The first action of any government is, or should be, to defend the country.
Simply put, this means having enough trained soldiers, tanks, planes, ships and military equipment to protect the country in a crisis.
But the armed forces are now lacking in every category. Crucially, troop numbers have dropped significantly, and to make matters worse, all indicators suggest the problem will only get worse.
The Army will soon field 153 Challenger 3 tanks, slightly more than the 134 tanks owned by Switzerland, a neutral country that has not fought a war since 1847.
Adding to this worrying detail is the fact that almost every British Army infantry regiment is undermanned, the Royal Navy was recently forced to decommission three warships to cut costs, and RAF recruitment figures suggest it is still losing ground from The revelation that the company used illegal positive discrimination practices to boost the number of non-white pilot applicants reflects the Armed Forces’ obsession with diversity.
Distinguished former Chief of the Defense Staff General Sir David Richards tells us telegraph The armed forces are now in a “dangerous state”.
“What [historically] What sets the British Armed Forces apart from most, if not all, of their counterparts is the quality and motivation of its personnel,” he said.
“Equipment means nothing if the Navy, Army and Air Force cannot attract and retain our nation’s best talent. Today, critical mass of quality is at stake. The world is in a perilous state. The Armed Forces are in peril.
‘The Armed Forces are in danger’: General Sir David Richards, former Chief of Defense Staff – AFP/Getty Images
Armed force retention — keeping troops in the military — has been a challenge, especially when conflicts like the war in Afghanistan end. It is reported telegraph Last week, it was revealed that military personnel were exiting the armed forces at an alarming rate despite a 6% summer pay increase.
For the first time in history, Britain now has only two military personnel per 1,000 people. Some 15,119 people left the armed forces in the year to October. Among them, 7,778 people were counted as “voluntary outflows”, that is, people who chose to leave voluntarily.
Over the same period, the army recruited more than 12,000 personnel, resulting in a net reduction in the force.
To make matters worse, just last month Defense Secretary John Healey gave a bleak assessment of the army’s recruitment and retention problems to those attending a Defense Committee meeting, saying: Last year, service morale fell to All time low.
“Last year, our force was losing 300 more full-time personnel per month than it was joining.”
2019 Army recruiting campaign advertises ‘Your Army needs you’ in an attempt to attract a new generation of recruits – Kevin Lake
General Richard Dannatt, former commander of the British Army, believes that troop shortages have left many military personnel feeling that they lack real fighting power.
“Experienced officers and senior NCOs do not like joining an organization that is clearly underinvested,” he told us telegraph. “Using old or inappropriate equipment can be very frustrating. Likewise, they know the Army cannot achieve its national goal of being able to field a comprehensive, capable combat division. They feel they are now a poorly equipped military police force part of the army.
“Soldiers don’t join the Army to lie in bed,” the late proud former Army Commander General Sir Michael Jackson once told me.
He added: “Most soldiers want to be involved in action – for them, that’s the challenge. If nothing is being done then they can quite rightly ask ‘What’s the point?’ “If the only challenge is another military exercise.
As a former paratrooper team leader, I know from personal experience that military drills, even ones that begin with the adrenaline rush of jumping out of an airplane, are often pretty boring.
During the winter, soldiers dug trenches and lived in them on Salisbury Plain or in the rain-soaked hills of Sunnybridge, South Wales, asking themselves seriously: “Why am I doing this? ”, especially when compared to their civilian peers who tend to have much higher incomes and live more comfortable and satisfying lives.
One of a series of ads released in 2023 as part of the “You Belong Here” recruitment campaign – Robert Fullerton-Batten
By comparison, combat experience – mine was on the streets of Belfast between 1989 and 1991, when the IRA was a deadly threat – brings real value to a person. raison d’être.
A former SAS officer who served in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan told me not long ago that he joined the Army because “it’s one of the few careers that offers real adventure opportunities.” Say “That was once the case, but I’m no longer sure that’s still the case.”
Not so long ago, a career in the armed forces offered the opportunity to travel around the world. Anyone who wanted to spend a full career in the military could expect to serve in Germany, Cyprus, Belize, Borneo and, until 1997, in the most exotic of locations: Hong Kong.
In addition to this, we have conducted numerous overseas exercises in the Middle East, Canada, the United States and Europe, and had the opportunity to work as part of a small training team in Africa in countries such as Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda. These overseas deployments may have been a highlight of a soldier’s career, and arguably the most famous Army advertising campaign – “Join the Army and See the World” – has a real resonance.
But many opportunities have been shelved, victims of government cost-cutting and the reduction of the Armed Forces’ global footprint.
Added to this is the often underestimated problem of many families being forced to live in extremely poor serviced housing. Thousands of Armed Forces families are currently living in homes and apartments with broken or failing central heating systems, leaky roofs, pest infestations and black mould, sending children to hospital with breathing difficulties.
While many soldiers may be prepared to face hardship, their spouses are understandably not, so many soldiers vote with their feet.
Poor quality serviced housing is cited as one of the reasons for the rising number of military personnel leaving the armed forces – Kevin Wheal/Alamy Stock Photo
All three armed services must also respond to the changing needs of Gen Z recruits. A recent Ministry of Defense report said the group now expects double beds, en-suite bathrooms and decent Wi-Fi in their barracks.
The ongoing unlawful killings inquiry, chaired by Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, comes amid accusations that SAS members murdered unarmed Afghan civilians and the growing number of former soldiers who are now in trouble will undoubtedly damage relationships within the service. morale.
However, it would be unfair to say that the Department of Defense has not responded wisely to the challenge of addressing retention issues. Nonetheless, General Richards believes now is the time for action rather than talk.
“I have no doubt that ministers understand [the parlous state of the Armed Forces],” he said. “They must now become the politicians they aspire to be and invest appropriately in the armed forces, putting people at the forefront of action.
“Only by doing this [together with our friends and allies]whether we can successfully deter our adversaries and thereby preserve our peaceful way of life.
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