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Britain
Sickness, injury thins ranks of UK troops on front line
2008-02-04
Almost 7,000 infantrymen are unfit to fight, leaving front-line troops "dangerously exposed," figures show today. One in 14 soldiers is sick or injured at a time when every regiment of 600 faces a shortfall of 100 men because of problems with recruitment and the numbers leaving the Army.
Shades of the First World War.
the Armed Forces are at the very limit of being able to provide personnel for the front line.
Troop shortages are so acute that at least six battalions are being sent to do the job of four battalions when the next brigade deploys to Afghanistan this spring, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Commanding officers waiting for reinforcements for infantry units in Helmand have been told to wait until 17-year-old soldiers turned 18, the legal landmark to qualify for the battlefield.

Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said the Government had overstretched the Armed Forces to the point where it produced "some very real consequences on our abilities to fight on the front line". The shortages could "endanger the safety of personnel" and indicated a "retention crisis" in the military.
Posted by:lotp

#4  The left also has the stupid idea that the military will "always do what they are told", even if it means fighting to the death armed with only a plastic spoon.

Now granted, there are those that would do that if their home was being attacked. But that is a far cry from being projected from their homeland to fight in another country. To do that, they must have some degree of support and respect, instead of being treated like expendable minimum wage slobs disdained and despised by their own government.

And the biggest irony of all is if the military tells the left to go bugger off, the left's first response is to create a draft, thinking that they can *compel* people to fight to the death, armed with only a plastic spoon.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2008-02-04 12:45  

#3  Tommy's stretched to the limit and gets no respect. I do not mean that as a joke. When the government
*avoids discussing Islam as a source of terrorism
*Puts Muzzies with multiple wives on the dole
*cuts its armed forces to the bone
It lays itself open to infiltration and takeover.

And the Dems are trying to do the EXACT SAME THING here in the US.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2008-02-04 11:31  

#2  It's Tommy this, and Tommy that
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2008-02-04 10:12  

#1  Why do the British politicians seem to be so keen on hanging a "kick me" sign on their own backs?
Posted by: Gladys   2008-02-04 03:42  

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