Help focus the cuts on the right areas
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But as well as facing delays in construction, the second – HMS Prince of Wales – could even be shared with the French Navy under one proposal.
Roland,
On the few occassions when CAS hosts VIPs then either an RAF chef comes along for the day to do the cooking, or the "entertaining" is done in a mess somewhere, etc. Rather than employ a chef 365 days a year for the few (becoming fewer as we reduce costs?) time he "entertains". Maybe VIPs need to learn to be "entertained" a bit less in these (globally) more austere times?
As for the Sunday express article. Lossiemouth is already a fast jet base, is due to recieve JSF when we get it into service, has HAS facilities, etc. Kinloss is a multi engine aircraft base, with no current aircraft, and due to recieve a total of 9! More importantly, Kinloss has a geese problem that directly effects aircraft operations, are you going to put a single engine aircraft into a base with a bird problem? So, as you seem to suggest, perhaps they have got Kinloss and Lossiemouth the wrong way around.
I had heard that Leuchars was the most logical to go. Land in a good location for housing viz Dundee and Edinburgh, with a railway station. I heard that a lot of money would need to be spend on Leuchars to make it suitable for Typhoon, but it hasn't been spent yet. Close Leuchars, sell the land, move Typhoons to Lossie for northern Q, approx 100nm nearer the bad guys, and reduce the GR4 fleet by a couple of Sqns (Lossie ones) to save money and make way for Typhoon.......
Seems logical to me, but no doubt it won't happen, and one of the Moray bases will close on the basis that the area already has 2 bases, so taking one away won't have such a massive impact as closing the only base in one area!
On the few occassions when CAS hosts VIPs then either an RAF chef comes along for the day to do the cooking, or the "entertaining" is done in a mess somewhere, etc. Rather than employ a chef 365 days a year for the few (becoming fewer as we reduce costs?) time he "entertains". Maybe VIPs need to learn to be "entertained" a bit less in these (globally) more austere times?
As for the Sunday express article. Lossiemouth is already a fast jet base, is due to recieve JSF when we get it into service, has HAS facilities, etc. Kinloss is a multi engine aircraft base, with no current aircraft, and due to recieve a total of 9! More importantly, Kinloss has a geese problem that directly effects aircraft operations, are you going to put a single engine aircraft into a base with a bird problem? So, as you seem to suggest, perhaps they have got Kinloss and Lossiemouth the wrong way around.
I had heard that Leuchars was the most logical to go. Land in a good location for housing viz Dundee and Edinburgh, with a railway station. I heard that a lot of money would need to be spend on Leuchars to make it suitable for Typhoon, but it hasn't been spent yet. Close Leuchars, sell the land, move Typhoons to Lossie for northern Q, approx 100nm nearer the bad guys, and reduce the GR4 fleet by a couple of Sqns (Lossie ones) to save money and make way for Typhoon.......
Seems logical to me, but no doubt it won't happen, and one of the Moray bases will close on the basis that the area already has 2 bases, so taking one away won't have such a massive impact as closing the only base in one area!
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VV, fitness test, pray tell what the dark blue have to do?
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Vec, thank you, but do you also manadated to do 3 periods of exercise each week. I note you also say that your sanction is you do not get promoted whereas in the RAF you won't get paid if you see what I mean.
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And quite right too. If you are not fit enough to serve in the Armed Forces then why should you get paid? Being in the Armed Forces is a tough, demanding job which expects the highest levels of physical and mental fitness. If you cannot keep up then step aside and allow someone who can join in.
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I think what the UK military needs now, from the top down, is to work together to ensure a joined up approach to the budget cuts rather than a willy waving competition as to who has the most stringent fitness test or AT programme 
Why cant the mil leaders, faced with unprecedented financial pressure do the same as a civilian CEO would. Get together with the executive team & make the tough choices, then go to the the budget holder with a properly costed & agreed shopping list showing how much they need for each present and future project/programme and make it simple that if the money is not there then the mil cant afford & wont continue with that project or programme. Then the politicians need to decide what they want the mil to do within the realms of what they can afford & pay accordingly...Hey we do this sort of shopping exercise with primary children when teaching them basic math & money lessons and they seem to grasp it fairly quickly...
Even more important now the leaders have adopted a zero tolerance to risk taking in light of recent enquiries etc. Not taking risk costs money. There is no money. Therefore the do more with less strategy WILL fail. Simple....isn't it?
Why cant the mil leaders, faced with unprecedented financial pressure do the same as a civilian CEO would. Get together with the executive team & make the tough choices, then go to the the budget holder with a properly costed & agreed shopping list showing how much they need for each present and future project/programme and make it simple that if the money is not there then the mil cant afford & wont continue with that project or programme. Then the politicians need to decide what they want the mil to do within the realms of what they can afford & pay accordingly...Hey we do this sort of shopping exercise with primary children when teaching them basic math & money lessons and they seem to grasp it fairly quickly...
Even more important now the leaders have adopted a zero tolerance to risk taking in light of recent enquiries etc. Not taking risk costs money. There is no money. Therefore the do more with less strategy WILL fail. Simple....isn't it?
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Kinloss has the upper hand as it would make a suitable base for the new Joint Strike Fighter
Sacking CAS's chef, or chopping the odd PTI will not generate the required savings.
A culture of fiscal responsibility is required. We all know of waste, and those that don't are living in lah lah land, or are FC's!
A culture of fiscal responsibility is required. We all know of waste, and those that don't are living in lah lah land, or are FC's!
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Maybe there are a few things that might help: Medical services are effectivly doing the same job so why have 3 of them? Or in case of Army why have 3 separate corps? Medical,Dental & Nursing? yes amalgamation will save maybe a few million but its still a few million saved.
Cut 32Sqn back to supporting senior officers and Royals and ban politicians and civil servants from using it.
How many of HM Forces are undeployable? a Reservist who goes on FTRS is payed X factor at a rate dependent on his/her deployable status so fully deployable gets full X factor, Home only gets it at reserve rates and Un deployable doesn't get any. Maybe that should be applied.
Cut 32Sqn back to supporting senior officers and Royals and ban politicians and civil servants from using it.
How many of HM Forces are undeployable? a Reservist who goes on FTRS is payed X factor at a rate dependent on his/her deployable status so fully deployable gets full X factor, Home only gets it at reserve rates and Un deployable doesn't get any. Maybe that should be applied.
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Nurse - those are good points but I think that you maybe missing the point....rather than amalgamating the nursing, dentist, medical corps of all 3 services....why not get rid of the lot? Why do we need so many doctors and nurses? why are dentists considered officers?....they are hardly doctors..... why not rely on the NHS?
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Parkinson's Law plus a spot of rank inflation???
I'm all in favour of culling unnecessary civilian "fat" but isn’t it time to have a detailed look at the apparent rank inflation that now appears endemic across all services. As our capability has decreased the rank required to undertake a particular role has often increased, as has the bureaucracy needed to provide support. For example, now just a maximum of nine Nimrod MRA4 airframes, so taking into account trials and deep maintenance probably no more than seven available at any time? So are two (120 & 201) operational squadrons plus one (42[R]) training unit all really necessary? Each squadron presumably commanded by a Wing Commander, together with a dedicated fully operational airbase (commanded by a Group Captain?) and all that entails. As to rank/role if an ACC Major is able to command an operational Apache squadron why does the RAF need a Wing Commander and the RN a Commander? Particularly as until very recently FAA squadrons were always commanded by Lt. Commanders. All over the UK military there are examples of rank inflation. In the US army a Captain will command a large company in the British army there are many examples of Captains commanding under strength platoons. I’ve no particular desire to reduce opportunities for those at the bottom of the pile, but without a realistic rank/role structure at the base of the pyramid it makes it even more difficult to remove sections higher up!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Nurse - those are good points but I think that you maybe missing the point....rather than amalgamating the nursing, dentist, medical corps of all 3 services....why not get rid of the lot? Why do we need so many doctors and nurses? why are dentists considered officers?....they are hardly doctors..... why not rely on the NHS?
How many NHS dentists are willing to deploy on HM War Canoes? How much would it cost to select an NHS Doctor for a tour in Ascension? What is the chance of finding one that has a proper degree and language skills?
One attribute for RAF Doctors is AvMed knowledge. This includes a specialist area of physiology and also protective clothing. We once had a doctor fast-tracked through to the unit bypassing Cranditz. It fell to us to teach him not only the customs and etiquette of the Service but also AvMed. He had a brain the size of a planet and put our training to good effect,but that is another story.
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Answered exactly the NHS has little or no understanding of service needs. Its a bit like saying contract the flying in the RAF to virgin or BA.
Why not reform the medical, police and supply services into Joint orginisations?
Why not reform the medical, police and supply services into Joint orginisations?
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Bin Red Arrows and 32 Sqn
Close Halton and have a single point of entry to the RAF.
Close Honington and collocation Regt training and Honington Sqns at an Army infantry depot.
Move CAS and staff to HQ Air Cmd and bin CINC Air, DCINC this and DCINC that. And do the same for CGS and 1SL
Review Air Officer Numbers i.e AOC DAUs, why do we need this post, give the duties to AOC 1, 2 or 38 Gp.
Bin CEA with immediate effect unless you are in recepit of payments in which case they end when the kids leave school.
Stop SSFA if you own a house within 25 miles of your duty station.
Amalgamate RAF legal service with the Army and RN Legal Services, one Armed Forces Bill = Requirement for one Legal Service.
Bin RAF stewards and PTIs.
Bin Air Officers Drivers, have a pool of civvies do it
Outsource IT provision/maintenance to the private sector, I know of a number of firms who'd love the contract.
Civilianise 2 MT. Do 2 MT drive across the AFG/PAK border to Kandahr etc?
Tie the Aircrew FRI amount payable to the number of airline posts advertised on the most popular pilot recruitment website, i.e more posts advertised and the FRI does down.
Oh thats just for starters
Close Halton and have a single point of entry to the RAF.
Close Honington and collocation Regt training and Honington Sqns at an Army infantry depot.
Move CAS and staff to HQ Air Cmd and bin CINC Air, DCINC this and DCINC that. And do the same for CGS and 1SL
Review Air Officer Numbers i.e AOC DAUs, why do we need this post, give the duties to AOC 1, 2 or 38 Gp.
Bin CEA with immediate effect unless you are in recepit of payments in which case they end when the kids leave school.
Stop SSFA if you own a house within 25 miles of your duty station.
Amalgamate RAF legal service with the Army and RN Legal Services, one Armed Forces Bill = Requirement for one Legal Service.
Bin RAF stewards and PTIs.
Bin Air Officers Drivers, have a pool of civvies do it
Outsource IT provision/maintenance to the private sector, I know of a number of firms who'd love the contract.
Civilianise 2 MT. Do 2 MT drive across the AFG/PAK border to Kandahr etc?
Tie the Aircrew FRI amount payable to the number of airline posts advertised on the most popular pilot recruitment website, i.e more posts advertised and the FRI does down.
Oh thats just for starters
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ne attribute for RAF Doctors is AvMed knowledge
Would that be the same AV medical specialist who asked me during my last aircrew medical if it was uncomfortable when my ears wouldn't clear...?
Yeah,right..... specialist medical officers.... ........Baboons more like
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