TA- don't make me laugh. The majority are in it for some extra cash, and are only there cause they couldn't pass the tests to join the regular army. dont get me wrong there are some good ones, but they are few and far between.
Being serious for a minute - the Reserve Forces are supplying personnel in most front-line areas at the moment. There are a lot of reservists currently serving in Afghan... The government obviously sees it as a cheap way of fulfilling its commitment. Personally, I think it's a disgrace... As far as the Navy goes - it would be difficult to cut it any further : there is almost nothing left to cut !
And what do you think the majority of the American troops are? You guessed it, national guard. I wouldn't mind if they were competent, motivated and capable of doing their job. But they're not, most are in it for the money and the kudos they have with their mates cause they've been to war. And it's not a cheap way. They are on full pay and benefits. Also, those that earn good salaries get the shortfall between civi pay and military pay met. Example is I worked with a guy last year who was a banker( and a wanker to boot) but only a LCpl. He earned say 4k a month as a civi, but so he didn't take a loss in earnings the mod made up the rest. How's that fair when guys of the same rank but regulars were earning half that! The TA are having shit loads invested in them for very little return. Stop that and send it to the regulars. Then we wouldn't be having to be making as many guys redundant.
The ones who get their pay made up to their civvy pay are the lucky ones. Despite what the government says, I have seen guys who have been called up for reserve service and who have come back to find that they no longer have a job... "It's no way to run an army"...
What ever happens the whole 'reservist' thing isn't going to work. In my trade the cracks have already started to appear.
The "cracks" appeared in my trade years ago - that's why I wasn't too bothered about leaving when the time came... It's sad really... I know every generation says "it wasn't like that in my day" - but looking at it objectively, it's definitely worse now than I can ever remember it.
I'm waiting for the official letter to arrive telling me that I have to start practicing archery on the villiage green. :frown:
Nope, never happen. Unless Europe became one large state. The uk has to/ will maintain a force to protect its own sovereign interests both at home and abroad. We are however starting to see a lt more interaction with the French.
i think that there is a possibility of moving to a european state.. as regards the middle east, cant we just build a fkn high wall around the place and let them get on with killing each other?
A combined European armed forces is all well and good in theory, but in practice it would never work. There are two major problems : the political aims of all the governments involved would always be different (as they seem to be on every subject). And secondly every country's forces have different employment contracts, different ways of doing things, different equipment, different commnad structures, different training methods... As we have seen with various NATO and UN actions over the last five decades or so, combined operations with different countries very rarely works efficiently.,
Imagine the fun if the head of a combined force asked for a walk around tour of one of our nuclear subs. Sorry, we don't know where they are right now so we can't do that for you.
