Treasures from the threads - No 4 Ex-serviceman's complaint

The following appears on the comment section of an article by the inept Shadow Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, in today's Daily Telegraph, linked here: I left HM Forces for a host of reasons; please allow me to ellaborate. I have been blown up, mortared, rocketed, shot at and have undertaken extremely hazardous work for my country and the wider good of humanity, as I perceived my duty, and I had no complaints in carrying it out. I have helped build schools and water projects, I have facilitated reconstruction to very poor regions, I have administered first aid to the sick and poor, I have played football with their children on a pitch indirectly funded by my own tax!! For this I have been paid less than a policeman or fireman, and have even stood in for the latter when they demanded twice my salary. I have paid the same rate of tax as others in my income bracket despite not even being in Britain for most of my time. I have made many great lifetime friends, and buried some too. I have been refused entry to pubs and clubs as being recognisable as a squaddy by my haircut and clothes. In balance however, I considered the negative aspects of service to be negligible when compared with the pride I felt in serving my country. Some things however go too far! I have watched my unit and others criticised, demoralised and even compromised by branches of my own media. Yet I was not allowed to be political. I have watched my fellows in other regiments disbanded and merged so that this government can more easily manipulate us into a European Defence Force. Yet I was not allowed to be political. I have listened to gutless career-minded 'superiors' trot out the party line on successive defence cuts in endless internal PR excercises. Again, I was not allowed to be political. One ship I was in had boards of inquiries over relatively minor incidents (ostensibly so that the CO could allot blame, and they wouldn't affect his promotion prospects). Now I am given to understand there won't be a BOI into how exactly the RN lost 15 pax and a boat while carrying out a routine mission. I am not remotely suprised, nor should I be. I left because as a soldier I was expected to be apolitical. The situation is now so bad that I could no longer divorce myself from an overwhelming sense of betrayal from my superiors. I am not even sure that I believe in democracy anymore, everything about the word seems synonymous with weakness, moral cowardice and illusion. Labour probably is the Forces worst enemy but where have the oppostion been for years?? Personally I would hang the whole House cheerfully should Her Majesty give the order. The trouble is that the senior ranks of the British military are full of career officers, which flaw allows them to be easily cowed. In my opinion, once the majority of officers are promoted above the rank of Lieutenant Commander or Major, their career enters a precarious game of snakes and ladders which prevails upon them to stop being matelots and soldiers and start becoming politicians. The trouble is that they are not allowed to be political so that the real politicians eat them for breakfast! They have divided and conquered the Armed forces by forcing the Army, RN and RAF to compete with each other for their respective slices of an ever decreasing budget. They bully our senior brass around and use them for spin or as scapegoats. Ready to step into their shoes are those on the next level down on the ladder, dodging the snakes and avoiding being political. And so on and so on. Monkey see, monkey do. For God's sake can't we have coup or something. This country needs a purge. If the military can't be political in the current order, then who the hell has the right to be? Terrorists and nutters, that's who. Or self-important lawyers like Cherie Blair and lobby groups for lazy people who should be drafted to some stinking hell hole until they EARN the right to tell soldiers what to do. Our loyal oath is after all not to these lying wasters in Westminster. God save the Queen! Posted by Andrew on April 13, 2007 2:23 PM