BFBS Sitrep

Across 45 years of service General Sir Mike Jackson played a key role in many historic moments for Britain’s armed forces, even before he led the Army as Chief of the General Staff.

Known to all simply as Jacko he is best remembered for defying his US commanding officer in Kosovo by saying “I’m not going to start World War Three for you”.  He did not get sacked, but did get the Distinguished Service Order.

Sitrep hears new insights from that incident along with memories and tributes from those who served with General Sir Mike, and reflections of the General himself shared in some of the many times he spoke to BFBS.

General Sir Mike Jackson.  1944-2024

Across 45 years of service General Sir Mike Jackson played a key role in many historic moments for Britain’s armed forces, even before he led the Army as Chief of the General Staff.

Known to all simply as Jacko he is best remembered for defying his US commanding officer in Kosovo by saying “I’m not going to start World War Three for you”.  He did not get sacked, but did get the Distinguished Service Order.

Sitrep hears new insights from that incident along with memories and tributes from those who served with General Sir Mike, and reflections of the General himself shared in some of the many times he spoke to BFBS.

General Sir Mike Jackson.  1944-2024

Our armed forces put their lives on the line to protect the rule of international law and ordinary people’s human rights. But some believe those rights and laws are disproportionately affecting our troops and military decision makers.

Sitrep talks to two SAS veterans who explain why they want the UK to opt-out of part of the European Convention on Human Rights, and we get expert legal opinion from Joshua Rozenberg about whether that’s possible and how much difference it would make.

Diego Garcia has just ten square miles of dry land, so why have the US and UK fought so hard to keep it as a secretive military base? Professor Michael Clarke explains why the remote island is a strategic “jewel in a silver sea”.

And one of the most important but bloodiest battles of World War Two in Italy is retold through the eyes of those who fought on both sides.  The historian James Holland tells us why he’s revisited the battle of Monte Cassino.

Our armed forces put their lives on the line to protect the rule of international law and ordinary people’s human rights. But some believe those rights and laws are disproportionately affecting our troops and military decision makers.

Sitrep talks to two SAS veterans who explain why they want the UK to opt-out of part of the European Convention on Human Rights, and we get expert legal opinion from Joshua Rozenberg about whether that’s possible and how much difference it would make.

Diego Garcia has just ten square miles of dry land, so why have the US and UK fought so hard to keep it as a secretive military base? Professor Michael Clarke explains why the remote island is a strategic “jewel in a silver sea”.

And one of the most important but bloodiest battles of World War Two in Italy is retold through the eyes of those who fought on both sides.  The historian James Holland tells us why he’s revisited the battle of Monte Cassino.

Almost exactly 10 years since Operation Shader began RAF strikes against the Islamic State terror group ministers say it will be drawn down in favour of a new security partnership.

But what form should that take, and is this the right time given everything else happening in the Middle East? Sitrep gets the thoughts of former Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon.

We also assess Iran’s weapons and military capability, along with what it tells us about the risk of a wider regional war in the Middle East

And Sitrep hears from Albania where British troops have been the first to use a new 650 mile NATO route across the Balkans, to deploy themselves for months of peacekeeping in Kosovo.

Almost exactly 10 years since Operation Shader began RAF strikes against the Islamic State terror group ministers say it will be drawn down in favour of a new security partnership.

But what form should that take, and is this the right time given everything else happening in the Middle East? Sitrep gets the thoughts of former Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon.

We also assess Iran’s weapons and military capability, along with what it tells us about the risk of a wider regional war in the Middle East

And Sitrep hears from Albania where British troops have been the first to use a new 650 mile NATO route across the Balkans, to deploy themselves for months of peacekeeping in Kosovo.

The Army’s world-renowned Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is undertaking a radical process to modernise. It’s conducting what it calls a ‘Critical Mass Trial’ – huge efforts to ramp up the numbers of women in its platoons in response to a tragedy at the Academy. BFBS Forces News has been given rare and exclusive access to Sandhurst and has documented it in a new series produced by Rosie Laydon who talks to Sitrep. 

Something that’s really getting people fired up in the military is the prospect of paying 20 per cent VAT on private school fees from January. Some personnel are even threatening to leave the Armed Forces if the Government pushes ahead, whereas others claim it will put new people off joining in the first place. Sitrep talks to the RAF Families Federation and retired Army Officer Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.

 And former Tornado Navigator and bestselling author John Nichol talks to Kate Gerbeau about the history of the tomb of the unknown warrior and the painstaking efforts of finding, identifying and reburying the fallen, which he explores in his new book.

The Army’s world-renowned Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is undertaking a radical process to modernise. It’s conducting what it calls a ‘Critical Mass Trial’ – huge efforts to ramp up the numbers of women in its platoons in response to a tragedy at the Academy. BFBS Forces News has been given rare and exclusive access to Sandhurst and has documented it in a new series produced by Rosie Laydon who talks to Sitrep. 

Something that’s really getting people fired up in the military is the prospect of paying 20 per cent VAT on private school fees from January. Some personnel are even threatening to leave the Armed Forces if the Government pushes ahead, whereas others claim it will put new people off joining in the first place. Sitrep talks to the RAF Families Federation and retired Army Officer Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.

 And former Tornado Navigator and bestselling author John Nichol talks to Kate Gerbeau about the history of the tomb of the unknown warrior and the painstaking efforts of finding, identifying and reburying the fallen, which he explores in his new book.

More than a hundred years after the First World War, more than half a million soldiers are still missing, a third of whom are thought to be buried as ‘unknown’. 

Two years after the end of the Great War, The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior was established at Westminster Abbey and has served as a focal point for the public’s grief ever since.

Former Tornado Navigator and bestselling author John Nichol talks to Kate Gerbeau about the history of the tomb and the painstaking efforts of finding, identifying and reburying the fallen, which he explores in his new book.

They’re joined by a veteran who served in the Army for 30 years, Colonel Lindsay MacDuff, who was involved in more than 200 repatriations from Iraq and Afghanistan.

More than a hundred years after the First World War, more than half a million soldiers are still missing, a third of whom are thought to be buried as ‘unknown’. 

Two years after the end of the Great War, The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior was established at Westminster Abbey and has served as a focal point for the public’s grief ever since.

Former Tornado Navigator and bestselling author John Nichol talks to Kate Gerbeau about the history of the tomb and the painstaking efforts of finding, identifying and reburying the fallen, which he explores in his new book.

They’re joined by a veteran who served in the Army for 30 years, Colonel Lindsay MacDuff, who was involved in more than 200 repatriations from Iraq and Afghanistan.