For online gaming and voice comms this speed has been a little bit of a liability as my ping could soar, so I was glad to hear that my broadband supplier - Demon.net - has just introduced a special 'Gaming' package which has traffic prioratisation. Called 'Demon Gamer Pro' the new package is actually less than my old home business account at an introductory price of £21.99 a month and comes with a free wireless router!

As much of my recent braodband woes originiate with my use of my 'emergency' router - as my expensive 3Com wireless router went 'bang!' - the provision of a newer model router modem was a nice bonus.

Anyway, the upshot of all this is a nice new - and very satisfying - 14mb/s broadband speed. It's not often you get a better service AND have a reduction in price - oh happy day!

Above: My SpeedTest.net results - on the left my old speed and on the right my new enhanced speed with 'Demon Gamer Pro'.

> Demon Gamer Pro

> SpeedTest.net

Left: Military working dogs on operations. Note the female handler - it is a little known fact that women ARE serving in the front line, predominantly in this very important role. © Crown Copyright/MOD 2010

(Sorry about the title, my 'Sun' chip kicked in!) Anyroads, this news item actually goes back to July but it seems to have been hidden away and passed under everyone's radar - none the less it is very interesting and very important...

Janes Defence News:

A surge in operational demand for Military Working Dogs (MWDs) in Afghanistan led the British Army to create the 1st MWD Regiment on 26 March 2010. The primary operational role of the regiment is to support the lead brigade in Afghanistan, providing support for counterinsurgency (COIN) operations and IED detection. [Read more]

Copyright © IHS (Global) Limited, 2010

Consisting of 284 soldiers and 200 dogs the newly created 1st Military Working Dog Regiment will have an important part to play in the campaign in Afghanistan taking on COIN (Counter Insurgency) roles and the hunt for IEDs.

Commanding Officer 1 MWD Regt, Lt Col David Thorpe said:

"Military Working Dogs have been in the vanguard of recent and on-going operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and are a key force multiplier across the full spectrum of operations."

MoD News - 'New working dog regiment to support Afghan operations'
© Crown Copyright/MOD 2010

Above: Treo, an arms explosive search (AES) dog, received its Dickin Medal from HRH Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy KG GCVO at a ceremony held at the Imperial War Museum, London, on Wednesday 24 February 2010.  The eight-year-old black Labrador, accompanied by his handler Sergeant (Sgt) Dave Heyhoe, was awarded the medal, recognised as the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross (VC), for it’s actions on two separate incidents where it’s discovery of improvised explosive devices’ (IEDs) in Afghanistan saved the lives of both soldiers and civilians. The Dickin Medal was introduced by the founder of the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), Maria Dickin, in 1943 and Treo is the 63rd recipient. © Crown Copyright/MOD 2010

Dogs have always had an important part to play along side soldiers whether these be the magnificent working dogs mentioned above (and their brave handlers) or the camp stray that gives so much comfort to the men and women on the front line.

It's worth accompanying this small post by mentioning the campaign by Captain Sam Harvey - when her tour in Afghanistan ends she's hoping to take more than just memories home with her. She's trying to raise nine thousand pounds to bring two dogs - both patrol base mascots - back to the UK.

You can donate here www.justgiving.com/save-afghan-puppy-RPG

...Oh, and a PS - the reason I think it's important to think about what happens to solders dogs - be they working ones or mascots - after their war is over is because of the very sad story of the Vietnam War Dogs. In the Vietnam War, 281 dogs were officially listed as killed in action.  Almost all of the remaining thousands were euthanized (put down) after they had completed their service.

Why, I hear you say, are your concerns (I will get to those in a minute) being voiced on Milgeek of all places?

Well - here come my concerns - first of all doesn't anyone find it strange that we are giving huge amounts of aid to a country that has been embroiled in some very mixed messages about it's dealings with the Taliban? I mean, on the one hand Pakistan continues to be a safe haven and source of man power and support for the Taliban in their campaign against our service men and women in Afghanistan, and on the other hand it is cajoling the West to send it more aid (as an 'alley' in the war on terror).

Yes, I know there is a big difference between the skitzophrenic Pakistani state and the poor people who are being affected by these terrible floods - but when you see these same people on news media *still* criticising the West *despite* for not doing enough despite the huge amount of aid sent you have to ask shouldn't charity begin at home (as clearly the Pakistani governemnet is not making it clear - for it's own reasons - that the West *is* donating very generously)?

Which brings me to my second issue - Pakistan is a nuclear power. It spends absolutely ginormous amounts of its money on maintaining this hugely expensive weapon and maintains an enormous military machine in its ridiculous spat with India.

When the Pakistani intelligence service (the ISS) has been directly implicated in supporting the Taliban why is it we are not telling the Pakistanis that they should be digging into their own pockets to provide for it's own people when it is clear that they can obviously afford it?

Tell me this - will the current flood crisis divert one rupee away from the advance weapons systems that Pakistan is purchasing in its arms race with India?

I quote Janes Defence News...

"The Pakistan government has announced a Fiscal Year 2010-11 (FY10-11) defence budget of PKR442.2 billion (USD5.2 billion). This represents a 17 per cent increase over the revised military expenditure for FY09-10 and a climb of 29 per cent over the original allocation last year of PKR342.9 billion.

The defence expenditure represents 13.5 per cent of the total national outlay for FY10-11 and about 3 per cent of GDP."

I am not saying all this - but could do - because we in Britain are in the midst of an economic recession, but rather I find it somewhat morally hypocritical that we should be giving money to a state so that it can ring fence its defence spending while at the same time that same state is colluding in a war against our own troops.

No - I do not like the idea of the ordinary Pakistani people suffering and I am very proud that once again the British public has been so very generous in their giving BUT I do think very real questions should be being asked about Pakistan's claim not to be able to help itself when it does support such a expensive military machine.

<rant over>

Mick Flynn has seen action in every major British war zone of the past 30 years and still serves with the legendary Blues & Royals today. Bullet Magnet is his story - the story of an extraordinary modern warrior who mixes warmth and humour, and at times heartbreaking poignancy, with truly breathtaking fighting skills. ©2010 Mike Flynn; (P)2010 Orion Publishing Group Ltd

While America is OK about making war movies about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan (I will be doing a review of 'Green Zone' and 'Hurt Locker' soon) here in Blighty it's no longer considered 'PC' to make war movies - despite our brilliant tradition making classic films in this genre.

What we do do though is a quiet and surreptitious line in war memoirs - for some reason it's OK to write about war, just not make films about it. I've read some absolute corkers about the modern British military - like 'Hellfire' and 'Ground Truth' (see my Bookshelf), but this latest book by Corporal-Major Mick Flynn surpasses even those for telling it like it is.

Mick Flynn has become one of the British Army's most decorated soldier and it's not hard to understand why - he is not only long-serving - having been involved in Northern Ireland, The Falklands, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan - but is one of those 'true grit' larger than life personalities that really does deserve the over-used monica of 'hero'. The action that Flynn has been involved in as a consequence of his long service is graphically described in the book and is plentiful and reads like a fictional adventure - it would without a doubt make a fantastic movie!

Do not get the idea that this book is in any way 'Gung-Ho' in the American style of war-story telling, the true grit of this memoir comes from Mick Flynn's dogged professionalism and comradeship for his fellow soldiers. If there is any sense of him being an 'action junky' it is only because he takes a pride in doing the job he has in order to help preserve the lives of his mates. This guy really enjoys his job, but his job just happens to be soldiering.

Tony Thornett's head exploded next to me. Bits of skull and brain flew across the pavement.

"F***ing Jesus," I thought. "Gotta move, gotta move!"

There were people screaming and shouting everywhere, shots going off but I was locked in my own bubble.

I glanced at Tony. He was making a gurgling sound, the air rattling in his throat as his body tried to keep breathing.

Was that Tony? That wasn't Tony any more. He'd gone.

"Medic!" someone shouted. There was no medic - we were on our own. My commander was leaning over the wheel trying to give him first aid.

Fear gave way to self-preservation and then to anger.

Pure and cold-blooded.

It was the first time I'd felt it - the kind of controlled rage that means you're ready to kill, but your mind is clear and cool as glass.

Extract from Mick Flynn's Bullet Magnet. More extracts can be read on 'The Sun' web site.

The action is all described is down to earth terms and he does not gloss over the grisly nature of war, and I reiterate that there is a lot of action. As with 'A Rumour of War' - another book I reviewed lately - 'Bullet Magnet' satisfies readers who are seeking plenty of action but at the same time describes this action in such a way that the reader is left with no illusions that war is an adventure.

The bottom line is that 'Bullet Magnet' is one of the best books I have read (or rather listened to as I got it in audio book form) in a long time. It reminds us that despite the controversy about the perceived rights or wrongs of war our troops go on performing their duty selflessly and to an amazingly high standard regardless. They are there because they are there and the lengths they go to in the performance of that duty surpasses all expectations on a daily basis...They are Heroes.

Links:

> 'I enjoy the fear, says Major Mick Flynn, off to the front line at 50' - Article in The Sunday Times, June 4 2010

> 'Interview: Corporal-Major Mick Flynn, Britain's most decorated soldier on his return to Afghanistan' - Article in The Scotsman, 22 June 2010

I have tired of airsoft specific magazines and only buy them very rarely now (there has to be a very good item in them to persuade me to spend my money these days) and I find that as far as military kit goes I get just as much good info from magazines like 'Combat & Survival'.

Aside from the equipment reviews this magazine does a really good job in covering British military operations and exercises. It covers a lot of the hard work the lads and lasses do in places like Afghanistan that we never hear on the mainstream news media (because of the inherent anti-war stance of media groups like the BBC and Sky News). Additionally this magazine has a very solemn and respectful summary of the sad losses our forces endure while on operations.

Aside from British military operations 'Combat & Survival' has regular features on foreign armies and their deployments and it was due to this that I bought this months copy as it has a very nice spread on a large scale German Army exercises. The excellent photos are fantastic reference material fro the German Army airsoft loadout I am currently creating.

All in all this is a very good value magazine at just £3.75 (I notice that some of the glossy airsoft magazine are approching the £5 mark now).

Finally, while I was searching the news stand I came across a little gem which took me right back to my childhood - a 'Commando' comic!

I guess these are what kids would call 'graphic novels' these days, but we called them comics and it was great to see that this great British institution is still going strong. In fact some of the stories appear to be reprinted every so often so you can still read some of the original titles.

This months selection of 'Commando' comics (they are released four at a time) are tributes to the recent VJ Day celebrations (if that is the right word) and all four of this months comics feature stories about the campaign in the Far East against the Japanese.

Of course there is something a little 'non-PC' about the story lines and they still have stereotypical Japanese soldiers being soundly thrashed while accompanied by speech bubbles featuring slogans approaching 'take that, Tojo' and the like. But for those of us who fondly remember classic British comic characters like Captain Hurricane this is a bit of innocent comic violence that bears no resemblance to real war - and I think even as kids we knew this.

What was surprising is these little comics are now £1.35 each! (I seem to remember paying just a Shilling - 5 new pence - when I was a kid! LOL)

Links:

> 'Combat & Survival' web site (now includes digital editions).

> 'Commando' magazine web site (has some very nice computer wallpapers as well as online editions of the comic)

What attracts my friends and I to it is that it looks like a evolution of two games that were really popular with us in 2009/10 - Fallout 3 and Borderlands 2. However, the one major complaint we had about either game was the lack on any MMO features (yes, Borderlands 2 did have a nice co-op feature but that only left us craving even more interaction with more live players).

Brink not only panders to our love of multiplayer battle but also seems to blur the borders between the single player, co-op and MMO style of game play so no matter how many of you are online - whether it be just yourself or all your mates - you can have an entertaining frag fest. Quite how it achieves this I am not quite sure yet - but I am sue this will be made clear as development progresses.

At the moment the environment (very Borderlands), style and character customisation possibilities in the game make it look mouth watering. In particular the fact that you can take your avatar - who looks like a cross between one of Team Fortress's characters and one of Borderlands - choose a body size that suits you and the way you play AND then dress him up with add-ons and even clan colours makes this a delightful prospect.

I'll be following development very carefully and updating new features as they are announced, but I recommend you pay a visit to the game's web site because there are lots of nice interactives and cool movies to watch - www.brinkthegame.com