Originally Posted by Leo Sayer
Gentlmen I must say that the fact that so many of you are fighting a single service arguement is shameful.
We all should all know that the ground troops rely heavily on air power to give them the protection they deserve, the navy requires air power of a degree to deploy on ops as demonstrated with the Falklands to deploy troops, and the RAF cannot hold ground in any great quantity like the army(Withstanding the fine job of the RAF Regt).
Therefore we should all be able to accept the limitations our own service and channel our energies into educating the members of the other services, so that we can work for the benefit of the other services.
With regards to the matter of people being overstretched and available personnel for deployments, the fact is that all three services are feeling the pressure of our own inability to say no, and suffering from the age old can do attitude. Thankfully it is coming to the attention of the wider public that sooner or later the donkey is going to stop and we will not be able to dig our PM out of scrapes.
I personnally feel that the RAF is slightly overmanned in that in my experience where the Army and RN have had a certain number of people to do a job the RAF has had considerably more e.g. the harrier operated by a small crew off the back of a ship compared to a land based squadron. Now who has it right? The RAF I'm sure, but the fact is we all have to tighten our belts and we are no longer able to afford ourselves the luxury of one man doing a specific task, we all need to become multifaceted.
I reccomend to you all a book called "Lions, Donkeys and Dinosaurs" by Lewis Page. Although to be viewed with some sceptecism it provides food for thought, about the way that all three services are stuck in fighting the cold war and each other for that matter.
Until we stop the infighting and become truely joint and defend ourselves against our political masters no one will win.
Oh and by the way I am Army!