Nurse
I have been out in Civvy Street for over four months now and have met hundreds of fairly typical civilians from all spectrums. 99% do not know what the Armed Forces do, didn't even realise we had such a wide circle of operational theatres in use today.
“We didn’t have any forces involved in Afghanistan did we?” Was typical of the questions I have been asked.
The even sadder thing is that broadly 90% do not approve of our Armed Forces being used abroad especially the Middle East. The bottom line is that all taxes are going up exponentially at home, the NHS is struggling to cope and there are economic migrants everywhere.
When I discuss the forthcoming Defence cuts and use words like concentric networking Joe Public doesn’t give a t*ss. They would much rather we have a cheaper home defence force protecting our shores from migrants, some of whom may turn out to be suicide bombers.
The Armed Forces have huge problems to sort out, they cannot recruit or retain. A lack of cash in the next FY is going to cause huge burdens. You have a Blairite puppet as a CDS because the last one retired early. Funny that CAS has also retired early. These are not good indicators for a stable future.
My own view is this, HMG blames the MOD for the fiasco that led to Gulf war 2, poor intelligence and then criticism of shortages of equipment. This fiasco is still going to claim Hoons scalp and maybe a few others. Blair, whilst sucking up to the USA, never wants the UK to get involved in armour on the ground fighting again. Gordon says he can't any way because it costs too much!! What better way than to go hi-tech and send a few E3’s, ASTORS FAC’s etc, whilst reducing ships, tanks, aircraft and manpower. As we all know, it is the wages bill that makes up the lions share of the annual defence budget
I believe that plans for an RAF of 38,000 will come to fruition sooner than you may think. Joe Public will read about it in the paper as he flicks to the sports pages to delve into Posh and Beck’s lives, and that moment will be gone forever.
Be assured I am doing my bit to put Joe Public right about the Armed Forces and the huge sacrifices you guys all make. It is an uphill battle of disinterest but I am trying!!
To all of you out there who know me, Happy Christmas and I hope 2004 brings, for once, a peaceful year in which you can all spend quality time with your loved ones.
TG