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Seems to be the trend nowadays, give all and sundry a medal rather than to spend the money and put in place proper care for our servicemen.

A remark I read many years ago elsewhere. [italic]"When you've nothing left to offer, hand out medals and honours"[/italic]

At the site of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. there's a memorial to the nurses and doctors who served. Quite the most moving and impressive of all the memorials in that park. I fully support the recognition of these brave people and hope that the governments who decide to commit their citizens to war continue to work to ensure that less and less die and are maimed.

Point made McSomeone but nobody seriously thinks the cost of awards for medical staff compares to the proper care our soldiers should be getting.

there is already a system for nurses in the military. and if you scan the honours list-lots of military docs,nurses and medics. so whats this for? there are already plenty of ways of honouring those in charities etc that support our services. if this keeps up it will be like the americans I met in desert storm(whilst an RAMC officer attached USMC)they had medals for crossing the ocean,flying over a war zone and so on. average medal bag was 11 for attending. those who actually did something couldnt stand up with the weight on their chests.

As an ex RN combat medic I simply ask why (Falklands 82)? Is this UK Government so bankrupt that it will try anything to hide its appalling treatment of veterans and failure to provide the Defence Medical Services with the specific training and resources required to deal with combat injuries and the rehabilitation of the damaged service personnel. For those medics in a combat zone who did outstanding work or undertook to save life at the risk to their own there are already routes to recognition - the most VC's ever awarded to one person was to a doctor in the First World War. For those who are time served and kept their noses clean, didn't upset their superiors and went along with what ever was the flavour of the day, there is always the MBE / OBE (Services Division). For me, my reward was the high number of wounded we saw who survived some horrific injuries, my small part in ensuring they went down the line properly resuscitated, stable and for those who we could not help that their last minutes or hours were as comfortable as possible. My sadness is for the 16 and 17 year old Argentinians who died, had no form of identification and even the Red Cross could not help us trace their families as the Argentinian Army had not proper medical and dental records of their conscripts. That old lie: pro patria mori.

[quote]if this keeps up it will be like the americans I met in desert storm(whilst an RAMC officer attached USMC)they had medals for crossing the ocean,flying over a war zone and so on.[/quote] Back in the fifties and sixties we used to look askance at anyone who dispalyed a chestful of medals. Most just wore any campaign medals or combat awards and even then the campaign medals were sometimes frowned on, depending what they were for.

[quote]the most VC's ever awarded to one person was to a doctor in the First World War.[/quote] Wasn't there a Stretcher Bear who won two and also another award twice for heroism? He objected to the war but volunteered as a medic/stretcher bearer. [quote]My sadness is for the 16 and 17 year old Argentinians who died, had no form of identification and even the Red Cross could not help us trace their families as the Argentinian Army had not proper medical and dental records of their conscripts.[/quote] A friend who I worked with in the mid eighties was asked by an Italian if the Argentines had been cowards. He thought about it a second and said, No, the same as us but poorly trained and badly lead.