Category Archives: Military

Bloody Sunday families reject decision to charge only one soldier

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Relatives of some of the 14 people killed to challenge ruling by Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service

The families of those who died in the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings in Derry are to challenge a legal decision not to prosecute any more former soldiers in connection with the shootings.

Relatives expressed dismay after a review by the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service (PPS), published on Tuesday, confirmed that only one former member of the Parachute Regiment, known as Soldier F, should face charges.

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More Afghan interpreters eligible to move to UK under new rules

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Government expands scheme for linguists who risked lives for British troops

Dozens more Afghan interpreters who risked their lives for British troops will be able to apply to settle in the UK following the government decision to expand a relocation scheme.

Former interpreters and servicemen have welcomed the move, which could mean about 100 linguists and their families will be made eligible to apply for resettlement – but said more must be done for the hundreds still at risk of reprisals in Afghanistan.

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Military dog Kuno to receive UK’s highest honour for animals

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Three-year-old Belgian shepherd malinois saved lives by tackling an al-Qaida gunman

A retired British military dog is to receive a medal for valour after he was injured in action while tackling an al-Qaida gunman.

Kuno will receive the PDSA Dickin Medal in a virtual ceremony in November, giving him the highest honour for military animal valour.

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Commonwealth veterans launch legal action in immigration row

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Eight Fijian-born soldiers went public five months ago and have yet to receive positive response

Eight Fijian-born soldiers who served with the British army in Iraq and Afghanistan are seeking a judicial review against the Ministry of Defence and Home Office, saying bureaucratic errors have made them illegal immigrants in the country for which they once served.

The group of Commonwealth veterans have been forced to go to court five months after first going public because neither Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, nor Priti Patel, the home secretary, have yet responded positively to their initial complaint or properly reviewed their cases.

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Ex-British army officer faces 13 years in Romanian jail over ayahuasca ceremony

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Exclusive: Thomas Lishman charged with prominent local figures in ‘landmark human rights case’

A former British army officer is facing up to 13 years’ imprisonment in Romania for facilitating an ayahuasca ceremony in which the hallucinogenic Amazonian healing medicine was consumed by prominent figures, including the former head of the country’s secret police.

Thomas Lishman, 58, was arrested on 15 December last year as police and special forces raided a retreat centre outside Bucharest at dawn. It followed an evening where attendees sat in a circle meditating and drinking ayahuasca, a brew which is said to lead to mystical life-changing experiences. Some were later taken to hospital to provide blood samples.

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Britain and US accuse Russia of launching ‘weapon’ in space

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Launch of projectile from satellite into orbit ‘threatens the peaceful use of space’

The US and UK have accused Russia of testing an anti-satellite weapon in space, in the latest sign that a space-based arms race is heating up.

General John Raymond, the head of the new US Space Force, said the alleged test of a projectile, conducted on 15 July, was “further evidence of Russia’s continuing efforts to develop and test space-based systems, and consistent with the Kremlin’s published military doctrine to employ weapons that hold US and allied space assets at risk.”

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Magic mushrooms could help ex-soldiers to overcome trauma

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As more troops self-medicate with psychedelic drugs to help with PTSD, a group of experts lobby for proper clinical trials

A growing number of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder are turning to “magic mushrooms” and LSD to treat their condition. But drug laws make it almost impossible to establish whether they work.

Now a new body, the Medical Psychedelics Working Group, a consortium of experts, academics, researchers, policy specialists and industry partners, is to begin lobbying for a change in the law so that scientists can conduct clinical trials.

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Queen’s birthday marked with physically distanced event at Windsor Castle

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Welsh Guards stage unique ceremony to replace trooping the colour during lockdown

The Queen’s official birthday has been marked with a brief ceremonial tribute by the military under physical distancing measures.

Soldiers from the Welsh Guards, who a few weeks ago were staffing coronavirus test centres, staged the unique event in the grounds of Windsor Castle, as the head of state made her first official public appearance since lockdown was imposed.

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IRA and former soldiers urged to help solve 1972 killing of young woman

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Police appeal for information on Belfast shooting of Jean Smyth-Campbell

A senior detective investigating one of Britain’s most controversial spy scandals has appealed to both ex-IRA and retired soldiers to help him get the truth about the killing of a young woman in the Troubles.

Jon Boutcher is a former chief constable of Bedfordshire and the head of Operation Kenova, which is investigating the military intelligence agent known as Stakeknife who betrayed the IRA for three decades.

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Red Arrows fly over London to mark 75th anniversary of VE Day – video

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The RAF's display team colour the skies above London red, white and blue to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Nazi commanders surrendered to allied forces in a French schoolhouse 75 years ago on 8 May 1945, bringing the second world war in Europe to an end.

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RAF jets to roar over UK to mark 75th anniversary of VE Day

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Boris Johnson urges nation to unite in tribute as celebrations are adapted owing to Covid-19

RAF jets will roar over Britain to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, as Boris Johnson urged the nation to unite in tribute to the achievement and sacrifice of the wartime generation.

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will lead a two-minute silence from Scotland on a day of celebration and commemoration which also includes a “national toast”, an address by the Queen, and a nationwide sing-a-long of Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again.

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Under Boris Johnson, Putin and Trump the world has uncanny parallels to 1945

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Russia on the offensive, Brexit Britain stands alone, and US disdain for European allies recalls its naivety with Stalin

Victory in Europe was made possible by a remarkable military collaboration between the main anti-Axis powers – the US, Russia and Britain. But the three-way relationship, between Franklin D Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill, was never easy, and it set a pattern of national rivalry, suspicion, fear and distrust that persists to this day.

A row over a top-secret message, known as SCAF-252, sent to Stalin in late March 1945 by Gen Dwight Eisenhower, the supreme allied commander, shows how fraught the relationship could be. In it, Eisenhower detailed his plans for the final defeat of Nazi Germany – but omitted to first consult or inform his British allies.

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Show your mettle: Victoria Cross not made of captured Russian guns after all

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The long-held belief about the UK’s highest award for valour may have originated in speculation by the press, research has found

The Victoria Cross, or VC as it is popularly known, is the most cherished award in the British armed forces, awarded since 1857 for courage displayed “in the presence of the enemy”.

Its long history is filled with true stories of great bravery. But one long-held belief – that Victoria Cross medals were made from enemy guns captured during the Crimean war against Russia – is unlikely to be true, and originated instead from speculation in the press, according to new research.

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Harry Dunn parents write to UK army chief after ‘near misses’ near base

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Police investigate three incidents of Americans driving on wrong side of road near RAF Croughton

The parents of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn have pleaded with the head of the armed forces to set up a meeting with a US military base after claims of “three near misses” involving their staff.

Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn wrote to Gen Sir Nick Carter on Sunday to say they “bear our American friends no ill will”, but insisted RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire could not “practice splendid isolation” on safety issues.

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Ex-paratrooper walking UK coastline isolates on empty Shetland island

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Chris Lewis is staying on usually uninhabited Hildasay until charity challenge can resume

A former paratrooper is isolating on a usually uninhabited Shetland island after lockdown measures were introduced when he was on a fundraising challenge to walk the UK coastline.

Chris Lewis, 39, has walked 12,000 miles since setting off from Llangennith beach on the Gower peninsula near his home city of Swansea, south Wales, in August 2017.

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Labour calls for better coronavirus protection for UK armed forces

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John Healey says number of tests on frontline personnel should be made public

The shadow defence secretary called on the government to do “everything it can” to protect the British armed forces from coronavirus – and make public the number of times service personnel have been tested for the disease.

John Healey wrote to the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, amid concerns about a lack of transparency with the British military and after serious outbreaks of the respiratory disease on US and French warships.

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Royal Navy shadows Russian ships after ‘high activity’ in Channel

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Seven ships remained off UK coast for unusually long time this month

Nine Royal Navy ships were involved in a major operation shadowing seven Russian vessels who had lingered in the Channel for several days this month as the coronavirus crisis was beginning to worsen in the UK.

The unusually high level of Russian activity concluded about a week and a half ago and navy officials said they believed it was primarily a response to western exercises in Europe rather than to a perception that the disease was leaving the UK vulnerable.

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Worker posts video from ExCeL centre being converted into coronavirus hospital

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The building work to turn London’s ExCel conference centre into an emergency hospital treating coronavirus patients 'within days' has begun. 

As construction began on Wednesday morning, Alex Woodside, who has been working on the cabling, posted a chilling video on Facebook showing the cavernous 100,000 sq metre Docklands site, saying: 'If you are not taking this seriously, like I wasn't, I think we really need to start'

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Bill sets five-year limit to prosecute UK armed forces who served abroad

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Legislation to stop ‘vexatious’ claims excludes alleged crimes by military personnel in Northern Ireland

A five-year time limit on bringing prosecutions against soldiers and veterans who have served abroad – except in “exceptional circumstances” – is to be imposed under legislation introduced by the government.

Clauses in the overseas operations (service personnel and veterans) bill would protect serving and former military personnel from what the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, claimed was a “vexatious” cycle of claims and re-investigations.

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UK’s air war against Isis ends after five years

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RAF has launched no attacks in Syria or Iraq since September, but controversy continues over civilian casuality numbers

Britain’s five-year air war against Isis has quietly come to an end, with official figures revealing no bombs have been dropped since September – yet the MoD still acknowledges only one civilian casualty in the entire conflict.

The data shows that over a period longer than the first world war, 4,215 bombs and missiles were launched from Reaper drones or RAF jets in Syria and Iraq, and a wide discrepancy has emerged between UK and US estimates of the number of civilians killed.

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