Is Being Called A Black B****rd An Acceptable Part Of Life In The Forces?

[jake-the-peg]

So Patrick Mercer is resigning the Tory Party whip before Panorama exposes his misdemeanors

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22727815

Ironic since he once said:

he had seen "a lot of ethnic minority soldiers who were idle and useless, but who used racism as cover for their misdemeanours."

Presumably as opposed to him using his position as an MP as a cover for his!

More interestingly he once said that being called a "black b@stard" was part of life in the armed forces.

Do people think that's acceptable today?

If they do would it be equally acceptable for a black NCO to refer to a wite soldier in the reverse?

Are racist comments acceptable in the Army now or in Mercer's departure are we seeing the the death of a dinosaur?

[Alston]

fgt...You spell the word correctly but that doesn' make you a bastard. :-)

Al.

[Sqad]

Perhaps 30 or 40 years ago, there were so few bastards (born out of wedlock) that it had a certain novelty value, a certain je ne sai quoi BUT today they are so many bastards (born out of wedlock) that it has lost it's importance...no big deal....nothing special...so to speak.

[albaqwerty]

I hate the c word with a passion, dunno why.

Some time after my dad's funeral, I'd parked my car outside his garage, was getting mementos. and helping me mother.
Came out to a note on the windscreen calling me a bastard for parking there.
Found out who it was and gave them hell.
I was 8 months pregnant at the time.

[albaqwerty]

I hate the c word with a passion, dunno why.

Some time after my dad's funeral, I'd parked my car outside his garage, was getting mementos. and helping me mother.
Came out to a note on the windscreen calling me a bastard for parking there.
Found out who it was and gave them hell.
I was 8 months pregnant at the time.

[tonyav]

Yes ah wench, I can tell how much you hate it, posted it twice ;-)

[jake-the-peg]

Well the Britsh Army claim they now have a zero tolerance approach to racism so maybe Mercer is just a thing of the past.

Wonder how many of Sandhurst graduates are from racial minorities

[jno]

I suspect there may be an element of deliberate desensitisation at work. The army likes to employ real hard men.

[Brenden]

Do not think you are allowed now to a child born out of wedlock a bastard sqad - they are illegitimate.

[sandyRoe]

Wasn't the term, 'Love child', popular for a while?

[Sqad]

Brenden...LOL...I was (am) a bastard and oddly enough have played upon it and worn it as a sort of "badge of honour".......LOL

It perked up a boring dinner party......

[sandyRoe]

As am I. But I've never been at a dinner party. :-(

[Sqad]

sandy....ah! you are the wrong type of bastard........one has to be a "right bastard" to be invited to dinner parties.......;-)

[vulcan42]

I would think a person intent on a career in the forces should be able to stand up to name calling and being shouted at. No doubt it has changed since I was in the RAF, but we had a drill instructor who had many a colourful expression. He once stood nose to nose with a recruit (white) who had just managed to shoot down the red warning flag on the rifle range with a brengun. I heard " You jumped up,never came down, Black enamelled B'stard. Your Mother didn't know whether to mother you or smother you, I'm telling you now she did the wrong thing". It had a certain ring to it I always thought.

[Sqad]

Vulcan...LOL....LOL.....or when you were born, they threw away the baby and kept the after birth.

[tonyav]

LOL @ sqad, yes indeed you do.

[Sqad]

Poor old jake..........I don't think that he expected these replies........

[Svejk]

Jake thinks you can have an army full of Corporal Gromits and Lah de Dah Gunner Pegs debating the orders.

[tonyav]

Don't forget Sargent Major aog.

[Old_Geezer]

Amazing. I'd have thought blindness was a disability which means it ought be avoided when tossing "insults" between folk. I hadn't realised having a black skin was considered a disability until now.

I think some things are taken too far in this 'push for a PC' world.