Today it was my privilege to attend the 50th anniversary of 3 Regiment Army Air Corps in Bury St Edmunds. They were given Freedom of St Edmundsbury which was converted to Freedom of West Suffolk.

They set off from Abbey Gardens before marching around the center of Bury St Edmunds behind the British Army Band Colchester. Bayonets fixed onto their muskets, uniforms pristine and youth on their side they looked tremendous.

My mum is up from Cornwall, for my sons wedding in a few days time. It was fantastic when it was agreed she could accompany me. She was thrilled and really enjoyed herself.

It was lovely chatting to the pilots and support teams. Unsurprisingly, much is the same in the military as when I was in the RAF but two issues were raised that concerned me. Firstly, there was a general concern that political correctness was getting in the way of the key military attribute of “getting stuff done” and secondly, the armed forces are just not big enough for the current and expected threat. I suspect the Ukrainian crisis may nudge funding for the armed forces in the right direction. Will it also bring political correctness under control?