Thursday, November 23, 2006
Cheap bullets put lives of paratroopers at risk!
Read this This is what happens when the MOD penny-pinch-British soldiers lives are put at risk by inferior equipment!-Our servicemen deserve the best kit money can buy and it is a disgrace that this is not happening.I saw this first hand in Iraq in 2004 when we weren't even issued enough ammunition for our personal weapons,just a mere 120 rounds(Four magazines worth) which,during a firefight with the enemy who normally number in the dozens,would last a matter of minutes!Our radios rarely worked,having to rely on mobile and satellite phones(Try getting a signal in the middle of the desert!)We even had to steal 24 hour ration packs,for use in an emergency,from the Americans as we were told there were none available!Then there was the dreadful state of our vehicles.Much has been written in the press of the appalling "Snatch" armoured landrover.They broke down all the time,many of the air-con units were useless(Try sitting in full kit in a metal box in 50% centergrade!)we didn't even have enough breakdown kits and had to steal them from other units!(There was one incident when my vehicle broke down in the desert about 50 kilometers from anywhere with one other vehicle,eight soldiers on our own,no radio,no phone signal and no bloody tow rope!Eventually after about two hours we managed to get the wagon going and limped back to camp but that day could have turned out a lot different if any bad guys had wandered our way!It was after this incident that we stole enough breakdown kits for all our vehicles!)We also used "Wolf" landrovers,soft-skinned and totally unarmoured,just a grill fitted over the windscreen and side windows-We stole old bits of grill and metal sheeting to jerry-rig our own armour but it was totally inadequate!Recently the MOD has made some efforts to improve our troops equipment,new armoured vehicles,The "Mastiff PPV" and "Vector" which hopefully will finaly give the protection and mobility we so desperately need,the "Osprey" body armour system,far superior to the old "Combat body armour",the rapid-fire grenade launcher,providing excellent,hard hitting firepower,to name but a few of the improvements in kit but more is needed to be done!It was only after the public outcry at the lack of proper equipment that the government was forced to reach into its wallet and "cough up the readies"!This latest example of "Penny-pinching" just highlights the years of cutbacks and compromise that has reduced our once mighty British armed forces to a mere shadow of its former self!-Much more money needs to be spent on all three services,we need more and better equipped warships,fighters for our aircraft carriers would be nice too!(As at present we don't have any!),the RAF is desperately overstreached and needs more fighters and particularly transport aircraft(When I returned from Iraq there were only TWO DC-10s in theatre and one of them was "Buggered",in the words of our pilot!)And the army needs more infantry battalions-It would help if the government also stop disbanding the pathetically few we have left already!All in all there needs to be a complete turn around in government policy of defense spending and they need to do just that-Start Bloody spending!!!
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632C5R09OW8
As I said previously
Why don't british army
go back to force projection,
as in the cold war. I think it
should focus less on "nation
building", It should order
3 more british made Aircraft
carriers, 20 valcans and 5 more
Submarines. It would be be a great for British industry
as well as Necessary territorial defence force of the Furture.
In short withdraw from Iraq
go back to cold war spending.
if cut backs contine france
will have a larger navy,
Russia is going to spend money
buy 1000 new aircraft for
there airforce plus 10 new Submarines,
As I said previously
Why don't british army
go back to force projection,
as in the cold war. I think it
should focus less on "nation
building", It should order
3 more british made Aircraft
carriers, 20 valcans and 5 more
Submarines. It would be be a great for British industry
as well as Necessary territorial defence force of the Furture.
In short withdraw from Iraq
go back to cold war spending.
if cut backs contine france
will have a larger navy,
Russia is going to spend money
buy 1000 new aircraft for
there airforce plus 10 new Submarines,
Since my husband is military we have MREs (meal ready to eat) in our house. Not the real ones he ate while over there but similar. Not only do we have these in our home in case there is an emergency, but we take them on long road trips too in case we can't stop somewhere.
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