Sirs, Maams, Ladies and Gents...
I have noticed, whilst browsing through the threads on this site (Over a few years) - not to mention 17 yrs of crewroom chat, that there are many people, of all services, contributing to various discussions with much to say.
It is blindingly obvious to me (and I suspect many of you) that many senior officers and politicians who control the military are often removed from reality and, at times (like now!!!) appear not have a clue what is actually happening on the front line and at our training bases in the UK. My AOC seems to be on the ball, but other Senior Officers in the chain if command are, quite simply, either blind and deaf, or just plain stupid. They refuse to acknowledge (As do the morons we call the government (and to a large extent the opposition), the bare faced facts that the people on the front line are telling them - or worse, when questioned by the media, they lie. WE do NOT have the equipment we need ( I have not shot a live round in 9 yrs and I have remained CCS current!). Our aircraft are falling apart whilst Abbey Wood (The logistics centre nr Bristol set up, seemingly, to employ civil servants) has millions spent on it. Experienced personnel are leaving the military in droves (PMA TELL THE TRUTH - HOW MANY PILOTS STAY AT THEIR 38/16 OPTION???).
People of influence read this website - tell them how it is through a defined medium - here's my idea.
I propose this:
A commitee meets once a month to discuss,
specifically, the miltary and what is right/wrong/good/bad/needs changing/leave alone etc.
The committee will consist of:
1 VERY senior Officer of each service (Min 2 Star)
1 Officer of OF3 Rank of each service
1 Junior Officer
1 SNCO and JNCO of each service
At least 1MP from each Party: Either the Armed forced Minister, Defence Secretary. PM or Dep PM (God help us - the man obviously crawled out of the gene pool when the lifeguard wasn't looking
).
AND MEMBERS OF THE PRESS
(Before the 'fishing' slogans appear, I am a current, serving officer (pilot - RAF).
The Rules:
The personnel attending are rotated every month, with no person allowed to appear twice in a twelve month period (except the cabinet ministers). The forces personnel submit their names and are selected randomly.
Unclassified Minutes are posted on the forces website and made available to the press (MOD won't like that - might expose the unbelievable incompetence of many of our senior officers - Gov't will hate it even more for much the same reason).
The MOD Intranet includes a site where personnel can ask questions and make comment that will go directly to the committee.
Personnel on the committee are free to say what they feel (within the official secrets act obviously), without fear of reprisal from small minded, career driven senior officers (there are 1 or 2 around...)
ALL recommendations by the committee are PROPERLY investigated by qualified service people, selected by the committee (every member has an equal vote) (NOT CIVIL SERVANTS - I am not a customer or a service provider - the only service I provide is death, and I am paid to do it - How does that fall into your IIP ethos???!!!) -
get the message yet?!
I could go on (and indeed I probably will in time), but for now, dear fellow military friends, I would appreciate you thoughts.
Good luck to those away from home, and lucky you to those who are not.
Some of us still care and remember why we joined.
EE