One of the UK’s most senior military figures in Afghanistan was sent home in disgrace after drinking champagne with colleagues, The Telegraph can reveal.
Maj Gen Charlie Herbert OBE took up a post in June 2017 in Kabul as deputy advisor to the ministry of the interior, the government department responsible for law enforcement, civil order and fighting crime.
No, nothing to do with Afghans, Muslims or anything:
in breach of a US rule on the consumption of alcohol.”
The American armed forces can get very anal puckered about booze. It’s not just that the Navy is dry.
Just as an example, USN is clean shaven. Pops was RN and so could continue to wear his beard as he had done all his adult life. But one posting had him, RN Captain, under USN Admiral. So, off the beard came. While feasible to insist upon RN rules, line of command and all that, be polite etc.
US military really can be very anal.
“US military really can be very anal”
That would be forgivable if they could win any war that lasts longer than one battle.
US sailors were not even aloud rum. Not sue about the sodomy and lash though.
Seriously there are numerous stories of the horror of American officers’ reactions when confronted with theirBritish counterparts’ hard drinking in both World Wars and especially on the occupation/peacekeeping/ interventions immediately after the Great War.
Jeez, there’s no way I could survive being conscripted* into the navy and forced to spend a war on a boat (or in any branch of the armed forces) without being able to drink.
*Only way I’m going to be fighting to defend the financial interests of Sunak/Starmer/et al. Though I’d probably just leg it to somewhere neutral.
“Just as an example, USN is clean shaven.”
I believe at least one high-profile admiral shaves his legs.
Remember the recent recruitment campaigns?
Snow flakes
Selfie addicts
Binge gamers (but obviously not drinkers)
Your army needs you!
Phone zombies
Me me me millennials
Class clowns
Your army needs you!
Yet at the same time ……..
An Army spokesman said: “Soldiers at all levels of the British Army are held to the highest standards. If any individual fails to meet these standards, appropriate action is taken.”
But why drink champagne in Kabul at all?
Was there any point, during our disastrous and humiliating failed war against the Taliban, where it looked like Afghanistan was about to turn into a Western liberal democracy?
What was he toasting? £22.7Bn poured into the sands of Helmand, and decades worth of Home Office schemes to repopulate Britain with entire tribes of Afghans?
Charlie does seem to exemplify the cuntishness of the Brit ruling class. Shades of Boris’s Covid lockdown parties (Or ITV presenters evenings out). There are rules, that should be enforced on everyone but me.
Agree with bis and I’ll bet there was a lot more to this than we are being told even though he claims he was cleared of the other allegations.
Bis and BiND have it right.
We ‘Mericans may be as anal as they come in some matters, but no military lodges a complaint against a senior officer of an ally unless there’s some very, very serious shit going on.
Yes, it’s like the captain of the Royal Navy’s flagship being sacked over misuse of a Ford Galaxy, ffs. There was obviously something else behind it (not necessarily even a failing of the bloke in question).
There was that case too of Lt Col JorgeMendonca ( brother of Carla – I so fancied her in My Parents are Aliens sigh ).
Mendonca was destined for the top, but stopped an American senior officer handing out sweets ( or something ) to Iraqi kids. The US officer complained and Mendonca was hung out to dry by the British Army, so he quit. Something doesn’t ring right there either.
‘He said the other complaints about him were investigated but thrown out.’ ‘It alleged he used inappropriate language and conduct in the workplace which is said to have included hosting parties at the British embassy and drinking booze openly with Afghan colleagues.’
It does sound as though he pissed off TPTB.
“I believe at least one high-profile admiral shaves his legs.” If you mean Admiral Rachel Levine, he/she/it is an ‘admiral’ in the U.S. Public Health Service, not the Navy.
“ ‘admiral’ in the U.S. Public Health Service, not the Navy.”
An “admiral”, for fucks sake! They call it a uniformed service, my arse. Do the have a “Pope” of the US Postal Service?
Only to note that, in regard to ‘other complaints’, when someone accused of wrongdoing claims that complaints have been ‘thrown out’, closer investigation usually reveals that what actually happened is that the complaints were dismissed for lack of evidence, conflicts of interest, and so forth. It’s the difference between ‘not guilty’ and ‘innocent’. See also Biden (various), Clinton (various), Willis, Clapper, Comey, etc, etc, etc. As others note, one suspects that the actual offence that got him sent home is a proxy for something else entirely, possibly one of the complaints that was ‘thrown out’, but which the command prefers to sweep under the rug.
The Americans may be ‘anal’ about some things, including alcohol, but the prohibition on alcohol in a US-led land mission in Afghanistan, headed up by a branch (the US Army) that does not prohibit alcohol and never has, may have been made for sound political and military reasons. Seems especially likely when we learn that the mission was directly interfacing with civilian Afghanis. Whatever the case, MG Herbert must have known the policy and chose to ignore it. As said, his actions must have been particularly blatant and impossible-to-overlook for the US commander to decide that he had to sack such a senior officer from an allied command – a decision that must have been endorsed by his political masters. I will be fascinated to learn what it is that he really did to get sent home.
llater,
llamas
in the workplace which is said to have included hosting parties at the British embassy
LOL
sounds like Jim Hacker in Saudi Arabia
“There’s a call from Mr Haig for you Prime Minister.”
“What Al Haig ?”
“Er no sir, the one with the dimples.”
>Ottokring
March 18, 2024 at 8:19 am
US sailors were not even aloud rum. Not sue about the sodomy and lash though.
Sodomy’s been completely legal since 2010 and since 2020 I think its become compulsory;)
The lash is only allowed during gay puppy-play orgies.
>Steve
March 18, 2024 at 10:42 am
But why drink champagne in Kabul at all?
Was there any point, during our disastrous and humiliating failed war against the Taliban, where it looked like Afghanistan was about to turn into a Western liberal democracy?
I mean, if that’s not going to drive a man to drink, I don’t know what would;)
I think there’s more to this than just some drinking at social events(where the US military does allow drinking even in uniform).
The ‘US rule’ doesn’t apply to other militaries like that and if we tried they’d tell us to fuck off.
Also, the Navy’s only dry on ships (and while during working hours) – off ship and off work you can drink.
“The ‘US rule’ doesn’t apply to other militaries like that and if we tried they’d tell us to fuck off.”
Not exactly “fuck off”, but from the tales of family who have done tours in recent and not so recent “internatinal affairs” under service to our Queen/King and Country, some actually decently high up the food chain..
Sometimes there’s a smartass who tries..
The actual answer seems to be a variety of : “Sir, you may have the command over my/our troops, but you do not have the authority to “request” this. Shall I take this up with Staff to request clarification after you’ve put this in a written order?”
Agas
Also, the Navy’s only dry on ships
Oh wot ? No lube either ????
Agammamon – I agree, but if I were General Elphinstone, stuck out in God’s Armpit surrounded by never enough loyal white faces and smiling, wicked savages who’d as soon as slit your throat as hand you a cup of water – and those are your allies – I’d be roaringly drunk on brandy.
Or at least, a good single malt.
Champagne seems gauche. But then, he is an OBE, so there’s already a vastly above average chance of him being a twat.