Posted on 01/20/2007 4:34:38 PM PST by blam
25 years on, Falklands vets are outcast at home
As teenagers they were conscripted to fight for Argentina. Now they remain haunted by memory and struggle to live normal lives
Andres Schipani in Buenos Aires
Sunday January 21, 2007
The Observer (UK)
As the train pulls into the central station of Buenos Aires, Jose is still walking down the aisle hawking a clutch of goods. An olive-green jacket, a patch with an Argentinian flag on his right arm, and a silhouette of the Malvinas Islands signal he is one of the many veterans of the Falklands war supplementing their meagre pensions. What he sells is patriotism - small calendars and stickers bearing the slogan: 'The Malvinas were, are and always will be Argentinian.'
But he tells a story of betrayal, of himself and 15,000 other veterans of the 1982 war with Britain. In a voice made automatic by repetition, he says: 'A little help please, I am a veteran of the Malvinas, I have been repeatedly denied jobs simply for being a veteran, my pension is not always enough, I have been forgotten by my country for a long time.' He has been saying it for 25 years. It is a story repeated by most veterans. Things have improved, but very late. The most important change came in 1991, when some veterans finally began to receive pensions. The next milestone was the election in 2003 of Nestor Kirchner. He became President on the back of promises on human rights, and increased the pension so the veterans felt able to pull down the green tents they had pitched in front of the government building on the Plaza de Mayo, protesting at lack of compensation and healthcare on the same spot where thousands congregated in April 1982 to cheer the
(Excerpt) Read more at observer.guardian.co.uk ...
Uhhhh, no.
Well, the Royal Navy isn't what it was, and even then, they had a hard time projecting power. The Falkland's will probably drift to Argentina in the next decade or so, anyway.
Hate to say it, but that's what happens when you're a member of the losing army.
Maybe so, maybe no. The RN is getting some real carriers soon, so they'll be better able to project force.
That said, the US Navy has really ruled the waves since before the HMS Hood sank.
Not if Labour has its way. The latest plan is to cancel the new ships and scrap half of the surface fleet, while terminating all paratroop training for the army.
I read a post on here a couple of weeks ago that Argentina, since their most recent election, is making noises about demanding the Brits return the Falkland's to them. With the Brits mothballing half their navy, it may be much sooner.
"Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap; "
Well Pal, if you'd signed up for the navy and gotten a plum job on the Belgrano, this wouldn't be a problem.
"These vets down there will get the last laugh when Argentina decides (again) to claim the Malvina's as theirs."
I've read that the Brits have beefed-up the island defenses substancially.
I have a hard time believing this, that the judge simply hates veterans and so took the guys kids away.
Argentina will never get the Falklands.....never.
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