Dr Fox - 'Big Society Army' - soldiers on the cheap

Dr Fox, the Dr Beeching of the Armed Forces

Yesterday I was interviewed on BBC Radio Suffolk about the latest Tory plan for the Armed Forces, and I followed that up today by being interviewed by the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) for their TV channel. The more I spoke about Dr Fox and his plans for defence the angrier I got.

It just adds up to an Army on the cheap, Dr Fox will destroy the Army like Dr Beeching destroyed the railways. The Territorial Army cannot replace the Regular Army, you can not model our Armed Forces on what they do in the USA or Australia.

Changes are needed, we do need to make cut backs, the Heads of the three services need to look at the bigger picture, rather than just look at it from what they think is best for their own service.

The territorials can do more, they need to create closer links with the Regular Army- the 'One army' concept.

The Tories state that a smaller Armed Forces is needed as we are pulling out of Afghanistan and that we will no longer try and 'police' the world. So where does our deployment to Libya, or the 'Arab Spring' come into their thinking.

Who will deploy on the streets, when their is a fireman strike, the bins are not being emptied in Glasgow, the Rive Trent bursts it's banks, we suffer a further foot and mouth crisis?

Morale is the lowest I have ever know it in the forces, troops in Germany are warned that they be moving back to the UK, somewhere in Scotland but no land has been found to train on yet.

Most of these troop movements will happen after the next General Election, Labour will be left with the mess that Cameron, Osborne and Fox are creating. So much for the Tories promising extra troops before the last election- we now have plans for 19,000 less troops.

Yesterday on Radio Suffolk an angry mother phoned in, her son was injured in Afghanistan and has just been told he is being made redundant, not sure he would be keen to be told the TA will replace him. She called Dr Fox an idiot, I am sure many members of the Armed Forces would have stronger words for him.

In East Suffolk, we have small towns and villages that still feel cut off by Dr Beeching and his cuts to to the Railway network that he forced through in the 1960's now We have another Doctor trying to implement similar drastic, ill thought out cuts to the Armed Forces. you do not cut the Army when you are at war- Dr Fox , a fellow Rifleman from my Regiment was killed this week in Afghanistan - we are at war Dr Fox.