Why No Tri-Service Unity With SDSR?

[MaroonMan4]

OK,

I have been around a bit, and am therefore not green, but I have to ask the question as the Treasury mandarins and civil serpents rub their hands with joy as all 3 services back bite and snipe at each other.

Instead of expending all this effort in conducting reviews of each other and squealing to the press and Treasury about how inefficient the other service is and gleefully offering up areas that the Treasury should axe in another service, why on earth aren't they uniting together to tell the Prime Minister, Treasury and the British people that now is not the time in this country's history to be cutting defence.

So sad and all of these single service and myopic inter service feuds will only be realised as fool hardy and grossly incompetent when (not if) the next conflict requires the kinds of capabilities that each service is now espousing should be cut from the other.

United we stand - united we fall.......absolute tosh, this is not leadership, but a free for all with absolutely no military rigour or joined up thinking whatsoever.

Enjoy your pensions Sirs, and please do not cringe too much when history judges you or you watch in amazement as the UK Defence Force that you are creating fails misreably in the future when next called to arms because of your poor leadership, moral courage and decision making.

Not a rant or vent - just sadness

[Gainesy]

Is not "Divide and Conquer" the Treasury's Modus Operandi?

[500days2do]

We all know the 'MOD', 'TREASURY' etc do not exist in isolation. The faceless title hides the names and rank's of those who actually make the decisions.
Even the politicos' like to make the 'royal we' sometimes....tis sad but the careers and lives of many folk will be changed forever by a group of faceless, and IMHO, spineless people.
Dave said "We are all in it together..." but as we all know, some of us are in it more than others...and not wanting misquote to much "some are more equal than others in these days of mistrust"

Don't get mad, get even...

5D2D

[Widger]

Maroon man,

sorry old boy but where is your evidence to support that statement. I can only see the media and certain posters on here whipping up a frenzy aided by several retired Officers of all cloths striving to get some TV face time. I am sure that those faceless mandarins in their ivory tower are trying to make the best of an impossible situation, where EVERYONE is going to get shafted trying to deal with the mess left by their predecessors!

[Neptunus Rex]

When I joined the Cadets at school (early '60s) 'Jointery' was the new Gospel. In 25 years of military service I saw it work extremely well. There was some tremendous liaison, eg 42 Squadron and the frigate F42, HMS Naiad. I spent a week on board during an ASW exercise. My best experience of Jointery was at RAF Ballykelly in the early '70s when we had all three services living and working together on the same base. The banter in the Messes was fantastic, especially with three-and-a-half different sets of jargon. (The extra half was provided by the Bootnecks.)

However, the co-operation seems to thin out at Flag/Field/Air rank. I think it is a different mindset possessed by the serious career seekers who want to get to the very top. Empire building and preservation hold sway over rational inter-service allocation of resources. A good move might be to combine Greenwich, Camberley and Bracknell into one Joint Services Staff College.

[Jabba_TG12]

MM4:

I think you summed it up in your OP. Theres no "F" in "Leadership"....;)

[Jimlad1]

A good move might be to combine Greenwich, Camberley and Bracknell into one Joint Services Staff College.

Didnt that happen about 15 years ago?

[Squirrel 41]

Possibly because promotion is single-service, and no-one gets promoted from a "gucci" / "crunchy" joint job if they've out joint requirements ahead of their single service's interests.

Q. How many RN types would have gotten a tick from a promotion board for recommending binning the CVF programme as it was unafforable?

A. About the same as the number of RAF types who recommended slimming down Typhoon costings in the last decade plus...

S41

[Neptunus Rex]

Oops! You are right Jimlad, sorry, I have been out of UK since before that.

[pulse1]

Haddon Cave has shown that the only type of unity the leadership of the RAF understands is the traditional one between thieves and criminals. How can anyone trust those who put there own people in danger to further their own interests?