I couldn't believe what I was reading this morning. The Territorial Army has been told to stop training for six months to save millions of pounds from the Army's budget because of growing financial pressure on the Ministry of Defence.
Drill-hall instruction, weekend exercises and all other training associated with the TA will stop, cutting costs by about £20m.
A spokesman insisted that the savings and the ban on training would not affect the TA's operational contribution to Afghanistan, where about 500 territorial soldiers are serving. There are also ten TA soldiers in Iraq.
This is dangerous. Not for one minute do I believe that these cuts will not affect the manpower presently fighting in the war in Afghanistan. The repercussions will be felt throughout the TA and could eventually affect the availability of volunteers.
Politicians are talking about sending a further 2,000 troops to war. Where do they think they will come from other than partly from the TA?
Just in case our politicians have forgotten - Britain is at war. They can call it a conflict or whatever they wish but we all know it's war.
If the government want to save money, how about stopping funding for those athletes training for the Olympics and other sporting events? That should save a few pounds and nobody's life will be threatened. Or how about stopping MPs and civil servants travelling first class/business class? Military personnel have to travel everywhere second class. The halt of the taxpayers' subsidy of Westminster's restaurants and bars would also raise a million or two I'm sure.
Recently it has been reported that there are 2 civil servants in the Ministry of Defence for every regular soldier. It's the MoD itself which requires immediate cutting and not our armed forces. The Territorial Army is a vital part of our defence forces, especially when we're in the middle of a war which has no timetable.
Source: Telegraph
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