David Cameron urges Falkland islanders to 'seize' referendum opportunity

reply to post by ANDERSON23


My memory is a little cloudy ( hell a brief 8 years ago ) but from what I remember no other country was involved and it was suspected as a recce mission
Due to the UK's naval presence and certain counter incursion 'toys' it was speculated that the team probably deployed from a civilian type vessel, probably a fishing trawler in international waters and the approach and landing conducted by rowing/outboard engine under cover of darkness ( pretty sure it happened in the spring, still Lang nights/dark mornings but not quite as inhospitable as the falkland winter - ensuring a bit more self sustainability clearer observation due to less inclement weather and better coms)

Apparently covert incursions happen from time to time but this was one of the few times that resources were captured/recovered

As for the team itself ..........I really don't know ........Ive never herd of any capture's ( though it may have happened )
So it must have been a swim / steal a small craft ( rower ) / pay off a local for a ride far enough west into international waters or help from a contact on the island

Anyway's .........not something that gets reported on the telly

Originally posted by Neocrusader
reply to post by ANDERSON23

 

Currently serving .........in a manner of speaking lol
Spent some time down south myself
Ascention as a launch platform into west Africa and the Falklands in 04 .....even then the Argentine special forces / intelegence service were conducting covert recon incursions onto the island
A special forces dingy was found ashore, single engine large enough for a 8 man team, well camouflaged and was recovered by the Brits at MPA ...............some one had a long swim to extraction lol !

I am understanding correctly that you as an American Serviceman went to the falklands in Two Thousand and Four, and if so are you able to tell me why that was?.

reply to post by Neocrusader


nope very true very black and white situation, everyone spies in everyone its the daily order of life it seems

I think I can vaguely remember hearing something about that from a couple guys I know what a trip from Argentina although could have came across from African coast

reply to post by hotel1


the Americans use the airbase across there in the acension Islands it is a british air base though.

If Carlsberg made soldiers Carlsberg I don't know if they have that in the states however I know its common here in UK and its dutch i think so he maybe a British forces I don't see the need to ask usually people who have been involved with the Falklands tend to be Brit serving however the US may have had a couple trips here and there.

I understand your questioning but out of respect I tend not to ask serving members due to security reasons on them and family

Originally posted by ANDERSON23
reply to post by hotel1

 

the Americans use the airbase across there in the acension Islands it is a british air base though.

Yes I am aware of that, I was'nt sure if Neo was saying he actually went to The Falklands in 04 when he was at Ascension

Right just seen your edit, I honestly did'nt notice the Carlsberg thing so maybe he is a Brit in which case there is no question to answer.

reply to post by hotel1


If Carlsberg made soldiers Carlsberg I don't know if they have that in the states however I know its common here in UK and its dutch i think so he maybe a British forces I don't see the need to ask usually people who have been involved with the Falklands tend to be Brit serving however the US may have had a couple trips here and there.

I understand your questioning but out of respect I tend not to ask serving members due to security reasons on them and family

reply to post by hotel1


lol ..............I'm not an American
Smoke and mirrors dude ......smoke and mirrors

I went to compete in a number of military skills competitions ( among other things ) in honour of a buddy of mine who was a Brit marine, joined up in '80 and got sent straight to the Falklands at 18 fresh out of training. He always talked of the Falklands and we had planned to go there to work on our hill fitness for afghan and take in a bit of history. He died before we could go, I cracked on running around the Falklands, competed in a few mil skills competitions with/against the Brits including the commando challenge .....recreating the 'yomp' from hope cottage to port stanly with a few skills tests along the way, took me 12 and a half hours across some of the worst terrain I've encountered ( bloody rock rivers ! ) but atleast I wasn't getting shot at every step of the way


lol as for the Carlsberg comment, the Brit SF still get the beers in in afghan ( had a nice BBQ at the 'fort' ) and then saw the comment if Carlsberg made soldiers on a t-shirt at a Brit px ( nafe ? ) so just kinda adopted it
Smoke n mirrors capisce

Originally posted by Neocrusader
reply to post by hotel1

 

lol ..............I'm not an American
Smoke and mirrors dude ......smoke and mirrors

I went to compete in a number of military skills competitions ( among other things ) in honour of a buddy of mine who was a Brit marine, joined up in '80 and got sent straight to the Falklands at 18 fresh out of training. He always talked of the Falklands and we had planned to go there to work on our hill fitness for afghan and take in a bit of history. He died before we could go, I cracked on running around the Falklands, competed in a few mil skills competitions with/against the Brits including the commando challenge .....recreating the 'yomp' from hope cottage to port stanly with a few skills tests along the way, took me 12 and a half hours across some of the worst terrain I've encountered ( bloody rock rivers ! ) but atleast I wasn't getting shot at every step of the way

OK thankyou for your answer, I would never ask you or anyone else to answer a potentially compromising question. I am starting to form an idea about your nationality but obviously I will keep that to myself.

Kind regards

reply to post by Neocrusader


respect to you and your friend. your taking on something that many wouldn't the yomp was a march and a half my dad was attached to the Gurkha regiment he was originally royal scots regiment he done 4 tours in N.Ireland and went on to the pathfinders regiment retired now though but that was back in the 70's and 80's some hard times then

reply to post by Neocrusader


The Dinghy incident was in 2001. I was stationed down there at the time. It was regarded not as a direct Argentine military involvement but from a protest group. Whoever was on the dinghy was presumed lost at sea.

BBC Link

It was regarded as a stunt in order to raise a flag, film it, and then return to their mother vessel.

Originally posted by hotel1
multi-role aircraft that make Argentinian Migs look like kites, and a joint helicopter force including Apache attack helicopters that are capable of striking maritime targets.

Argentina does not operate MiGs. AH-64 Apache is not deployed in the Falklands.

The Falklands are garrisoned by fiftteen thousand of the worlds finest,

The Garrison is actually very small. The number of UK military personnel on the Falklands is around 1,300 (One thousand three hundred).

The Secretary of State for Defence Nick Harvey reporting to Parliament said, "there are around 1,300 service personnel serving in the Falkland Islands. This number is subject to variation throughout the year as a result of individual posting plots and unit movements."

www.penguin-news.com...

See following link as to what military equipment is deployed as part of the Garrison.

UK Parliament Briefing Paper 2012

reply to post by tommyjo


Cheers for that dude
As I said my memory's a little clouded ( meh life's one big op ) so I may have been putting two separate incidents together without meaning to
So I may be mistaken ......the mention of US MRE's on board did ring a bell

But then at the same time I'm pretty sure it was positively id'd as a Argie SF dingy in the spring of 04 - recovered by the RIC ( forget which regt but that can be forgiven as the Brits have.....sorry had ....many county/regional regts )
And was discovered on the north west coast of the western island, as opposed to the eastern island as mentioned in that article
Also knowing the political climate at the time of that news report it would make sense for the BBC to down play it,
as the article states, protestors were their initial suspicion .....

But as I said, after reading that article I may well have inadvertently blended two incidents into one. My apologies if this is the case and that wasn't my intention

Thanks for the info

reply to post by hotel1


And that would be a good idea lol but no I'm not English either - though I do reside there currently as I've been working more closely with the Brits than anyone else for a while now and the wife's half Italian, half Welsh and she loves it there - Infact met her while running around other mountains but that's another story

so I'm not trying to be an ass .....just cautious

The thing is that everyone knows the Falkland Islanders want to remain as they are, so a referendum will merely state the obvious. Argentina will persist with their ranting and raving and all will be well in the world.

The Argentinean authorities will try to elevate the Falklands for jingoistic domestic reasons, but they are fairly impotent. They have already cut of their nose to spite their face, by refusing shared access to resources, so no sympathies.

As to Queen Elizabeth Land in Antarctica... All nations name their parts as they see fit, leading to places with multiple names depending on the nation concerned. As Argentina will use their own maps, they won’t see the British naming. What’s the problem? Ah, of course, Argentina has an overlapping claim for the part the UK claimed many years before – could this be a trend? Is Argentina hounding the UK? Surely not.

Regards

Im very confident the islanders will choose to retain their British title. I have done 2 tours in total as part of the RIC down there, each tour lasting 6 months a piece. Those people are more "British" then half of the UK population. Its an amazing close knit community. During my times there most of the time was spent foot patrolling from settlement to settlement. In fact one of those tours was during their worse winter in 90 years. Crazy time for foot patrols!!!!

Every time we reached a settlement/farm it was normal for the family or community there to give us some space in a barn for a night and put some extra meat and potatoes in the stew for us Soldiers. I spent hours upon hours talking with islanders from all corners of the islands. These guys consider themselves 150% British, There is absolutely no question about it. I just hope that after any referendum that Argentina finally get the message and backs off and stops using the islands as a rally cry / propoganda machine.

Best live firing ranges ever with arcs as wide as the eye can see

reply to post by tommyjo


thank you for the info

reply to post by thesaint


nice insight there is no question as to who they wish to be, I don't see Argentina backing maybe not through conflict but more threw harassment and blockades and various illegal actions

Originally posted by ANDERSON23
reply to post by thesaint

 

nice insight there is no question as to who they wish to be, I don't see Argentina backing maybe not through conflict but more threw harassment and blockades and various illegal actions

If they still persisted to complain and make empty threats, I'd seriously consider sanctioning them. It would hit them really hard!

reply to post by Krono


True but then we look the bad guys

reply to post by tommyjo


I meant Mirages, not Migs. The Aper's may not actually be there but they can be on station quickly if needed. One zero two many my bad it had been along day even having said that its a significant number of highly experienced, well prepared troops that I would not like to go up against.