LTDT, I may have been a little petulant in my MBT/bayonet anaology but far less than a retired one-star who should be mature enough not to call the RAF a flying club; I wonder which particular staff college he went to.
The fact is that the MBTs aren't being used. Nor have they been used for anything other than one or two phases of any campaign. Meanwhile, the stuff that is there throughout (ISTAR, CAS, CAP, AT, SH, AH, Warrior, infantry, logistics (lots of), signals, medics etc) are all suffering. It may surprise you that I agree there should be far more teeth arm troops. But maybe the focus for rationalisation should be spread across all three services rather than only having a pop at the RN and RAF.
I used to work with the Army (as an SH chap) and the bit that really grated was their inability to be flexible as far as unit formation was concerned (
at the time concepts such as combined arms or joint fires were looked upon as a massively new and exciting whereas those of us in the RAF just looked upon them as common sense and nothing new). Call it regimental cap-badge arrogance or just plain ignorance, I don't know. What I do know is that we in the RAF made the effort to understand the needs, requirements and capabilities of the Army; we
tried to be purple. I rarely saw anything other than an aloof, "you're here to support us" attitude in return. Sure, we had a pecking order in the RAF but the bottom line was that everyone actually realised where the priorities lay. In particular, I became most disillusioned at Staff College where many of my fellow students paid lip service to learning about the two blue services; we were most definitely looked upon third class citizens. Later I saw sycophantic colonels running around operational Div/Corps HQs trying to please their lords and masters with endless, beautifully scribed estimates whilst constantly manoeuvring to undermine their compatriots, almost completely losing sight of the actual task. For an equal ranked/status 'blue job' to offer a view was scorned upon; we were G3 Air and should only talk when talked to. Pity really as the other fighting troops I worked with (Royal Marines) were the epitome of intelligent, informed, fierce warriors who had a far greater understanding of the overall, Joint dynamic. It was a delight to work with them.
Anyway, the rantings of this particular retired RAF officer probably will not make much of a difference. I suppose it is time for a sherry.
