We are not ill-equiped, we are not under-funded

[L J R]

Impeccable timing Dez!

[GlosMikeP]

Originally Posted by South Bound

ZH - would be interesting, but always worth remembering that one applies to PVR, it is not a right and can be refused. This is yet another example of why we are different to civilians and need to be treated differently and we need to be everso careful about aligning ourselves along best-practise civilian working practices (lack of perks!) as a result.

As I remember it, this was challenged in the High Court some years back and the Services were forced to set a maximum time limit for release. Not certain of fine details now but I think it was 18 months.

[TheInquisitor]

As a former soldier, he should know better than to think the chiefs of staff would deploy their people into operations they saw as inadequately planned or funded in order to please the Treasury – or anyone else for that matter.

As a former soldier, he knows this is EXACTLY what happens. Hence the comment.

The operation is fully funded – and this includes extra costs which emerge, as they always do during military operations.

So why did we have to spend 4 weeks borrowing a palouste from the spams, without which our aircraft would not have been able to get airborne at all, because of something as simple as no money available for a battery bay to charge the palouste batteries? It's the little things that impact the big picture as well.

In any case, Mr Moriarty’s suggestions about the Defence budget itself are not right. He complains that it has only risen in line with inflation since 2001. Actually the annual defence budget has risen by five billion pounds over the last five years - well in excess of inflation.

...but it hasn't risen in line with commitments, which is what counts in the real world. When are you going to grasp the simple concept, Mr Brown(e), that Defence is not a quantifyable expense that you can plan for years in advance - it is an insurance policy that you hope you will not have to use, but if you do "put a claim in", your "premium" will rise far above any measure of inflation.

Finally Mr Moriarty suggests morale in Afghanistan is suffering. Rather than me suggesting he’s wrong from here in Basra, I think a recent comment by Lt Col Stuart Tootal, commander of 3 Para in Helmand, where the fighting has been most intense, sums it up. 'I have never seen the morale of my men as high. This is exactly what they are trained to do'.

Do you think, Mr Brown(e), that a military commander with a career to think about, especially given the ever-increasing career competitiveness inevitable in an ever-shrinking organisation, will tell you, to your face, that his men are actually knackered and fed up?

Mr Brown(e), you are rapidly becoming a poor parody of "Comical Ali" giving his "there eez no Americans 'ere in Baghdad" speech, as the plain truth rolls into view over the brow of the hill behind you. You should seriously consider a move to the Heritage or Sport departments where you can't do any real damage. Or better still, the "Chiltern Hundreds".