UK RAF soldiers told not to wear uniforms in public

Is it the Chavs, the Yobs or the you know whos? You make the call.

They serve their country with pride and are ready to put their lives on the line. Yet RAF personnel have been repaid with volleys of abuse in the street.

So bad is the problem that servicemen and women from RAF Wittering have been ordered not to wear uniform in public.

They were told to keep a low profile in nearby Peterborough following seven months of verbal attacks.

The insults have come from a "cross section" of the community and are believed to be linked to current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to air-base officials.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has held talks with Cambridgeshire police over the problem, described as "despicable" by the city's mayor Marion Todd.

RAF officers have been urged to identify the culprits and police have pledged to target problem pubs or streets where personnel have been harassed by yobs.

The insults have come from a "cross section" of the community and are believed to be linked to current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to air-base officials.

It is important to note:

Currently, 150 men from RAF Wittering are in Afghanistan, protecting Kandahar airfield against Taliban attacks.

The air base is ten miles north of Peterborough, which has a population of around 170,000. The largest non-white ethnic group is the Pakistani community of about 10,000 and in recent years it has received an unprecedented number of Eastern European migrants.

However sources close to the police and RAF said the biggest offenders had been thugs from the local white community.

-more high dudgeon at the link. I just hope they do something about it -
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