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63 About this deal
I remember in my police training being given a lecture by some armed police – they told everyone that, faced with killing someone, you would hesitate. I don’t agree. Soldiers react instantly to threats. Then again, the armed police also tried to be clever by sending a loaded pistol around the audience with a blank round in the chamber. They thought someone would not be able to resist pulling the trigger. When the pistol was returned to them, a former soldier had made it safe, and they were presented with the blank round, removed from the chamber, as well. We were told he should not have done that because he wasn’t trained. The medal ribbons on the guy’s chest said otherwise. I have read books that describe the covert nature of entering and exiting the Divis flats in West Belfast and being greeted with stones and petrol bombs. Sure, you needed to make sure that comings and goings were not routine so that a pattern could not be identified. Confrontations often happened but I never experienced the level of violence that some people describe when entering the flats. It must have been difficult to take for the locals having an observation post and secret squirrel stuff based at the top of the Divis flats in the middle of the republican enclave of West Belfast. This phrase occurs, for example, in A new start after 60: I found love after a painful divorce—and we moved to an uninhabited island, by Emma Beddington, published in The Guardian (London and Manchester, England) of Monday 3 rd April 2023: The basic meaning is clear: "---- this" expresses disapproval of a situation. But I'm curious about the modifying phrase. As Europe embarks on four years of events to mark the Great War, we are proud to present this new World War 1 artwork by Bob Barker.
They were there to “keep the peace”, to “assist the civil powers” and to “fight terrorism”. On their return to Britain, there were no street parties or victory parades to welcome them home. The British Army has been deployed on the streets of Northern Ireland from August 1969 to 2007, over thirty years.
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The writing style was very engaging, and the poems and quotes from the beginning of the chapters were a nice touch. Nevertheless, the Military Slang index from the end of the book provided valuable information. I also appreciated the pictures from the personal archive that complemented the captivating stories." have been asked far too often if I could ever kill someone. The answer, in a binary way, is yes, but it is more complex than that. If I or my colleagues are under immediate threat of harm then, yes, I would do so without hesitation – soldiers are trained that way. If the threat is not immediate then I have to set myself some questions: Is this an enemy combatant or (in the case of Northern Ireland a terrorist)? Is he or she armed? Will they pose a future threat in the short or long term? Will a civilian get hurt? You can’t help but be moved by this incredible piece of art by Bob Barker, it evokes myriad emotions in the viewer and it is particularly poignant because of all the commemorations that have begun to mark this chapter in European history. He’d set us up as the diversion but hadn’t thought it necessary to explain where we fitted in his grand strategy. Well sod that for a game of soldiers, I wasn’t playing any more. The other two didn’t even notice they’d been conned.
There is an idiom that seems to be distinctly British: “—- this for a game of soldiers” where the dashes are replaced with various swear words. For example: “Sod this for a game of soldiers.” It usually seems to involve profanity but there are some cleaned-up variations such as “Stuff this for a game of soldiers.”
After landing in the dead of night at RAF Aldergrove, the military airport just outside Belfast, we set off. Our convoy was made of several ancient armoured vehicles including a Saracen Armoured car, a Pig Armoured car of early 1950s vintage, and several armoured Land Rovers. We sped through Belfast, along the Crumlin Road, and past the infamous Crumlin Road prison, before arriving at North Howard Street Mill in West Belfast. Our vehicles, especially the Land Rovers, would be frequent visitors to the base, but it was a no-go area for private vehicles. The only cars that pulled up to the front gates were full of explosives and left to blow up by fleet of foot drivers. From a spark of an idea whilst talking with my brother, researching so much over a period of five months, imagining so many different emotions all of this poured out into the piece.” In April 1983, we were informed that we were being posted to Northern Ireland for six months. The reason we were given for being there was to keep the peace and assist the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). To us, a terrorist was a terrorist – Protestant or Catholic, Republican or Loyalist, it didn’t matter to us. We had no hatred for either side unless they were going to come into conflict with us; and we didn’t consider the merits of either side or, in fact, if we should even have been there at all. We saw Northern Ireland as a war zone, we had a job to do. When I first was told about the posting I felt excited and apprehensive. I was just 20 and had never been on operations. Although there were some glum faces, most guys in the Battalion were ok about it, especially guys like me, who were going for the first time; it was a chance to earn a medal at long last. The phrase finds its origin in the idea that some things are simply not worth the trouble. While children playing "a game of soldiers" might seem fun and carefree, if they were being forced to play soldiers for real they might think otherwise. Thus there is a subtle undercurrent that the situation has escalated from a harmless one to one more fraught with peril. It may also have ramifications about the pointlessness of things when dealing with legitimately necessary work - the menial task of cleaning up a children's room, for example, knowing full well the room will just be messed up again. From Robinson Crusoe Smith, by John Smith, published in the Sunday People (London, England) of Sunday 23 rd November 1975:
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