Declining standards? Or a way to be elite?

I’ve been reading various military forums for a while and there seems to be a common trend, apparently standards are declining.

Now I’ll state here and now that I do not believe that standards are falling across the board, it is a continual life cycle and personnel and working beliefs reflect society. When I was in the Marines there were always conversations or drip sessions on how blokes weren’t as good as 10-20 years ago etc. Things were always harder, better, stronger faster etc in their day. Well the recent exploits in Iraq have proved that the modern British Forces can operate just as well as they could in the past.


However if it is getting harder to find quality personnel and if the PC world is taking standards down a notch then perhaps this could be a way forward.
Specialise our forces.
Raise standards to such an extent that the dross will have to leave and the best can shine. Slash head counts by getting rid of dead wood and hangers on.

Yes our military head count would be drastically reduced but would our military might? We have Nukes and we are a US pocket power so we don’t have to defend against anyone, people don’t invade countries that could give them instant sunrise at a press of a button.

The SBS and SAS have proved what a highly skilled and motivated force can manage and they are the model for Special Forces units around the world. We also have the Royal Marines and Airborne regiments that can deploy at a moments notice and punch far above their weight.

Would it not be possible to mould the Navy into the same kind of role? A small amount of lethal ships crewed by the best sailors and supported by the best naval personnel. Training damn hard and if anyone doesn’t like it then bye bye. Keep the Nuke subs as that is our main deterrent. But cut down on ships and concentrate on only the best.

Same could be done for the RAF, specialize them. Concentrate on ship capable FJ’s and ground attack, thus they can work closely with the navy and deploy at short notice.

Drastically cut the army and train them to the current standards of the Marines and Paras. The budget should not be cut, but we could then spend it on far superior training and equipment.

If you can’t pass the training then out you go. Only the very best stays in.

Just an idea, it’s what I’ll put in motion when the revolution comes and I’m in charge.

 

This sounds like the submarine service that I left, I hope its still the same.

 

Sympathise greatly with the sentiment, but I think the last few governments have preempted you. It's hard to imagine that we could have fewer ships, but even the few we have have been built to placate the bean counters.

I agree that the picture is probably not as bad as has been painted with regard to the standard of manpower. Many people told me that my generation was not a patch on theirs, when their time was not spent on operations such as the last 25 years has seen.

When I joined the medical branch, none of us anticipated much in the way of action and our instructors had seen very little, if any in the 60s. Nevertheless, this generation has dealt with the Falklands, Gulf 1 and 2, the Balkans, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and the enduring situation in Iraq in support of the Army. Alright, most of the work has been ashore in tents, but it is medal-worthy. My chest is very bare in comparison.

 

So we can ignore, Palistine, Korea, Suez, Cyprus, Aden, Malaya, Borneo, the rather warm Cold War, Southern Rhodesia, Belize, Brunei, Kenya, Northern Ireland, Oman, etc.

Nutty

PS Medals are for heroes, above and beyond the call of duty, not for being there or there abouts.

 

Nutty - if you were involved in all those campaigns, you don't just deserve medals. I'm sure you wouldn't deny the boys and girls their campaign gongs though, would you?

 

No I was not, just a few and yes I would, campaign medals that is.

Nutty

 

Nutty

Sorry if I touched a nerve, but not many of those ops happened in my time, nor in my instructors generation for that matter.

Campaign medals are a simple, and realtively cheap, way of rewarding people for going somewhere less than healthy, so if you went to NI you got a GSM for instance.

I'd much rather see the boys and girls get some tinware than the COs get an "Other Bugger's Efforts" on their behalf!