Parents of dead UK reservist call for enqirey

[marktigger]

the parents of a Territorial army soldier killed in Iraq have called for an enquirey into the lack of Armoured landrovers available to troops.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/29/nafg29.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/02/29/ixportal.html

[DeltaWhisky58]

OK - so the Mod claim that armoured Landies are all either in Basra or on reserve for N.I. Internal Security duties - so why not send out sufficient Saxon APVs (Armoured Patrol Vehicle) to protect the troops in Kabul and elsewhere.

http://www.army.mod.uk/img/equipment/av/images/av_sxn.jpg

The MoD is fast losing respect and credibility with its continued failure to properly equip troops for the role/theatre in which they are employed. After the logistics fiasco of the 1982 South Atlantic Campaign, lessons were supposed to have been learned - 22 years on it continues........

Geoff Hoon+MoD=Cockup - WHY?

Britain has some of the very best fighting forces in the world, why degrade their capabilities by continually failing to supply them with the correct/appropriate equipment...............it is time for answers please.

[BlackRain]

My deepest regrets for the loss of this British soldier or any soldier.

However, it is regretable that this loss of live is being used as a political issue against the British government.

You did not see these kinds of headlines during other wars Britian fought in. Imagine " My son would be alive if Churchill put him on a ship with a thicker hull to protect against German torpedos".

You can not protect a soldier 100% of the time. Peace deaths occur from simple car accidents and you can't protect against them either.

[Argyll]

The difference Black Rain,is that the British government sent UK troops into a war with insufficient kit,and ammo.

This is the 21st Century where each soldier sent into a warzone should be adequately protected,this is all part of Health and safety,it is quite preposterous for the Government to Preach about Health and safety,when they themselves are not providing due care to their own employees!!

[marktigger]

Telegraph today......


Officers failed us in Iraq, say soldiers


By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 29/02/2004)


Thousands of British soldiers have complained that they were failed by their senior officers during the war in Iraq, the Telegraph has learnt. The unprecedented criticisms are contained in a confidential document which will be presented to Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the Army, next month.

Using highly critical language, the report states that troops who fought in Iraq believe that the kit crisis that affected thousands of British servicemen was caused by a lack of planning by senior officers.

The report will also disclose that many soldiers believe that too much "Government spin" supporting the need for war was passed down the chain of command in the build up to the conflict.

The document was compiled by a select group of officers and senior non-commissioned officers called the "Chief of the General Staff's Briefing Team". It followed weeks of face-to-face conversations with soldiers who served in the Iraq war. The report will be presented to the executive committee of the Army Board, which is chaired by Gen Jackson, on March 11.

The report, entitled the CGS's Briefing Team Winter Session, states that many soldiers were "frustrated that they were not properly equipped when they crossed the line of departure [the military term for the frontline]". It adds that the failure to get the right equipment to soldiers led to "significant morale and leadership issues".

The most notorious example of the planning failures involved the death of Sgt Steve Roberts, who died after he was ordered to hand over his body armour to an infantry soldier.

Before he died, the tank commander committed his innermost thoughts and concerns to a tape diary. In one entry, he said: "We have not got things we have been told we are going to get and it's disheartening because we know we are going to go to war without the correct equipment."

Last week, a soldier who fought in the Iraq war risked certain court martial when he told Channel Four that he was sent into battle with just five bullets.

The unnamed soldier, who said he came under fire several times in southern Iraq, told Channel Four News: "We had five rounds each to defend ourselves. I actually crossed the border with five rounds."

Shortages of clothing, boots, weapons, chemical warfare equipment and ammunition have also been claimed.

Last year, a report by the National Audit Office criticised the Ministry of Defence when it stated that kit shortages could have had disastrous consequences for the 46,000 troops stationed in the Gulf. The briefing team was established in March 2000 with the task of keeping senior Army officers in touch with ordinary soldiers. The team goes on "tour" four times a year and speaks to soldiers on an off-the-record basis.

One senior officer told the Telegraph: "The report identifies a perception, at a junior level, that there has been a breach of trust between soldiers and officers. The war in Iraq was a military success but that was because, for the most part, the Iraqis didn't put up a fight.

"If they had, we would have had serious problems because of the kit shortages. That fact hasn't been lost on the troops - they aren't stupid."

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "We don't comment on leaked documents."



when things like this, complaints that soldiers last year didn't have the correct kit,suficient ammo, Body armour NBC kit etc etc. And we have a government who took the country into an unpopular and ??illegal war . Who then stood up in parliment and told the people that soldiers had the kit and are still telling them they had the kit and its the armies fault it wasn't distributed. I can see were the parents are coming from. this all lands on top of the Sgt Roberts affair. The labour govt claims its spening enough on defence infact it wants to cut the defence budget and has done so since it came into power. The death of soldier in action is regretable but if it was preventable and the equipment needed to prevent it was denied to save money I feel that is cause for an investigation into those who are trying to run defence on a shoestring.