Col. Tim Collins this morning

[bambini]

Colnel Tim Collins, famous BOTL and the man who gave the now famous eve-of-battle speech prior to the invasion of Iraq was on Radio 4 this morning talking about his speech and the Chilcot inquiry.

What an interesting guy.

He really put his eve-of-battle speech into perspective. The speech, which has been hung on the wall in the White House, was actually less about rousing the men and more about just trying to help his troops make sense of a war that was just confusing and poorly planned. For me it adds a whole new angle on the speech.

[USAFCigar]

It was a very poignant and moving speech that spoke volumes about what the troops were about face on either side.
Setting the tone before and during battle can at time be a commanders biggest challenge and greatest responsibility.

A speech for the history books for sure!

[richgirling]

I listened to that also this morning bambini, very interesting what he was saying about the lack of planning that had gone into the whole invasion and that everybody assumed ?senior? politicians knew what they were doing! Also illustrated what a difficult role soldiers have, particularly senior ones.