The appalling neglect of Britain's armed forces

Difficult to see how even the most ardent Labour fan (Wembley?) can defend the appalling neglect of our armed forces.

Coroner: MoD guilty of unforgivable betrayal
Telegraph
15/02/2008

A coroner has accused the Government of causing an “unforgivable and inexcusable breach of trust” with the Armed Forces by sending soldiers into combat with “totally inadequate” equipment. Troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan were not defeated by terrorists but “by the lack of basic equipment,” Coroner Andrew Walker told the hearing into the death of the first British soldier to be killed in Helmand province.

Capt James Philippson and colleagues had been sent to fight the Taliban without night vision goggles (NVGs) and without adequate machine guns or grenade launchers which led to them being “outgunned by a bunch of renegades,” the inquest heard.

Oxford Coroners Court also heard that while the small British force in Sangin town had been equipped with .50 calibre heavy machine guns there was no device to mount the weapons on vehicles. Capt Philippson was killed in a firefight in which it was conceded that the British soldiers were “totally outgunned” by a smaller force of Taliban as they went to rescue ambushed colleagues on June 11 2006.

Major Jonathon Bristow, the commander of the 20 man patrol, said he had just three NVGs to go round his men whereas a small attached American unit had all the equipment they needed. He conceded that they could not adequately defend their base from attack and although he had requested eight general purpose machine guns the unit still only had three.

The coroner asked Major Bristow if they had been supplied with Minimi machine guns and under-slung grenade launchers, they would have been a match for their attackers. "It would have made a hell of a difference," he said. Asked if he had the right equipment if things might have turned out differently Major Bristow said: “We lost the initiative through a lack of firepower and thus the Taliban had a greater weight of firepower.”

Capt Philippson was killed in the opening salvo of the fight as the patrol stumbled on a dozen well-armed Taliban in the darkness around 10pm.It was conceded that “bad luck” played a major part in his death.

Outside the court Tony Philippson, the soldier's father, said it was a disgrace that troops had been sent to fight terrorists without sufficient kit. "I hold the MoD responsible for my son's death but in turn they were starved of cash". He accused the then “parsimonious” Chancellor Gordon Brown of not spending money and “risking soldiers' lives”.

Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said the Coroner's findings were “a damning indictment on Labour's treatment of our Armed Forces”. "The Government were willing to do the one thing which is unforgivable which is to commit troops to battle without due protection," he said. The coroner recorded a verdict of unlawful killing with a single AK47 gunshot wound to the head the cause of death.

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Navy to cut its fleet by half
Telegraph
05/01/2007

Royal Navy commanders were in uproar yesterday after it was revealed that almost half of the Fleet's 44 warships are to be mothballed as part of a Ministry of Defence cost-cutting measure. Sailors standing on the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible, which may never go to sea again. Senior officers have said the plans will turn Britain's once-proud Navy into nothing more than a coastal defence force.