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Post by cammy on Apr 14, 2009 12:25:07 GMT 1
‘Army chiefs are to blame’ for service deaths Minister defends MoD record over equipment
Published: 3 November 2008
related links Article: Armed Forces are in crisis
Army chiefs are to blame for the deaths of troops in lightly protected vehicles, Defence Equipment Minister Quentin Davies has said.
Reacting to claims that the MoD has failed to supply adequate equipment for operations, Mr Davies said the problem lay in top army commanders not asking for or specifying the appropriate gear.
He added that he was outraged by complaints made by Major Sebastian Morely, a former SAS commander, that British troops in Afghanistan had not been given the right equipment.
Mr Morely, who accused the MoD of ‘gross negligence’ in a resignation letter, stepped down from his position in the SAS after four of his soldiers were killed in the Helmand Province last year.
Desmond Freely, the father of Corporal Sarah Byrant, who was one of the four, also blasted the Government for negligence in a statement. He said troops were ‘hampered’ in their efforts by ‘substandard equipment’ and that Mr Morley’s resignation was testimony to this fact.
But Mr Davies said it was a ‘travesty’ to blame the deaths of troops in Afghanistan on bad equipment.
He said: “Obviously, there may be occasions when, in retrospect, a commander chose the wrong equipment, the wrong vehicle, for the particular threat that the patrol or whatever it was encountered and we had some casualties as a result.”
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Post by Frenchie on Apr 14, 2009 14:20:44 GMT 1
Politics and soldiers lives... It's never been any different!
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Post by cammy on Apr 14, 2009 14:58:28 GMT 1
Yes Ed that's true.... War is an extention of politics by other means...The (Means) = Soldiers Blood
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