From Wilts Gazette and Herald 13 Apr
http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/ne...ns_at_risk.php
In the same newspaper the opinion column rounds on the MoD calling it villain of the week!
It appears the argument is raging. I have been leafing through a copy of the HCDC report of the UK deployment to Afghanistan. I have been left speechless by some of the comments by Adam Ingram. When referring to the possibility of fitting defensive aids to the Hercules he says,
"Is there an answer to it? Possibly. Can we deliver it? Possibly. When are we going to do it? We have to decide if it is worthwhile doing in terms of age of the aircraft, whether it is technically possible and what it means in terms of the fleet. If the view is that there is a risk associated with this and someone's life may be lost, that is the nature of the conflict. It weighs heavy on all of the minds who make the decisions. There are risks in everything we do."
I wonder what he would say if we lost a Hercules with 70 troops on board. Is it just me, or does this smack of First World War thinking? Bearing in mind that our coalition partners have far superior defensive protection our troops are just expected to give up their lives for the greater good. And this self-same Govt has just agreed to give 8 Billion pounds to African Education.