To be honest even when I was serving back in the late 1980's we used to discuss the issues around mobilisation of the TA in all sorts of scenarios.
The one thing that came out was - if the threat was direct to me, or even mainland UK we'd probably end up with a less than 60% turn out from my unit. Of those only 30% would be fully trained soldiers .
The remainder were honest and said they felt they would be of 'limited use' to a regular unit in a re-inforcement situation.
Most of my TA soldiers (we were infantry) openly admitted that if the AB592 (remember those ?) ever dropped on the mat, they would not turn up.
Personally I am more in favour of regular reservists, specialist TA soldiers (like CVHQ) where civillian skills can be directly transferred - vehicle mechs etc) and keep the rest of the TA as home defence (like the old HSF concept).
Not that I want to stop people volunteering for dets - but lets keep it real about capability and commitment levels.
and that's my 2p worth..................
Arc
and I still think our troops are doing a fantastic job under appalling conditions without all the kit they should have, and with pathetic political back up.
