The country is in pieces and some folk seem to think we in the military are exempt any cuts, priceless
Of course we aren't exempt from cuts. But lets remember that the vast majority of cuts elsewhere will be in back room, administrative functions before they start removing services. But the military has already been cut to the bone in recent years coupled with increasing contractorisation of what's left. What's left of that lot are literally now your front line and immediate support elements; big cuts there and you really are potentially cutting your own arm off. You don't think the first thing the NHS will be cutting are the numbers of surgeons, doctors and nurses do you? No, they will look to the admin and management functions rather than their 'front line' capability. If our back room, management and more importantly procurement functions weren't quite so bad, we might not be in the situation we are in now.
And like it or not, just because our government - of whatever colour - is happy to put national security at risk with massive cuts to capability, that doesn't mean other countries are going to reduce their military capabilities or scale back on their ambitions out of sympathy.
And there was me harbouring this old fashioned notion that the number one priority for the government was the defence and security of the country and its citizens. The world grows more unstable by the day, we've just come out of one war and are stuck in the middle of another and the government wants to slash our military capability. Priceless.