The former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord West was prominent on the media yesterday when he criticised the decision by the MoD to sack about 350 sailors from the Royal Navy. These personnel had not applied for redundancy.
A total of about 1020 Navy staff have been told they are being made redundant in the first round of military job losses, a third of them compulsory. Approximately 810 sailors applied for redundancy but only 670 are being allowed to leave. The Royal Marines are exempt from the current round of redundancies.
Specified naval personnel were instructed to notify those who have been selected for redundancy either face-to-face in their Ship or establishment or where this is not possible, by telephone. Callously the military are still sacking staff by telephone. The order also stated 'There are a number of people who have today been notified of redundancy who are deployed or serving overseas. Arrangements will be made to return them to the UK in sufficient time to start the resettlement process. Applicants selected for redundancy will serve up to 6-months' notice and the aim is for them to be employed in the UK by 16 December 2011. Non-applicants [those who did not apply for redundancy] will serve up to 12 months notice and the aim is for them to be employed in the UK by 30 June 2012'.
While Liam Fox refuses to take any responsibility for his decision and prefers to blame the redundancies on the ineptitude of the military brass, some sailors deployed in war zones must be feeling distraught knowing that, within a year they will no longer be part of the Navy.
Earlier this month about 920 soldiers and 930 RAF personnel were told they too were being made redundant - 750 of them against their will.
Is it any wonder morale is at an all-time low?
This is only the first round of redundancies within the military. Tranche 2 is due early in 2012 and there will be two further tranches to be delivered by April 2015.
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12 comments:
I'm surprised you didn't use this image instead, Rosie.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/838423278/
Interesting as the old enemies and battlelines in Kosovo are being re-drawn - currently NATO forces are involved, so I take it this time the UK under the Liam 'couldn't fight the skin off a rice pudding' Fox will not be deploying whatever armed forces we still have left if it escalates out there?
XX A total of about 1020 Navy staff have been told they are being made redundant in the first round of military job losses, a third of them compulsory. Approximately 810 sailors applied for redundancy but only 670 are being allowed to leave.XX
??? Sounds like a "getting rid of dead wood" exercise.
Ah Joe, that one is excellent. I dithered about images but then decided to play safe.
Clarinda, Fox will send our military to any theatre in which he thinks he will be mentioned as a 'good chap'. Same for all politicians.
It may be partly that Furor, because it's quite obvious certain skills in our military will no longer be required once we're reduced to being a small part of the CSDP.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Security_and_Defence_Policy
Rosie,
The MoD has maxed up its credit cards and decided to create a fleet consisting of little more than two supercarriers, six Type 45 destroyers and seven Astute class subs. Call me naive but all of these programmes were ordered after the collapse of the USSR when a bit of foresight could have produced a balanced, and sizeable limited war and disaster relief fleet. Since then our main enemies have been Somali pirates in armed powerboats. At the moment the RN needs designs like the Clyde class and both Albion class ships and all four Bay class RFA landing platforms. Of course, an aircraft carrier with a mix of ground attack Harrier GR9s and air-defence GR9s with the Sea Harrier FA2 radar (judged too expensive in 2005 by the scrambled egg mob as they wanted the big CVAs or nothing in order to keep up with the USN).
Brian, I have little knowledge of naval equipment but I know you do. Surely the fault isn't all of the top ranks?
XX subrosa said...
It may be partly that Furor, because it's quite obvious certain skills in our military will no longer be required once we're reduced to being a small part of the CSDP. XX
That as well. But I meant more the trouble makers, inept and lazy. Keep the good ones, whether they want to go or not. The numbers would lead towards that conclussion.
As to Brian, and your last comment.
Trouble is, the military have very little say in what is ordered. The Euro fighter for example. Good enough aircraft. But,not one airforce has ordered the full package. The Luftwaffe, for example, can not use the laser guided munitions (bombs) because our defence ministry would not allow them to buy the computer package that they system required.
I read somewhere that the Royal navy have the same problem with their new destroyers (frigates?). They are not allowed to buy the AA computer system which would make the thing more or less invincible. (by TODAYS technology).
None of this has to do with the brass. It is purely politicians poking their noses in where they do not have a clue.
Freddy schnigelbottom, arms manufacturer slips a brown envelope full of used twentys under the table of a smoky back street pub to "a man from the ministry", and regardless of military advice, they will order any old crap.
@Furor Teutonicus:
In an ideal world the Type 45 would never have had PAAMS missiles (now Sea Viper)in Syler silos but the American Mk 41 silo can fire anti aircraft, anti submarine and Tomahawk missiles. Indeed, licence building Arleigh Burkes with British radars would have made more economic sense.
For all the bluff and bluster of the 12/8/6 hull Daring class from the likes of Admiral Lord West, remember that the operating system is still Windows 2000!
It will be extremely unlikely for the RN to risk its £billion ships in an environment with supersonic anti ship missiles until Sea Viper is substantially more reliable.
XX It will be extremely unlikely for the RN to risk its £billion ships in an environment with supersonic anti ship missiles until Sea Viper is substantially more reliable. XX
Which makes "super carriers" rather pointless. How many curtain ships to an Enterprise class? And they want six type 45s?
THREE to each carrier battle group?! (Not to mention the dud missile systems!)
May scare the Penguins, but useless in defence of such a juicy target.
That means ANY task requiring less than a carrier group, and the carriers are tied up in Pompei as "undefendable". Visions of the Preußische Marine. Three destroyers and a rowing boat, and in a good year, the rowing boat had all it's oars.
But in harbour is where the flag is flown and everything painted and polished so arms dealers can sell their wares to developing nations fuelled by pink gins and horse's necks expertly prepared by RN stewards.
More, cheap ships and a return to Nelson's dictum that "Our country will, I believe, sooner forgive an officer for attacking an enemy than for letting it alone" is required. That and Somali pirates hijacking a boatload of human rights lawyers.
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