Gavin Williamson told officers to submit essays on army’s future

[Lyneham Lad]

In The Times today. (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gavin-williamson-told-officers-to-submit-essays-on-army-s-future-9z396r68d?shareToken=ed9e06c47664ed750c598c7f702c050a)

Megalomania strikes gain...

“Brexit is an opportunity for the British military to extend its influence around the globe.” Discuss.

Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, caused surprise among the ranks of 200 mid-level army officers after he asked them to submit directly to him a 1,000-word essay on how to boost Britain’s influence after Brexit.

PS - there is mil-aviation content - see photo in article. ;)

[cargosales]

My initial reaction to this was to remember a word I learned many years ago in the Air Force .. 'Twunt'. It is not an officially recognised swear-word, but does enable one to convey one's sentiments about an individual..

On the other hand .. How many people in Government have actually sought advice from those in the front line?? Rather than just imposing their own views and expecting the military (all branches and services) to comply and 'get on with it', regardless of the consequences.

It's a brave call on Williamson's part but I support him on this one. And I hope it yields useful information that those in Whitehall etc actually TAKE ON BOARD, and act upon. BZ chap


CS

[BluSdUp]

How about having proper defence of the " Home land" and then help NATO with the northern flank and the Baltic!
That should keep him busy for a bit, me thinks.

[pr00ne]

BluSdUp,

Defence of the Home Land against whom exactly? If we were to restructure the current UK armed forces along the lines of UK home defence we would end up with armed forces the size and capability somewhere between those of Ireland and New Zealand.

And just what is wrong with the current force structure for your hypothetical homeland defence? Seem pretty capable to me.

[Fitter2]

About to leave the RAF, I was invited by my Staish to sign on to pensionable age. Set to leave in 4 months with an attractive job offer, I replied the 9 years was long enough to be told how to do my job, by people who didn't know what they were saying, and didn't know how to do their own. Somewhat to my surprise, he invited me to assess what would make the system work better, and where I thought the problems lay.

Sensible people in a senior position know that the information they receive is too often filtered through what people think they want to hear.

[falcon900]

Am I alone in wondering why, regardless of Brexit, we are looking for opportunities to extend the influence of our military around the globe?
Leaving aside the reasonably fundamental strategic question of whether we should be seeking to project military influence "around the globe", given the persistent indeed perennial underfunding of our armed services for the tasks at hand, it is patronising to the point of cruelty to ask officers to fritter their time away like this. I take it they will be allowed to write the essays whilst on duty, rather than in their own time....???

[Asturias56]

and the Winning Entry:-

"The UK needs a strong, silent Armed Forces and the Country should be led as PM by a member of the Conservative party who has recently served as Minister for Defense and has experience in the Whips Office. It would be helpful if he had a CBE and represented the Center of England - somewhere like South Staffordshire would be perfect"

please send my KCMG along in the Birthday Honors........

:yuk::yuk::yuk:

[Stuff]

"200 mid-level army officers"
"on a course last month"

Adding 2+2 and getting 5, was he perhaps a guest presenter on ICSC(L) and was invited to set an essay question that would make the students think?

Not much to see here, pretty normal stuff for the Defence Academy.

[Arfur Dent]

Defence Minister should be ex Services. He/she should have attained at least Air Rank and would have experience of dealing with people like Mr Williamson who is probably bereft of any sensible ideas as he doesn't have any useful experiences in the Military. Worked in the family ceramics factory prior to becoming an MP. Perfect pedigree wouldn't you say???

[Bing]

Defence Minister should be ex Services. He/she should have attained at least Air Rank

And who out of the current crop of MPs actually ticks those boxes? And I'm sure they'd be no cries of partisanship from whichever services they hadn't been a member of whenever they made a decision they didn't like.

[ve3id]

and the Winning Entry:-

"The UK needs a strong, silent Armed Forces and the Country should be led as PM by a member of the Conservative party who has recently served as Minister for Defense and has experience in the Whips Office. It would be helpful if he had a CBE and represented the Center of England - somewhere like South Staffordshire would be perfect"

please send my KCMG along in the Birthday Honors........

:yuk::yuk::yuk:
If you spell honors that way you are instantly disqualified!

[Asturias56]

very text book I ever read on English said that spelling and grammar are always changing and that the Grammar Fascists are the hold-over from Victorians who tried to give it the structure of Latin.........

The biggest English speaking country uses "Honor" and, I believe, most "Americanisms" are actually hold-overs from Shakespearean English................

But if it causes a problem I'll take my KCMG through the Foreign list............. :ok:

[racedo]

Am I alone in wondering why, regardless of Brexit, we are looking for opportunities to extend the influence of our military around the globe?
Leaving aside the reasonably fundamental strategic question of whether we should be seeking to project military influence "around the globe", given the persistent indeed perennial underfunding of our armed services for the tasks at hand, it is patronising to the point of cruelty to ask officers to fritter their time away like this.

It is not the "Fritter their time" I have the issue with. Its the frittering away young lives, to support a political agenda and enrich certain companies in the Arms and Energy sectors that I have the issues with. These said companies then reward the politicians with seats on their boards and contributions to political parties.

Occasionally they even do a song and dance, helps to get their MBE/OBE/Knighthood, in claiming how charitable they are. They contribute peanuts to a charity that looks after the broken lives and bodies of the service personnel, who bear the brunt of their quest for profit.

The contribution will of course be way less than any salary or bonus the CEO gets. But they will turn up for a photo op and tell the wounded warriors of "How much their service and sacrifice means to them". Then get back in their chauffered car to get away from these cripples.

Involvement in overseas destabilisations only results in a wave of immigrants from those countrys we have now destabilised.

Stupidity is doing the same thing again and again, then expecting the result to be different.

[Tankertrashnav]

But if it causes a problem I'll take my KCMG through the Foreign list............. https://www.pprune.org/images/smilies/thumbs.gif

Plenty of foreign nationals with honorary knighthoods, but mainly KBEs and KCBs, the KCMG is pretty well confined to the diplomatic service, with a few exceptions. Of course when you are knighted you will not be entitled to the honorific "Sir", so you will continue to be Mr Asturias. I wish someone would tell that twerp Krishnan Guru-Murthy who was talking about "Sir Bob Geldof" on Channel 4 news the other day. Apparently when Terry Wogan was knighted he was still an Irish national, but took British citizenship a short time later, at which point he became Sir Terry!

[Torquelink]

All seems a bit harsh: criticising the man for lack of relevant experience and then criticising him for asking for advice!

[Trumpet trousers]

very text book I ever read on English said that spelling and grammar are always changing

​​​​​​​so it would appear!!...🤔

[Asturias56]

Plenty of foreign nationals with honorary knighthoods, but mainly KBEs and KCBs, the KCMG is pretty well confined to the diplomatic service, with a few exceptions. Of course when you are knighted you will not be entitled to the honorific "Sir", so you will continue to be Mr Asturias. I wish someone would tell that twerp Krishnan Guru-Murthy who was talking about "Sir Bob Geldof" on Channel 4 news the other day. Apparently when Terry Wogan was knighted he was still an Irish national, but took British citizenship a short time later, at which point he became Sir Terry!


Thanks for putting me right - it's a very arcane area. In Italy you just pay - much easier.................

I'm happy to be Mr/Senor/Signore - all better than the usual "here comes that Lazy B****** Asturias....." ;)