Originally Posted by snapper41
What happened to that armed forces association that started up a year or so ago? Has it died?
It's still going but has failed to seize the initiative, IMHO - it's not as if they haven't been handed a bunch of opportunities to get get into the limelight either!
The association's biggest problem is they won't be listened to (apart from maybe by Breakfast News) unless they either seize the limelight through groundbreaking initiatives and do something tangible that amounts to more than just 'visions' and mission statements. No offence to the bloke who currently runs it, but we've not heard or seen anything of you!
The government is essentially reactive, only spending when it stands to gain good
PR (Olympics) or see-off bad (Inheritance Tax) and it has no need to spend any more than the minimum on the forces because it knows both the law and forces' can-do are on their side. The association lacks the firepower of other professional organisations by not being able to put any threat behind its 'demands' a la 'no overtime'. Neither the public or the members of the forces would accept this anyway! Besides, in many ways our lack of representation is a strength.
Although a central component is money, that alone is not enough. Better would be the paradigm shift to accepting Britain's armed forces are a key component of the much sought after Britishness that Brown is looking for, in the same way Big Ben, roast beef and cricket is. That part of the link is loosely there, but needs to be strengthened in the national psyche. The missing part is including the forces in the winner's enclosure of proper funding, alongside the NHS and schools. The government
could do this and I think it would be widely popular (note: Mr Brown, searching for populist policies), while it would also fund Britain's desired position on the world stage. But behind it has to be
the will and this is lacking.
Unfortunately Defence is the silent whipping boy for increasingly stretched government funds. More vociferous causes get the money, irrespective of their propensity to waste and mismanage it. And in the mean time the gaps in Defence are being plugged by our good will and sense of duty. What is not readily recognised, or perhaps worried about by transitory governments, is good will is a finite resource.