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VOTE UKIP!-ON MAY 7-2015

MAJOR ISSUES BULLETIN

EVEN PRISONERS ARE BETTER OFF THAN OUR TROOPS WHO LIVE IN SQUALID BUILDINGS

COMMENTARY

GENERAL SIR MICHAEL ROSE.

NOTHING symbolizes more dramatically the shambolic management of our nation's defence than the appalling state of the accommodation in which our servicemen and women are expected to live TODAY.

There is no other area of service life that can have such a negative consequence on the retention of personnel-and the morale-within our ARMED FORCES.

It is no surprise that Lt Gen. Freddie Viggers -my successor as adjutant-general and the Army's personnel chief -has complained publicly of the poor standard of service accommodation.

He was spot on when he said:

'It's one of the key issues in what we call the military covenant-giving our soldiers and their families what they deserve in return for

WHAT THEY DO FOR US.

As one occupant of a married quarter pointed out to me recently, not even prisoners are permitted to live in the dreadful conditions many Forces personnel suffer.

The situation has become so extreme that it is driving soldiers

OUT of the ARMY.

-in increasing numbers. It-and the general lack of resources in the Forces-has led to a net loss of manpower in the Army of well over

10,000 people in the last year.

However, the cause of the situation is not only chronic under funding, but also inefficiency in how the scarce money for 'quartering' is spent

In the old days, the state of the barracks and married accommodation was the responsibility of the Commanding Officer-and every REGIMENT was able to pride itself on its high standards.

BUT in pursuit of apparent financial savings by governments BOTH -CONSERVATIVE and LABOUR

-this simple system was abandoned and measures were taken that have resulted in the mess we are in today.

It started when the entire estate of married quarters was sold in the 1990's by the

CONSERVATIVES

-for a £1billion on a leaseback arrangement to a Japanese bank whose interests [naturally] lay primarily with shareholders-NOT SOLDIERS.

THE BANK quickly sold off at a profit the most attractive and valuable houses, such as the married quarters in Mill Hill in North London -and their occupants were in many cases FORCED into INFERIOR ACCOMMODATION.

SECOND, the system for the repair and maintenance of quarters has been repeatedly altered-something that has resulted in a much worst service for the soldiers. No longer is there any

RESPONSIBILITY

ACCOUNTABILITY

TRANSPARENCY

REGIMENT LEVEL.

Centralization, outsourcing and sub-contracting to commercial companies who have little understanding of the predicament of soldiers or their families has resulted in a bureaucratic nightmare which serves neither the SOLDIERS nor TAXPAYER.

The sympathetic Regimental Quarter-Master Sergeant, who was always there to solve an accommodation problem, has been replaced by an anonymous call centre in which problems simply aren't solved in

AREN'T SOLVED IN A TIMELY FASHION.

THIRDLY, the chronic UNDER FUNDING of DEFENCE continues. While the U.S. Defence BUDGET has dramatically increased since President Bush's war on global terrorists began in 2001 -that of the UK has been in STEADY DECLINE.

It is no use the Defence Secretary Des Browne telling us that the BUDGET has been increased by 1.4 per cent over inflation in the last year. Such creative accounting fools no one-least of all SOLDIERS who have to deal with REALITY not RHETORIC.

Mr Browne knows well that defence inflation is always much higher than normal inflation-one reason is that development costs of equipment are up to five times that of civilian equipment. THUS even an apparent increase in the defence budget can represent actual reduction in real terms.

[This is equivalent to someone on a fixed budget filling up with a weeks supply of essential foods and finding halfway through the week that though the money has been spent certain other urgent items were missing. The key is that one starts form the basics first and only considers the more expensive items when the budget is increased.

Quality married quarters and barracks goes along with essential food and equipment followed by transport and training and when one has done a good job here then one looks at specialist equipment to enable the soldier to do his job with the full backing of SUPPLY and REINFORCEMENTS. The needs of the futuristic European Army have drained the budget of scarce resources and the purchasing of heavy equipment from the wrong sources at in many cases double the price has also made further inroads into a limited BUDGET.]

This year DEFENCE spending amounts to just over £33billion-2.2per cent of GDP. This constitutes the lowest figure since the Second World War. Compare this with 30 per cent of GDP, or £172 billion-being spent by OUR GOVERNMENT

-on 'Social Protection and Personal Social Services.'

[Well that is obvious as there are VOTES in the Social Protection and Personal Social Services and the Government appears not to be alarmed that at the next General Election possibly later this year the Armed Forces will give their reply on their voting forms if they don't go missing like on previous occasions. ]

THE TRUE EFFECT OF THIS FAILURE PROPERLY TO FUND DEFENCE HAS NOW SHOWN TO BE FELT BY SOLDIERS NOT JUST ON OPERATIONS AND IN TRAINING BOTH OF WHICH HAVE BEEN WELL DOCUMENTED BUT IN THEIR HOMES AS WELL

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JANUARY/07