I get it totally - we have a deficit that we have to reduce and the majority of the current British population want to ring fence health and education, which will squeeze other departments.
But if politically and financially we have to bite the bullet with a reduction in the Defence budget then politically we should also accept that we cannot afford the Defence roles and tasks that we currently have and the short notice tasks we suddenly sign up for. If we as a nation really are going to make further cuts and ignore what is going on the world then we really will have one option but to become an armed gendarmerie for wars of national survival and concentrate on protecting our borders and internal security only.
The politicians cannot have it all and the British public cannot suddenly look to its Armed Forces in a time of need after years of cuts and belief that there is no requirement to have international interests requiring well trained/motivated, rapidly deployable and high readiness forces. Both politicians and British public alike should not be surprised that on the current trajectory it is likely that there will be a future military failure. When Helmand went awry after some early strategic mistakes, eventually the MoD managed to realise and recover the situation. When/if it goes wrong in the future I do not see any depth, resilience, resourced sustainment to enable a similar recovery/re-inforcement/reserve.
A decision needs to be made otherwise I fear another Neville Chamberlain moment in history, but in a multi-cultural, multi-faith, and multi-faceted UK it will be interesting if we could pull off the Blitz mentality and personal sacrifice for any potential war effort for national survival while a proper (Churchillian) leader stepped up to the plate - heaven forbid if it was required.
Last edited by MaroonMan4; 14th Dec 2014 at 18:51.