Argentinians label Prince William 'The Conqueror' over his posting to the Falklands

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 1st February 2012 | Jill Reilly

[Joe Boucher]

Like you say, “anyhoo”,
it makes for great theater as once again we may get a front row seat for another Argentine ass whoopin by the Britts.
I think it is simply a way or the Argentine leaders to take the peoples minds off their problems.

[Travis McGee]

It was an interesting time. The Brits sure had luck on their side! Their amphibious ships were already loaded, their troops freshly drilled at cold/wet ops. All they had to do was reprovision, fuel, and head south.

Did you ever hear the story of the first-ever combat use of the Stinger missile?

[Mashood]

“The current civilian population is estimated to be closer to 3,500.” Yeah... 3000 of which are military.

[Ax]

Can’t say that I have, Trav.

[naturalman1975]

“The current civilian population is estimated to be closer to 3,500.” Yeah... 3000 of which are military.

I'm afraid not. Military personnel and dependents were not counted in the last census as resident on the islands, which in 2006 indicated there were about 2995 local residents of the islands. With an estimated population growth rate of 2.44% per annum, around 3,400-3,500 is probably about right at the moment.

The British Forces Garrison normally amounts to about 1200 which gives the Islands a total population of around 4,700 - 5,000 (the number of military dependents varies and accounts for the variations).

The population isn't large - but what's the magic number to make somewhere worth defending?

[Travis McGee]

Great! Love telling this one. Supposedly, and I heard it from a guy who heard it from a guy, (so you know it’s true), this is what happened. When the Argie air threat became obvious, one of our C-130s which was shuttling gear to the Brits via Ascencion Island (or whatever that lily pad island was) was loaded with Stingers on a rush basis. No trainers, no instructions beyond the cartoon-level instructions on the missile cases. As the story goes, they arrived on the beach literally as the air raid was sounding, and were opened and prepared just in time to blow away some Argie A-4s, head on, as Stingers can do. “Bloody good kit!” and all that. I swear I heard nearly the same story from several special operator types who were in tight with the Brits who were there. Regardless, it’s a great story.

[Timocrat]

The Caribean islands are self governed and autonomous from Britain.

Foreign affairs for the Caribean(sic) Islands are still handled by the UK, as they are for the Falklands. The CIA World Fact Book describes the Falklands as a self governing overseas territory of the UK., as it does for Bermuda, Anguilla, Turks and Caicos, Montserrat

Though within the sphere of influence of the Americas, wars are not being fought over these interests

The UK has in the past defended its Overseas territories and dependencies in the Americas as and when needed even after they achieve full independence e.g. Belize was threatened by Guatamala until the UK sent some ground forces and a squadron of Harriers to Belize

The Falklands are inhabited by 14 people...

Well, actually, no. According to the CIA World Fact Book the population of the Falklands as of July 2008 was 3140.

France has always, since the French Revolution, absorbed its world holdings as a part of France... its not autonomous.

So let me get this straight, if a territory in the Americas has all its laws set in an European capital viz Paris, it doesn't conflict with the Munroe Doctrine but if its an autonomous self governing entity that has only its foreign affairs taken care of by a European power it does conflict with the Doctrine.

[Timocrat]

Interesting you should mention the two French islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

If you're interested in those islands there's a french movie called The Widow of St Pierre. Didn't care for the movie much except it had the absolutely delicious Juliette Binoche in it.

[ops33]

Never seen the movie but a Canadian friend of mine said the two islands are quite pretty, good place to visit. I didn’t ask him if a passport was needed, I suspect that, for simplicity’s sake, Canadians visiting the islands don’t need a passport.

[Ax]

Great story, but tragic. The aviators in the Military Attache Office had been good friends with some of the Argie A-4 pilots and were sorry to learn of their fate. The worst aspect of that whole conflict was that the Brits and Argies were old friends and this just broke a lot of their hearts. Even in the late 80s, the Argies liked the Brits more than they liked us. Got into an argument with some Argies the night before I PCSd out of there. They wanted to know why the US supported the UK and not Argentina. I asked them how many Argie regiments went ashore at Normandy with our men, and how many Argie regiments fought alongside us in Korea. Shut them up.

[archy]

Great! Love telling this one. Supposedly, and I heard it from a guy who heard it from a guy, (so you know it’s true), this is what happened. When the Argie air threat became obvious, one of our C-130s which was shuttling gear to the Brits via Ascencion Island (or whatever that lily pad island was) was loaded with Stingers on a rush basis. No trainers, no instructions beyond the cartoon-level instructions on the missile cases. As the story goes, they arrived on the beach literally as the air raid was sounding, and were opened and prepared just in time to blow away some Argie A-4s, head on, as Stingers can do. “Bloody good kit!” and all that. I swear I heard nearly the same story from several special operator types who were in tight with the Brits who were there. Regardless, it’s a great story

Partly true. The SAS deployed to Argentina with 6 Stingers,since the longer-ranged British naval Sea Dart surface-to-air missile was unable to engage low altitude targets, such as Argentine A4 Skyhawk aircraft and incoming Exocet missiles. Sadly, the SAS operator trained on the Stinger was killed in a helicopter crash, but his other squaddies gave it ago anyway, relying on their experience with the British Blowpipe and previous U.S. redeye, a previous generation *up the tailpipe* system. The first Stinger fired brought down an Argentine Pucará ground attack aircraft on 21 May, but the further 5 Stingers fired that day [[21 May] were fired out-of-envelope and missed their targets.

The *C130 load* of Stingers went to 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards. And reportedly, one of the Guardsmen stripped naked on the spot to swap uniforms with a very qualified Stinger gunner who went yomping along with the lads once suitably attired.

The Gurkhas working with the 2/Scots took a slightly different approach to air defense: they simply overran a couple of Argie AA defense positions, manned the 30mm autocannons themselves, and waited for any Argentine resupply or support aircraft to drop by. No joy.