Telic and Herrick

I wrote a letter to a soldier the other day. It was to Sergeant-Major Stan, my brother, who is away over Christmas playing an undisclosed part in my country's foreign policy. Or he's trying to support his family the best way he knows. Either way, he's a hero and I'm very proud of him.

Writing the letter was very strange. Not just because I can't remember the last time I hand-wrote a letter, but also because it's so First World War. All those amazing letters home from the front from men knee-deep in muck and bullets.

There are army families who I'm sure get blasé about it all. Look at all the wars that British soldiers have fought in over the years. The Stan Clan don't have (to my knowledge) any kind of military background, so we're all pretty spooked about the Sarge putting himself in Harm's Way.

And if you're British, and don't know what Telic and Herrick are - you should be really quite ashamed. Telic is the British Operations in Iraq and Herrick is the equivalent in Afghanistan. You're paying for them : get yourselves informed.

According to the hilarious ARRSEpedia (wiki written by some very switched-on squaddies) :-

"After a brief war, Op TELIC became something like a sunny, dusty version of what Northern Ireland was like in the 70s and 80s with British soldiers watching bemusedly as the locals killed each other for no particularly comprehensible reason.

TELIC is alleged to stand for Tell Everyone Leave Is Cancelled."