Whilst The Events Might Be Cancelled, We Can Still Celebrate…
The national event for Armed Forces Day 2020 was set to be the largest to date held in Scarborough this year.
I should know, I was involved with Pathfinder International being official media partners for the weekend, as we had been in previous years in Llandudno and Salisbury.
The outbreak of coronavirus has sadly put paid to any events related to this and to be honest, put paid to a lot of things we take for granted in modern day life. And if you wanted to throw Armed Forces Day into the mix of priorities during COVID19, some would argue in the grand scheme of things that it would not be near the top.
However, whilst everyone’s safety and the hopeful ending of this pandemic is paramount, for me Armed Forces Day 2020 should be marked and respected more than ever.
The UK military have once again stepped up to the plate when required during this current crisis of unprecedented proportions in a plethora of examples.
From assisting with the assembly of all of the NHS Nightingale hospitals around the country, to soldiers fulfilling procedures to key workers for COVID test kits, to the Royal Navy producing face masks, to the Royal Air Force providing air support and more for Nightingale advisors, the repatriation of COVID patients and PPE. I could go on and on with the amount of news stories we have received, whilst veterans like Matthew Disney and Darren Hardy (featured in the current issue), not to mention Sir Colonel Tom Moore have raised millions for charities during the lockdown.
20,000 to 30,000 troops were also placed on standby and thankfully up until now have not been required, but still they were there, ready and willing to assist in this global emergency.
Speaking of global, forces personnel have been key in providing support and assistance worldwide with the combined services travelling to ensure citizens in overseas territories such as Bermuda, Ascension and the Falklands are safe.
With all of this in mind, I as editor and Pathfinder as a magazine, invite the veterans, military charities and general public reading this into raising three cheers for the forces at 3pm on Saturday June 27, in what we have labelled “3 Cheers @ 3pm”.
The spirit of three cheers and hip hip hooray is strongly linked to the military of course, on many parades including the festival of Remembrance, Her Majesty the Queen is honoured with three cheers. Now the favour can be repaid and what a rousing sound it would be to hear the entire nation sound out three cheers at three on Saturday June 27.
In fact, three cheers, three whistles, three honks of a car horn, three fireworks, three of anything as we have seen supporting the NHS each Thursday throughout lockdown.
We may not be able to celebrate together as a community, but we are still able to appreciate the efforts of all who serve and who have served our great nation.
I hope to hear as many of you as I can on Saturday June 27 at 3pm.
Hip Hip Hooray!
Kind regards,
Mal Robinson, Editor, Pathfinder International magazine – the original military resettlement magazine.
Read the June issue of Pathfinder here
