Late
last year in November, the Secretary of state for defence Mr Philip Hammond
announced the release of a new policy, the FF2020. Once you've managed to
navigate your way around the different versions, that for reservists to read,
the speech Mr Hammond made at the BT tower in London (conveniently, a provider
of jobs for ex service personnel) about the policy and then the actual green
paper itself, what is actually outlined is merely a set of promises. To which
I'm sure they were laid out with the best of intentions, quite honourably Mr
Hammond acknowledges that our UK reserves across the military perspective are
in a decline. Something which probably has a great deal to do with a lack of
specific role tasking for reserve squadrons, currently performing more as
substitutes in a game of tag than being given a defined and permanent
operational tasking.
The jewel in the crown of the policy is most likely the injection of funding into the reserves, £1.8bn, a sum that will both sustain current personnel strength and see it grow exponentially over the next 10 years as wanted and planned for. However, as bright as this all seems I can't help but refrain from asking the question, is this the beginning of the UK armed forces being primarily reservist led? We've seen the continuing descaling of the Navy, Army and RAF. With a colossal loss to the Army with numerous regiments disbanded and total count of few more than 80,000 men and women now. Is it any surprise though, with reservists being forfeit of pensions, medical and dental care, housing and many other 'regular' entitlements. Same job, same effort, half the price. No wonder Mr Hammond's smiling.
The jewel in the crown of the policy is most likely the injection of funding into the reserves, £1.8bn, a sum that will both sustain current personnel strength and see it grow exponentially over the next 10 years as wanted and planned for. However, as bright as this all seems I can't help but refrain from asking the question, is this the beginning of the UK armed forces being primarily reservist led? We've seen the continuing descaling of the Navy, Army and RAF. With a colossal loss to the Army with numerous regiments disbanded and total count of few more than 80,000 men and women now. Is it any surprise though, with reservists being forfeit of pensions, medical and dental care, housing and many other 'regular' entitlements. Same job, same effort, half the price. No wonder Mr Hammond's smiling.
In
November 2012, the Secretary of state for defence Mr. Philip Hammond announced
the release of a new policy, the FF2020. Once you've managed to navigate your
way around the different versions, the speech Mr. Hammond made at the BT tower
in London about the policy and then the actual green paper itself, what is
actually outlined is merely a set of promises. To which I'm sure they were laid
out with the best of intentions, quite honorably Mr. Hammond acknowledges that
UK reserves are in a decline. Something which probably has a great deal to do
with a lack of specific role tasking for reservist units, currently performing
more as substitutes in a game of tag than being given a defined and permanent
operational tasking. The jewel in the crown of the policy is the injection of
funding into the reserves, £1.8bn, a sum that will both sustain current
personnel strength and see it grow exponentially over the next 10 years as
planned for.
However, as bright as this all
seems I can't help but refrain from asking the question, is this the beginning
of UK armed forces being primarily reservist led? We've seen the continuing rescaling
of the Navy, Army and RAF. A colossal loss to the Army with numerous regiments
disbanded and a total count of few more than 80,000 men and women left. Is it
any surprise though, with reservists being forfeit of pensions, medical and
dental care, housing and many other 'regular' entitlements. Same job, same
effort, half the price. No wonder Mr Hammond's smiling. 
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