A good job done in a bad cause.
I'm ambivalent on all of this.
At least it's not the Tony Blair Medal of Truth and Freedom.
Military techies have been honoured for the first time in an awards ceremony for British soldiers that provide the IT infrastructure necessary to modern warfare and peacekeeping missions. Three members of the Royal Corps of Signals were honoured at the event, hosted by London's Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, …
They've obviously not met my bloody users...
Seriously though, tough job, tough environment and all credit to them.
Knew a bloke who went to Afghanistan to do network stuff for Signals. Was a sodding miracle they could make phone calls without getting electrocuted, let alone get access to network resources given his abilities but there must be people out there who are capable and doing a great job in v.difficult and dangerous circumstances.
Iraq one we had to rewire a signals landrover with single core cable as it was all we had and it was our only working 353, we paralleled our 351 batteries to keep that and the tuams going. That was fun (i'll remember the registration number - 27KK30 - till the day I die). Not much fun in 50C with no BV, took a full day. Pretty much our job though. Only other fun thing was a yank tank putting a patio door through a wall that was part of a CP crushing another land rover. sunray was not best pleased. Field stripping tuams and rewinding is not the best fun in the world.
Simple, no money, on first an second tours in Iraq we had to share body armour, poor weaponary in the SA 80 which didnt like sand, in the Balkans radio equipment was out do date and after the Falklands the problem was cheap boots.
In Afganistan, no helicopters, and poor vehicles.
The real problem, and the main problem though, Politicians... They are responsible above all else for these failings because they didn't spend the money.
Can they access yours? No, unless you're paranoid and not good with choosing decent antivirus tools... and nothing will change your mind...
gupdate is insecure, yet CESG has probably mandated that certain things must not be operational unless it can be controlled. (logical theory)
It's good to see "support" personal recognised, my grandfather only got his "combat" medal for his work in the Malay Emergency because his base came under direct attack and he was handed a gun (he was an army cook), never mind the fact the base had been shelled and under sniper fire for months, if it hadn't been for that one day he'd have never been recognized by the government and wouldn't have been entitled to benefits.
So it's good to see attitudes changing, if slowly.
We Brits do some strange things. The ancient Livery Companies of London have increased to include Information Technologists, who carry on the old tradition of giving awards to notable military personnel for their deeds, though Nelson tended to get swords rather than certificates.
And then the mobile bell-tower leading the Thames Pageant was manned by IT workers...