Gents: Let's be realistic here for a moment. There is a structure of governmental procedure that exists high in the ether above our heads, and you will be hard pressed to find anyone bold enough to breach this to step on toes. There are a myriad of other considerations to take into account as well, the main thing being the economy. The armed services, represented by whichever colour of uniform at CDS level will never have the political clout to challenge parliament because most MPs have wider interest topics (such as jobs, industry, their own ******* livleyhoods) and certainly not the armed forces (except when needed, of course) That said, there exists a thick cloud of obfuscation which prevents the pain and grief stories ever reaching the higher domains...the grass roots tales of manpower gapping, shockingly poor materiel support, ships well-past their useful lives, depleted morale and rank incompetence brought about by ambivalence and short cuts. It's all 'yada-yada' and 'I hear what you're saying' material, and stuff that definately ends up in the 'do **** all about it' tray. To that end, (and I have argued for this on these boards) it can be said that crumbs of solace such as the much vaunted Operational Welfare Package offsets some of the woe, but it doesn't emoiliate the anger, disillusionment and disappointment felt when this fabulous instrument of personnel management called TOPMAST strips your best assets from you and leaves you with a 'manage the gaps yourselves, you *****' answer, when Fountain Lake/Weston Mill is perennially empty, when your Starboard Spey is OPDEFed and you're struggling to get any sense or logic from some dumbassed duty officer who couldn't give a fat rats arse what your problems are, when you sit in defence watches happy to do your job, but less happy to fight a war for some avaricious, greedy ******* liars sat shuffling Cabinet notes many miles away.
The cloud sits there to protect them from us and our problems. Many say 'they drip...but they stay in the mob' which is as comptemptible as it is off message with 'the finest armed forces in the world' shite you hear sliding from our great leader's lips when we do him another favour. It's not about dripping, it's about what 'they' can do for 'us', possibly this nation's greatest marketable asset. If it takes an association, or a federation to punch a hole in this cloud, then let it be. My question to the First Sea Lord is, how long do you think it is viable to ask the armed forces to do the willing of dubious organisations when they themselves are being serially rear-ended by the self same people? I'd also ask; how long do you imagine the cloud can last in the current climate that exists around the senior command level that prevents the patently obvious problems from being heard and addressed at the higher levels?
Anda third question would probably be: when can we have our navy back?
Levers