Winnie the pooh,
sorry but I think your rant is way off the mark. There are a lot of threads on Pprune slating the Government for this and that but the truth is...the MOD gets a budget and it is the MOD that decides how to spend it. Yes, it is true that Iraq and Afghanistan are expensive and the MOD should be getting an appropriate amount of MORE money to cover those costs. However, it was the MOD and the two winged master race that decided that they needed 5 million Typhoon to beat off the red hoards and that decision is now coming back to haunt the RAF. The problem is that procurement takes far too long.
Things are not rosy in any of the force and I am finding it very hard to look on the bright side. However, if I look at the positives, the RN has bitten the bullet and sacrificed, SHAR, and a whole load of escorts and is probably going to cull a whole load of Warfare Officers.....well what is good about that? Well the good is:
If you are a Marine, you now have excellent kit and some good platforms. Albion, Bulwark, Ocean, all the Bay Class etc. Life has not been this rosy for the Green Lids since the 50s. If you are an aviator, the focus of the RN is on aviation. CVF WILL happen (not as quick as it should). The efforts of Alan West and a whole host of others have ensured that our younger members will have an RN to be proud of, with REAL global projection. The first stage of that is 800 and 801 forming as GR7/9 squadrons, a potent force, in action NOW producing the goods. What would SHAR be doing now?? Probably nothing, so yes there is risk, but the RN FW community are probably better off now without SHAR. CVF with JCA and MASC will be magnificent, yes there will be heartache along the way and the management probably have not been very good and putting everyone in the picture about this, Portsmouth may go...so what...rather a big cut now than death by a thousand cuts. We will always want more and bigger but, we have a budget and we need to stick to it.
Am I a realist or naive? Good question. I hope my optimism will be rewarded this year with a confirmation of the order for HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Now, maybe the RAF need to do some more navel gazing!