The most recent 20 comments posted to Electrolite by Simon Bradshaw:

She's definitely British; that's UK-style desert DPM, a UK helmet and the UK's SA-80 rifle.

It is true that the British Army does not employ women in direct combat roles. However, this is limited to core troops in such arms, e.g. infantry soldiers or tank crews. Women can and do serve within such units as embedded support staff; this soldier is probably a technician, supplier, clerk or signaller attached to her regiment. For that matter, many elements of the British Army that are only slightly removed from direct combat such as artillery, field engineering and signals are integrated.

As for being neat and clean, it's worth noting that the British Army has been at Basra for some two weeks now, even though it was only able to enter the city in the last few days. As such its soldiers have probably had more opportunity for personal upkeep than US forces who have been fighting their way north for the last three weeks.

Gah. Something incredibly similar happened to a colleague of mine about eight years ago; his new girlfriend seemed perfectly nice and reasonable, and it was only with hindsight (after the Horrible Truth had come out) that I realised she had been very good at evading most detailed discussion of her life, and that what she had said didn't quite hang together.

Six months later I saw her again in a local newspaper. She'd been sentenced to six months in prison for fraud, based at least in part on information gathered from my colleague and his friends.

British troops have also been instructed not to fly their national flags. This BBC report:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2866581.stm

quotes Lt Col Tim Collins' pre-battle speech to the troops of the Royal Irish Regiment, which at least shows that not every corner of the military has succumbed to jargon and soundbites.

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