In Short Ben Smith VC.

[j.sabourn]

Ref. The altercation between the media and the holder of the VC to the Named in short and the case against the media and the plaintiff for damages. I tried to interpret what the court case was all about. As the media jumps from one point in case with his personal life and private break ups in his matrimonial vows etc. and in the next instant about his so called cruelty to persons who should have been in their eyes POW. The one sueing the media was a member of the Australian SAS Regiment in the reserves and did various missions in Afghanistan . A soldier of any caliber is trained to kill the enemy and it doesn’t have to be by Marquis of Queensbury Rules , if he is such a monster as they would try to make him out to be , how come he was awarded the VC in the first place by his commanding general and down through the ranks to his squad leader.. The whole sequence of events in my abbreviated view stinks of hyprocrasy , a personal private life should at the very least be apart from his army and service life. The media to me once again is trying to do a stitch up job and once again should to all intents and purposes be well and truly out of their depth. JS

[Doc Vernon]

I fully agree with what you say JS
For a long time now i have been telling my dear Wife just that!
Why drag Personal issues into such a Trial, and besides that there should never had been any Trial in the first place! War is War and things get done.
He should be left alone and just let him get on with life!
Cheers

[j.sabourn]

Most men in his position would have done what he did as would have been taken as true the innuendos and slurs on his name and is the only way he could react either that or beat the living daylights out of the perpetrators of the accounts of his behaviour , which were none of their business in the first place. He would then have finished up in gaol himself. The word Bias was brought up in a post yesterday , a good example of its meaning is there for all to discover , the media is the biggest culprit going , and they have the nerve to call it news that the people deserve to know What utter rubbish. Cheers JS

[happy daze john in oz]

You join the armed forces in the understanding you may be sent to a theater of war.
There you may see some terrible acts of violence, you may be required to act in a manner opposed to good moral behavior in order to survive or to protect fellow persons.
War is not pretty, war is not clean war can be horrific and when it comes to your life or that of your opponent the rules do not apply.

In my opinion this was a case of sour grapes, he was awarded the VC but there were some who thought it should have been them instead

[Alan Briggs]

I live in Australia and what you say is entirely correct, the media in question is the left wing variation and as we all know they don't like being called to account.