I'm of the opinion that service personnel should be allowed to sell their stories and experiences to the media. We all hear the news stories but they are somewhat limited in their content. As long as they are not disclosing any sensitive material then why not? When the armed forces are finished with these people the government are happy for them to be forgotten and have a rememberance day on Nov 11th. We expect these people to place their lives on the line every day that they are in a theatre of war and what thanks do they get? A medal will not feed or cloth you when your time in the forces is over nor will it get you therapy for injuries sustained and your pension aint worth diddly squat till you reach retirement age. Are the government afraid that our people will tell the truth about the conditions and the dangers that they face? The lack of resources, supplies, support, personnel, common sense and just how long will the middle east situation continue? How many high ranking politicians sons and daughters are on the front line? Yes, in case you are wondering, I am time served.[/i][/b]

of course the gouvernment is afraid of what would be said if service men and women were allowed 2 publish their experiences. it would show them up for the tight arses they are!
im in total agreement with you as long as no secrets are written about that would put the country and its people in danger then theres no reason why we shouldnt hear about the experiences of our service men and women....honest and true not what the media thinks we need to hear!
also i think it would help a lot not just financially but on an emotional level to be able to face some of the things that they have seen during active service xx

Hmmm, there appears to be two (at least) sides to this, both of which I have heard argued (sometimes heatedly!!):

1. You get paid for what you do, and should know what it does/could entail before joining, so when you sign up, you sign up for the job in its totality (including signing the Official Secrets Act).

2. Unlike when you buy a new car, you cannot take it back when it isn`t exactly as sold to you. Also, why should you have to keep quiet after the event when promises and duties of care have been so flagrantly ignored?

from a PERSONAL point of view, I would say "PUBLISH AND BE DAMNED". How dare the Government (or anyone else) try to enforce the silence of affected people, when the stories they wish to tell do not endanger lives/security/etc, but merely give an informed insight into the disgraceful way they are treated.

Good luck to you.

Steve

Im currently serving and my opinion on the whole writing a book thing is....go for it! If someone has the ability to write an informative book on their experiences, to be able to tell the world what actually happens then Im all for it.
As it stands, the forces in general are not well treated by Liarbour and things wont change unless people realise what its like in the forces. People can easily turn around and say "Well thats what you signed up for!", well no its not, we signed up for our own reasons not to be treated worse than illegal immigrants and criminal prisoners.

Phew!! thats my rant done

If it was good enough for Bruce Bairnsfather then it should be good enough now. People automatically think that if service personnel do tell their stories it will be a bad thing and its will entail lots of scandal, but that is not always the case. There is also a huge upside to people telling their story, where i'd agree a lot of the benefits aren't seen immediately but it is vital that the story get told in a balanced, considered and constructive way.

I completely see the governments side of it though (and its where the problem lies actually) in that they don't want people selling their story to the red top tabloids so they can take 5% of the story and chop and change that and mould it into something that actually couldn't be further from the truth. Its all very well for them to claim that they have interviewed ex-service personnel etc. and feel justified in printing up any old tripe and claim they are correct but more often than not what ends up on the ink is not actually news or informative at all.

I think that its not service personnel telling their story is the problem, its who relays the story to the public. I think we'd all agree you wouldn't tell a tabloid what you had for breakfast for fear they'd say you ate your next door neightbour for lunch while the vicar looked on. Its the very aggressive media who are at fault. We admitted that already in this thread by thinking the worst when we haven't even heard the story yet. We already know the slant that the tabloids will take and it would be regarded as the truth no matter how the fabricate or relay the story.

It's good to see such a varied response to my post. Although it's not an original idea, I still reckon that there should be more freedom of speech in such matters. I do have to agree with one point though upon reflection. That's the spin that the tabloids would have. They are really nothing more than vultures who would only seek to gain some award or another for imparting to the world all their hard work. What a pile of crap!

Yet still I hold to that of which I first spoke. Simply money? No not just that. More to the truth and shame of the government would I reveal.