BRITISH SPECIAL FORCES LEAVE SYRIA

October 10, 2019 chrisdsgreen Leave a comment

As President Trump is widely condemned, both at home and abroad, for withdrawing US Troops from Syria ahead of a Turkish offensive, LUCY FISHER reports for The Times that ‘Hundreds of British special forces soldiers will be pulled out of Syria‘ as part of the withdrawal.

According to The Times source: ‘The elite troops rely on the US military for resources, transport, intelligence, surveillance and other logistical assistance and will be unable to operate in Syria if Mr Trump orders a withdrawal‘.

It highlights just how dependent UK Special Forces have become in recent times on the US. This is a relatively recent and worrying development. In Gulf War 1 the SAS operated deep behind Iraqi lines without the need to rely on the Pentagon.

In effect we have subordinated our Special Forces – considered a strategic asset – to a US command, US values and culture, US modus operandi and US rules of engagement, all of which are very different to our own.

Add to this the absence of any UK oversight protocols and a complete lack of visibility and accountability and we have a situation where UK Special Forces have become little more than a (deniable) instrument of US foreign policy.

This is not in our national interest and while it may curry favour in the US (although not enough to waive diplomatic immunity) it diminishes our international reputation and standing.

More worrying still it means we have lost control of our foreign policy and can only cling, however reluctantly, to President Trump’s coattails. It is little wonder that the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Defence have declined to comment on the situation.

Spin Zhira, Uncategorized

GET SOME EDGE TO GET AHEAD

November 18, 2018 chrisdsgreen Leave a comment

We control our skis through a combination of edge, rotation and pressure but the degree to which we combine these elements can be limited by our own flexibility, so it’s a good idea to include a few basic stretches into your routine in the run up to your holiday.

Tilting onto the edges of our skis requires a degree of flexibility in the hips that isn’t needed for the daily commute to the office but is essential to progress in ski ability and performance.

STRETCH ONE:

Stand with your legs crossed, left over right as shown. Reach down towards your right foot with your left hand, while crunching your left rib onto your left hip. Repeat for the right side.

STRETCH TWO

For this you will need a wall or a table to lean up against. Steadying yourself with your right hand, bend the left knee and extend your right leg underneath you. You will feel the stretch in your right hip. Repeat for the left side.

When it’s time to carve it up on the slopes, these two stretches will ensure you have all the edge you need.

SpinZhira/Skiing

Disclaimer: Just so you know, I’m not a doctor, physiotherapist or personal trainer. In fact I have hardly any qualifications at all. It’s totally on you if you decide to follow these tips, nobody forced you. While we’re at it, I should also tell you that skiing is a physically demanding activity which could result in an elevated heart rate, feelings of euphoria, injury or even death. On the other hand, life is a time limited activity so it’s a good idea to live it well and sometimes be a little reckless, although that’s down to you as well. Nobody, especially not me, forced you to go into the mountains and have fun.

Spin Zhira, Uncategorized

Want to improve your skiing? Get a board.

November 8, 2018 chrisdsgreen Leave a comment

If you’re planning a ski holiday this winter, then it’s time to start including some ski specific training in your workouts. Not only will it reduce the risk of injury and ensure you get the most out of your slope time but, when you spring out of bed on day three of your holiday, your body will thank you too.

One of the easiest and most effective things you can do to improve your skiing is to enhance your sense of balance and the best way to do this is to get a board. A wobble board.

In the weeks before your holiday stand on your board (in your ski position) every day until you can comfortably maintain your balance for a full minute.

And that’s it.

Of course, you’ll need to work a little harder if you want to dominate the steeps or boss the moguls but one of the the best ways to own your skis is to get a board.

Spin Zhira/skiing

Disclaimer: Just so you know, I’m not a doctor, physiotherapist or personal trainer. In fact I have hardly any qualifications at all. It’s totally on you if you decide to follow these tips, nobody forced you. While we’re at it, I should also tell you that skiing is a physically demanding activity which could result in an elevated heart rate, feelings of euphoria, injury or even death. On the other hand, life is a time limited activity so it’s a good idea to live it well and sometimes be a little reckless, although that’s down to you as well. Nobody, especially not me, forced you to go into the mountains and have fun.

Spin Zhira, Uncategorized

For a longer life: Go Skiing.

October 26, 2018 chrisdsgreen Leave a comment

Good balance is an essential component of skiing and should form part of your pre-season training routine.

In the month before your ski trip try brushing your teeth standing on one leg. It’s a great exercise that will not only improve your ski performance but may even help you live a little longer.

According to the UK’s Medical Research Council, 53-year-olds who could stand on one leg for ten seconds with their eyes closed were the most likely to be fit and well in 13 years’ time. However, those who could manage only two seconds were three times as likely to die before the age of 66.

In addition, Dr Yasuharu Tabara, associate professor of genomic medicine at Kyoto University in Japan found that “the ability to balance on one leg is an important test for brain health.”

So there you have it, skiing (and/or standing on one leg) is not only good for the brain but will also help you live forever.

Spin Zhira/skiing

Disclaimer: Just so you know, I’m not a doctor, physiotherapist or personal trainer. In fact I have hardly any qualifications at all. It’s totally on you if you decide to follow these tips, nobody forced you. While we’re at it, I should also tell you that skiing is a physically demanding activity which could result in an elevated heart rate, feelings of euphoria, injury or even death. On the other hand, life is a time limited activity so it’s a good idea to live it well and sometimes be a little reckless, although that’s down to you as well. Nobody, especially not me, forced you to go into the mountains and have fun.

Spin Zhira, Uncategorized

Perfect your skiing on the loo

October 19, 2018 chrisdsgreen Leave a comment

The ‘hover’ is an essential life skill for those moments when we really don’t want to sit down but it’s also an excellent way to hone your ski posture that will hugely benefit your performance on the slopes.

Practice this at home and turn every trip to the bathroom into a morale boosting mini ski break.

Spin Zhira/skiing

Disclaimer: Just so you know, I’m not a doctor, physiotherapist or personal trainer. In fact I have hardly any qualifications at all. It’s totally on you if you decide to follow these tips, nobody forced you. While we’re at it, I should also tell you that skiing is a physically demanding activity which could result in an elevated heart rate, feelings of euphoria, injury or even death. On the other hand, life is a time limited activity so it’s a good idea to live it well and sometimes be a little reckless, although that’s down to you as well. Nobody, especially not me, forced you to go into the mountains and have fun.

Spin Zhira, Uncategorized

Extraordinary Moment or Catastrophe?

August 13, 2018 chrisdsgreen Leave a comment

Jonathan Beale returns to Afghanistan for the BBC and reports on the recent three day ceasefire in Kabul when Taliban fighters and Afghan National Army soldiers posed together for the cameras.

Despite a recruitment crisis in the Afghan National Army, with some units 70% undermanned, Senior NATO commanders see this as progress and evidence that ‘the strategy is working’. Lt Gen Richard Cripwell, the most senior British military officer in Afghanistan, describes it as an “extraordinary moment”.

But, as Jonathan so rightly points out, “then again that’s exactly what I heard so many times from so many senior British army officers during their time in Helmand.”

His words seem painfully prophetic. In the same news cycle, the New York Times reports that elsewhere in Afghanistan government forces have lost over 200 officers and soldiers killed in action in sustained attacks over the weekend by Taliban insurgents. According to a senior Afghan security official, speaking anonymously because of the delicacy of the issue, “It was a catastrophe.”

Are we still doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome?

Chris Green is a former soldier and businessman. In 2012 he spent nine months in Helmand Province Afghanistan as a member of the International Security Assistance Force. He subsequently authored a critically acclaimed book, SPIN ZHIRA: Old Man in Helmand, A true story of love, service and incompetence. He regularly blogs on defence and current affairs issues.

Ten reasons to read SPIN ZHIRA.

‘Brims with authenticity and dark humour.’
Patrick Hennessey, The Junior Officers’ Reading Club

‘A must read.’
Richard Dorney, The Killing Zone

‘The best book by a soldier concerning the Afghan War that I have read.’
Frank Ledwidge, Losing Small Wars

‘First Class.’
Doug Beattie MC, An Ordinary Soldier

‘Absolutely fantastic’
Dr Mike Martin, An Intimate war

What others are saying about SPIN ZHIRA.

Spin Zhira, Uncategorized

For once, Boris is right.

August 8, 2018 chrisdsgreen Leave a comment

Much to the delight of everyone, not least himself, Boris has put his foot in it again. His glib comments opposing the Danish burqa ban have caused offence and created a media storm in a teacup.

Although none appear to have come forward to express their outrage, his (mildly) offensive comments about letter boxes and bank robbers may well have upset some (very sensitive) women who choose to voluntarily wear the burqa. This hardly matters, of course, because politicians of all parties and persuasions have rushed to defend their absolute right in a liberal society to dress as they please.

But in all the outrage, the claims of Islamophobia and the calls for Boris to apologise we seem to have lost sight of the real issue. The burqa is not as ridiculous as Boris claims in his Telegraph column.

Anyone who has visited Afghanistan, as Boris and I both have, will know the burqa is a symbol of the appalling injustice and oppression inflicted on women in that country and elsewhere. It is inconceivable that anyone in the UK (or Denmark) who chooses to wear the burqa of their own free will does so in ignorance of this incontrovertible fact. And that’s why Boris is right to rebuke them (however mildly).

I have risked my life in the defence of liberty and would willingly do so again. I will defend your right to freely express yourself, however distasteful I might find your views. But in return, I demand the right to question the motives of anyone who chooses to wear symbols of oppression or discrimination.

Swastikas or burqas, they’re equally repugnant to me.

Spin Zhira

“UNLAWFUL” AND “HORRIFIC”

June 29, 2018 chrisdsgreen Leave a comment

The BBC reports that the UK ‘knew US mistreated rendition detainees’ following the publication of a report by the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC).

The report states that British agencies continued to share intelligence with allies despite knowing or suspecting abuse in more than 200 cases. Committee chairman Dominic Grieve said agencies knew of incidents that were “plainly unlawful” while Baroness Chakrabarti described them as “horrific practices”.

While it seems clear that the UK’s Security and Intelligence Services were aware of the inexcusable treatment of US detainees it would appear that, thankfully, they did not themselves routinely participate in rendition or enhanced interrogation.

This restraint and reluctance to collaborate more fully with US agencies in these activities may well have been because of the existence of the ISC and the oversight procedure to which intelligence services are accountable.

Is it also now time to hold an inquiry into UK Special Forces activities in Iraq and Afghanistan which are not subject to Parliamentary oversight, and which it has been alleged contravened the Laws of Armed Conflict?

Unlike the Intelligence Services which maintained a separate chain of command, UK Special Forces submitted themselves to a US command and adopted US methods and tactics, such as kill/capture missions.

There is sufficient evidence and anecdote, including the first hand accounts of former SAS operatives, to warrant an investigation but this has been repeatedly blocked by the Ministry of Defence.

If we are ever to understand our strategic failures in Iraq and Afghanistan or the concurrent rise of Islamist extremism we must first examine the policies and practices of detainee mistreatment, incarceration without trial or access to legal representation, rendition, waterboarding, kill/capture missions, night raids, drone strikes and collateral damage algorithms.

Spin Zhira, Uncategorized

WORDS AND DEEDS

June 27, 2018 chrisdsgreen Leave a comment

Our political leaders will always find the time to parade in front of the media at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day, just as you can be sure to find your own MP standing at the local war memorial as the clock strikes eleven.

However, when it comes to debating and formulating veterans policy it’s a different story. On the first day of what is Armed Forces week, parliament debated the ending of historical prosecutions of armed forces veterans. None of the party leaders felt the need to attend and only one Labour MP wasn’t doing something else. All the Lib Dem and SNP MPs were washing their hair or otherwise engaged. While more than 50 Conservative MPs showed up, including Mark Lancaster the Minister for the Armed Forces, his boss Gavin Williamson the Secretary of State for Defence was not among them as you might have expected.

And if you thought this was just a one-off you’d be wrong. In March 2016, MPs were asked to debate “the complete vacuum of provision” of care for service veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

On that occasion only 12 Conservative Ministers bothered to turn up.

Of course, later the same year all the usual suspects were on parade at the Cenotaph, just as they will be again this year.

Words and deeds are not aligned.

Spin Zhira, Uncategorized

“I made her and I can break her.”

June 24, 2018 chrisdsgreen Leave a comment

Our Service Chiefs appear to have let Gavin Williamson know what they really think of him by leaking his cringe making boast from a private meeting to the media. Meanwhile, former head of the army, Lord Dannatt helpfully comments that he fears Williamson ‘could be forced to resign over the issue’.

It looks to me like a complex ambush with multiple firing points.

Even before the excruciating interview with Richard Madeley, I doubted whether Williamson, or Private Pike as his cabinet colleagues prefer to call him, was really up to the task of Secretary of State for Defence.

His pronouncement early in his tenure that “a dead terrorist can’t cause any harm to Britain” not only underlined the fact that Mr Williamson has no first hand experience of killing terrorists himself but also served to expose his naivety and inexperience.

It would seem that, in the intervening weeks and months, he has failed to grow into the role and the Service Chiefs are now cutting him loose. It’s going to make for an interesting Monday morning on the fifth floor of the MoD main building.

SPIN ZHIRA: Old Man in Helmand is the unauthorised, unvarnished and irreverent story of one man’s midlife crisis on the front line of the most dangerous district in Afghanistan where the locals haven’t forgiven the British for the occupation of 1842 or for the Russian Invasion of 1979. Of course, all infidels look the same so you can’t really tell them apart.

A JOURNEY OF LOVE, SERVICE AND ADVENTURE. EXCELLENT!

A MODERN WARFARE LITERARY CLASSIC! OUTSTANDING READ.

ENTERTAINING, THOUGHT-PROVOKING AND COMPULSORY TO READ.