The Three Rifles Battlegroup returned to their base, Redford Barracks in Edinburgh, a couple of weeks ago after a six month tour of Afghanistan.
Yesterday they held their Homecoming Parade by marching down the Royal Mile and later they were presented with their operational service medals at a ceremony in Redford Barracks.
The Three Rifles Battlegroup lost 30 men during their 6 month tour - the heaviest casualties suffered by a British army Battlegroup for 60 years.
These soldiers put themselves in the frontline of battle day in and day out. Many at yesterday's events were unable to join with their colleagues on the march because their injuries were too severe. Some of the injured did attend but there were others who, no matter how much effort they made, were unable to be present.
David Cameron has said, should he be Prime Minister, he will set up a War Cabinet immediately. This should make quite a difference to our troops deployed overseas because with a War Cabinet in operation, funds will be available not only from the MoD budget but directly from the Treasury. At present the Afghanistan war is funded only by the MoD budget.
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2 comments:
"At present the Afghanistan war is funded only by the MoD budget."
I don't think that's quite true - the capital costs of UoRs and a large number of other directly attributable operational costs are funded from the contingency reserve. See this Q&A from last year's Hansard.
Now, it doesn't cover all of the differential costs - especially the costs of re-equipping the forces to fight a war definitely not in North-West Europe - but it isn't quite as bleak as you made out.
No it doesn't cover all the costs by any means SE and it's a small pot. I had my information from a very reliable source that a war cabinet allows immediate access to funds from the Treasury when at present military spending is controlled by budgets. I'll stick by that.
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