GUEST,Rahere:

"I still say focus on the future. What kind of world do you want and how do you intend to get there? Yes, if you forget the lessons of the past you're bound to repeat them in the future, but learn the lessons of the past and don't wallow in it."

The Festival of Remembrance, Remembrance Day and observation of the two minutes silence at 11.00hrs on the 11th November – have got nothing whatsoever to do with "wallowing in the past" as you put it – they have on the other hand got a great deal to do with honouring a promise made roughly 95 years ago. It is not something that "The British" are particularly maudlin' about – doubt that then go over to Belgium and visit the Menin Gate Memorial in the town of Ypres around 20:00hrs when buglers from the local Fire Brigade conduct a "Last Post" Ceremony, carried out uninterrupted every day since 2nd July 1928 (Although during the German occupation Belgian troops shifted the ceremony temporarily to the Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey). On the evening that Ypres was liberated during the Second World War the buglers from the Fire Brigade resumed the ceremony at the Menin Gate Memorial while there was still fighting going on inside the town – The reason that they do it was out of gratitude and because they made a solemn promise to those who gave their lives in defence of the town between 1914 and 1918 that they would do it.

"It's a tendency in the folk world to live in the past"

I certainly do not, although I would be interested if you could tell me how that could be done.

"…..even more so in the Military, when the need to justify oneself to the beancounters is almost all in what you've done and not what you're doing, but even so, it's only a part of the real world and it's out of proportion."

The military thankfully have their traditions service by service and in the Army Regiment by Regiment and Corps by Corps. These traditions have their place and are very useful when it comes to bonding a group of disparate strangers into a cohesive unit, in being introduced to and informed of these traditions and being taught to follow and accept them, the newcomers are brought into "the family", a family that you never leave.

The importance of tradition? When faced with the evacuation of the Freyberg's ANZACS from Crete in the face of overwhelming enemy air superiority concerns were raised by the Army about potential naval losses that would be incurred – Admiral Cunningham's response was simple – "The Navy will not let the Army down – It takes three years to build a ship, it takes three centuries to build a tradition – the evacuation will continue as planned". If that is the result of "wallowing in it" then perhaps we should do more of it, not less. Don't knock it it has produced results that have astounded the world.

"when I was young, it was just Remembrance Sunday, now it's 11th as well and it's getting to be weeks either side of it too. That's morose to the point of sickness."

Well if that is your recollection then whilst you were in "Occifer Training" (RMA Sandhurst??) they sorely neglected your education:

Originally both Remembrance Sunday and the two minutes silence at 11:00 on the 11th November were observed with all traffic coming to a halt in the streets. The latter lapsed but was reintroduced after a campaign for its reintroduction was mounted in the 1990s. It does not "drag on" for weeks either side.

"The dead gave their lives so you should live, not spend all your days moping."

I can assure you that I most certainly do not spend my days "moping" and I do not know any that do.

"The women they left behind became the maiden aunts of my youth, and are now gone."

AND?? Your point being??

"Our generation lost 453 in Afghanistan, and 179 in Iraq, with 47 in the Gulf War. The order of magnitude is completely different, and whilst there is no moral difference between one and a million, the effect on the population is different in real terms."

The Gulf War; Afghanistan and Iraq were international "policing" actions to which the UK contributed troops – they were NOT Wars as the First and Second World Wars were. Cannot imagine why you did not mention Malaya, Kenya, Suez, Cyprus, Kuwait, Aden, Dhofar, Borneo, Northern Ireland, the Falklands, Kosovo and Sierre Leone? "Our generation" lost a damned sight more than in the conflicts you mentioned.

"And to come back to the core of the meme, to do this, they cheat and con."

Sorry you've lost me. Who is cheating who out of what and who is conning who? The meme as you term it was drawn up and agreed by those who had been fortunate enough to live through it, who had lost close family members and loved ones – who better to detail how those who gave their lives should be remembered – it should not be a moving feast to be open to alteration by those who came after and never experienced it merely because of "convenience" – the 1990s campaign illustrates that – it is what honouring and remembering is all about.

"….my respects to them will be my own, and not this. And that, I would venture, is how it should be, because then it will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

Should that read:

"….my respects to them will be my own, as I see fit and as is convenient to me, and not this. And that, I would venture, is how it should be, because it is more convenient to me, then it will be the truth as far as I can see it, the whole truth as I chose to see it, and nothing else is worth considering."