The question remains can we stop it? Funding is being withdrawn from the TA training, just to maintain our forces in this war. That is the same TA that will be sent to fight. Does the army have the funding to do the job? Should we be putting troops into African wars, just because 'it is going wrong'? Indeed, can we?
Travis
That mans not wearing any clothes.
If I had a wish.....I would wish that instead of billions of pounds being spewed at the bankers/wankers, they should have left the banks to go fuck themselves, and that money would have been better spent on our armed forces, giving them the things they need.
Our guys are being killed and maimed out there, yet the fecking bankers, are still giving out their fat bonuses to their wanker people.
Those people have no shame and no morals, they should become honorable members of parliament.....they all suit each other.
This Government are in league with the bankers/wankers, as a lot of the politicians have their fingers in all sorts of bankers pies.
Look after oneself, and fuck everyone else, which would be a great analogy IF it did not mean soldiers coming home in boxes at 18 years of age.
Serious question for anybody in the know.
What kit is missing that would protect our forces from IED's?
I always hear that kit shortages are killing our forces out in Afghanistan but I am puzzled as to what.
Dave_Notts
Dave
This is an extract from Suffolk_cpl's post on page 1 of this thread.
As for the getting slaughtered bit, IEDs are the price we pay for both keeping a footprint on the ground, and beating the Taliban in every combat engagement they have ever been in. The Taliban know they can't out fight us, so they resort to guerilla tactics. That's just the nature of the beast, and has nothing to do with our military's "attitude or values!"
And no equipment improvement can stop that
Yes that's exactly what I thought and posted as much earlier in the thread but then again I thought most of the casualties were incurred in inadequately armoured vehicles and I think this is where the "missing bit of kit" comes in. I think suffolk-cpl intimated that most casulaties are in fact incurred by foot patrols.
the newspapers and other media's fixation with a lack of troops to do the job and equiptment shortages may well be true but, it is a diversion ! a diversion that serve's other interest's very well.
iraq was orininaly propagandised as "weapon's of mass deception" then regime change "saddam the baddie" then nation rebulding and by the way, british troop's are still in iraq. afghanistan was billed as "getting osama bin liner" mastermind of 9/11 from a cave in tora bora, who the taliban refused to "hand over" because he helped the taliban expel the soviet's. his cia trained and armed mujahadeen, financed by the americans, saudi bin laden family and "the carlyle group" of which bush senior is a major investor, had suddenly turned against their masters ? and low and be hold, like the weapons of mass deception, he has never been found.
now our boys in the armed forces are doing a great job killing and being killed, that's what their trained for and i unswervingly support our troops. i want them back in blighty safe. the war's and occupation of iraq, afghanistan and now northern pakistan and its destabilisation, soon possibly to be iran are all part of a geopolitical/economic stratergy that has nothing to do with troop level's or equiptment so there is absolutely no point in beng dragged down the dead end road issue of troop level's or equiptment !
As far as I am aware the " kit " is aircraft that can carry the troops safely to their destination.
Also the armoured vehicles they are using are having great trouble stopping an IED from blowing the vehicle up. More sturdier vehicles are needed, but a lot of them I think were stuck in another country.
That is my take on it, from what I have heard.
Dave and Kenty
The whole kit shortage thing is an implement of the media. Don't get me wrong, we could ALWAYS do with more kit, but that isn't the real issue when it comes to the type of enemy and tactics they use.
Today, the British Army is the best equipped it has ever been. Ever! And I mean ever!
For the first time ever we can fight at night (properly, and fully at section level). We can accurately ID targets, we can prosecute a target with a multitude of options and at various ranges. We can move about on foot in clothing designed for the job, in vehicles designed for the job, and in aircraft designed for the job.
Is it perfect kit? No, but most of this kit are UORs (Urgent Operational Requirements) and as such are about 80-90% fit for purpose. To have "better" kit takes longer, and the troops will end up with nothing when they need it! And yes, there will always be a story of a tom who could have done with item X but there wasn't any, but on the whole this isn't really the case when it comes to our Doctrine and tactics.
As for IEDs, the weapon of choice of our enemy, well as I said before, no "missing kit" can stop them.
Jammers, sniffers, etc.. are only good against remote detonated devices, not against a timed device or a command wire device!
Training, knowledge of the ground, support of the people, a good situational awareness and shit loads of luck are what beats IEDs.
Better armoured vehicles just mean the IEDs get bigger. Look at the Russians, shed loads of Tanks, and they still got taken out. And when you're in all that Armour, you loose the ability to interact with the locals, and support then dwindles!
As for aircraft to get us to our destination, then yes, choppers are good to get you from A to B, but the problem of IEDs isn't solved, it is just moved to location B!
If it is any consolation, the work being done out there has intercepted, disrupted, or prevented more IEDs from killing or VSI'ing our troops than have fallen victim to them. Trouble is, that doesn't make good print, so the media don't bother reporting that!
Northeastcoupleuk.......any of our bashes or activities now are run by company funds to keep some cohesion come april when the financial year begins and the bugets are replened.
My feelings are if the forces are to be kept in theatre then fund them and the support properly however carrying on with "whatever is at hand" and a can do attitude is what makes our army stand above most others.
Moving money from one hand to the other to fund afghan isnt what I or I assume anyone within the forces wants but a correct level appropriate to the tasked being asked of it/us.
I wouldnt want to deply as an MFC having done no Mor shoots for 18months(since I last shot(81mm), more by the next range)!
If we didnt have the economic situation that we have the regular army wouldnt have such good recruiting figures to replace the people either PVR'ing or unfortunatly injured.
no quantity of troops, no amount of body armour or helicopters or extra reinforced landrovers will ever stop the iraqi's, afghani's, pakistani's, iranian's or palestinians from resisting the invasions and occupations by foreign armies. instilled into their culture and folklore passed down from parent to child forever, will be the "shock and awe" bombardment, the cruelty and torture of "abu grabe", white phospherous raining down on gaza to highlight just a few. outside britain and america, very few of the world's population are fooled by the propaganda of the "war on terror" but rather see it as the "war of terror". allah sits on oil and pakistan is the land gateway to china.
these war's and occupations are driven by geopolitical interests and can only end in disaster for all of the peoples of the planet. as the international financial crisis gets worse, so war's of annexation and occupation will increase and the fear mongering propaganda of terrorism to justify it will heighten. bliar lost the e.u. presidency to the bilderburger herman van rompuy because they could'nt sell the war criminal bliar to the european people. BRING OUR BOY'S HOME.
