British Military Top Brass Need To Wake Up

The think tank that has said The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) must end its history of “shameful waste and delay” in procurement is spot on but then most sane individuals new this anyway. As I have said for years on this Blog we need a root and branch wholesale change at the MOD, civilian and military, there are far too many Generals collecting dust who would have trouble putting a pin in a map of Afghanistan. It is essential that the British Armed Forces are brought up to date. It has took Afghanistan whether I agree with us being there or not to make us realise, we need a military capable of taking us into the next century of potential conflicts and increasing terrorist activity. The old Internal security way of doing things like we did in Northern Irelands simply wont work on today’s battlefields. Thank God that the IRA didn’t use suicide bombers. Although they did us Proxy bombers which is slightly well quite a lot different. Because we are bogged down in an endless War in Afghanistan its obvious that focus is upon our land army and its assets. Due Afghanistan being landlocked with the exception of the Royal Marines the Royal Navy do not play a major role in that conflict. So the Admirals feel left out in the cold and starved of cash, rightly or wrongly. But things can change quickly in 24 hours Argentina could attack the Falkland Islands again? Short of just selling everything to America like the way most of our industry and football teams have gone, we must adapt to survive. I propose we model our new Armed Forces on the IDF, I understand that the Israelis view is that if an enlisted soldier is good enough to become and officer and lead men then let him get on with it, regardless of whether his speaks with a silver spoon in his mouth or has a Tel Aviv Geordie or Scouse accent. As for the TA we should be opening more TA centres not closing them down, the TA play a vital role in our Nations defence more so now than ever. If we look after our reserve soldiers they will stay in their respective Regiments longer than many regular soldiers. Those senior older soldiers should not be overlooked either and even though we all think of `Dads Army` the Home Guard isn’t as silly as some think. Many of us pushing 50 are veterans of The Falkland, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, The First Gulf War ect. If some of these cobweb collecting Generals want to continue to protect the Realm, then put them back into a system where they actually stand up from time to time and communicate with real people, instead of the drones at Whitehall. Lets keep the Regimental system but a streamlined more efficient system with the best kit in the world and highly professional men and woman running it from top to bottom, we need a (BDF) British Defence Force. I suppose Bob Ainsworth could always make the tea if he doesn’t burn himself or let his wig fall in the kettle.