Two snippets about the Army By TITVS ADVXAS

I've been reading the Ultra left broadcasting tool of Nu-Labour, The BBC, and come across two seemingly unrelated articles about the army:

Case 1: Soldier mocked over loss of legs:

A soldier from Somerset who lost both legs and his right arm while serving in Afghanistan has been subjected to cruel taunts over his injuries.

Sapper Matthew Weston, 20, from Taunton, stepped on a bomb while on patrol in Helmand Province on 29 June.

While he was being treated at Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham his mother took him out shopping where they encountered a group of "boisterous" youths.

Rena Weston, 40, said: "They shouted he's lost something... like his legs".

Shooting team

Speaking from the family home Mrs Weston said: "They were laughing at what they thought was a very funny statement to make.

"We continued around the corner and I put my arms around Matthew and said, 'are you okay love?'

"He just went silent. Then he said, 'I suppose I had better get used to it for the rest of my life.'

"I don't think anyone, no matter what their disability, should be treated like that," said Mrs Weston.

Since the incident Sapper Weston has finished his treatment at Selly Oak hospital.

"He's determined to stay in the Army," said Mrs Weston.

"He has trialled with the 2012 Paralympics shooting team and he's going to receive coaching and possibly be in the team, which will be a great boost for Matthew.

"We have got no choice. We have got to get on with it."

Case 2: Gay soldier harassment award cut:

A lesbian ex-soldier who won £187,000 damages after being sexually harassed has had her payout cut by a third.

Kerry Fletcher was awarded £186,895.52 by an employment tribunal in November for sex discrimination, victimisation and sexual harassment.

The tribunal heard how Ms Fletcher, originally from Sheffield but now living in Birmingham, was pestered at an Army stables in North Yorkshire.

Her payout was cut by £62,000 by Employment Appeal Tribunal judges.

Conduct 'deplorable'

The original tribunal heard how a male sergeant pestered Ms Fletcher, who is openly gay, for sex and sent her explicit text messages.

Her payout was criticised as it was more than many soldiers hurt in Iraq or Afghanistan had been awarded.

At the appeal hearing Mrs Justice Slade said Ms Fletcher was not entitled to £50,000 "exemplary damages", which had been awarded in a bid to "punish and deter" the Army after her treatment was found to be "oppressive, arbitrary and unconstitutional".

Mrs Justice Slade said that the conduct of the Army had been "rightly condemned" and she hoped lessons had been learned from the case. She said exemplary damages were "not appropriate".

Further apology

"The Army's conduct, deplorable though it was found to be, did not cross the high threshold warranting an award of exemplary damages," the judge said.

The judge also reduced aggravated damages awarded to Ms Fletcher from £20,000 to £8,000.

In a statement the Ministry of Defence said it had "noted" the appeal tribunal's judgement and was "considering its implications to see what lessons can be learned for the future".

It said: "The MOD takes this further opportunity to apologise to [Ms] Fletcher for the conduct towards her, which was found in the Leeds Employment Tribunal judgment to be discriminatory.

"There is no place for harassment or discrimination of any sort in the Armed Forces and we are committed at the highest levels of leadership to dealing with it."

My views on homosexuality and its overtness in today's PC world (not the computer arm/branch of DSG) are widely known, but this kind of harassment shown to Kerry Fletcher is unacceptable.

That said, the reduction of Ms Fletcher's damages will be seen as a fair one to families of soldiers who have suffered horrific, life altering injuries like those received by Sapper Weston, many of whom received greatly smaller sums in compensation.

Furthermore, the deplorable mocking of Sapper Matthew Weston in his visit to my home city of Birmingham, makes me ashamed.

The identity of the youths was not given in the report, and we do know from experience (like when they reported rioting "boisterous youths" that rampaged in France earlier in the year), the terminology "boisterous youths" has been used to gloss over the racial identity of the youths concerned.

The 'unbiased' BBC in their reporting do go out of their way to identify white assailants with full identity if at all possible, and conversely go out of their way to give total anonymity of non-whites in order to avoid complaints of racism from, and subsequent monetary payouts to minority groups.

I may be wrong with my assumption here.

But I don't think I am.

©TITVS-ADVXAS XVI-X-MMIX