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Showing posts from May, 2024

Solo singers who went back to the band

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How well they did, or didn’t do, is always up for discussion, but here’s a few singers who went back to the band. Bruce Dickinson left Iron Maiden, and then went back. Nice shorts, Bruce. Vince Neil left Motley Crue and went back Ian Gillan left Deep Purple, didn’t do too badly, but he still went back Udo Dirkschneider left Accept, went back, then left again. And while you might think that Maxwell Diabolo is always on the cusp of leaving Cold Steel, he never does. Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard It's Not For Everyone

It's Not For Everyone is free to download for a limited time

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  It's Not For Everyone,  a frank account of my time in the RAF Regiment, is free to download onto your Kindle from Amazon, for a short time only. Get your free copy now! What do you do when your dream job turns into a nightmare? Rick Brindle was a third generation military child. His father and grandfather served their whole lives in the Army, and all he wanted to do was be a soldier. In 1989 he joined the RAF Regiment. But life in the Regiment was a world away from what he thought it would be, and it quickly became toxic. Facing a culture of bullying, beatings, verbal abuse and sexual harassment, the community he wanted to be a part of became more like a prison. Most people around him went along with the abuse. Some agreed with it, some joined in, while the chain of command routinely looked the other way. Set over thirty years ago, this is a story of surviving abuse that still resonates today. It’s Not For Everyone is essential reading for anyone considering a military caree...

What are the most embarrassing British military blunders?

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  Fortuna Glacier, 1982. The SAS were deployed on the South Georgia glacier during the Falklands War, believing they could traverse it. They couldn’t, and if they’d listened to the Marines and SBS, they wouldn’t have tried. They didn’t listen, and so hubris and a general cowboy attitude meant that they were on a mission that was doomed to fail. It was only the sheer cojones of the Fleet Air Arm’s Wessex pilots that saved their bacon. Two helicopters were lost, along with a lorra lorra SAS pride. The Channel Dash, 1942. The German warships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen left Brest and slipped along the English Channel, to escape British aircraft and naval forces and arrive safely in German ports. It was very embarrassing for the British forces, and also resulted in a lot of British aircraft losses. It was mission impossible for the Germans, but they did it. Torrey Canyon, 1967. This huge oil tanker ran aground and broke up just off the south west coast of England, threatenin...

Which band is the best live band?

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  It's always going to be subjective, but for me, it's  The Rolling Stones, without a doubt. And they’re not even my favourite band. These guys are. And I really don’t like the Stones’ whole corporate, greedy, money grabbing thing they’ve got going. I paid £150 to see them in 2006, and it was eye-wateringly expensive then, and it’s still a bloody fortune today. I’d never pay that to see another band, and it’s unlikely I’d pay that to see the Stones again, no matter how good they are. And yet…and yet…when they play live, really, seriously, all is forgiven. I’ve been going to concerts for nearly forty years now, and I’ve been to some amazing shows, but no one, no one, even comes close to the Stones. They absolutely are in a league of their own, and when they play live, you’re watching history onstage, you’re a part of that history. When they play live, they make every one of their songs a masterpiece, and they’re the consummate entertainers. No one gets short changed either, it’...

Will the Falklands ever be a part of Argentina?

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In as much as the future is not set (quote from Terminator), anything is possible, including the Falkland Islands becoming part of Argentina. But, thanks to the 1982 war, not yet (quote from Gladiator). And here’s why. Wars clearly inflame emotions, and the Falklands is no exception. Even now, forty-two years after the war, no one in Britain is even considering handing the islands over to Argentina. And don’t expect that to change as long as the war remains a part of living memory. In about forty years from now, the political landscape may well be different. At some point, the garrison  will  be gradually run down. We also need to remember that just before the Falklands War, in 1980, Nicholas Ridley, a tory MP, suggested leasing the islands back to Argentina. The islanders rejected the suggestion, but if there hadn’t been a war, the idea may have gained traction. Stranger things have happened. Ultimately, it’s a decision for the islanders to make. I don’t think there’s much ch...