well boys my first wish always was to join the irish army but due to this country being a joke and no recruitment for years to come i have decided to join the british army.i was in fermanagh for the barb test and have being offered a good position within the british army

it has taking me 12 months to arrive at this decision i understand what went on in the pass .but what should i do hold it against them for the rest of my life

college wasn't for me

Dublin09 (Dublin) - Posts: 433 - 13/05/2010 21:09:19    646577

dublino9.
i feel sorry u have taken this decision . ie. because of the past.
but i will say this may no harm ever come 2 u , and take care of yourself .
it seems it took u a long time 2 think about , although i would not agree with joining the brits , i wish u well and stay safe.ta32

ta32 (Tyrone) - Posts: 4907 - 13/05/2010 21:17:05    646592

Dublin09
County: Dublin
Posts: 397

646577 well boys my first wish always was to join the irish army but due to this country being a joke and no recruitment for years to come i have decided to join the british army.i was in fermanagh for the barb test and have being offered a good position within the british army

it has taking me 12 months to arrive at this decision i understand what went on in the pass .but what should i do hold it against them for the rest of my life

college wasn't for me


That's fair enough. But have you considered how wrong it is to recruit disadvantaged, vunerable young men for such a high risk career. Britain is at war lest we forget.

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 13/05/2010 21:22:42    646609

yes roundball its wrong. nobody recruited me it was my deceision

Dublin09 (Dublin) - Posts: 433 - 13/05/2010 21:45:14    646647

Dublin09
County: Dublin
Posts: 399

I have a friend that went to officer training or whatever it's called... in the British Army, He's a clever lad this fella, in fact he was certified a genius if you go by IQ scores, but anyway that was a number of years ago, at least 10 years ago... and since then he's been involved in intelligence with Mi5, I've seen him a couple of times since all that, he cant talk about much but it's gas to see how well he's done for himself, he has an incredible career and things will hopefully get better for him still,

You go and live your life my man, dont let anyone on here tell you differently... We have very strong links to Great Britain now, what happened in the past should never be forgotten but it should not get in the way of the future,

You go and train hard and congrats on your placement... it sounds like you worked damn hard for it! You've taken a brave step... well done and God Bless.

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20763 - 14/05/2010 10:18:01    646774

bad.monkey
County: USA
Posts: 2098

646397 At least they were fighting scruffy, what did ireland do? declare themselves neutral

The reality is Ireland basically said we will just stand back and watch as you invade country after country and slaughter millions of people. I am no fan of the british army but at least they stood and fought even when as you said they were getting hammered themselves. they never gave up and did a huge amount to stop the spread of nazism, which surely even you must think is a good thing...

Nazism didnt do half the damage British imperialism has done. Look at Africa. Almost all of their problems can be attributed to the Brits.

Scruffy2Donut (Cavan) - Posts: 1112 - 14/05/2010 10:34:48    646791

Nazism didnt do half the damage British imperialism has done. Look at Africa. Almost all of their problems can be attributed to the Brits.

Really?

The Nazis killed up to 10 million people. By that logic the British killed 20 million during their imperialist pursuits?

All of the problems in Africa are a result of a coloniser who occupied 1/3 of the continent? The French/ Belgians/ Italians and Portuguese (Or even the Irish due to the High held positions of Irishmen in the British colony administrations) hold no responsibility?

I can't find that above statement accurate at all.

JuanVeron (Westmeath) - Posts: 1866 - 14/05/2010 11:24:50    646870

'Nazism didnt do half the damage British imperialism has done. Look at Africa. Almost all of their problems can be attributed to the Brits.'

That would be laughable if it wasn't so insulting

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 14/05/2010 11:51:05    646913

Nazism didnt do half the damage British imperialism has done. Look at Africa. Almost all of their problems can be attributed to the Brits.

exactly. just about all of the worlds problems can be traced back to the brits somewhere along the line.

id say the brits also killed/were the cause of many more than 10 million deaths. look at the famine even. how many irish died there? down to the brits AGAIN

32_4_1 (Meath) - Posts: 4196 - 14/05/2010 12:07:45    646940

exactly. just about all of the worlds problems can be traced back to the brits somewhere along the line.

If that is the case, Ireland holds 1/4 of that responsibility through membership of the British Army and involvement in administering those colonies throughout the world. Irish people (rather ashamedly) were highly involved in the seizing of lands and the theft of nation's resources.

Our history books don't like admitting this though.

JuanVeron (Westmeath) - Posts: 1866 - 14/05/2010 12:33:35    646984

A lot of Irish also were involved in the US armies almost annihilation of the Native American tribes ,then forced them from their lands. They did it because it was a job.No country is innocent when it comes to ruining other countries. As for Africa the list is long....France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Cuba, USA all spilt blood there...im sure there are others.

jarhead (Westmeath) - Posts: 285 - 14/05/2010 12:52:10    647021

irrelevant. it was all under british control juan i.e BRITISh colonisation. every country has commited murder in its past. but nazi germany and the british empire were terrorising, oppressing and killing people in their very recent history. to this day the brits hold land they have no right to be in.

people talk about how bad the nazi's were and they're right. but due to british media manipulation, we're told britain saved the world. both sides were as bad as each other and anyone who says otherwise is deluded. yes the nazi's killed millions, but so did the brits, both fact. russia too were part of the allies ("good side" apparently) but look what stalin was up to. and look at the wars the U.S get themselves into. all terrorists in my book. all ww2 proved was one set of terrorists beat another.

i just dont understand why irish people will continue to come here and defend the brits after everything they've done to this country. they still have six of our countys, yet "irish" people come on here and continually take the unionists side. the british government is still as corrupt as its ever been.

people here are are talking about the evil nazi's, but whenever anyone mentions the brits in the same breath, they bring every other little countrys past into it. why only then? why not when we talk about the nazi's so, talk about how the irish were just as bad. why is it people like jaun only brings irelands "bloody terrorist colonial oppressive" past into it when someone has a go at the lovely brits to defend them. the british empire was bigger than any nazi empire, yet people here will defend them. if everyone agrees every country has done wrong in the past, why single out germany yet defend the brits?

32_4_1 (Meath) - Posts: 4196 - 14/05/2010 13:42:51    647081

32_4_1
County: Meath
Posts: 2354

646940 Nazism didnt do half the damage British imperialism has done. Look at Africa. Almost all of their problems can be attributed to the Brits.

exactly. just about all of the worlds problems can be traced back to the brits somewhere along the line.

id say the brits also killed/were the cause of many more than 10 million deaths. look at the famine even. how many irish died there? down to the brits AGAIN

Exactly 32_4_1 ! The famine was one of the biggest mass murders in history

ConnollyDub (Dublin) - Posts: 2007 - 14/05/2010 13:51:24    647096

Nazism didnt do half the damage British imperialism has done. Look at Africa. Almost all of their problems can be attributed to the Brits.

embarrassing stuff

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4656 - 14/05/2010 13:55:48    647100

bad.monkey
County: USA
Posts: 2101

647100 Nazism didnt do half the damage British imperialism has done. Look at Africa. Almost all of their problems can be attributed to the Brits.

embarrassing stuff


There's plenty of embarrassing stuff on here.A few of the posts above for example.

northpole (Derry) - Posts: 739 - 14/05/2010 14:29:23    647138

Its not irrelevant.

At that time of British Imperialism, Ireland was a constituent of the UK with England, Scotland and Wales, like it or not. Irish people were heavily involved in Britain's (i.e the UK's) atrocities abroad in a prominent way. To ignore or dismiss this is sheer belligerence.

But hey, I'm not an Anglophobe so my opinion doesn't count anyway.

JuanVeron (Westmeath) - Posts: 1866 - 14/05/2010 14:35:43    647148

ok. why bring that point up to defend the brits jaun??? why not for the nazi's too. as you say, every country has a bloody past. so why single out the nazi's. with or without the irish, britains history is far more bloody than germanys ever was, but you just seem intent on defending britain at all costs.

also, are you aware of the way ireland was treated in the uk juan. many joined for food and money because there was none in the country, due to what the brits did to us. word famine ring any bells? but hey, we had a fair say in the uk, eh.

you can twist it whatever you you want, but the driving force behind british colonisation, greed, murder, oppression, terrorism etc. has always been england FACT

32_4_1 (Meath) - Posts: 4196 - 14/05/2010 14:49:58    647162

JuanVeron
County: Westmeath
Posts: 1628

647148 Its not irrelevant.

At that time of British Imperialism, Ireland was a constituent of the UK with England, Scotland and Wales, like it or not. Irish people were heavily involved in Britain's (i.e the UK's) atrocities abroad in a prominent way. To ignore or dismiss this is sheer belligerence.

But hey, I'm not an Anglophobe so my opinion doesn't count anyway.

You're unfortunately correct on this one... it's all there in black and white on the Imperial war museum website. You can see the names in the regiments that served in the African Core - O'Toole, O'Leary etc etc

It makes perfect sense to be honest... using the grunts for the filthy jobs! Sure look at where a lot of the Black & Tan's were from… Mostly made up of Welsh and Scots men.

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20763 - 14/05/2010 14:51:01    647165

Yes lads and while you're all at it,

Pol Pot was actually an Englishman, Paul Potter from Stoke !!
Idi Amin was also English, Freddie Am-inglish from Barnsley !!

Blame them for everything lads !!

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 14/05/2010 15:27:28    647219

you can twist it whatever you you want, but the driving force behind british colonisation, greed, murder, oppression, terrorism etc. has always been england FACT

Not twisting anything, I largely agree with the above statement with regard to the motives and consequences of the motives of British (Anglocentric?) Imperialism!!


....But the Nazi hierarchy was pure evil, I don't think the Brits (and many Irish people involved) were.

People like Kipling suggested it was their duty to help other peoples of the world like Africans, but to me it was sheer xenophobia. Their intentions may not have been wholly bad in their view, but the consequences of their endeavours were all the things you mentioned, despite their so called policy of 'splendid isolation'. Disgusting stuff. But measurably twice as bad as the evil nazi regime? I really don't think so

And don't tell me I'm defending the acts of the Brits (i.e. the ruling class), far from it. What they did was terrible, be it to some Irish people, Native Americans, certain African tribes, or possibly worst act of all with the Aboriginals of Australia.


I just don't like reading historical inaccuracies!

JuanVeron (Westmeath) - Posts: 1866 - 14/05/2010 15:43:43    647241