Frost over the World - Tim Collins - 16 May 08

[bhoyjack]

Met him when i was out on Herrick 11 with 3 Rifles - true gentleman and a legend..

[jackoconnor24111]

Its colonel not colonal

[davidfrazerlewis1]

i argree this is the type of leader this world needs and more should be done to encourage people of this calibre,sadly in all walks of life when work hard,say it how it is there will always be those who will react badly,

[dolydd30]

Tim's on the case, what a guy

[seamonkey41]

well done nails

[gladd651]

This Gentleman Soldier calls it like he see's it. Doesn't pussy foot around. I prey that our society can forge more of his calibre. May God bless you and keep you Colonel Collins.

[LIVERLADD]

I knew him way back when

[gazmo847]

This man is absolutely fantastic, a true leader and someone who understands the whole picture without bias...

[sydnlm]

Yes, democracy is alien to the Muslim world and it would be an imposition from the west but our politicians and media tend to twitter that Democracy is the answer. These same influential pundits will not go as far as to admit that religion and especially Islam has to be dismantled for true freedom of thought to develop. Perhaps because they themselves are secularist or anti religious they limit their own ability to grasp just how important and powerful religion is in the non western world.

[Redcarpet01]

@sydnlm Not alien to Turkey.

[Jpdt19]

I wish all of you would just shut up!

[Paladin1441]

They should have given this man a brigade command!

[GrizzledGunslinger]

Limey, I have one word for you....BAsarah...brits got thier ass kicked there for three years by insurgents...in fact 90% of your casualties were taken there....two weeks after they handed it over to us forces, its as quiet as a church....As FAR AS YOU OPINIONS ON iRAQ THEY SEEM DERIVED FROM BOOKS AND READINGS, NOT TIME iNTHE BOX...SO YOU HAVE NO CREDIBILITY IN MY BOOK...BUT I DO LOVE THE KIPPERS AND CHEESE IN THE BRITISH MRE'S THANKS FOR THAT AT LEAST....

[Kampfer1445]

You are clearly an idiot. Of course the vast majority of British casualties were in Basrah, that was the only area in which British troops regularly operated. British forces ceased operating in Basra due to the dead-hand of incompetent American leadership; no funds were released for reconstruction, and the US military failed to communicate with the UK contingent. British commanders have now testified that they had to spend most of their time evading stupid American orders.

[sydnlm]

@Kampfer1445

Am I right in thinking both US and UK leadership seemed to avoid taking the proverbial bull by the horns. If they truly wanted democracy, they should have instituted and monitored real freedom of religion. For democracy to happen, there needs to be freedom NOT to be a Muslim, for those who so choose.

[Kampfer1445]

I think that that is irrelevant to the successful outcome. Democracy is a foreign and probably unworkable concept in the long run outside of the Western World. Freedom of religion is equally unrealistic; if Iraqi society is to be governed by the will of the people then there probably would not be freedom not to be Muslim. Is democracy a western imposition or an expression of the will of the Iraqi people? That is what you should ask yourself.

[Kampfer1445]

The problems are military, and chiefly American military incompetence. For ideological reasons they refused to employ captured Iraqi Army and Air Force troops, and thus lost their only real chance to keep the peace from the start, due to ideological naivety. The British were doing very well in South Eastern Iraq until the Americans helped to stir up the Shi'ite insurgency through heavy-handed blundering. The war eventually succeeded due to the British Sunni Awakening strategy and the SAS.

[Kampfer1445]

You may also want to note that the US military did not achieve any signal success in Iraq, it was the Iraqis themselves who broke the back of the Sunni Insurgency, through the British inspired 'Sons of Iraq' program. General MacChrystal is now asking LtGen. Lamb (UK) to come to Afghanistan and conduct his previously successful 'Sons of Iraq' operation in Afghanistan. It was a British-inspired success.

[Kampfer1445]

In Afghanistan, British, Canadian and Dutch troops are doing the vast majority of the fighting, while the US military in Eastern Afghanistan fails to cut the Taliban supply routes that run through its sector to the British and Candian sector in the south. Reports of the performance of many US soldiers there is dubious,

[LIVERLADD]

I knew Tim when he was just a lowly 2nd Lt back in 89 :)

Faugh A Ballah

[GrizzledGunslinger]

While I agree with the prior post about the uselessness of the U.S officer...it is the U.S NCO corp that is the deciding factor in making the U.S a far better war fighter then the Brits....I mean no offense to the dead...but the last post was wrong.

[Kampfer1445]

You are quite obviously not terribly informed. The US soldier is an inferior 'war fighter' to the British soldier. If you fondly imagine that the US NCO corps is better than the British you are hopelessly mistaken. The US NCO corps is the only thing that enables the US military to function. US soldiers have much less training than British troops and are badly led. The superiority of British troops in combat is manifest and speaks for itself.

[calisoldier414]

Haha were either of you in the military?

[Kampfer1445]

The US military has got it wrong because it thought that it could simply kill guerrillas and all would be well. The British knew that that is not the case, as they are the world's most formidable counter-insurgency army, and have been defeating insurgencies from Malaya to Kenya. The US military has won one war since World War II (Desert Storm) and has never defeated an insurgency. The British became fed up with the Americans in Iraq and ceased to cooperate with their incompetent direction.

[Kampfer1445]

If you think that in any way US soldiers or US Marines are superior to British Soldiers and Royal Marines you clearly don't know what you are talking about.

[GrizzledGunslinger]

Shut the fuck up.....I was in iraq for the invasion and delt with the Limey's alot...they were hesitant at best....pussies at least...and they payed alot more in lives then they needed to had they gone there to fight a war instead of build a nation.........

[ant182006]

I highly doubt you have been to Iraq after making a comment like that otherwise you are a very arrogant arsehole to say that about British Soldiers. Even most of the world don't seem to like the USA, British soldiers do nothing but sing the praises of their american colleagues even after numerous blue on blue and that same respect is normally vice versa. If you've been to Iraq you will know the story of Basra why don't you tell it for us............

[Kampfer1445]

That is typical crap. The military side of invading Iraq was not a large deal; the Iraqi Armed Forces would collapse in the face of any first world military. The whole outcome of the conflict in Iraq depended on effective post-war organization of the country and reconstruction. The British understood that, the Americans did not. Also American bureaucracy prevented reconstruction funds from being used. The Americans led the campaign and they failed.

[Kampfer1445]

The Sons of Iraq strategy that turned the tide in Iraq was the strategy of the British Army's Lt. Gen. Lambe. Until the Americans adopted that strategy they continued to fail against the insurgency. Gen. MacChrystal is asking Gen. Lambe to come out of retirement to implement his strategy in Afghanistan; clear proof of the superiority of the British as professional soldiers. The British ceased cooperating with the US in Iraq because the Americans failed to coordinate with them.

[Kampfer1445]

As to the 'Limey's', you may want to take into account that in real fighting as in Afghanistan they have a considerably more favorable kill-loss ratio than US troops and that they are proving much more effective. 9,000 British troops in Iraq have been doing 4 times as much fighting as 60,000+ Americans since 2006 and inflicting much higher casualties. The American sector is astride the Taliban's supply routes and the US military is failing miserable to cut them.

[flapeds]

What a brilliant and honest man. Too bad America doesn't have someone as honest and forthright as Colonel Tim Collins. Where have all the heroes gone?

[cody1247]

The United States has plenty of fine and honest military officers as does the U.K. The heroes are still here the media choses not to potray them like to talk about Abu Gharab and yet never mention brave men like Michael Murphy, Michael Monsoor, Paul Smith, or Jason Dunham.

[Kampfer1445]

The U.S. military does have some honorable and competent officers. Unfortunately the media aren't the only ones to fail to support them; the military itself does too. I attended a U.S. Service Academy and I can tell you that a slick political sycophant is often preferred over a good and brave leader. The U.S. military has always prejudiced against competent officers, if you have ever read Colonel Hackworth USA (retd.) you will know what I mean. British officers are overall superior militarily.

[irishlight42]

Who says we don't? I have friends in the U.S. Army, USMC, and the British Army who have gone to both Iraq and Afghanistan, and we're not all that different. We basically fight for and believe in the same things overall generally it has seemed to me, even if there's different opinions amongst individuals within each of the organizations.

[Kampfer1445]

The U.S. military does have some. Unfortunately as anyone who has had experience of the military will tell you they have far more REMFs. Colonel Hackworth is an excellent source on the endemic problems the military, both the Army and as I can attest the Navy have with careerist officers and poor leaders holding officers commissions. The AOSB and Sandhurst do produce better officers overall than American commissioning sources.

[irishlight42]

Well, I think you also have to take in account that we have a much bigger army, and not just in general, but proportionally to population size.

We need to commission more officers in other words. One thing I like in the British Army is how an officer can apparently turn down promotion to stay with his unit.

[Kampfer1445]

We need to commission better officers.The candidate selection process and officer training systems have to be overhauled. There is a belief at the Service Academies that leaders are made, not born, which flies in the face of history and human nature. The Academies do not assess leadership potential, only grades and sport involvement, etc. and induct many candidates who have poor leadership qualities, which can't be sufficiently improved. Training also needs a serious military attitude.

[irishlight42]

I agree with the "serious military attitude for training," and I get some of what your saying about how officer candidates/cadets are assessed, but also to some extent some leaders are somewhat made.

I mean, leaders need to possess certain qualities, but not all great leaders I think are natural-born, and if you ask me, someone who thinks he's a leader because of his natural born qualities might sound a bit arrogant, and lack willingness to learn.

[Kampfer1445]

Arrogance inhibits a leader. Leadership can be honed but if there is no natural base to work from only so much can be done. Its not so much about someone thinking that they are a leader, as it is putting it into practice. Even among children those who tend to have more dominant personalities come to the fore as leaders among their peers. These are the strong characters that make good leaders of men. Both the British and the Russians believe that leadership is either natural or is learned young.

[cbrusharmy]

What a thing to say! What know you of it?

[Kampfer1445]

The U.S. military since the Second World War has always prejudiced against forthright, honest and competent officers in favor of officers who play politics. Which is why the U.S. military is often poorly led and has a superabundance of poor-quality officers. The British Army and the Sandhurst system does produce superior officers to the U.S. Service Academies, ROTC and OCS programs.

[bennyblue84]

it's a sad sign of the times, to have a great leader of men and stable minded person such as the colonel, being mistreated by a government who has no idea either what it is to govern, or govern men at war , churchill for example was a great leader of men at war, but had no clue about peace time rule, the heart of the government is not there, they are abject failures, why won't we stand up and fight for change anymore? stand together fall together .

[stampingtonzoo]

er you can always rely on prods from ulster to be canon fodder...first over during the somme...massacred...Pity they didn't send the remnants of the UDR as 'expendables" to iraq and afghanistan...What a shower of cunts they were...

[davidcburke16]

asshole !

[nks487]

It's nice to hear some intelligent stuff for a change re Iraq. Yes mbb05jb you can always rely on a bloke from Ulster :) Sorry I thumbed you down!

[kealyc]

Well said, nks487, he's a great officer. I'm proud.

[jimfrog38]

i read his book.  What a true leader and officer.

[yaimavol]

Mr. Collins is the kind of man the EU desperately needs to become a political leader. I'm sure he loaths the idea, but his fellow citizens should insist. These are the kinds of men we need to lead our world in these times. God Bless him and his family.

[KGBfbiSECUpolitia]

I only care ab.doubleStandandards="fairPla­y" HYPOCRITEengland payingBack Not to Africa/Asia, SCOTland/Ireland, theThenUSA,etc (as such) but ARGENTINA! Argentine ppl ( their KIDs, Ladies & men!) are v.Decent UNlike english 2FACED exGenocideFANs but still: Oral/Anal, EATing!SHIT & SEX with (own=WILLing) KIDs + DRINKing/ DRUGging, FootballHOOLIGANism,etc -ENTHUSIASTs. david Laws came out, 2nd davidCameron might do it2. LOOSe english(pre)TEENs (All KEEN on All/Any SEX-women), made english"men"GAYs

[mbb05jb]

u can always rely on an ulster man.

[lildimblonde]

this man is a credit to the advanced level of northern irish education and psyche.... he is truly a leader of men and comments by joelefacteur et al are wholly welcomed... it is a pity the mod and government found it necessary to 'get rid' tim u are a legend

[gizmo863]

'Nails' Collins. Legend. I served at that time with 1Bt RIrish. . One hard 'Rupert' that would gladly stand next to you in a fire-fight and unleash holy hell. Great bloke. Shit on by this corrupt government.

[YorkshirePunk01]

Respect to you mate, one of the best Cpl's I ever had was RIR. Have you read the Colonel's book? bloody good read; especially after you get past the first chapters, he really gets into the flow of writing. It's a shame the Para CO Tootal left and the Major Will pike, both are going to write books too. MoD is to blame for a lot. ie. civil workers.

[2RIRISH]

@gizmo863

Bang on. Same place in 2003, same viewpoint now.

[walter4460]

Mr Brown should listen to this and think about things in Iraq. Pity Mr Blair was deaf as well. But then again - Governments dont make mistakes do they? They just have ad hoc changes of policy to correct things. making Col Colling an advisor to the deaf Government might help things. If your car breaks down - you dont send for a Plumber do you? You send for a Car Mechanic!

Twedle De and Twedle Dum is right.

[srichard92]

this is one great man a true leader.people need to listen to what he is saying and act on his recomendations. it is better that old men get ulcers talking than young men die.

god bless you col colins.

[joelefacteur]

Collins has the Ulsterman's distinctive gift of spare yet eloquent speech. How unfortunate that intra-Army intrigue and political correctness combined to curtail a potentially brilliant career. The West needs many more like him to state the case against Jihadism--and its Leftist allies. Sadly, these seem to be in short supply. If the appeasers and defeatists (see above) have their way, the Jihadist problem will indeed "hunt" us for years to come.

[dahabO1]

these are human beings we are talking about a million civilians killed is a big problem that will hunt us for years to come.war for oil is wrong and it will not go on for too long

[lastnymleft]

4:36 - A moment of truth, offering a glimpse behind the curtain. The rest is just the usual BS from a CFR-shill.

[justaname2223]

firstt