Former Royal Marines Commando Dave Pettifer assesses the President’s comments (since rowed back) about NATO troops
President Donald Trump’s recent poorly chosen words have got many people seething with anger across the UK and other NATO member countries who served in the 20-year Afghanistan war.
As a veteran with three tours of Afghanistan under my belt, I can honestly say Trump’s words have very little power over me. I feel deeply for the families of loved ones who died in the conflict, it is a very disrespectful thing to say what he said out loud, but it doesn’t change the facts or the history.
The men and women who served know exactly what they did and have the respect of exactly the right people – those with whom they served.
A band of brothers
British soldiers have a unique and very favourable quality in that they just get on with the job. No whooping, no high-fiving, no butting heads before a game to gee each other on. Just a quiet confidence and an iron will that underlines everything they do.
To have the Micky taken out of you is an accolade, as it usually means you’ve done something well. This kind of humour surrounds the British soldier, and can only be known by those who shared in it. I am proud to have been part of it.
Words from a person outside that circle are to be treated with the derision they deserve.
Trump on the war path
Comments from politicians should be taken with a pinch of salt. The President seems to have been on the war path over the last few days. His speech at Davos I saw as a breath of fresh air in the faces of the Starmers, Trudeaus and Macrons of the world, who seem to believe it is their divine right to exercise authoritarian power over the people who vote them into office.
Don’t rise to the bait: You know the truth
I believe Trump’s words were targeted at the leaders of the NATO countries (many of whom are sabre-rattling and spoiling for another unwinnable war as I write this) rather than the actual soldiers who very obviously fought and died on the front line.
If this was not his intention, and if he was aiming the words at the frontline troops of NATO members, then it is of course a shameful thing to say. But I for one am not going to let myself whipped up into a hysteria by a person who wasn’t there and couldn’t possibly know the truth. It’s just not worth it.
(It turns out, he didn’t mean it. Last night, after a rethink, Trump praised British troops on Truth Social, adding: “We love you all, and always will!”)
To those who served, I salute you
To the men and women who I served with, and for those who I didn’t serve with, to those whose lives were changed irreconcilably, to the families of the glorious dead whose names will live forever and for most of all, and to those who didn’t make it home – we know who we are, we know what we did, and nothing will ever change that.
We signed up, we stood our ground and we can look in the mirror with pride.
