Homecoming Parades for the troops

I have just been watching the Wright Stuff's debate on homecoming parades and the growing call for more to be done to welcome our troops home from active service.

I am not sure this is a great idea - and some of the calls to the programme from soldiers and ex-soldiers backs this up. One made the point about how quickly the suspicion would arise that these events were being manipulated for the benefit of politicians - a damning indictment of politics today.

My own thoughts (as an ex-soldier) are that the last thing troops would want is bull and hassle at the end of a tour. They rightly deserve our gratitude but I am sure that there are other ways of showing it. I will never forget the fantastic way Whittlesey people welcomed my own brother home from the Falklands War - they made him guest of honour at a fund-raiser for the South Atlantic Fund where he drank (a lot!!) for free and the local bakers refused payment for a welcome home cake for him - I am sure that sort of treatment would be more appreciated.