ill_tonkso

Those guns are real, and loaded. They are guards, not a tourist attraction.

Did you ever feel judged by less mature photographers or artists? I did some life drawing at uni (as the artist) and a few of my classmates couldn't help but snigger when they saw that bare labia. We're you ever offended by it? How did you judge their character from this experience (if it happened)?

Op has already answered, but yes, I'm a British enthusiast and me and my wife have made lots of trips across Europe for Parks. We were supposed to do Florida this year (we've both been, but not together), I did Knott's Berry in California just before lockdown and I want to do the Ohio parks some day.

There's a huge community of us across Europe, no different to the US.

Edit: Op's Park was planned for this year, our first visit, but got canned for obvious reasons.

I can help answer this, my understanding of it comes down to Equipment and Training.

The Americans get better kit, and more of it. The US has the funding to back that up. Meanwhile in the UK, the training regime is much more intense, a standard infantryman in the UK will go through similar training to a more elite unit in the US, and so on. This isn't to say the US soldiers are poorly trained, far from it, just that the British Military has less to 'play' with as it were, therefore has to make the most of every unit.

US soldiers are better equipped, British soldiers are better trained.

I don't get this, I am a Pompey Local and have genuinely never heard of "Matelot Bashing". There was tension in the 70's, but nothing today.

To be honest, it's not that common for Matelots to leave the base in Uniform anymore.