MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Malvinas' conscripts demanding war veteran certificates, complete eight years of encampment in Plaza de Mayo
Eight Argentine former conscript soldiers have completed eight years running in a tent camp in Plaza Mayo, the heart of Buenos Aires City, demanding they be recognized as Malvinas war veterans since they argue, they were involved in defense and logistics duties along the Patagonia coast during the 1982 conflict with the United Kingdom. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesI suppose having the war certificate in their hand makes them entitled to some assistance. Can anyone in Argentina explain what that assistance would entail please? As a former serviceman I have nothing but sympathy for them if they have somehow fallen through a net that was intended to capture them.
Feb 27th, 2016 - 05:26 am - Link - Report abuse 0I think I would prefer the noose to 'capture' them.
Feb 27th, 2016 - 12:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Then their whinging and bleating would be over.
I believe that in the US these “troops” are referred to as “REMFs” which in the vernacular translates to Rear-Echelon Mother-Fookers. Most of them were only in the south for a few weeks and their exploits are largely imaginary. Long after the war I visited one of the estancias where some of them had stayed (in the sheep shearing-shed) near Río Grande in Tierra del Fuego. Fouler-smelling but more-fitting quarters would be hard to imagine. The troops were told they had to stay there because Chile was going to invade Argentina !
Feb 27th, 2016 - 01:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0In Argentina if you can get a certificate that you were a “combatant” during the failed 1982 Falklands adventure then among the benefits is getting paid double whatever your normal work assignment pays. So a lifetime of double-salary for having spent a few days in cool weather well outside the war zone is what is at stake here.
No sympathy. Do I qualify for any benefits / decorations / recognition because, as a civilian, I worked in support of the Royal Navy during the Falklands conflict? Nope. I didn't get a thank you but I, like all of my colleagues, was only doing a bit for Queen and country, for which one didn't expect anything. Do these Argentinian soldiers deserve some form of certificate because they manned home posts instead of being part of an illegal armed force in the Falklands? Nope. They should be grateful that they aren't one of the unknown soldiers buried on Falklands soil. Put up with it.
Feb 27th, 2016 - 03:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0How have they financed themselves for 8 years, to be able to camp out 'in protest'?
Feb 27th, 2016 - 03:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0One has to assume they can't hold down jobs while occupying the Square. How can you appear presentable when you are sleeping and living rough, outdoors?
Don't they have families or responsibilities?
Were they/ are they just low-skilled unemployed that have nothing better to do?
Why haven't the Police cleared them off?
@ 5 Troy Tempest
Feb 27th, 2016 - 05:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Why haven't the Police cleared them off?”
They are war heroes, or what laughingly passes for that under TMBOA regime.
6 ChrisR
Feb 27th, 2016 - 06:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0:-)
Yes, I thought people would see the irony in my question.
“have completed eight years running in a tent camp in Plaza Mayo”
Feb 27th, 2016 - 06:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0That's some marathon - surely they deserve a certificate for that..
Or at the very least,
Feb 27th, 2016 - 07:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0new shoes...
Best they can hope for is a camping supplier sponsorship...
Feb 27th, 2016 - 08:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0At 3
Feb 27th, 2016 - 08:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0We used that in the British Army too. Also PONTI's (People of no tactical importance)
@11 And the RAF had their words for them -- Blunties and Scribblies. REMF was common in Canadian Forces.
Feb 27th, 2016 - 09:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0These campers, in the article, are very much the joke for their very short time in the south, and their very great distance from the war. But then, so much of what is involved in the imaginary argento relationship to the Falklands is based upon fantasy.
These guys must live for the 'injustice' they carry.
Feb 28th, 2016 - 10:48 am - Link - Report abuse 0The worst thing that could happen is that they get the certification they are demanding.
Where would they be then?
No attention.
No excuse then for not seeking a job
Mind you, what employer would touch these lazy souls if they were legally required to pay them twice the wages that regular employees get paid to stand around doing as little as possible?
#3 REMF......is that what they call .....let's see, what is it, rear echelon troops, they call them REMF's? Really? Aside from Hollywood and some in Vietnam, where else do they use that term?
Feb 29th, 2016 - 04:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0lol
@14 The term REMF has been part of the military vocabulary in the forces of Canada, the US, and the UK for more than 50 years. It's so much a part of the vernacular that it appears in military library documents. Perhaps you'd like to read Colonel Szafranski's paper on the subject. If you don't, perhaps some others will.
Feb 29th, 2016 - 07:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“ Desert Storm - Lessons from the Rear” by COL Richard Szafranski
Report Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.
U.S. Army War College, ATTN: Parameters,122 Forbes Avenue, Carlisle, PA, 17013-5238
http://strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/parameters/Articles/1991/1991%20szafranski.pdf
And then there is the book, “Desk Warrior: Memoirs of a Combat REMF” by Dunn. And on and on.
Also, google is your friend, as it offers insights to a world out there largely unknown to you.
14 Captain Poppy
Feb 29th, 2016 - 07:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I believe some of the grunts in the desert used the term when they found out the drone 'jockeys' were in line for the same awards as they got for FIGHTING the bastards, not sitting safely on an airfield some 12,000M away in a container filled with electronics.
Good job somebody with a brain at the Pentagon kicked the idea out.
SHAME on them.
Mar 01st, 2016 - 10:45 am - Link - Report abuse 0They didn´t see any combat
They were not shot by anyone
They didn´t have to hide in a foxhole to save their lives
They didn´t have to face a single enemy
They didn´t spend the night waiting for an attack
They didn´t face near starvation
They didn´t have to face death
They didn´t have to carry the remains of their KIA friends
They were not POW
They didn´t spend days and nights as POW missing their families
How can they have the nerve to claim the same benefits than ACTUAL veterans?
Our ACTUAL veterans should have the most comprehensive reward / pension for life for their sacrifice. Although the fought in a war that I consider a mistake, they were left with no other option but to fight, for their country first, for their lives at the end.
I agree they may have some sort of recognition for the time they were involved down in the south, in no way do I think it was camping-in-the-woods, but NOT the same as those who saw actual action.
Forgive me for this, I know it´s stupid and I really don´t wish a war, but sometimes I wish we had the same warrior culture that some nordic countries have. That would teach us to be better (just a thought)
I got a medal for being in cyprus during the gulf war slightly embrassed about that but I didnt have a choice in the matter.
Mar 01st, 2016 - 11:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0Not shot at not taken prisoner or under any sort of threat not a combat vet
@ 18
Mar 01st, 2016 - 11:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0Nice ! I´d love to see a pic of that medal. Care to point to me (through Wiki/other link) which one you´ve got?
You had some involvement and you got some reward for that. But I bet your reward is in no way the same as those granted to the servicemen who saw actual combat. That would be dishonest. And unfair. Hence my words.
Regards
I'm surprised Jeremy Corbyn wasn't awarded a Falklands 'combat' medal for being against the war and for now wanting to ignore the Islanders. However the crunch qualification for a medals-'I wanted to fight for Argentina in the Falklands but I was in prison for terrorism /had to take the wife shopping when it kicked off/ couldn't afford the air fare to Patagonia' etc, won't apply to Corbyn unless he can state he was willing to fight, and if only he could have got down there.....
Mar 01st, 2016 - 12:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0POG seems to run through my forgetful small mind.
Mar 01st, 2016 - 02:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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