British army braces for mass exodus

British army braces for mass exodus
Sun Jun 19, 2011 10:24AM

The British army is facing a mass exodus after hundreds of its brightest officers and soldiers applied for voluntary redundancy, media reports said.


Almost one thousands of the next generation of military chiefs applied for voluntary redundancy despite the army asking for only 500 volunteers, British media reported.

The troops, who have unveiled their intention to leave the job, including 52 colonels, have cited record low morale and the pending defense cuts as the reason behind their motives, according to the reports.

Out of concern, army chief, General Sir Peter Wall has spoken with some of the officers in informal talks, in a desperate attempt to force them reconsider their decisions.

Figures obtained by The Telegraph show that military chiefs had originally asked 25 colonels to voluntarily apply for redundancy, but they received 52 applications.

Six brigadiers have also volunteered for redundancy and 48 majors, with an average of 16 years experience each, have asked to go.

Colonel Bob Stewart, who was commanding officer of the British battalion in Bosnia, said that the balance in army life has changed.

“The state of army morale is clearly not good. Exercises and the fun of being in the army have largely been cut down”, said the colonel.

“In the old days a lot of people joined the armed forces for combat, but also travel and sport and fun. That side of things made a good balance in an armed forces that wasn't over-stretched”, added colonel Stewart.

“Now you have an army that is over-stretched and a budget that reduces the amount of money that is available. The money available has to go on operations”, he said.

To add insult to injury, the army is expected to lose a considerable number of senior non-commissioned officers.

The UK will be left with a force of 94,000 amid the defence cuts, which will make 7,000 troops redundant over the next four years.

The defense budget is set to fall by eight percent over the next four years. The Ministry of Defence is to cut its civilian personnel by 25,000 by 2015 and Army numbers will be reduced by 7,000 to 95,500.

“When you know what's going on at the moment and the amount of money that's needed to be saved and the impact of that on the Army, what's the point of staying? People see the writing on the wall and are saying it's time to go”, said one decorated officer.

Britain has been fighting two hugely expensive wars in the Middle East region under the banner of the hawkish US authorities since 2001, and a newly launched battle in the North African country of Libya, all of which have been launched to better serve the interests of imperialism.

thanks for posting this. Hadn't heard the details.

welcome