"For security reasons we're apparently not supposed to say who they are."
But you did!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/30/first_f_35b_joint_strike_fighter_lands_uk/
The Ministry of Defence has been accused of creating an Islamic State hitlist by publishing the names and ranks of Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force officers. Made available to the public since the 18th century, the Army and Navy Lists contain the names, service numbers, ranks and date of seniority of every serving officer …
And we should remove all the road signs as well, as was done during Second World War. At the moment we have the deplorable situation where terrorists can find their way to the Houses of Parliament, Heathrow Airport and other potential targets without any difficulty whatsoever!
And we should remove all the road signs as well, as was done during Second World War.
It was sometime in the mid 1990s when I did a job near Cold Overton in Leicestershire. On completion I had to drive a largish vehicle (i.r.o. 10 Tonne) back to Birmingham. It was not long before I came to the conclusion that the local road signs had not been so much "removed" during WW2 but turned to point in misleading directions and not put back again afterwards.
Annoying enough in a car, bloody difficult in an HGV.
At the time it didn't seem very funny...
"Historians and genealogists love them for tracing family members, and that's about the most you can do with them.
But they do have other uses!
Jack. His name would appear in the Army Lists of the period, I suppose, Aunt Augusta?
Lady Bracknell. The General was essentially a man of peace, except in his domestic life. But I have no doubt his name would appear in any military directory.
Jack. The Army Lists of the last forty years are here. These delightful records should have been my constant study. [Rushes to bookcase and tears the books out.] M. Generals . . . Mallam, Maxbohm, Magley, what ghastly names they have—Markby, Migsby, Mobbs, Moncrieff! Lieutenant 1840, Captain, Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel, General 1869, Christian names, Ernest John. [Puts book very quietly down and speaks quite calmly.] I always told you, Gwendolen, my name was Ernest, didn’t I? Well, it is Ernest after all. I mean it naturally is Ernest.
It's even worse than we thought! Defeatist liberal policy enables terrorists to identify members of the military at a distance and in within crowds, by forcing our boys to wear visually distinctive uniforms! Clearly, this is going to have to change. Now, concealed weapons are a constant threat, but we also don't want terrorists to be able to identify the military by virtue of their being the only ones armed. Hence, the only acceptable policy is to require the military to go armed at all times, require civilians to carry plastic and lead mock-ups of identical mass, and ban all clothing.
At the risk of attracting downvotes does the name Fusilier Lee Rigby ring any bells? Or the attempted abduction of an RAF Serviceman near RAF Marham?
The risk to service personnel might be greater than you realise.
This is a "think of the children" respin isn't it.
Lee Rigby wasn't an officer, so wasn't in the Army LIst, but was easily identified because he was wearing a ceremonial uniform.
Norfolk Police said of the RAF serviceman incident that "The motivation for the attack remains unclear and whilst we are currently unable to discount terrorism, there are a number of other possible hypotheses." So it was "obviously" a terrorist attack - especially as it was done by people of "Middle Eastern" appearance, because what else do they do.
So, let's do some non-evidence based random acts of pointless security theatre to show that we are "thinking of the children servicemen".
We all know that ISIS staff don't know how to use google. So I had better help them:
I must stop - the noise from the descending black helicopter is making it hard to think.
Police officers aren't required to divulge their names when they would otherwise be required to if whatever they're dealing with is related to terrorism (which, as we all know, includes just about everything these days). Because obviously PC Smith identifying himself when carrying out a stop-and-search is going to put him right at the top of ISIS hit-list, who would otherwise never be able to track him down without his name.
I also question why uniformed armed officers and the like frequently feel the need to disguise themselves by wearing balaclavas (no, not flash hoods) - I suspect in most cases it's more to do with achieving the Hollywood look than any qualified threat of reprisal compared to that for any other uniformed police officer, or is the photo of the local beat officer on my village noticeboard soon going to be anonymised and have black tape put over his eyes?
Nice little country town Hereford has a nearby military base.
RAF Hereford
I suggest you go there one at a time, and upon seeing anyone outside walk up to them, state you are a terrorist and would like to see the base.
They will then take you on a tour, someone will enjoy it.