The British Minitary

Posted on April 5, 2011

(The Sun Newspaper 5 April 2011)

MORE than 10,500 military personnel were yesterday warned they could be sacked this year — as it was revealed the entire Army faces being replaced by a much smaller TA-style force.

In a first round of savage cuts, 2,600 servicemen and women will definitely go in the autumn. And 10,600 received letters yesterday telling them they could be among those chopped.

They included many currently in frontline action. Incredibly, the cull was announced against a backdrop of TWO wars being fought in Afghanistan and Libya.

It prompted a volley of blasts aimed at David Cameron’s Government, with critics wondering how Britain can maintain credible operations with shrinking forces.

And it rekindled the sentiment of The Sun’s famous front page of August 28 2009, when we accused Gordon Brown’s Labour Government of failing Our Boys in Afghanistan under the headline: “Don’t you know there’s a bloody war on?”

The autumn axe is part of a massive clearout of 17,000 personnel, to be completed by April 2015 in up to four stages in a bid to save nearly £5billion.

Seven thousand Army posts will go along with 10,000 split equally between the RAF and Navy. Of these, 11,000 will be made redundant with the rest of the jobs lost through natural wastage. The Sun has learned up to 1,000 officers will get the boot, including 30 full COLONELS and 15 TOP BRASS at the rank of lieutenant-general, vice admiral and air marshal. According to a military expert, the cull will lead to a radically different Army.

Hugh Andree, head of Force Select — which assists the MoD in finding second careers for personnel — said: “From what we’ve been told it will change beyond recognition by 2015. We will have a smaller, nimbler army — more similar to the Territorial Army than anything else — where personnel will have a shorter service of perhaps two years. “They’ll then do time on civvy street before being recalled if needed, rather than spend years as full members of the forces. Britain will have a much smaller core of full-time soldiers at any one time.”

Fifteen Navy jet pilots and 150 Gurkha troops will be among those thrown out in the autumn.

Fierce criticism of the cuts was led by ex-Navy chief and former Security Minister Lord West. He said: “The irony can’t be lost on the Prime Minister — that we are committing ourselves to another unexpected operation and at the same time announcing cuts to the military. “There might be some sense in running a rule over the Strategic Defence and Security review and thinking, ‘Was everything we did correct?’

One wonders what has to happen to bring that about. “Must we have a world war and then maybe think about it?” The Sun’s security adviser Andy McNab said: “The military don’t want to lose anyone and there are many arguments that we shouldn’t be losing anyone. “These cuts are coming from politicians. It’s a dark day for the military.”

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