Last year at Remembrance I considered the question ‘who are you remembering?’ and the fact that not all of us know someone in the Military, but we do know others who have given their all in service of others, be that in the Emergency Services or as a member of the general public. 

I want to follow on from that and consider how we remember those we have never met or knew. In 1989 HMS Brilliant was part of the UKs Armilla patrol operating in the Gulf, protecting UK shipping during the Iran / Iraq war. The day before she was due to enter Mombasa, Kenya, for two weeks R and R her Lynx helicopter crashed on the coastline south of the town killing 9 members of the crew. A memorial was erected at the site of the crash, which I visited on three separate occasions over the years. We conducted remembrance services at the memorial, and cleared it of vegetation etc. Over the years the memorial fell into disrepair and the plaque etc was removed and I believe it is now in the chapel at the Mission to Seafarers at Mombasa. 

I did not know any of the 9 personnel killed in that crash, so why should I remember them and be involved in those services on that remote beach in East Africa? 

Firstly because I wanted to say ‘Thank you’ for their service, although they had not died as a direct result of conflict, they served in Her Majesties Royal Navy and were prepared for whatever that might mean. That in itself warrants saying ‘Thank you’ for in my book (some may not agree!).  

Secondly, because it helped me.  No, I did not know them, but acknowledging their sacrifice and willingness to give themselves for a greater cause helped focus my mind on my own attitudes towards others. Yes, I had signed on the dotted line the same as those 9 men, but was I actually prepared for what that might mean? I guess in times of war and conflict it was all brought into sharper focus, but no-one actually expected to go away on a peacetime deployment and not come back.  Was I ready to accept that? On examination the answer actually was ‘yes’ … 

Jesus made that ultimate sacrifice for us, he died on a cross for you and me, that we might have eternity with him. Was he prepared for that when he came to earth as a man? I would say he knew what lay ahead for him, but he still had his moments of ‘not sure about this is there another way’ .. (In the Garden of Gethsemane before he died).  

So on this remembrance Sunday, as we reflect and remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for others in war and peace, lets not only think about them and say thanks, but reflect on what that means for us as individuals. What causes would we be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for?  

Those of us who are Christians, who have ‘signed on the dotted line’ are called to follow Jesus, and imitate him. How far are you prepared to go to fulfil this commitment? What are you and I prepared to sacrifice in order not just to remember his sacrifice and say ‘Thank you’, but to add ‘I’m up for this come what may … 

Image Credit: Zhen Hu

I am currently going through the process of selling my parents flat, and sorting out all the various stuff that is in it, as they are now in a care home.  One of the things that my dad has kept is his fathers’ trunk. Now, this is no normal trunk. His dad was an RSM in the Royal Military police, during both world wars. He worked with Lawrence of Arabia in Egypt and also served as King George the 6^thsecurity detail when he went to Aldershot during the early stages of WW2.  This trunk held most of my dads’ family possessions when they went to Hong Kong (by sea) in 1936, returning late 1938. It has his name stenciled on it, and still has the cabin number and stickers on it from the return journey.  

Now, when I joined up we didn’t get issued with trunks, but a green pussers’ suitcase, a grip and of course a kit bag. And so much stuff that you couldn’t fit it all in. Stuff. Masses of stuff.  I went on draft from my first ship when it was alongside in Newcastle, and had to take all my kit with me – kit bag, suitcase and a couple of grips. I remember getting it all onto the freezing cold jetty in Dec, whilst the dockyard mateys watched and laughed at me as I struggled with all this stuff, as the ship went back to sea. I then lugged it all to the station, across London and back to HMS Collingwood at Portsmouth.  (The following day the ship came back into Portsmouth – I could have stayed on board one extra night, and put it all in service transport to Collingwood … but there was no way my Chief was going to let that sensible plan happen!!).  

As I write this it’s the day after the fire in Notre Dame cathedral and also ‘Holy Week’ (ie the week before Easter Sunday).  Whatever your views on Notre Dame being just a building and the potential rebuild costs, it appears that there were some brave firefighters who were involved in the operation to save the building.  It reminds me of an incident that occurred when I was part of the Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) team (we were a bit like OFSTED for ships ..). We were doing the initial baseline checks (called a Staff Sea Check) on a warship from a foreign navy (no names no pack drill). Half way through the days serials and inspections with 60 + inspecting team on board, there was a fire alarm in the main engine room.   All the orders and commands coming over the main broadcast were not in English except the standard ‘FOST Staff muster on the Flight Deck’. All our team however were quickly accounted for except two Marine Engineering (ME) Warrant Officers. We all assumed that they were assisting with the incident. 

To quote Noddy Holder ‘It’s Chriiiiiiiiiisssssstmaaaaassss’ (nearly).
One of the words used at Christmas is ‘incarnate’. That basically means in human form, made flesh. The Son of God ‘incarnates’ himself as a man. He came down to earth in human form to get alongside us, share our life and experiences, so he could help / save us. Now, don’t worry I haven’t lost the plot, there is a ‘dit’ coming ..

Back in the 80s during the Cold War, my ship was taking part in a massive NATO exercise, involving ships from all over the world. We were one of the ‘enemy’ units, our mission was to attack the US based carrier group. I hate to admit it but we were taken out fairly early, and had no operational weapon systems, either offensive or defensive. We could still ‘float’ and ‘move’ but had no ‘fight’ capability. So we were no longer a threat to the ‘enemy’.

Red or white? There has been a lot of debate about the colour of poppies this year. Not sure where you stand on this issue, especially on this 100th anniversary of the end of WW1, but I would like to throw something else into the mix: red, white or …. a tomato?

Now stay with me on this .. all will become clear I promise you. In 1979 I joined the Royal Navy and served until 2007 (that’s over 28 years). I married a serving Naval Nurse and have a son serving in the Royal Marines Band Service. My father was in the Royal Navy and my Grandfather a Warrant Officer in the Military Police during WW2. I have a reasonable military history … I lost good mates during the Falklands conflict, and many others over the years whilst serving. I have been involved in repatriations from abroad and comforted widows at memorial services … I have cast many wreaths into the sea over wrecks and war graves of ships from WW1, WW2 and the Falklands. I restored a memorial to guys who died when their helicopter from HMS Brilliant went down off the coast of Kenya … I could go on. I say all that simply to put some context to what I am about to say. I personally am not that fussed what colour poppy you wear to remember. But remember we must … men, women, children, animals, serving or civilian who have died in wars and conflicts over many, many years. It may seem obvious but I believe that remembrance is simply about that … remembering, BUT also teaching a new generation of the horrors of war and conflict alongside the sacrifices made when serving others. Be that serving in military uniform in times of war or emergency services in peace time and of course those sacrifices made by families and friends ….. the list goes on. What helps you remember, red or white ?

So just the other day I managed to scrape our immaculate 33 year old VW camper van (re-sprayed 18 months ago) down the driver’s side, pulling off the rear wheel arch in the process. The van came off worse in the contest with the rear bumper (or in fact solid steel tube) of a large 4 x 4 truck thing. Entirely my fault, I completely misjudged the distances. But that is not what I want to write about. As I jumped out of the van after this incident to assess the damage (not a scratch on the 4 x 4) I twisted awkwardly and set off a recurring weak muscle injury in my back. And that hurt. In fact, as I write it’s still hurting, so I am typing this kneeling on the deck as that is the most comfortable position I have found so far ….
It made me think back to when I damaged this particular muscle the first time (I have two recurring muscle problems in my back … the other one was done when I attempted to carry my wife up the stairs at a weekend conference …). Store ship was always an evolution that many tried to get out of. A major store ship was a ‘clear lower deck’, which meant of course that everyone had to take part … unless you had a really good excuse. And by ‘eck there were always some great excuses. You could always guarantee that about 10 minutes in the phone calls would start coming in for (it has been said) mainly Chief Petty Officers. These were normally from an oppo on another ship and it was ‘essential’ that they had to go off the ship for a couple of hours. Anyway, we were storing HMS Southampton ready to go to the Falklands for 6 month and the POs mess were bringing on the beer. Barrels and barrels of CSB (Courage Special Brew). It was a long way through the ship to the stowage in the void spaces up fwd, and it had been a long day. Some of the guys were carrying two barrels, one in each arm, while I was sensibly carrying only one. In our wish to get this whole thing done and dusted quickly I made the mistake of attempting two, and it was then that this muscle went. And it’s that muscle that went when I jumped out of the van. After pranging it.
In the prayer that Jesus taught us (we call it ‘The Lord’s prayer’), there is a line that says:
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. Matthew Chapter 6 verse 13.
Temptation is one of those things that keeps coming back, sometimes it’s your own fault when you put yourself in a position or place where you know you have a weakness (like if you have a problem with alcohol it’s probably not best to go down the pub). But often temptation creeps up on you, and for no real reason that you can pin down, before you know it you end up falling into whatever trap it is. Or sometimes you just don’t think, it’s not a conscious thing but you end up in the position of being tempted … My back muscle is a bit like that, if I carry too much heavy stuff the odds are its gonna go, so I don’t carry too much heavy stuff. But like this time, I just didn’t think about what I was doing, and it went. But the thing is that being tempted itself is not actually wrong. It’s when we get tempted to do something and actually do it that the snags start. Whatever it is, maybe the kids are driving you mad and the temptation is to hit them rather than just send them to the naughty stair or whatever … it’s your response to that temptation that is important… or shall I have another beer and drive home … you get the idea. And you will keep getting tempted in the areas that you are weakest in …
My back is weak in this particular spot, and there is nothing I can do about that, but I can take steps to ensure that I don’t do anything stupid to aggravate it. Even now all these years after that store ship and decision to carry two barrels of CSB, I will do something un-intentionally that sets it off.
But the Bible also says that God will forgive us when we get stuff wrong, so if we do fall to a temptation (it’s called ‘sin’ in the Bible) and do something stupid there is a way back … all we have to do is ‘repent’ (ie turn away from what we have done), and because of what Jesus has done for us that forgiveness is guaranteed… so if you have acted upon some kind of temptation and done something you regret, take this amazing verse on board …
If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God. 1 John Chapter 1 verses 8 – 10.
So, I will be taking extra care of the back from here on in … and of course getting the van back to its former glory.
Until next time …
Image Credit: Nicole Mason

It was fairly early on in my Royal Naval career, my first complement job as a Petty Officer, Weapons Engineer. I was on a type 42 Destroyer, and I was the maintainer for the main computer system that drove the Weapons system and the Operations Room. It was 1983 and we were deployed down to the Falklands, still enforcing the exclusion zone, so lots of sea time and the kit was being worked very hard. There was a Chief in charge of the section with me. It was fairly old agricultural equipment, all the radar screens were of course Cathode Ray Tubes (like in your old telly before flat screens came along).
There had been a recurring problem on one of the radar displays with all the data information (track numbers etc) constantly jumping up and down on the screen. We had stripped it down, changed all sorts of bits but to no avail. It was still duff. We had virtually given up and were going to ask for assistance from shore-side authorities. Me and the Chief went to see the Weapons Engineering Officer (WEO) to tell him that decision. But, out of the blue Chief says to the WEO ‘Fixed it Sir’. I was taken aback, and WEO asks what it was … Chief says ‘There is a hole in the Cathode Ray Tube and the cooling fans are blowing the data around the screen’. I am waiting for WEO to rip off said Chiefs head, but instead says ‘Great, can you show me?’ Off we go to the Operations Room .. data still jumping, Chief pulls out fan drawer and data stops jumping. Drawer back, data jumps, drawer out, data stops. ‘Excellent work team’ says WEO and goes back to his tea and biccies … leaving us two flabbergasted staring at the display in disbelief. (Turns out it was all to do with broken down insulation and induced voltages etc …).
Trying to live a live based around faith in God can be a bit like that .. you have an issue in your life that you just can’t sort out, it may be some habit that you can’t break (porn, alcohol, debt issues, etc) and you are afraid of what others are gonna think of you if you admit it. But there comes a point where you have to go and ask for assistance, open up and be honest that you are not going to be able to deal with it on your own. In our case the problem had already been shared between two of us, but we became aware that it was outside our combined knowledge and we needed someone with more experience to help us sort it out. So if your oppo asks for some help with an issue or problem, and you feel its getting out of your comfort zone don’t be afraid to take it further .. don’t be too stubborn or proud !
Of course as a Christian I believe that I can take these issues to God by praying (talking!) to him, and that he will help me. I truly believe that and have experienced some amazing answers to prayers. But sometimes it helps to talk to someone else about it as well as God …
But I wouldn’t advise being like my old Chief and come up with some ridiculous idea to help sort out your mates problem .. in 99% of cases it don’t work like that, but asking for help does … and especially when you talk to God about it. In the early days of the Church they were all working together to help out with life in general. It was likened to a body, where everyone has a role and without the others it don’t work properly. I certainly knew that when working at sea, and part of that was knowing when to open up and admit I didn’t know it all. Jesus taught a bit about the importance of taking stuff to God in prayer …

Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. This mountain, for instance: Just say, ‘Go jump in the lake’—no shuffling or shilly-shallying—and it’s as good as done. That’s why I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you’ll get God’s everything. And when you assume the posture of prayer, remember that it’s not all asking. If you have anything against someone, forgive—only then will your heavenly Father be inclined to also wipe your slate clean of sins.”
Mark Ch 11 v 22-25 (The Message).

Until next time …

Image Credit: Matt Hardy

New Year. Another one. 2018. Already. Any hopes? Dreams? Challenges? Resolutions? Plans?
Of course we have no idea what lies ahead, we can make plans, we can prepare for stuff but no-one actually knows for sure whether any of it will actually happen ..
I am not sure how far ahead you all make plans, but one of the strong points in the Navy was planning (I know that will sound contradictory to any of you who served in the forces!). Now, I’m not talking about day to day planning really, more mid to long term planning. We always knew the ship’s outline programme for the next couple of years, and then increasing amounts of details down to the next day … and then there would be specific instructions detailing the actual exercise or visit or whatever it was. Generally the very long term plan stayed the same … ie when we would be deployed or on a certain exercise, but it was that actual day or the next that kept changing … the old saying ‘A plan is simply a basis for change’ springs to mind … we also used another saying as well … the 6 ‘P’s – Prior Planning Prevents ‘Pretty’ Poor Performance. There is nothing wrong with planning, but how tight do we hold onto our plans? How does it affect us when something changes and we have to alter or shelve our plans? How flexible are we?
I remember once we had been on an anti-submarine patrol and had been away from our base port for about 6 weeks, and every weekend the Captain had planned in a flight deck BBQ but we were either engaged on operations, or the helo was flying, weather was bad and the BBQ had been cancelled every weekend. The lads were getting a bit fed up of this change in plan every week! So on the final Saturday before we got back to our base port of Plymouth the Captain insisted that we have the BBQ whatever was going on. It was raining, it was blowing a gale and the ship was pitching and rolling. But would the Captain change his mind? No. We had the BBQ .. and it was .. er … interesting (had to lash the BBQ drums down to prevent them flying around, and the guys cooking were all in full foul weather clothing, and the lads basically ate in the hanger and just went straight back to their messes. It was a disaster). So sometimes we can stick to a plan when really we shouldn’t!
New Year is often when we start thinking about plans or resolutions, things that are going to happen or we are going to do (who has ever taken a gym membership out and not lasted beyond March???). The thing with being a Christian and what I would call ‘Gods plan’ is that it does not revolve around tomorrow … it is basically focussed on today! You can’t change what happened yesterday, and you don’t now what will happen tomorrow .. so it’s all about today .. there is a verse in the Bible that says this :
Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. (Matthew 6 v 34 – the Message version).
I love that … I’m not saying that we shouldn’t think about stuff that we are planning, but how tight do we hold onto that plan? If we are journeying with God the second part of that quote is great … God will help you deal with the hard things that come up … the changes, the curved balls.
So, at the start of the New Year why not make a resolution to make plans, but hold them lightly … and when things happen that throws our plans out the window, allow God to help us through …
Until next time …. Cheers and blessings … and a very happy 2018!
Image Credit: Warren Tobias

To quote Noddy Holder ‘It’s Chriiiiiiiiiisssssstmaaaaassss’ (nearly).
What are your expectations of Christmas? We very often have this lovely ‘Christmas card’ image in our mind of snow, Christmas trees, angelic children singing carols, a beautiful lunch, perfect gifts etc etc … but for most of us the reality is a bit different.
The ship had deployed to the Arabian Gulf in Oct, so we were away for Christmas. Thankfully we were able to have a ‘stand down’ for the actual Christmas / New Year period and were alongside in Dubai for a week or so. Definitely no snow, but a good opportunity to at least make phone calls home etc … so not too bad at all. The expectations were high, but of course tinged with sadness as we were separated from our families.
Christmas day came, we had our ships Church service in the Dining Hall, and then each mess had their secret Santa, then it was lunch .. always served by the Officers of course, and they always came up with a great meal (I have to add they didn’t cook it, the chefs still did that bit thankfully). That was all fine, but then the afternoon got quieter and you started to think more about what was going on at home. At some stage of the day most of us took ourselves away somewhere on our own and opened presents from home .. that was always a bit difficult, as it really brought home the separation. This particular Christmas I had opened my presents from home before the mornings Church service … in amongst the stuff from home was a box of sweets and included was a kit-kat. Now, I don’t have a massive sweet tooth, but am partial to a kit-kat.
I had planned my day so that late afternoon, once it had cooled off a bit I was going to go out for my regular run. Can’t remember exactly how far I did, but probably 6 miles, and as I was running I kept thinking about that kit-kat … and was really looking forward to it (there had been no kitkats in the NAAFI for weeks)! So after a shower, I sat in my cabin and unwrapped it … only to find it was made of rubber and was a trick one provided by my loving wife … Expectations shattered!
One of the things about the Christmas story is that the whole thing was expected .. it should not have come as a surprise to anyone … Jesus had been spoken of (well not by name, but as the Messiah or son of God etc) who was going to come into the world (if you go to the traditional style carol service you will hear these passages read out). It was all there in the Jewish holy scripture (or the Old Testament as we know it now in the Bible). BUT they had kinda misinterpreted it and were expecting a king to come at the head of an army and throw out the Romans … that was what they expected. It didn’t happen like that, Jesus came as a baby to experience what it’s like to be a human .. so he could fully stand with us in all our experiences and emotions. The promised ‘saviour’ was not coming to free them us physical oppression but to bring hope for peace and freedom on a ‘spiritual’ level … hope for a future, an expectation that once put right with God,whatever our situation we would be at peace with our creator God, and spend eternity with him The expectation that death no longer held any power …
So whatever your expectations of Christmas are this year, I pray that you will not be let down and find a rubber kit-kat but experience the true peace that comes from an ongoing relationship with God through Jesus .. don’t leave him in the manger ….
Until next time …. Cheers and blessings …
Image Credit: Chris Sowder

Last time we thought about traditions this time I am going to think a bit about routines … stuff we just do because … well … because we do. We always do.
If you have been reading these blogs for a while you may remember that I like to run. I used to run a lot, now it’s kinda tailed off a bit, but I still get out there regularly, but not quite so much mileage.
When we were at sea it was a bit awkward to get the miles in as it was 10 laps of the upper-deck to the mile, at one point I was doing 10 miles a night (100 laps … ). Lets say it could become a bit tedious, especially as there was only two places to overtake slower runners … and there were all sorts of hazards: all sorts of fittings on the deck, guns and stuff in the way like the sea boat, refuelling points at head height and my personal favourite other sailors opening solid metal upper deck doors in your face ..
Anyway, my routine was to get the miles in at 1800 it seemed to be the best time when most of the runners were all about the same pace. Every day we were at sea, I would be up there. It was quite a good routine to be honest, there was basically nothing wrong with it. However because of the constant sharp turns to get round the deck there was a hidden problem with this routine. You were constantly turning the same way and it knackered your knees even more than just running on metal decks that were constantly moving! So although the routine itself was good, if you followed it constantly it became problematic. So, there was a variation to the routine … we simply ran the opposite way on alterative days. Clock wise / Anti-clockwise. It worked. A simple change to a set routine that prevented it causing grief – although of course this became part of the routine … but hey all analogies fall over at some point ..
Routine is generally a good thing I reckon. Last week we talked about traditions at Christmas .. ‘traditions’ are often wrapped up with ‘routine’ it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference. Routines can often carry us through a dark period, or when the going is tough, for me that period at sea between 4 – 7.30 pm when we had the evening meal was the worst part of the day. My routine of running helped me through that time, but without the tweak to my routine by alternating the direction it would have become harmful … One thing that can become routine at Christmas is the Office / Work ‘run ashore’ when everyone has too much beer and tries it on with the secretary or something. You going on the office run ashore this year? Have too much to drink last year? Nothing wrong with the routine of going … maybe give it a tweak this year and slip in the odd orange juice.
So as we draw even closer to Christmas not only think about traditions and how they can detract from the main message, but also how routines can put you into the habit (another good word!) of doing something for the sake of it which can become harmful, but with a small tweak can become beneficial and carry you through tough times (Spending time with God is a classic where the routine of 10 minutes with God can help you through when you don’t wanna do it, but when you spend the ten minutes gazing out of the window maybe you need to tweak what you are actually doing … but that’s for another blog).

Image Credit: Nikola Jelenkovic