Lance Corporal OF HORSE Matty Hull . Anyone else.................?

Question

Is anyone else angry that Lance corporal of horse (Staff/colour sgt)in the rest of the British army ) Matty Hull who was killed in the U.S friendly fire incident in 2003 is repeatedly refered to as Lance corporal by the press,BBC tv & radio ITV sky news ect I have even heard politicians call him L/cpl.
If they repeatedly called a Bishop a priest or a vicar they would soon correct it or apologise,I bet if they called Des Brown the minister of defence a junior minister in the M.O.D he'd soon be on the phone.GIVE THIS LAD THE RESPECT HE DESERVES AS A FALLEN SOLDIER AND GET HIS RANK CORRECT ! What do you think ?

appalonia- Thanks for your comment but im puzzled as I have seen pictures of him wearing Staff Sgt rank slides -anyway he was definately not a L/Cpl.Perhaps they got the photo wrng as well it would not surprise me.

Answer 1

Sorry, mate you are wrong. The rank of Lance Corporal of the Horse is equal to Corporal in the rest of the British Army.
Corporal of the Horse = Sergeant and
Staff Corporal = Staff or Colour Sergeant

Edit to add:

The ranks for Household Cavalry are completely different to the rest of the army including the insignia they wear. Copied from wikipedia:

"Lance-Corporal of Horse (LCoH) is an appointment unique to the Household Cavalry of the British Army, equivalent to Lance Sergeant in the Foot Guards. It was introduced in 1971. On promotion to Corporal, an NCO is automatically appointed Lance-Corporal of Horse, so that the rank structure effectively goes straight from Lance-Corporal to Lance-Corporal of Horse, and then to Corporal of Horse. However, Lance Corporals of Horse are still addressed as "Corporal".

A Lance-Corporal of Horse wears three rank chevrons surmounted by a cloth crown (as opposed to the metal crowns worn by full Corporals of Horse)."

Answer 2

I remember a reporter during the first gulf war, reporting about an AC-130 fighter aircraft......................lol

Ive seen reporters, reporting on something going on at an Army Post, call the post the wrong name( they named another post in a different state) or name the wrong unit at that post.

Back in december 2001, CNN had a
"retired special forces Lt. Col."

reporting as a CNN analysis for over 2 months, the idiot had never been in the military before, CNN couldn't even take the time to check his background or even ask to see his retired military id card.

I truely beleive that the Press only has total distain for the Military and those who serve in it.

Answer 3

Well, I hadn't seen his rank written as Lance Corporal of Horse in any publication(certainly not in recent months)-or verbally reported as such, so first my apologies for my personal denegration of his rank previously.

Unfortunately I suspect that an apology or correction from the media at large will be rather less forthcoming.

It is a shame that those who seek to feed us the 'facts as they see them' can't even be trusted to get the facts on record correct.

Answer 4

The proof is in the pudding old chap, after all why show the Brit hater giving his speech about how we all sat around drinking tea whilst the Good Olde US of A saved the world in WW2...

Remember Northern Ireland back in 1990 when two soldiers drove in to a IRA funeral they showed it and the bodies after and I remember in the early days of Iraq a Scottish convoy was attacked and on the news they showed footage from behind one of the gunmen firing at one of the Land rovers..
How did that work.
I immediate rang up and complained and so did a lot of other people and it never got shown again...

Answer 5

Just goes to show how ignorant most journalists are that they have failed to clarify this. Thank you for pointing this out. I suppose it makes it even sadder that an experienced senior NCO was lost due to an incident of friendly fire. Exactly the sort of guy who is the backbone of the British Army.

Answer 6

The Press never seem to get military ranks right but you'd think they'd make some sort of effort when reporting this sort of tragedy.

Answer 7

i agree with you 100%. i have friends in the army and think that the press/news should at least get that right. He has served this country and he deserves it.
I hope our Troops can be save and sent home soon.

Answer 8

You are so right.
To many it may seem a minor oversight, but to His memory, his family and his comrades, it is an insult.