Redundancies sap army morale

IT IS difficult to understand the logic of why the armed forces are going through a heavy recruiting drive whilst at the same time conducting a massive 20,000 redundancy phase.

I can only guess that they are enlisting them young and discharging them whilst they are still young, denying them a full military pension.

Some 8,000 are holding their breath awaiting a belated Christmas present in the form of a brown envelope thudding through their letterboxes telling them their services are no longer required.

The young men of this country are not joining, with the MoD having to look at other countries for recruits and filling the ranks with females.

It makes you wonder at what type of army the MoD wants. Females being sent home because of pregnancy, with one having a child in a war zone.

In a war zone their perimeter walls were breached by the Taleban with injuries and damage caused, making you wonder about the discipline and why this was allowed to ­happen.

When Labour were in power, they called for a defence review in order to save money, causing many heartaches in regiments being merged and disbanded.

The Tories were quick to capitalise on this and used it as a tool to attract voters, saying they would redress the wrongs of the Labour party. They did this by using the veteran soldiers, with many photo shoots.

The Tories got in power, snubbed the veterans, and asked for massive redun­dancies, closing many camps and running down vital equipment.

The armed forces will never be the same. It does not bode well for a happy, well-trained outfit. Time will tell and we will certainly be caught out again should the balloon go up, as the Middle East continues to be cauldron of hate.

Major Bob Ritchie [retd], 
Livingston