Where is all this going?

[MaroonMan4]

I can see the nibbles on Prune threads about emerging threats, implications to reduction in size and some specific capabilities of UK Defence, and of course changes to pay and conditions of service, but is it only me that is noticing similarities with history where Defence spending and resourcing was reduced.

There also appears to be a confusing and contradictory political strategic message being broadcast; US President Obama declaring optimism on emerging from 10 years of war (as in war is over), to our Prime Minister declaring a generational struggle against militant islamists (the war will continue).

I see a Prime Minister want to change the relationship with Europe, and yet I see the proposed use of French Carriers and Strat AT (to mention but a few) beginning to blur/slide the UK's military into a quasi EU Force (with all that entails)

This ambiguity and uncertainty is also seen in the senior leadership, with a ACGS saying on BBC when questioned about the recent Army redundancies that British Forces would be able to deliver 'capacity building' in the future .....what on earth is that and what does it mean?

So here we are pulling out of Afghan, attemting to save money by decreasing the MoD budget in anyway possible (notably equipment and reducing pay and conditions for our people/service families), and yet the world is probably looking as globally unstable as at any time in my 4 decade career.

If we are that broke, and Treasury and the British people would prefer to have the 'generational struggle' within the UK mainland rather than at source in the countries of origin, then I am all for reducing the the military into Italian style UK Carabinieri with niche capabilities for 'capacity building' (which I think means engineers, logistics specialists, medical etc)......but somehow I dont believe that is what lies install, and sadly when everyone is looking at banking Defence savings due to ending 10 years in Iraq and Afghan, the time frame of 2015-2020 could bite us badly (especially with an election in 2015 - and we dont need to watch Yes Prime Minister to know what that means!).

Is the silence on PPrune because we are all tired with the constant change and the plundering of Defence resources? Are we all sitting on our elbows waiting to see the true extant and personal effect of the new pension schemes and employments models, planning exit strategies accordingly? Or have we just given up after 10 years + of high tempo operations and just dont care anymore with loyalty to Queen and Country a distant thing of the past now as the 'loyalty' door with the MoD is now seen as one way? Or are we acknowledging that Defence was a poorly managed fat cat, needed this level of budget control and pruning and that actually we will be just fine for the conflicts of tomorrow?

Or is it just me and at the back end of my career I am just becoming too old and not embracing this new military environment very well (so very different from the one I joined, with the most marked change from the early 00s).