St Crispin’s Day

I heard yesterday on the esteemed Today programme, a piece where some MP was calling for a “home based Army” to deal with things like the floods we’ve just experienced.  Her point was that when local authorities called for help under MACA / MACP agreements, none came.   No Sh1t sherlock!  They’re all in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or on leave from being in one of those locations, or in pre-depoyment training!  There’s not enough slack in the system for them to even consider training for events or situations other than Iraq or AFG. 

But, what concerned me most was was that she seemed to think we could keep a unit or two ringfenced to provide home support, and only that.  What sort of division in the forces would this create?  How could one soldier getting the same pay & conditions get to stay at home all his life & fill sandbags, whilst others got to go somewhere hot & die?  Would any self respecting soldier want to do the sandbag thing?

The MP has presumably written off the TA as a usefull tool, as it is about to go through another huge set of cuts under Future Army Structures (FAS).  About 190 TA jobs will be going in London area alone.

If you want to have a spare battalion or two availabe to help in times of flood famine & disease, I suggest you resurect a couple that have just gone to the wall, the Staffords perhaps, I’ve always had a soft spot for them!

You may have heard of the protests raised by local residents living hear Hedley Court, an Army rehabilitation centre, which handles many of the cases of personnel injured on operations. The protestors are objecting to the proposal, by SSAFA, to purchase a house for use by families, visiting their injured loved ones.   A petition has been raised on the PMs website and I would be grateful if you would support it and pass the link on to others who may also feel that the attitude of the residents is wholly inconsistent with the way we, both as individuals and collectively as a nation, should treat our service personnel injured on the battlefield.

Go here for petition.

Let me look into my crystal ball dear reader, and see what the Army has to expect over the next few years?

hhhhmmm….. the mists are clearing.

 I see a troop withdrawal frrom Iraq ( Gordon ridding himself of Tony’s legacy), followed by the imploding of the southern region of that country & many people dying (certainly at higher rates than they did when Saddam was in control!).

I see the press pushing the line (and as we all know this will become popular opinion) that the whole thing was a failure, a defeat for the Army (the Army will always be most scrutinized of the three services as it has the biggest role).

The Army’s moral will plummet.  Recruitment (already very bad) will dry up.  The overstretch will become unbearable for a lot of service people & they wil leave in droves.

Finally, the country will have no discernable defence force (appart from the TA & the Cadets) and the french will invade & we’lll be eeating snails & singing the La Marseillaise

Ok, the last paragraph is probably not going to happen but you never know………………………..

BBC NEWS | Politics | MPs criticise bin collection plan

Not exactly a military story, but I’ll file it under the “Land fit for hero’s” catagory.

Just how many times over the next 10-20 years are we, the public, going to be seen off by money making & tax increasing schemes that are hidden under the guise of “environmental”?  Just when are we going to realise that, until the third world catches up, (I include China & India in that list) we will have  no progress, and us poor saps in the west will just be being fleeced blind by the greedy politicos on a crusade that will never find it’s goal?

Praguetory has been doing some research on my behalf (only kidding) but he came upwith this gem from his blogworld.

Lynne Jones MP has said in response to a soldier being verbally attacked whilst in an open ward in Selly Oak hospital.

But the Labour MP for Selly Oak, Lynne Jones, refused to back calls for more secure facilities for troops. She said: “The soldiers seem to want a little empire consisting of their own designated staff and facilities, a fiefdom”.

What on earth was she thinking?  She simply does not understand the issues. The military are not a social experiment.  We are different from the society which we protect as we alone have the understanding that we will give the ultimate sacrifice of our lives in defence of the country, it’s boarders, and it’s interests.  We are therefor set appart, and would expect, whilst we live, to be treated in such a way.

Her comments just clarify my suspicion that labour blame the Army (and not the governments of the past) for the rise of the British Empire. How blind!

Thanks as well to West Brom Blog for the links

Just to let you know dear reader, that the reason I’ve been posting less recently is due to my imminent departure to Afghanistan.

I’ll be there for about two months starting towards the end of July.

My job (not the Army) takes me to these places for periods of time, and When I’m there I should be able to blog a little more accurately about what’s going on there.

I will be making the odd post over at Ghost Cabinet as well, so be sure to check in there when you can.

I’ll be in Iraq in October.

Let the St. Crispin’s Day world tour commence!

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Australians ‘are in Iraq for oil’ 

Who is’nt?

Thank god the Aussies can “say it like it is”

I don’t beleive anyone is there for the good of the Iraqis anymore.  Only the security & stability of the region ‘cos that’s where the black gold comes from.