Is there a politician listening?

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk Troop shortage warning amid decline in morale The Armed Forces will face a substantial manpower shortage next year because of a major struggle to recruit and retain personnel across all three services, according to a Ministry of Defence report. The MoD's latest statistics on personnel numbers show that the Army will be 11 per cent short of trained recruits for the front line by April. The Royal Navy will be 10 per cent short and the RAF 14 per cent short of new officers, according to the MoD quarterly review.

The situation goes from bad to worse.
I watched the Panorama programme on Afghanistan with a comrade of nearly forty years and was astounded at what we witnessed. It is the arrogance of perceived victory. Not wanting to give the enemy succour, it reminded me of a recent visit to a specialist training establishment, where a weapons instructor was giving a demo on hand guns. Like everyone brainwashed into believing that British procurement is best, his narrow narrative exhibited many flaws. The comment, "then only good them pea shooters is for is for shooting yerself" was complete misread by the expert instructor. "How long have you been an instructor?" was another question. "Ten years plus,"he replied. "That puts my forty years teaching ballistics to shame," retorts the greyish gentleman, who withdrew in disbelief from the demonstration.
If people are wrong, they are wrong.
The magnificent effort of young Nato troops is undermined by an arrogance of infallibility. There are too many with no clue to what soldiering is all about, tell those who do how they should be doing it.