Defence Cuts..I mean re-organization!

[Maple 01]

Annabelle Ewing of the SNP

Of the same SNP that campained for years to get the RAF out of Buchan only to do a 180 degree about face when they got their wish?

Jock backstabbing b'stards!

[althenick]

Jock backstabbing b'stards!

LESS OF THE 'JOCK' PAL - ALL POLIES ARE BACKSTABBING PERSONS OF QUESTIONABLE BIRTHRIGHT ARE THEY NOT?

ANOTHER LITTLE OUTBURST LIKE THAT AND I'LL COME DOWN AND STEAL ALL THE TURF OUT OF WEMBLY (FORGIVE ME BUT I ASSUME YOUR A SASSENACH?)

PEACE

[JessTheDog]

Of the same SNP that campained for years to get the RAF out of Buchan only to do a 180 degree about face when they got their wish?

As the Arab proverb goes, "my enemy's enemy is my friend!"

Keep up the good work, Annabelle Ewing!

[Maple 01]

althenick,

As you say,

They are Jock back stabbing B's in the same way Mr Howard is a Transylvanian one and Mr Blair is a .......er Scottish one, - a mere geographical locater rather than an intended slur on all that hail from the area -

And just because it's open season on the SNP - strange they suddenly became super-patriots and started to fight for 'their Black Watch' in the recent round of defence cuts - I thought traditionally they didn't believe in a military.....?

Opportunist backstabbing Jock B'stards!

[Jobza Guddun]

"Perhaps one of the reasons RAF techs aren’t keen to get involved with other people's kit is that their experience levels have been eroded over the years by contractorisation"

Fair point Maple, but speaking as a techie myself, a bigger cause is the way "Quality" mixed with H+S has gone overboard in the RAF. We have been dumbed right down, and the professional fault-pickers enforce it rigidly.

"You can't use that power set to start your jet, you're not authed"
"But I used them at my last place, I know how to use it"
"We don't auth those, so you can't use it"

A typical scenario, of the sort regularly played out these days. So people understandably go "sorry, not authed, can't do it. Blah", thereby using the system against itself. Anyone who was to trial the new fitness test at Honington will know what I mean.

Allow people to use common sense and experience again, and the problems such as you cite, Maple, will start to disappear. Maybe then we can start being proper engineers again not Kwik-Fit fitters.

[16 blades]

Jobsa,

Alot of that may be down to litigation culture - 'common sense', although very welcome and sadly lacking nowadays, is extremely difficult to quantify. Almost everything has to be justified in some legal framework nowadays because of this govt's (and the EU's) relentless obsession with regulating everything.

16B

[SirToppamHat]

Arrive at new workplace with kettle. Taken away by techies for testing, authorisation and cable replacement(has to be low-smoke and zero-halogen compliant).

Returned with sheath over existing cable. Kettle now next to useless as flex no longer flexes to reach socket.

Why not change the cable? Sorry, says the cpl, can't do that because it would involve crimping, which we're not authorised to do. Needs special tools, (2-wk?) training course, annual refresher etc etc.

Having confirmed this was not a wind-up, asked him what would happen if I took the kettle home and changed the cable myself then presented it for testing, registration etc. Response? They would confirm cable OK, test and inspect then let me use it.

These are professional CE technicians. It has cost the RAF a fortune to train them yet they are treated like children, whilst the RAF pays for external contractors to come in and do jobs that they could do themselves. It's no wonder some of them are pi**ed-off. This chap had 400 other existing minor electrical items to check annually!

[althenick]

They are Jock back stabbing B's in the same way Mr Howard is a Transylvanian one and Mr Blair is a .......er Scottish one, - a mere geographical locater rather than an intended slur on all that hail from the area -

And just because it's open season on the SNP - strange they suddenly became super-patriots and started to fight for 'their Black Watch' in the recent round of defence cuts - I thought traditionally they didn't believe in a military.....?

Opportunist backstabbing Jock B'stards!

...Sh!t - can't argue with any of that

[Tartan Giant]

Further Reading about these cuts

The UK is the 4th richest nation in the world, so why is Hoon the Bafoon saying we cannot afford the military staff/equiptment we have!?

In the face of all these terrorist threats which caused the idiot to put tanks in and around LHR, we now see our army, navy and air force being cut to the very bone - this is very dumb.

We read of Germany's increasing bad economy - but it does not stop them building up THEIR forces! Where do they get the money?

Please read this email that is doing the rounds - from one who really knows the score and is very worried, Lt Col Beckhough (do a 'google' if you do not know of the man).


Cheers

TG
------------------------

Whilst Hoon pretends we cannot afford to protect this nation in the worst times - and cuts our land, sea, and air forces, others have found the money (somehow) to build up theirs! Rings any bells?

If you don't smell a rat, then it's too late.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Subject: More facts on Germany re-arming - from Lt Col Beckhough.


----- Original Message -----
From: Harry Beckhough
To: Stan Parr
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 7:35 PM
Subject: Re: More stunning truths from Lt Col Harry Beckhough


Stan correction: I was serving in India as an RA gunner officer (having joined in the ranks) when kidnapped by Bletchley Park. They discovered that I was a philogist with specialist knowledge of German.

They then made me into a Code-breaker,sending me to serve with the 8th Army, breaking Rommels messages etc., so I became more and more involved with Germann history, especially recent and present, as menacing and aggressive as ever...plug read my book "Secret Communications" about cryptology-to blind you with science!

Now the facts up to date, for general interest, culled from Intelligence sources: Germany alone in Europe continues with Conscription, building her Armed well-trained Forces. Why?

Today, Germany through EU and NATO involvement, is second only to America as the biggest supplier of servicemen for peacekeeping forces worldwide, with over 10,000 troops deployed.

Peter Struck Minister of Defence, claims more German troops are integrated into NATO than any other Army.
The Bundeswehr [have a look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundeswehr ] responsibilities have changed from originally only "permitted defensive", to "preventative conflict prevention" and "crisis management" - digging Germany deeper into each continent.

Now, with contrived excuse for long-distance "rapid response" missions, they are gaining better and improving communication, intelligence, reconnaissance, mobility, confrontational capability, and "post-conflict" support (unlike the Iraq situation post-war.)

Peter Struck said at a Press Conference 13 Jan "...the Bundesswehr will be developed according to an entirely new system of force categories, while maintaining the 5 military organisational areas of Army, Air Force, Navy, Joint Supply Service and Central Medical Service." (To me that spells some real organisation, that Hoon might learn if capable)

In Feb at the Munich Conference, Struck said "Our new course makes the Bundeswehr fit for the future (I wonder what future they are planning?). In March he said "This contemporary force is custom-made to play a huge role in the peace-keeping area. This transformation is due to be completed by 2010" (How does one define German peace-keeping?)

Remember: Post-war German Armed Forces were directed by law to be limited in power - maintaining only sufficient strength to safeguard her proper borders, NOT the globe.

Compare the Blitzkrieg with their modern 'highly mobile rapid reaction force. The Groundwork is now being laid - needing only the pieces to be put in place.

The goal as I see it, is to translate Europe, from its present military position of inferiority, compared with American present dominance.

This new system, as I have shown, divides some 242,000 [UK 207,000 in toto] service personnel into 3 categories:Response Forces, Stabilisation Forces and Support Forces, as I have described, unless you want more detail?

Query? Whence come the enormous funding? Germany is supposed to spend about 1.5% of GDP [UK 2.33% and Hoon says cut] on defence only, and has supposedly cut spending on defence by more than one billion this year.

But Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Bundeswehr Chief of Staff, issued "a directive to examine the entire service-school system of the Bundeswehr. Our armed forces will be more operations-related, better trained and more professionally led."

The world seems to have forgotten the warlike nature of German efficiency and ability to streamline, as demonstrated in aggressive war after war.

In the meantime, whilst puzzling about the cost, compared with Hoon's puerile excuses for weakening our own defences and demoralising our troops, just consider the rise of the neo-Nazis, now coming more blatantly into the open, especially East Germany and Bavaria, led by Stoibert.

He expects to be the next Chancellor and the rapid growth of the NPD German Military Initiatives: $24.8 million dollar contract to European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co - all weather radar systems for global surveillance imaging. Procurement of state-of-art helicopters, transport aircraft and 3,800 protected command transport vehicles. Acquisition of 180 Eurofighter jets ($22 Billion), the costliest arms deal in the Bundeswehr history.

Development of "infantrymen of the future" equipment for 80,000 operations personnel.

New command frigate SACHSEN, one of the most advanced armament developments in Germany's history. 3 more for 2005.

4 type-212A Submarines [have a look here at the German/Italian pact http://homepage.eircom.net/~steven/crustmov.htm ] the most advanced in the world.
ThyssenKrupp purchase of the world's largest submarine maker to act as core of a heavyweight warship (Frankfurter Allgemein Zeitung 21 May.)

Germany's elite force KSK to be increased and integrated with NATO's rapid reaction force in 2005.

German efforts to secure a permanent seat in the UN Security Council - held by only 5 other nations in the world - which would grant Germany voting power.

All this aggressive high-speed manoeuvring puts Germany in top dominant position in Europe, NATO and UN. And the world again looks on, with Britain disarmed and unprepared as usual, but in even worse plight under Labour and Blair!

Are we sold out to the German European Union?

[TC27]

Ermm

Germany is committed to making 20bn worth of defence cuts over the next ten years and ending conscription. Meanwhile hasnt the MOD secured a real terms rise in spending?

[JessTheDog]

Germany is committed to making 20bn worth of defence cuts over the next ten years and ending conscription. Meanwhile hasnt the MOD secured a real terms rise in spending?

No. During my time in uniform recently, I was told by fairly senior sources that the MoD was effectively bankrupt. Any rise in spending is illusionary as it comes after the rebalancing of the books through RAS. Also, much-quoted capabilities such as Astute, Bowman, Nimrod MRA4 (Nimrod 2000?), Typhoon (EFA 2000?) have been on the order book for decades. These are not new capabilities, merely late ones! NEC is a figleaf for procurement incompetence and many aspects of NEC (certainly the datalink aspects) are relatively inexpensive and fielded already.

This is all about short-sighted cost cutting.

[ShyTorque]

Dear Mr. Hoon,

I continue to be impressed how the RAF has been improved from 110,000 wasteful full time members down to a figure of less than half this, including semi-retired staff, who now commute back from the south of France to fly.

Well done, how soon can you improve this figure down to a few MOD admin staff who can concentrate on sitting on nice new leather chairs and composing nasty letters to possible enemies?

Yours in awe at your expertise in clouding the truth,

ShyTorque.

[steamchicken]

If you think Edmund Stoiber is a neo-Nazi, you should also think Michael Howard is. They have near-identical political positions and styles. This is frankly silly.

[LoeyDaFrog]

Jess, Beags

mmmm, can only shake my head in disallusioned agreement. Seems from my humble position (office that came with the out of branch tour) that those of us actually doing the job are always ignored whilst those of them 'leading' those doing the job make decisions based on that old chestnut that 'it is a crock of **** and it stinks' being translated by layer upon layer of Snr types to - 'it is strong and promotes growth'. I have spent the last few months feeling sh!t£ because whenever my SNCOs or Cpls asked a question, I could only shrug my shoulders and say dunno, simply 'cos that was the response my boss got from his boss etc etc etc.
so, those of us left, get more pis...sorry, annoyed with having to do much much more, with so much less.
Strange thing is, the actual daily grind is quite enjoyable, top bunch of people working for me etc etc and I guess that is what is keeping me in.

[Pureteenlard]

Perhaps you should try listening to this;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/ourbraveboys.shtml

A bit like "Yes, Minister" but in the MOD. So far they've tackled the Typhoon's gun, FRES (and why it's costing so much even though nobody actually knows what it is yet) and how the MOD has never, ever used equipment for the purposes for which it was bought.