vecvec......
You say ...."What you have to remember is that the report stated that the problems affected 2% of the armed forces - which means that 98% are fine and doing dandy thank you very much."...
The report actually said that 38% of forces had "serious weaknesses" in their readiness levels - with 2% described as "critical".
It is nice to hear that overstretch is not a problem in your part of the FAA. Perhaps we should let the First Sea Lord, or whoever runs your outfit, know so he can up your tasking to catch up with the work rate affecting most of the rest of the military. Just because everything is sweetness and light in your portion of the military what arrogance gives you the right to say that there are no problems elsewhere!!
Without talking about the RAF, which you obviously have a chip on your shoulder about, just look for some blatant examples in the Army. As has been mentioned the lack of medical staff has resulted in the need to hire outsiders at up to £600 a day. The number of TA members leaving because they are faced with 6 months away every 3 years, which is the most the government can squeeze out of them!! My point here, because no doubt you will simply have a go at the TA members on the basis that "they signed up for it, tough, etc" is how short the Army obviuosly is to have to need to continually draw on this TA support. What is the turn round time for an infantry battalion between "operational tours" whether it be Iraq, NI etc vs the Army board target.
The NAO believe overstretch exisits, even the MOD mandarins admit it, so what makes you so highly qualified to say that it is a myth. Maybe your next tour should be as an LO with an infantry battalion!!!
By the way, you have gone awfully quiet!
BEagle et al
34k? Yes I can beleive it, but when. Getting down to the current target has taken nearly 3 years by the time it finishes. Is tranche 1 for the next round going to overlap with tranche 3 of the last. As for 6 main camps, again maybe, but before 2013?? Kinloss and Lyneham (both with no long term future) are in business until then I believe. 34k and 6 bases by 2015-2020 maybe, before then???