What price loyalty?
Admiral A B Cunningham, Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet during WWII famously said about the risks of evacuating Allied troops from Crete in 1941:
"It takes 3 years to build a ship - it takes 300 years to build a tradition. The Army needs our help. Let's go".
Sadly, the attitude of our current crop of politicians/leaders is:
"How much will it cost and can we do it cheaper".
Witness the destruction of the regimental system etc. The politicians are only interested in their own jobs and egos - not the moral and welfare of its forces and what is best for their departments and the Country.
The SoS is responsible for the Armed Forces as a whole - we would happily put up with hardships and fighting if we were given back the respect and rewards that have traditionally been ours. Sadly, despite being a nice chap (apparantly) , the current SoS does not seem to have a clue about leadership and our way of life: we are just a balance sheet to him. He needs to stand up to the treasury on our behalf and not act as a sycophant to the man who is potentially his future boss. We don't want a "nice man" - we want someone to act on our behalf despite intimidation from the wretched NL spin machine who are only interested in saving money to attempt to buy into the marginal seats at the next election.
Rant Over
RA