UK Armed services get organised

Criticism of UK armed forces is mounting. It is present from within, from the newly appointed CGS, the pompous General Dannatt, who told the Daily Mail that the army was "running hot" . The deeply unpleasant hectoring ex CGS General Jackson who chose to direct his criticism from the safety of retirement, after presiding over waste and worse pay, and useless weaponry, has been swift in his much publicised BBC Dimblebore lecture to criticise his lords and masters at the MOD and the Treasury.

From the further reaches of the upholstered benches of the House of Lords Field Marshal Lord Bramall of Bushfield in the County of Hampshire and Field Marshal Lord Inge of Richmond, both ex-chiefs of the defence staff, have been sounding off for a long time in debates in the House of Lords about the overstretched Armed Forces.

Even the Minister of Defence, Blustering Des Browne joined in this week admitting to the Times that UK troops are understaffed, and undertrained and need to be increased to meet even current deployments because there was too little time for training exercises.He noticeably missed out the bit about underpaid.

It is surprising therefore that the Independent on 12th December was the only paper to report the formation and launch of the The British Armed Forces Federation (BAFF), the new independent staff association for service personnel at the House of Commons (Website)

BAFF Chairman Douglas Young said at the press launch (Word Doc. here) that
two of BAFF’s closest models are the Armed Forces Federation of Australia, and the Association of the United States Army and they had constituted themselves as a Company Limited by Guarantee on 30th October, 2006. Annual membership is open to anyone who is eligible, by current or past service in HM Armed Forces of the United Kingdom...although Friends may also join.

They want to provide collective representation (including lobbying and media relations); a private web forum as a means of sharing knowledge and advice; and a Personal Injury Claimline.

They point to the 1995 Bett Review team which stated :

“We have not been able to ignore a growing strength of feeling, apparent on our visits and in the responses to our survey, that the time may be approaching when some form of representation outside the chain of command may be required.

”In a survey carried out as part of the Review, 66% of Servicemen had agreed to some extent with a statement that the Services would benefit from an organisation providing representation outside the chain of command.

Visit their website http://www.baff.org.uk, read it, maybe even spring them a few quid. Only the Independent covered their launch . Lord Patel has a feeling in his water that you are going to read a lot more about the BAFF.

They have 3 current issues ;

These 3 things BAFF want to take up and "get sorted" are :

1. The backlog in the holding of inquests into the deaths of personnel repatriated through RAF Brize Norton.

2. Unacceptable and excessive charges to bereaved relatives for copies of papers supplied by MOD to the Coroner.

3. Disgraceful discrimination against personnel and their families who are in need of social housing on leaving the service.

The ever attentive staff of Lord Patel will report progress