Throwback To The Time James Blunt Stopped WWIII

James Blunt is a total legend. The man is brutal on Twitter and he stopped World War III from happening. Seriously.

While serving as a soldier in Kosovo, the singer risked a court martial after he directly ignored a US general's order to attack 200 Russians to seize an airfield.

"I was the lead officer with my troop of men behind us," he told BBC Radio 5 live in 2010. "The soldiers directly behind me were from the Parachute Regiment, so they're obviously game for the fight.

"The direct command [that] came in from Gen Wesley Clark was to overpower them. Various words were used that seemed unusual to us. Words such as 'destroy' came down the radio."

Blunt was at the head of a column of 30,000 NATO troops, and refused to follow the orders. His superior, British General Sir Mike Jackson, later echoed his words. The general reportedly said: "I'm not going to have my soldiers be responsible for starting World War III."

Eventually, the Russian troops who were at the airfield ran out of food and drink, and they needed the NATO soldiers to share their supplies, so they surrendered the airfield.

"After a couple of days the Russians there said: 'Hang on, we have no food and no water. Can we share the airfield with you?'," Blunt said. "There are things that you do along the way that you know are right, and those that you absolutely feel are wrong, that I think it's morally important to stand up against, and that sense of moral judgement is drilled into us as soldiers in the British Army."

Wow.

Also is that the same moral judgement that led you to tell us to check out your 12inch?

Credit: Twitter

Yep, James has been using some unusual marketing schemes to draw attention to his fifth studio album, The Afterlove. They mostly involve phallic references and nudity.

For that alone, I'm going to listen to the new album.

James has sold 20 million albums to date and The Afterlove is the follow-up to his 2013 album, Moon Landing. He's been collaborating with a lot of new writers, too, including Ed Sheeran, Ryan Tedder, Amy Wadge, Johnny McDaid, Stephan Moccio and MoZella.

"I've got something big to show you..." Credit: Twitter

But it's not his music that we love the most. It's his sarcasm and epic put downs on Twitter. His Twitter feed has definitely won him a lot more fans, and the way he deals with the abuse that he gets on the social media platform is pure class. Let's hope he continues the good work into 2017.

He continues to amuse. But what the hell is this outfit all about, James? I kind of hope it's your tour costume...

His first track from the new album Love Me Better hits out at his haters, as he writes: "People say the meanest things, but I don't care what they think."

Well that's all the haters told.

He also references his massive hit from 2004. "I would call you beautiful, but I've used that line before."

It's a pretty different direction for the You're Beautiful singer, and it really works.

Words: Laura Hamilton

Topics: James Blunt

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