Exactly, hence my point of misinformation causing worry. Although some of the media reporting full mobilisation got it wrong and unfortunately Lizz may have read one of their reports, easily done👍 There’s no greater worry when someone you love is away fighting in hostile places (I know).
Yes,don't I know that. Not only have I had the experience of seeing the damage that war does to my father and father in law, I should add that the biggest impact on me was with my lovely Great Aunt Kit. She had been born in 1895, so lived through the First World War, with one of her brothers, Frank, being killed at Ypre on 30th July 1917. Then she lived through the Second World War and saw her brother in law, my grandfather, Thomas, killed by the German bomb, followed by losing his wife, Edith, my grandmother and one of my Auntie's sister in 1946 due "to a broken heart".
From childhood I watched her constantly thumb the picture of especially my Great Uncle Wally (Frank), weeping as she did so and lovingly telling me all about him and our families s history. She did that almost up to when she died in 1990, at the age of 95 years. I have pictures up on my wall, like Auntie did, of Wally and Thomas and sometimes think of what the aunt and my father went through and quietly weep, breaking down fully every so often, especially on the 11th November every year. The damage of distant wars on my family is still there today, and of course that is reflected in many others who have lived through those and more recent conflicts.
One of my sons served in the Royal Engineers, and ended up in Bosnia during that crisis. We were so pleased when he came home. Even more pleased when, after 5 years of service to the flag he decided to resign due to what he witnessed in Bosnia as part of the UN force that so often just had to stand back with orders not to intervene and watch the separate factions kill each other, including women and children. Rightly he, and his regimental mates were disgusted by that. Trained to kill if necessary to protect the weak and vulnerable, but instructed just to stand firm. My James was not apparently the only one to quit after that. There is a lesson to be learnt in that, which could be relevant to the situation in Ukraine, with many of our young men, and women, itching to fight for the good cause, as indeed James was at the time. Now we have seen that before, especially in 1914, so it does bring feelings of deep concern of where everything is going at the moment.
Author
Topic: Russian Mobilisation (Read 1795 times)