What have this Labour government got against the British army?

Actually the answer to that is obvious and one that I will return to in the near future. However today I will simply point to two articles. The first relates to the Merlin helicopters that are to be delivered the theatre

"even though it is yet to be decided whether to fit armour-plating for extra protection." In fact "Fitting the Merlin Mark 3 with a layer of armour to protect the crew and troop-passengers from ground fire is not part of the basic modifications. An option has been submitted by the RAF to consider fitting extra armour to the Merlins at a cost exceeding half a million pounds. This would be a separate modification and the request would be sent to the Treasury as an “urgent operational requirement” (UOR), funded from contingency reserves. An RAF source said: “This proposal now has to go through the chains [of command]. But it has not reached maturity.”

RAF sources confirmed that the Merlins would be sent to Afghanistan by December without the extra armour. “But they will be used for the whole range of operations, including flying in combat areas,” one RAF source said. "

What sort of scum would send helicopters into a war zone without adequate protection? Maybe the sort of person that wants to be able to say that he has increased the number of helicopters in Afghanistan. Maybe the sort of person who cares more for money than the lives of servicemen.


The second story concerns the story in The Sun that:

"EIGHT Britons have died in Afghanistan while armoured trucks that might have saved them were stranded 1,000 miles away in Dubai.

The latest in a string of equipment blunders was branded "inexcusable" last night.

The eighth soldier was killed yesterday while on patrol in Babaji, Helmand.

He was in a CVRT - a 30-year-old tracked mini tank that is vulnerable to Taliban roadside bombs.

Meanwhile, a fleet of new mine-proof Ridgback trucks had been sitting on an airfield in the Middle East since July 16.

Nine of the vehicles were shipped to Dubai by sea, destined for Afghanistan.

All but one got no further, because the RAF's four C17 heavy-lift jets have been too overworked to collect them.

Eight Brits died during the three-week delay - among 22 killed in July.

One officer fumed: "It's incredibly frustrating seeing these vehicles gathering dust on a runway when guys are dying in Helmand."

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth told MPs in April that 157 Ridgbacks - urgently ordered 20 months ago - would start arriving in Afghanistan that month.

Four months later, 20 of the £1.5million 4x4s are there. "

This is a disgrace and Bob Ainsworth should be sacked, not even allowed to resign, but sacked over this betrayal of our servicemen. If the MOD cannot organise to get the right equipment to the servicemen who need them then the man in nominal charge should pay the price.


I am really fed-up with listening to the excuses of labour ministers for the equipment shortages. There are solutions to each of the problems, what there is not is the will to deviate from the agreed path.