Military ID cards

[peterpikefisher]

Just 24 hours earlier they had been fighting on the front line in Afghanistan. But that wasn't enough to get two marines through the doors of a pub for a homecoming pint. Dan Buchanan and Kelvin Billings were stunned when doormen at the J D Wetherspoons in Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth, refused them entry. They showed their military ID which includes their date of birth but Wetherspoons said the cards were not acceptable as evidence of proof of age

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Why-i...-not.4936685.jp

 

Wetherspoons say it was the Police that told them what id they could accept.

whenasked if this was nationwide...no comment

when asked, as they were a large company had they raised concerns of not accepting Military ID...No comment

 

Wetherspoons have the chance to raise their profile, by fighting this for the military..until they do...I won`t be spending my money with them

 

It looks like the story is getting bigger now with some national papers running the story

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11...ilitary-ID.html

 

and

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/83061/...ve-on-frontline

 

The best option would be to have a government legislate to make military IDs a nationally recognised form of ID. That way all establishments would have to accept them along with passports or driving licences. At the same time they can make it a crime to discriminate against military personnel regardless of whether they are in uniform or not.

 

Just boycotting Wetherspoons is not enough, A petition has just been started to make the forces identity card a nationally recognised form of ID.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/forces-id...=df042b7.ad11b9

 

 

i'm with you on this one they have a witherspoon's up in Livingston i bet they would not turn him away the security people are mainly ex military.

[Emma two]

They don't need to. All they have to do is recognise that there is a potential problem and liase with the issueing authorities to enable them to issue one of these for their soldiers.

 

Wetherspoons list of accepted ID's has been singled out for critisism so it would make sense to come to an interin arrangement until the PaSS cards can be sorted out.

 

The PASS cards are issued by trading standards, so far as I know a government body. Military ID cards (MOD 90) are issued by the ministry of defence, a government body. So why on earth should there be a need to duplicate? other than perhaps to provide something to do for the horde of beaurocrats who increasingly pester us wuth 'bumf'.

 

Some clearly feel that what this is all about is a way of keeping servicepeople out, and if so Kipling's words are as relivent now as they were at the end of the 19th Century.

[Ken L]

I can think of any number of reasons why the MOD would want to avoid having its soldiers flashing MOD identifications in everyday life but the safety of the lads and the fact that the more they're flashed the more likely it is that they will fall into the hands of a competent forger and compromise base security are just two.

Why not carry two ID's. I have a government issued work ID as well but I wouldn't expect a pub to accept it as proof of my age.

[five bellies]

Emma Im with you on this one A poor show from weatherspoons,

 

I used to work in the UJC in Waterloo so was used to seeing MOD 90s, I can picture the pass well What I cant recall is the information on it If I recall it is minimal, I am by no means defending the doormen at weatherspoons but if they dont show a date of birth on the Pass it canot be proof of age, wich may be a stipulation of entry. As young servicemen and women would get issued one on jioning up at sixteen years of age, the term screw the nut comes to mind when dealing with situations like this.

 

Ive been a Doorman for years it seems they remove the power of common scence from you on reciept of an SIA Badge these days.

Edited February 5, 2009 by five bellies

[Emma two]

I can think of any number of reasons why the MOD would want to avoid having its soldiers flashing MOD identifications in everyday life but the safety of the lads and the fact that the more they're flashed the more likely it is that they will fall into the hands of a competent forger and compromise base security are just two.

Why not carry two ID's. I have a government issued work ID as well but I wouldn't expect a pub to accept it as proof of my age.

 

It's true that the system has potential flaws, however that is the one which is in place. The MOD requires ID Cards to be carried, their loss is an offence under the army act. They are used extensivley in most aspects of life where ID is needed, which for a soldier of often as they are frequently strangers wherever they are. They could be stolen or forged, and soldiers could be harmed for being what they are but life is not without risks, and soldiers using military ID has not so far presented a serious security problem. I travelled the world during my service on my MOD 90 (sometimes needing supporting travel passes) only getting a passport years after becoming a civilian.

 

The government issuing seperate documents from different departments would be just a waste of money.

[Emma two]

Emma Im with you on this one A poor show from weatherspoons,

 

but if they dont show a date of birth on the Pass it canot be proof of age, wich may be a stipulation of entry. As young servicemen and women would get issued one on jioning up at sixteen years of age, the term screw the nut comes to mind when dealing with situations like this.

 

Ive been a Doorman for years it seems they remove the power of common scence from you on reciept of an SIA Badge these days.

 

Hiya FB, that might be a vaild point, I will dig my old one out and see what info is on it, and check with my son whose is a much later issue.

[Steve Walker]

It occurred to me that perhaps the card only proved ID and not age, but the newspaper article claims that the card includes DOB.

[five bellies]

It occurred to me that perhaps the card only proved ID and not age, but the newspaper article claims that the card includes DOB.

 

 

I think Name,service number, rank , hieght plus an expirey date

Edited February 6, 2009 by five bellies

[DavyR]

Some clearly feel that what this is all about is a way of keeping servicepeople out, and if so Kipling's words are as relivent now as they were at the end of the 19th Century.

 

Timeless, I'm afraid - I still remember the horror I felt when I first learned of Elizabeth I's complete indifference to the plight of her sailors following the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Discharged without pay (unlike those Spaniards that survived), between 6 and 8,000 died through disease and hunger. Losses in the battle itself were minimal.

 

They didn't use to teach that in schools - I wonder if they do now?

[Emma two]

Timeless, I'm afraid - I still remember the horror I felt when I first learned of Elizabeth I's complete indifference to the plight of her sailors following the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Discharged without pay (unlike those Spaniards that survived), between 6 and 8,000 died through disease and hunger. Losses in the battle itself were minimal.

 

They didn't use to teach that in schools - I wonder if they do now?

 

 

Here is another bit of Kipling, perhaps less often quoted than 'Tommy'. His response to Tennyson's 'Charge of the Light Brigade' .

 

The Last of the Light Brigade

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

There were thirty million English who talked of England's might,

There were twenty broken troopers who lacked a bed for the night.

They had neither food nor money, they had neither service nor trade;

They were only shiftless soldiers, the last of the Light Brigade.

 

They felt that life was fleeting; they knew not that art was long,

That though they were dying of famine, they lived in deathless song.

They asked for a little money to keep the wolf from the door;

And the thirty million English sent twenty pounds and four !

 

They laid their heads together that were scarred and lined and grey;

Keen were the Russian sabres, but want was keener than they;

And an old Troop-Sergeant muttered, "Let us go to the man who writes

The things on Balaclava the kiddies at school recites."

 

They went without bands or colours, a regiment ten-file strong,

To look for the Master-singer who had crowned them all in his song;

And, waiting his servant's order, by the garden gate they stayed,

A desolate little cluster, the last of the Light Brigade.

 

They strove to stand to attention, to straighen the toil-bowed back;

They drilled on an empty stomach, the loose-knit files fell slack;

With stooping of weary shoulders, in garments tattered and frayed,

They shambled into his presence, the last of the Light Brigade.

 

The old Troop-Sergeant was spokesman, and "Beggin' your pardon," he said,

"You wrote o' the Light Brigade, sir. Here's all that isn't dead.

An' it's all come true what you wrote, sir, regardin' the mouth of hell;

For we're all of us nigh to the workhouse, an' we thought we'd call an' tell.

 

"No, thank you, we don't want food, sir; but couldn't you take an' write

A sort of 'to be continued' and 'see next page' o' the fight?

We think that someone has blundered, an' couldn't you tell 'em how?

You wrote we were heroes once, sir. Please, write we are starving now."

 

The poor little army departed, limping and lean and forlorn.

And the heart of the Master-singer grew hot with "the scorn of scorn."

And he wrote for them wonderful verses that swept the land like flame,

Till the fatted souls of the English were scourged with the thing called Shame.

 

O thirty million English that babble of England's might,

Behold there are twenty heroes who lack their food to-night;

Our children's children are lisping to "honour the charge they made - "

And we leave to the streets and the workhouse the charge of the Light Brigade!