“That is why civil servants in low paid, menial jobs who have no power to do anything except put giant hurdles in the way of all military projects are all "under stress". yet they have some of the most simple, easy stress-free jobs of anyone. They relieve their 'stress' by taking sickies or lining their pockets by profiting from H&S initiatives that block true progress”.
I think you should qualify this by stating what civil service jobs you are referring to. Presumably not those who spend most of their time trying to get sensible decisions out of an incoherent DEC in London. Some of these serving officers are, in my view, extremely stressed. For example, if you are not an engineer you cannot do 60% of a Requirement Manager’s job in DPA, so I imagine it is difficult continually having to off-load your work on those low paid menials who are trained to make it look easy, but who have been dumbed-down as posts had to found for an apparent excess of highly trained officers. Neither is to blame.
May I suggest you mean those with authority but little or no responsibility, such as financiers, suppliers, HR/Personnel (the worst of the lot at causing stress among staff); and the increasing numbers of non-technical staff filling posts requiring detailed technical knowledge of extremely complex systems. Lacking basic knowledge, they are in no position to take the action you correctly speak of. Believe me, I have worked on projects where we let the boss chair a technical meeting, and then came back the following day without him to do it properly. It is they who waste money and create delay.