The Untrainables
In my Senior Term at the Towers, I had to try and teach Saudis drill - what a no-hoper that was. Twenty years later as an IOT flt cdr I had a "poor" Omani (his Dad was a sgt in the Omani army) in my flight and he was brilliant. Never seen eyes so wide open as when we took him into Halton House.
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Political balance.
Shot one, well spotted. Probably true. For balance then, both Labour and Conservative MPs have indeed made some, could we say errors, in the last few years? Do they equally share the blame? The blame-game scorecard may look like this:
Are we saying Labour=Iraq. Labour=Afghan. Conservative=End of afghan./ Conservative=Libya. Conservative=Syria (rejected).Conservative=ISIS (partial military action).
I used to think, long ago, that the Conservatives probably tipped the balance their way in having enough knowledge and experience to take the responsibility of controlling the military- I no longer think this at all. If I've raised a hackle about this with then......The Conservative Party is trying to carry on under a legacy of having former soldiers turning into politicians and ministers who can carry out the act that they still know what they are talking about, and in a way they were good at that illusion. But not now.
For what its worth anyway (and that's zero same as everyone's on here) I don't think we as a nation are actually up for training anybody, anymore.
We have neither the military budget, available skilled instructional staff manpower on the payroll and now, no longer have the credibility to manage the medium to large scale training programmes of other countries soldiers (most especially the Arabs). Might have been different a few years back, but post-Iraq we sure as hell lost the plot on this, and it isn't coming back soon.
Continuing failure of this recent nature has now brought derision in the press.
(We haven't the credibility because any smart Alec young chap being trained by the UK Armed Forces can simply stand in class and say we were finally beaten, twice- by irregulars, insurgents... this is what people are actually saying.
We in the UK, at least our political leaders, still cannot seem to acknowledge this in public. And that is why we seemed doomed to keep rolling along on this treadmill of continuous war-fighting involving UK personnel, and failing. Stand to be corrected, which no doubt I will be, but I've got to log off.
Are we saying Labour=Iraq. Labour=Afghan. Conservative=End of afghan./ Conservative=Libya. Conservative=Syria (rejected).Conservative=ISIS (partial military action).
I used to think, long ago, that the Conservatives probably tipped the balance their way in having enough knowledge and experience to take the responsibility of controlling the military- I no longer think this at all. If I've raised a hackle about this with then......The Conservative Party is trying to carry on under a legacy of having former soldiers turning into politicians and ministers who can carry out the act that they still know what they are talking about, and in a way they were good at that illusion. But not now.
For what its worth anyway (and that's zero same as everyone's on here) I don't think we as a nation are actually up for training anybody, anymore.
We have neither the military budget, available skilled instructional staff manpower on the payroll and now, no longer have the credibility to manage the medium to large scale training programmes of other countries soldiers (most especially the Arabs). Might have been different a few years back, but post-Iraq we sure as hell lost the plot on this, and it isn't coming back soon.
Continuing failure of this recent nature has now brought derision in the press.
(We haven't the credibility because any smart Alec young chap being trained by the UK Armed Forces can simply stand in class and say we were finally beaten, twice- by irregulars, insurgents... this is what people are actually saying.
We in the UK, at least our political leaders, still cannot seem to acknowledge this in public. And that is why we seemed doomed to keep rolling along on this treadmill of continuous war-fighting involving UK personnel, and failing. Stand to be corrected, which no doubt I will be, but I've got to log off.
It's all a question of the basic human material with which you have to work; at what level (English language, moral, cultural, educational, etc.) do you need to start?
I'll never forget the howls of protest from the specially selected, supposedly technically literate students of a prominent middle-eastern country on a sonar maintenance course at HMS Collingwood when an exam question included the use of Ohm's Law in the format I=V/R. They'd only been taught that V=IR.
I'll never forget the howls of protest from the specially selected, supposedly technically literate students of a prominent middle-eastern country on a sonar maintenance course at HMS Collingwood when an exam question included the use of Ohm's Law in the format I=V/R. They'd only been taught that V=IR.
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The Nepalese culture is a million miles away from ours but we've never had a problem training Gurkhas to be, probably the finest soldiers in the British Army.
Perhaps these Libyan guys were reluctant recruits in the first place.
Perhaps these Libyan guys were reluctant recruits in the first place.
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The basic material of a Ghurka soldier is a far cry from Libyan or Iraqi soldier material.
The Ghurkas are fully conversant with the principle of discipline - self and externally-applied.
The Libyans, Iraqis, et al, have never grasped the principle, and probably never will.
The Ghurkas are fully conversant with the principle of discipline - self and externally-applied.
The Libyans, Iraqis, et al, have never grasped the principle, and probably never will.
