The British Army Pays Out!

www.dailymail.co.uk...

I read this story and thought, "wow, here's a girl that's not going to take any BS" - but as I read, all it took to shut her up was £225,000 and a little medal!

So the army awarded her a medal on top of her money - as the final cherry on top! Sheer genius, that even a seasoned con-artist would be proud of - "Here, give her a wee peice of metal - that'll shut her up and think she's got to the bottom of this.."

And it worked! She's actually HAPPY now. Makes me wonder was it about truth or money?

I wonder what really happened?

I have many mixed feelings about this story.

Firstly, i like the fact that she fought so hard to get the true story of what happened to her husband, too many times in the past has a story been covered up by falsehoods. My thoughts go out to her for the loss of her husband, far too many relatives have to go through this.

As for the compensation, thats where i have mixed feelings.

I wish every soldier who was injured in the line of duty because of a health and safety issue could get the same kind of payment or equivilant medal.

Against strict guidelines, the lead vehicle had left the convoy. The soldiers had had only three rather than the normal seven days of driver training.

The Land Rover was built for three, not four people, had just three seatbelts and was overloaded with equipment. Michael’s seat was in the wrong position and the sign instructing him to adjust it was covered.

Her initial payout was £33,000, standard for the widow of a soldier killed in action, and a widow’s pension. After the court found the MoD to be 87.5 per cent negligent, she received £225,000 and was allowed to keep her pension.

If i or people i served with had a huge payment every time we had an extra couple of people in our landrover, or no seatbelts...or the sign being covered up?....we would be pretty well off. A soldier does not need a sign to tell him/her if their seat is in the right position or how to adjust it. A few days short of driver training....surely that doesn't mean this soldier was totaly incompetant due to the few days lack of training?

As for the medal, i have always had mixed feelings about this subject too. There are many given out these days, many deserve them without a doubt, however many "raise an eyebrow" to say the least.

I have seen guys pull injured pilots from a burning heli with rounds flying everywhere...the pilots got the bravery medals while the guys who rescued them got nothing. I'm sure many servicemen here will have seen similar, many many acts gone unrecognised whilst others are given medals for other reasons.

However i am not saying this widow does not deserve the medal she recieved. It does seem a bit odd her getting so long afterwards though.

A good story though of someone refusing to be fobbed off by the apparent official story.

CX.