Originally Posted by
The Ferret
After reading all this nonsense - even if it may just be merely a reduction in promotions rather than a complete cut - I am so glad that I left 2 years ago! I served for 28 years and left as a Lt Cdr with 14 years seniority and lots of empty promises - and now it is just getting worse. The only way I was ever going to be promoted Captain was to leave the Mob - and I acheived that as I walked into civvy street. I am sorry to say that this is going to cause alot of grief down the line where there will be a big gap in experience as people leave - it is a sorry state when MOD cannot afford to make people redundant and have to resort to this underhand policy!
The Ferret
Why the surprise though? Look at the "Headquarters Reorganisation" that cut swathes through the civil servants. Granted, there were too many of them, and some were a little more than fixtures and fittings, but the relocations did nothing but ensure that many of them left - taking knowledge with them. Some of them are now re-employed via agencies! The DV Offices did the same - moved from Portsmouth to York, and lost most of the expertise; look at the shambles of temporary DVs and backlogs. Rather than simply saying that they want to restructure the Forces, full stop, and work out what they really want to do, they cut promotion numbers on one hand, change the recruiting age for the Army on the other, and fanny about with relocation of units and training establishments whilst not giving enough people enough of the story. I know guys that are into 2OE (an extra 10 years) who are simply waiting for a bad draft to put their notice in. I know of Officers, senior and junior, who are doing the same thing. They are all actively using the Forces to get their professional qualifications up to speed, and they will leave no matter what the Return of Service states (it's been challenged in court, and the MOD have lost before). This government has managed to reduce the Forces to nothing more than a Defence Force, and I am glad the media are finally starting to pick up on the wealth of stories that were previously kept in check by the MOD Media Comms and the fear of the OSA. If serving 2*s and upwards can go to the media, it removes the fear for everyone - the common enemy is sitting in parliament these days.