Tag: service

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Celebrities give morale-boost to injured personnel

By Sharon Black

David Beckham and Ray Winstone both dropped into the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham to see injured Service personnel and the medical staff who treat them and show their appreciation for the jobs that they do. Ray was the one who instigated the visit and invited his friend David to join him.

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WWII airman celebrates 100th birthday

By Sharon Black

On New Year’s Day, family, staff and residents at the Ilford Park Polish Home in Devon joined their oldest resident, former Spitfire pilot Mieczyslaw Juny MBE , for his 100th birthday celebrations. Mr Juny was born in Lwow, Poland, on 1 January 1913. At the age of 26, he took part in the Polish Campaign of 1939.

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Christmas joy for old soldier who finally got his medal

By Sharon Black

Army veteran Joe McKenna, 72, who volunteers at the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment Lancashire Infantry Museum in Preston, left the military in 1970 just months before his Northern Ireland service medal was minted and eventually decided to track down his medal after years of attending parades where he was the only veteran not wearing one.

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Defence Secretary welcomes Defence Reform annual report

By Sharon Black

In a letter to the Secretary of State, Lord Levene congratulated the Department on strong progress made against the 53 recommendations since the publication of the Defence Reform Report in June 2011 and said that he believes the programme is being run with genuine urgency.

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Defence Infrastructure Organisation health and safety

By Sharon Black

DE primary areas of health and safety Policy and Guidance Management of Asbestos Containing Materials ( ACM ) on the Defence Estate Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral. It can be amphibole asbestos which includes crocidolite (blue) and amosite (brown) asbestos, or serpentine asbestos which is chrysotile (white) asbestos. These are the three main types used in Great Britain.

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Major incident centre

By Sharon Black

Introduction In the event of a major casualty incident involving members of the Armed Forces and/or civilian personnel deployed on operations, the JCCC will activate a Major Incident Centre, manned initially by Service Personnel & Veterans Agency ( SPVA ) personnel and subsequently reinforced, if necessary, by Service personnel. Activation will be notified by IMMEDIATE signal and when operational, a ‘Lo-Call 0845’ telephone number will be publicised for families and relatives to make enquiries. It should be noted, however, that in the early phases of a major incident information will be limited and the JCCC will be concentrating its efforts on informing Emergency Contacts/Next of Kin about those who may have been injured.

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Novel approach to get soldiers reading

By Sharon Black

The Army has brought in bestselling novelist and former Special Air Service (SAS) soldier Andy McNab to kick-start a new scheme designed to help soldiers to develop their literacy and numeracy skills.