Hamish pointed us at a Daily Telegraph article, an excerpt from which states:

Col Collins (a former commanding officer of the Royal Irish Regiment who fought in the 2003 Iraq war) added: "In the British Army, the leadership is poor and continues to be poor. There has been a selfishness at the top, while jealous civil servants have eroded the conditions of troops serving in the Army.

"Payment for being away from home for long periods has become intolerable. The Ministry of Defence, famously, could not give a toss about servicemen."

He added that the contempt British servicemen reserved for their political masters was illustrated by their reaction to a Christmas message from Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, who thanked servicemen and women for their hard work and support in what had been a "busy and challenging year".

Now read the article at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/28/nozarmy28.xml


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BarryF, who fought for the Right to Wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia

Col Collins (a former commanding officer of the Royal Irish Regiment who fought in the 2003 Iraq war) added: "In the British Army, the leadership is poor and continues to be poor. There has been a selfishness at the top, while jealous civil servants have eroded the conditions of troops serving in the Army.

When you consider the training for British Military officers, in all of our armed services, is the best in the world. Witness that, in the fact that many nations send their own offcers here for that same reason.

The question I have to ask is, where along the line, is this expensive training breaking down?

I have posted elsewhere on this site, my own experiences with a supply officer, who couldn't organise a you know what in a brewery. There have been other instances in my long connexion with the armed services that have left me wondering, whether those officers had bought their commision, or were appointed because 'Daddy' was something big in the military, or the MoD.

I think that it about time that the reality squad should take a long hard look at the systemic breakdown and start to apportion blame, as someone else has previously pointed out, is it too late for our armed forces?

Yours Aye

Arthur