Like no doubt everyone else her I am a 'taxpayer' . Itseems to me we have never really defiend what our military are for, clealry defence of the realm is up there but what does thata ctually ean. An earleir poster made the point that alone we justare not very important any more. As a majr memebr of NATO , and the EU we were a very significant global player. Our history has given us a legacy of dedicated competent military personnel but we dont have the money to effectively equip them or even maintain their homes.
The usual panic cut taxes pre election measure (which only benefits rich people anyway) puts even more pressure on Government to reduce military expenditure at a time when perhaps we should be gently increasing it .A Catch 22 situation which leads to bad decsions all around and so the spiral continues.