Insults to our soldiers

Published on Sunday 7 January 2007 00:54

'FOR you, Jock, ze myth is over..." As revisionism goes, the views of Dr Benjamin Ziemann, a German historian at Sheffield University, are provocative. He claims the tradition that German troops in the First World War particularly feared Scots regiments is a "myth".

But he does not satisfactorily explain why, in that case, the Germans gave the Highland units nicknames such as "Devils in Skirts". Most Scots will conclude that academics need to sell books, however dubious their themes.

A more deadly insult to contemporary Scottish soldiers is the life-threatening failure rate of their equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year Scotland on Sunday revealed that equipment including Land Rovers, grenade launchers and SA80 rifles had failed more than 2,500 times in less than three years of the occupation of Iraq.

But the failure rate of Challenger II tanks and Warrior armoured fighting vehicles has increased since then, with Challengers failing 132 times between last May and October. This follows earlier fiascos such as soldiers' boots melting in the heat.

In the hostile environments of Basra or Afghanistan's Helmand province, every failure, especially of armoured vehicles, exposes our troops to the risk of death. The political decision to send them to those theatres of war was highly controversial. To send them inadequately equipped is unforgivably irresponsible.