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| Britain |
| Morale in British armed forces at new low |
| 2011-09-11 |
| More than half of all officers and 43 per cent of other ranks, believe the armed forces is suffering from low morale following a year of pay freezes, cuts and redundancies. Satisfaction with life in the services has fallen, along with levels of pride and feelings of being valued. In the RAF, only two per cent of officers – many of whom are taking part in operations in Afghanistan and over Libya – believe morale is high and 70 per cent state it is low. The figures are the worst since the Armed Forces Continuous Attitudes Survey began four years ago. Both officers and other ranks felt dissatisfied with pay, allowances, feeling valued and with the impact service life was having on their families. The annual report looks at all aspects of military life from pay and allowances, to accommodation, personal life, leave, deployments, separation, fairness and leadership. Just under 27,000 surveys were distributed to the armed services between February and May this year. Of those, 12,600 were returned completed, providing a response rate of 45 per cent. The report stated that there was "prevalent dissatisfaction" with the effect of service life on spouses and partners, with 47 per cent dissatisfied and the effect of service life on children's education which had a finding 35 per cent dissatisfied. There was also "prevailing dissatisfaction" with the amount of separation from family and friends, with 26 per cent satisfied and 37 per cent dissatisfied, a not unsurprising condition given that the armed services have been on continuous operations for the past eight years, three years longer that the Second World War. But of all the findings contained within the 300 page report, it will be the poor levels of morale amongst both officer and men which will worry senior commanders. |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #7 "Britain's military today would be hard-pressed to defend the homeland from an invader." I'm afraid it's too late for even that, Steve. Their immigration department has been assisting and welcoming the invader into their country. For years. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2011-09-11 12:25 |
| #6 ..because a Euro military will be as effective as the Euro banking/economic system. “Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and it is all organised by the Swiss. Hell is where the police are German, the cooks are English, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, and it is all organised by the Italians” |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-09-11 10:44 |
| #5 Britain has to decide whether it is a regional power or a world power. It has the military of the former and the political beliefs and aspirations of the latter. But you can't be a world leader if your military is sized to be a regional power only. Britain's military today would be hard-pressed to defend the homeland from an invader. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2011-09-11 10:19 |
| #4 Britain has demilitarized so much that it is becoming reliant on companies like Xe to defend itself. Which is not terribly bad if you plan for it, but if you wait until the last minute to try and contract with somebody to forfeit their lives to save your pasty ass, there will be few takers. Being conquered will be their final reward for listening too much to the chorus of guilt for their having been an empire. The purpose of conscience is to let you know you have been a brute, not to run your life into the ground as punishment because you had once been brutish. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-09-11 09:18 |
| #3 In many eyes that's a feature, not a bug. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2011-09-11 08:26 |
| #2 Oh, I suspect the leadership within the Forces knew the state of morale. But this makes it public, for the public to see and hold MOD and Parliament responsible for their choice to dismantle what is left of Britain's military capability. |
| Posted by: lotp 2011-09-11 07:40 |
| #1 Conducting a written survey to gauge morale in the ranks is something akin to exiting the door of an airplane without a parachute. You've waited a bit too long remedy the problem. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2011-09-11 02:16 |