I have felt both sides of the history. I do not mean any of this as judgement, just observation.
Dad used to fly 33Sqdn Puma helicopters as Army taxi's over Northern Ireland during the troubles. On his first tour of six months we lived on the base outside Belfast. I went to school on the base. We did not leave the base for almost anything. He routinely had bullet holes through his Puma. Single shots essentially from a sniper. Helicopters are light and thin skinned. Mother never slept well. I was aware of a level of tension morning noon and night.
On his second tour we stayed in the UK at the squadrons Odiham base. There was still a layer of tension you could cut with a knife in Odiham. If anything the distance made it worse for the families. No-one from the Sqdn was lost in the time he was over there but the Army lost several. That loss provokes a tightening of the team which makes them bristle and reactionary. So the circle continues and escalates.
It took a public action by the whole community to make it stop and McGuiness was involved in that. I am not certain it stopped all of the other things going on within the community. It did mean less people were killed, troops and civilians did not get caught in the crossfire and bombs stopped. It was a distinct improvement. The bad taste was worth it in the long run but it takes a generation change to release it I guess.
Ten years ago I started to do business in Northern Ireland. You could do business with one side of the local population or the other but not both. Businesses were seen to "lean" to one side or the other. In the meantime I was doing business in Eire and it was transparent with no problems at all.
I don't respect anyone who uses religion, politics, finance or force to subdue the free will of people. It was clear the activity was more about control and local market freedom. There were some ironies. Anyone caught selling hard drugs was dealt with very forcefully by what was described as the local enforcement team. That was not Military or Police.
I don't draw any conclusion on the position of having troops in a civilian situation as this is far from clever for all concerned. I think people default to a negative view of the military in situations like this. As a group none of the military wanted to be there and all knew the risk. They could not initiate action due to rules of engagement and both sides knew it. Not a nice position to be in. No winners.
I agree peace is more valuable to the community. It takes a generation to forget because the people who flew and fought in it will not drop it. They cannot unlearn what they experienced and so their view of his death is the only meagre resolution they will get when they wanted to see more. My generation who grew up with the tension don't want it back and see both sides. Sometimes you have to live with a lesser evil.
My first thought when hearing the news was simple. Maybe we can move on now.
