- Reaction score
- 146
- Points
- 710
They certainly need it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,2208069,00.html
Mark
Ottawa
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,2208069,00.html
For the first time since the end of the cold war, the government is considering an increase in the size of the army, the Guardian has learned.
With the prospect of British soldiers being engaged in intense operations abroad, notably Afghanistan, for years to come [emphasis added], with training and family life suffering, ministers are coming under growing pressure from military chiefs to reverse the long decline in the number of soldiers.
The army was 150,000 strong in 1990, but now has fewer than 100,000 trained officers and soldiers, according to the latest MoD figures. General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the army, has said there is a case for increasing its size significantly, perhaps by 3,000. He is worried in particular by the impact on training of relentless six-monthly tours by army battle groups in Iraq - though the numbers are being reduced there - and Afghanistan.
The central problem, defence officials say, is that there are not enough troops to allow adequate rest and training between operations. Concern among military chiefs was echoed yesterday at the launch of the UK National Defence Association, which will lobby for an increase in the army and the defence budget.
The group's president is Winston Churchill, grandson of the wartime prime minister, and it is supported by three former chiefs of staff, Lords Craig, Boyce and Guthrie. "The army needs about 3,000 more people," Lord Guthrie said. He added that giving aid now to some countries in Africa, and to Gaza in its present state, was a "waste", suggesting the money could be better spent on Britain's armed forces.
The lobby group also said the defence budget, now about £33bn or just over 2% of national domestic product, should be increased to 3% [emphasis added], or by more than £10bn.
However, Whitehall officials said yesterday there was unlikely to be any increase in the defence budget above this year's settlement, under which spending by the armed forces will increase by an annual average of just 1.5% over the next three years in real terms. The defence budget will rise to £36.9bn in 2011....
Mark
Ottawa