Drastic changes in UK forces: Territorial Army will be deployed in the Falklands
UK Defence Secretary Phillip Hammond signalled Thursday morning that members of the Territorial Army will be deployed to the Falkland Islands. Addressing the House of Commons Secretary Hammond said that reserve forces will be expected to fulfill new roles including contributing to standing commitments such as the Falklands.
The government wants to double the size of the Territorial Army to 30,000 and rename it the Army Reserves. The size of the regular army is being cut by 20,000 to 82,000.
The Ministry of Defence is to invest £1.8bn over the next 10 years in training army reservists and integrating them more closely with regular army units.
“The reserves will be a part of almost every type of operation that our armed forces conduct, whether it's in combat, capacity building or fulfilling more routine commitments,” Mr Hammond told MPs.
He said army reservists will be given “much better defined” and “more fulfilling” roles, properly resourced and with adequate training.
In return, they will be required to commit to regular training and deployment.
The government says it will support employers of reservists and give them more notice before staff are deployed - which shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said was “vital”.
The plan which also cover Navy and RAF reservists, are being put out for consultation. The government says responses will form part of a white paper to be published next year on the future role of reservists.
Labour said it would support reform of the reserve forces - but Mr Murphy told the Commons he did not think the government's proposals had been adequately thought through.
He also raised concerns about the backlog of applicants in the system, which Mr Hammond conceded was an “issue”.
The defence secretary said it had to be resolved before the publication of the white paper next spring.
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World Aquanaut Security Patrol strikes fear into the hearts of hostile ocean neighbour!
Which hostile nation are you more concerned about - Argentina or the Aquaphibians? (ha ha)
Seriously though, giving more average Brits contact with the Falklanders can only be a good thing in terms of forging closer links between communities.
The TA are'nt a pushover either, many units that fought in WW1 and WW2 were TA. In France, in 1940, some of these regiments took casualties in excess of 80% fighting Panzer units, armed with little more than rifles and Bren guns, they were thrown into the path of the German advance to buy time. They bought it with tremendous courage and sacrifice.
Don't underestimate them.
@4 - Guzz
No we call them courageous, they fought to the last man to give their comrades a chance to retreat to better positions, and finally back to Britain. If they hadn't the British would've been defeated in 1940 and the world would look much different today with the Nazi's probably still in power.
They would've executed socialists like you Guzz. Then again you're the type to be pledging allegiance to the Third Reich, as you have no courage or honour.
But never fear, Guzz, the TA are trained to the same standard as the Regular Army, fight the same, and can kick ass the same. :)
In the words of the Duke of Wellington: “They came on in the same old way, and we defeated them in the same old way.”
Agreed.
But as I recall the government reduced the size of the Armed Forces and the amount spent on new equipment in the 1930's to save money.
This meant that we were woefully unprepared for another war when Herr Hitler decided it was time for round 2.
I think this may have been one of the factors behind Chamberlain trying to appease Hitler, to buy time to build up the forces. However, if they'd listened to Churchill in the 1st place, Britain would've been in a better position at the beginning of the war, rather than playing catch up.
This day and age they are always talking about the cyber threat, and cyber war. Whilst that is true, it doesn't stop conventional fighting and wars taking place.
I mean, since the end of the Cold War, has there actually been peace in the world?
First it was Iraq invading Kuwait, then the Balkans, then East Timor, then Sierra Leone, then Afghanistan and Iraq: and these are just the conflicts that the UK have been involved in!
I believe the politicians are being too short sighted, and relying too much on reserve forces. Yes the Reserves are important and need more money investing in them, but the Regualars are important too.
Point in case. The Regular Forces proved that they could support a huge operation at very short notice, when the G4S who was tasked with providing security at the Olympics failed to live up to the contract.
The Military stepped in with only a few days notice, and did a marvellous job.
It would've been more difficult to do the same thing by trying to call up reservists to do the same thing, as they all have day jobs, whose employers wouldn't be too happy about losing a member of staff for about 3 months at very short notice.
No, the government need to relook at their plans. Increase the Reserve, yes, but do not decrease the Regulars to the extent that they are planning.
If they want to save money, cull a few Quango's and politicians first.
“I think this may have been one of the factors behind Chamberlain trying to appease Hitler, to buy time to build up the forces.”
Precisely. In a war against Germany in 1938, the UK would have would have been utterly and completely defeated. Chamberlain knew this but didn't dare tell the British population. When you read the contemporary documents it is obvious that he gambled for time, and that a frantic rearmament followed München.
A serious problem is that there are no votes in bullets and military readiness during peacetime.
Then, when the sh¡te hits the fan, all the voters become Argentine, lament and blame everybody than their own stupid selves.
As the old Romans said: If you want peace, prepare for war.
So. your point being ?
It's just a statement to the press on government policy using a make shift studio.
The programme makes a great deal of sense and creates a more community focussed armed forces.
Always be prepared.
But the air force is a joke.
The navy has been repoed.
Any assualt with out tom dale brown levels of luck and the British military being stupid is bound to end in failure.
The islanders hate you.
The royal navy has half a dozen cruise missile armed attack subs for retaliation
@4 “Cannon fodder” = argies. Also “targets”. “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to wipe this argie ”division“ off the face of the planet. How may troops will you need”? “Accepted. A squad should be enough.”
@9 Don't be concerned. In the event of a real problem, how many real British adults would not step forward? I would. Give me a uniform, a flight, an assault rifle, ammunition and a bayonet. I'll be more than happy to stand at the tideline and kill argie invaders all day long. I like the idea of a wall of the corpses of argie invaders 20 feet high. And 2 miles long. Could do that with 18,000 argie bodies. Send more!
@12 Have to agree with you. But let's not forget the other 176 Typhoons. The Tornado force. The Submarine Service. The Type 45 destroyers. The forthcoming Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers. The Royal Marines. The Parachute Regiment. 400 Challenger 2 MBTs. And so much more. The TA (Army Reserves) are trained to the same standard. They are all volunteers. Part of the SAS is TA. There is no better “force” in the world. Even the Americans are second-rate by comparison.
@20 No worries. Try to remember that the argies thought it appropriate to send 66,000 troops to overcome 80 Royal Marines. There are now 1,300 British troops on the Islands. To maintain the same numerical advantage, argieland would have to send over a MILLION troops. 1982 - no air power, no naval power. Today? Argie air power contained by cruise missiles and Type 45s. Naval rowboats contained the same way. British reinforcements arriving within 24 hours. Step over from defence to offense. British troops land in argieland. 1st Armoured Division. 400 Challenger 2 MBTs. Unbeaten. If it moves, kill it!
he is trying with the resourses he has,
but either way, the british will defend.
My mum was in the TA, she could stamp on your face and still go 4 rounds with the Junta.... just ask my dad :-)
Our TA doesn't just defend the motherland. Real experience regularly received across the world.
you are just another clueless troll!
the only losers fido, are those who condem them,
amazing how people change their minds, when you need em.
If Guzz really is this freedom fighter that he claims to be, why does his post sound like they were written by a school kid?
If he claims to be so much more intellectually superior than us why does he sound like a spoilt, snot-nosed little baby that needs it's nappy changing?
We then get dragged into conflict,
You cannot keep reducing your defences, yet at the same time, increasing your commitments,
One of them will give under the pressure,
And it’s the poor sods at the front end that gets it, whilst politicians sit on their arses ..
.
lol
lol
I've spent more time teaching my dog to shit in the garden than the average Argentinian troop gets in years of service.
And im sure my training has had more success.
After all, those dirty gits did shit in our post office.
In the event of an invasion all the TA would have to be do sit in a trench and shoot anything coming frm the sea with a plentiful supply of javelin fire and frget anti tank missies and gpmg it would be a slaughter.
Thats why the argentine military wont try it the only way they will be a threat is in the minds of the daily mail and sharky ward.
Glad to hear it. If he ever goes again let me know and I'll show him around a bit.
Ohhhhh...Really? Did you really have to say that?
And that makes you a racist!! Thanks for that you worthless, low life piece of s**t. I don't know who you are and I don't care... To me you are some where between a dung beetle and that bit of s**t you can't flush away after you've taken a dump.
If that is the best you can do I hope you die screaming with sharp things in you. You and your entire family and burn in hell and the world will be a better place without you...... Now F**K off and do not post on this forum again.
Crawl back under the stone from where you surfaced.
Ignoring the N word you used, what if he was indeed of African origin. What difference would that make to anyone but you ?
I presume you hate a good percentage of the population of Brazil because of the pigmentation of their skin and the population of Africa . What a sad little person you are !
Miss Sussie I guess we have come to the core of your personality disorder?
Thank you guy for the support,
This has been reported, it seems sussie has no cells upstairs, every time we tell her to tone it down, its like talking to a uneducated indoctrinated child..
But I will ignore her,
Sticks and stones.
Still.
Out of interest,
Im as pink as my Devonian skin,
And Susie is as raciest as one ignorant can get.
.
Good for Mercopress !!
I hope Sussie's IP's will be flagged and denied access.
I'm sorry, little hypocrite, doesn't work like that... ;)
Just to pull you up on your “cannon fodder” comment.
The men in those units knew what was coming down the road and knew their chances of survival - I call that courage.
I don't know if I could ever match that myself...and I doubt that you could.
I am glad you're posts were deleted - you deserved it.
If you are Danish - it explains a lot - you folded in
I'm glad we agree ;)
Is that your argument for the day? “hypocrites” ??
Why was I expecting more from you?
Oh know I know, it was that comment about how “Intelligent” you are, that was it!!!
You seem to have a one track mind, Deadbeat me ol' son.......what a pity there are no trains on it.
Deadbeat ;)
“Im as pink as my Devonian skin”
The Place or the period?
Cool if it's the place but the Devonian period was 354 to 417 million years ago................ so that would make even older than me!!!! :-)
;)
“Late confession that these islands are the only a military base of UK.”
The islands are not there to serve the UK military, the UK military are there to serve the islands.
.
Cheers,
Buy only lately descent
Great grand parents were from Devon., then up to London..
Im not that old, lol.
.
Good news, Martin;
Ban Ki Moon and the UN just shut the door on CFK.
Told them to get stuffed over their Falklands sovereignty claims !!
And the 2013 referendum will be not ignored by Ban Ki Moon.
gluggglugggluggg: goggle transtation: idiots.
What is a goggle transtation and what language is this please.
Keep to yourself you racist cow.
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