Comments by "Geordiedog" (@geordiedog1749) on "500 Brits vs 1000 Argentines - Battle of Goose Green 1982" video.

There is something to be gained by awarding VCs in a political sense. At Rorkes Drift for example several VCs were issued that might not have been had the army not have been utterly humiliated (and wiped out) the day before at Isandlwana. Thatchers political career was on the line. Bigging up the conflict with some top gongs would only help politically. Had things gone very wrong at GG Jones may well have been scapegoated instead of lauded. My personal and very amateur opinion is that it was a bloody stupid thing to do. He put personal glory over the bigger picture. Not good leadership. But then paras are all pretty mental!
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I’d agree but I’m just a history enthusiast. However, I did work with a bunch of prison officers detached from Preston jail who were all 2 Para Falklands vets. They said that Jones was “stupid” and a ‘glory hunter”. Their words. They said that he should never have done what he did and that it jeopardised the whole attack. They said he was brave and all but they were privates and NCOs and they felt let down. They said the “Rupert’s” were all over excited by the chance of an actual battle. On the way down they constantly worried that a diplomatic solution would be found before they got there. There was also a deep morbid fear that the RM would get the glory and they”d miss out. They said that they were all up for it but the squaddies were quietly apprehensive in private - the experienced NCOs especially talked amongst themselves of the potential clusterf+ck that awaited them. Once all together they were ubiquitously confident and aggressive.
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@sarp688 yes, same exactly. It was irresponsible and smelt of personal aggrandisement. Being critical of someone who was killed doing something like that and getting a VC feels very wrong to me but when I try and look at it through cold eyes I always come to the same conclusion.
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Interestingly, had the Falklands gone the other way, the Labour Party were committed to nuclear disarmament and they would have got in once Thatcher was out. We might have also avoided decades of neoliberalism. I worked in prison health care for a while and several Falklands vets had joined HMPS. I had a bunch of detached officers from Preston nick and they were Ex Paras. All had been in The Falklands. So interesting. One thing they all agreed on was that Jones was “a fookin’ idiot!” They said that the ‘Ruperts’ were all “mad for it” as this was an actual battle and they had always thought they’d miss any actual fighting in the modern world. They said, and I’m only repeating what they told me, was that Jones was essentially a vainglorious idiot. They said he should have never ever have done what he did. It was selfish and an attempt at getting his own glory at the expense of the regiment. His VC is part of a history of politically charged VC awards - think Rorkes Drift. Sorry to be controversial and I’d never detract from the sacrifice made.
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