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| Britain |
| Overstretch 'driving UK troops away' |
| 2008-01-28 |
| Overstretch within the armed forces is driving away experienced personnel and damaging morale, MPs have warned. The strain of operating at full capacity in Afghanistan and Iraq has left the services "deteriorating", a defence select committee report says. Personnel do not get enough rest time, and budgets are spiralling out of control, its annual MoD report adds. Defence minister Bob Ainsworth said the forces were achieving "our highest priority - success on operations". The committee's annual report on the Ministry of Defence warns that neither the Army nor the RAF are likely to make their personnel targets for 2008 because of problems with recruitment. The forces have been operating at or above the level of resources they have been given for seven of the last eight years, including every years since 2002, it says. As a result, the MPs conclude, personnel appear to be leaving in growing numbers. "We are concerned that there are signs that voluntary departure in the armed forces, in particular the Army, is increasing and that in the RAF personnel are not extending for a further engagement to the extent that had happened in the past," the report adds. So-called "harmony" guidelines within the Army and RAF for how long troops should remain on active duty during any one year are also being exceeded, the MPs say. "This is another clear indicator of the pressure on our armed forces from the continuing high level of operations," the report says. "Shortages remain within many specialist trades in all three armed services and, in particular, within the Army Medical Service." The report also says that the estimated costs for the Astute submarine and Type 45 destroyer projects have shot up by £500m since March 2006 and the projected bill for the new Nimrod MRA4 is also rising. "Such cost increases put further pressure on the future defence budget, which is already heavily committed," the committee warns. Although the defence budget has been allocated an extra £7.7bn by 2011, cuts are "likely" because of commitments to new projects, the report adds. Committee chairman James Arbuthnot said: "The continuing pressure on our armed forces personnel is likely to have an impact on retention and there are some disturbing signs of an increase in early departure in the Army." Defence minister Bob Ainsworth said that scaling back commitments in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Iraq would help the services meet the harmony guidelines. |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #10 Captain Queeg was the reincarnation of Captain Bligh. Sez so right here. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-01-28 23:27 |
| #9 Captain Queeg? |
| Posted by: gromky 2008-01-28 23:04 |
| #8 utiny on the Bounty" comes to mind, the mutineers got away clean, sank the bounty, Captain Queeg was court marshaled, and the mutineers decendants still live on Pitcairn island today. Not the Royal Navy's finest hour, what? |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-01-28 21:39 |
| #7 No problem, the Royal Navy can just reintroduce the press gangs like they used to have 200 years ago. I'm not sure - did the army have something similar? |
| Posted by: Rambler 2008-01-28 19:35 |
| #6 And the productive people are leaving the UK. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-01-28 18:23 |
| #5 The UK has "downsized" so much Hurricane Katrina would have stretched them past their limit. The government's money is being sucked dry by the migration in of unemployed and underemployed and the imgration out of the productive people. |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2008-01-28 17:30 |
| #4 If you want a decent military, you have to fund it, support it, support the families, provide appropriate services (health, safety, etc.), and show respect for it. Britain - all of Europe - fails in every respect. One of these days, they're going to need the military, and it won't be there because of stupid short-sightedness by the pols. Too bad - I liked Europe. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-01-28 17:28 |
| #3 Maybe it is because, just like when Carter lived in the WH, the troops and prospective troops saw very clearly that the gov't did NOT have their back. That recent Iranian Sailor retrieval mission went so well didn't it, cousins???? spineless fuc@s |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-01-28 13:45 |
| #2 MPs are redirecting their high salaries and generous vacation benefits to those military personel who they feel deserve it more than they. [/dreaming] |
| Posted by: wxjames 2008-01-28 11:28 |
| #1 Might also have something to do with what is "driving" citizens "Away" from the UK in record numbers. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-01-28 01:16 |