst thing about anxiety though, is it can come down in a big negative cloud, putting all of the positivity out of sight. Everything you think of is negative, it's bad, it's dangerous, it's frightening, it's ganging up on you...

It's not. That's just the way you see it. I completely agree, the media could take a much more healthy approach, which as mentioned above could have a healthy effect on society as a whole, cause and effect. Unfortunately, it's out of our control. So, sometimes you just have to forget about it, all this negativity that you're putting all your focus into starts clogging up your pores. And if you clog your pores, you get blackheads!

If you can't control it, then you can't win by trying to do just that. Sometimes it is best to just hang on for the ride, see where it takes you. If there's nothing you can do about it, there's little point in worrying about it. I'm not talking about a defeatist attitude either, if there is something you can do about it, then there's no point in worrying about it either, becuase there's a way to fix it.

As for the soldiers in Iraq. War is sad. I'm lost for any other words, wars suck. But, if we step back a little, as individuals, there's very little we can do, we have no control. The war will the go the way it will go regardless. In which case, no point worrying. Obviously you're not going to stop worrying about this and I wouldn't expect you too, but you can take your line of thought from many perspectives.

In this world, we have little guarantee, or little security (see my signature), we're just in for the ride. But this becomes very difficult to relax with when you suffer from anxiety, so we put all of our energy into building this security through means of controlling the world around us. This, in fact, is detremental to our being as we try to exclude all danger, which only results in raised fear and less enjoyment. I could be explaining this a lot better, but anyways...

Put it this way. Your son is in Iraq and you question quality of life in that environment. Had of things been different, maybe he could have been agorophobic and spent the past year locked up in his bedroom. Which one has the better quality of life? That question really can't be answered, but I'm fairly sure that your son will be gaining insights and experience that he would never of had elsewhere. Whether these are positive or negative are only for him to know, but he'll have plenty of stories to tell the grandkids, and when he's telling those stories there'll be times when he misses it. It's very difficu