HearFromYourMP

Comments

• Posted by Richard Watson, 15:51, Wed 20 February 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #

  I believe as a country, generally, we fail to look after our Armed Forces and their families adequately.

  I would rather a well cared-for, powerful and efficient conventional fighting force, than a meagre nuclear "deterrent".

• Posted by Adrian Fox, 17:11, Wed 20 February 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #

  We are expecting our armed forces to carry out obligations and commitments far beyond the resources with which we provide them. Hence, the foolish Iraq War when we could have made a better resourced commitment to peace keeping in Afghanistan. It is clear we cannot do both.

  Britain has never come to terms with the fact that it is no longer a world power. Our major peace keeping and security role should be through Europe and NATO.

• Posted by K Nigel Perry, 23:35, Wed 20 February 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #

  Support is woefully inadequate The covenant has been broken.

  We can not protect our own borders. We have barely sufficient armed forces to defend the Isle of Wight. Sweden is better equipped.

  Before we consider any more foreign adventures we must rebuild our forces.

• Posted by Mark Lee, 00:07, Thu 21 February 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #

  'Defence of the Realm' has been stretched far beyond its intent. We must robustly challenge why we continue to engage in "other nations' wars", exposing our Armed Forces where there is no real threat to UK security, or it takes us beyond our international obligations under UN and NATO.

  At the root cause lies a Government that has politicised Defence like never before. It continues to attempt to do too much with too little, whilst creating 'sound bites' and seeking glory. Inadequacies in equipment funding and operational support are then terribly exposed, leaving our service personnel and their families to bear the consequences. Has the military covenant been broke? Most definitely: yes.

  Defence remains so woefully under-funded that programme cuts and delays are resulting in our proud Royal Navy (for example) no longer being the force it once was. Equipment is aging and much of it is simply no longer 'fit for purpose. Frankly, this Government should be utterly ashamed of its behaviour - extracting ever more hard-earned taxpayers' money, yet squandering it on unjustifiable wars and ill-conceived and often hare-brained ideas - based more often on loony left 'social engineering' than proven value-for-money and simple, basic common-sense. The members of our Armed Forces have been treated with utter contempt. Shocking, but perhaps not a surprise, given the level of incompetence and sheer arrogance of Blair and Brown.

  I fully support Dr Murrison's stance on this subject. As a former serving RN officer, he understands only too well the complexities of the problems HM Forces face, and the ramifications of the dreadful decisions that have been taken over the last decade at the highest level in Government. Defence exercises some of the best technical, financial and operational brains in the UK, across the military and industry. It is no simple matter and should not be treated as a political football by the current Government.

  Finally, an observation on those members of the public who voted three times for this bunch of clowns. Not even a turkey would vote more than once for Christmas! The sad thing is this might be amusing, if the end result wasn't so desperately hearbreaking for those families who have lost lover ones because of Government failures at every level. They deserve better, as do we all.

• Posted by Moira Powley, 14:29, Mon 25 February 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #

  I have never supported the invasion of Iraq by our military forces and cannot see why we don't agree a purchase price for the poppies grown in Afghanistan under a UN or EU banner, then dispose of the crop in whatever way may be benficial to the world. They are grown elsewhere for medical purposes for example. The instability in The Gulf and in the Pakistan/Afghanistan region is a genuine problem for us all in Europe as the bombings in London and Madrid have shown so we do have cause to keep watch on those areas but there must be better ways of doing so than by placing young people at risk, in direct line of fire, while limiting their freedom to respond to that fire.

  A friend who has recently returned from Afghanistan has astonished me by explaining the rules of engagement that are set area by area and which change on a minute by minute basis. Why do we train our military to fight effectively then limit their use of that training when in situ? They have to request permission to return fire if they are caught in a so-called non combattant area - this is madness.

  However, while I totally reject the reasons for us being in Iraq and Afghanistan in the format that we are, we are where we are and I believe that Andrew is asking us what we should be doing to move things forward.

  Simple things could be done immediately to improve the lot of the rank and file specifically. Give them access to free communications with home for example. I know that the mobile phone bills racked up by soldiers overseas are massive and can take up a huge part of their income, even with the limited war zone daily allowance they receive. Phone calls keep families together and help to reduce the emotional distance that can creep in between couples when they are apart and under stress.

  The psychological damage that soldiers and their partners suffer during these separations has to be expensive to the services, both in terms of broken relationships and families who require financial support in the UK as well as the loss of well-trained, experienced personnel who are resigning in droves because of the lack of pragmatic support they get from the military.

  An army marches on its stomach is a phrase we have all heard. The catering for the UK military is sufficient, but no more. The US camps in Afghanistan are equipped with swimming pools, bowling alleys and most importantly to the soldiers, food halls populated by McDonalds, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts etc. Not healthy eating but good for morale of the Americans! Bad for the Brits' morale however as they feel that no effort has been made to give them as much moral support as they may need.

  The truly worrying thing is that teenagers are being recruited to replace the long-serving, experienced people who are resigning and are not only putting themselves in danger through their inexperience, but also the lives of their colleagues.

  Andrew may be able to prize from the MOD the exact numbers of wounded in these war theatres and hopefully have that information promoted in the press. I am assured by my friend that for every fatality we hear about there are another 15 - 20 serious injuries including loss of limbs, blindness and paralysis. These are not reported publicly as the MOD has set the reporting rules for the in-country British press to deaths only.

  We are still being lied to. Lies of omission which are just as bad as factual lies but lies all the same. Our parliamentary processes should be transaparent to us all, not just to the MPs.

• Posted by Andrew Murrison, 14:54, Mon 10 March 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #

  Thank you. In response to Moira, I'm concerned that this may export the problem to other poppy growing areas. The limits described relate to other countries - ours are fully engaged. So, some aren't allowed to fight at night, or in the dangerous south. This is quite hopeless and makes it a nightmare for commanders. Moira is right about the pychological damage - and breaching harmomny guidelines (length of time between deployments) has been shown to increase pychiatric morbidity. As for food, its true that the Americans tend to do better overall. That said, when I was in Iraq at my army base I was extrfemely well fed. We have extracted casualty figures from the MOD but are a bit doubtful about them. Best, Andrew

Commenting on this message is now disabled.