Military – Page 46 – Dave's Bankside Babble

Most who observe and comment on our woefully incompetent public sector know; government departments are not renowned for their expediency of operation…

In many ways government departments and agencies have turned procrastination, service delivery indifference and (often) bear faced lies into something of an art form. This now all too prevalent national pastime and shirk ethic stands in the way of so many of our much-needed public services.

The military, the National Health Service, our legal system, our education system et al are all stymied from efficiency of delivery. A failing usually caused by, the bureaucratic ineptitude in Whitehall, certainly not the ‘workshy’ front line. It is therefore hardly surprising to see the MOD self-preservation society trying to manipulate the media into believing, a comment by the Duke of York is some sort of national incident.

BBC News: The Duke of York has criticised Ministry of Defence chiefs for failing to “get off their fat backsides” over ordering armoured vehicles. (Read more)

Military operations over recent years have continuously suffered from the lack of suitable equipment, or the expedient supply of equipment for particular tasks. The provision of the Universal Engineering British built Ranger Armoured Vehicle is just one example in point.

We have had soldiers who are obliged to buy items of kit to supplement poor personal issue, we have seen the adoption of ‘state of the art’ solutions delayed for years, for want of slow-moving MOD type approval processes. We have projects paid for from taxpayers cash, snowball in cost from millions to billions. In addition, we’re obliged to go ahead with ship builds we can no longer afford, we have resources that were, a few short years ago, an absolute necessity and now miraculously, are simply superfluous to requirements. And what is the usual common denominator in all this? The ineptitude and incompetence of civil servants!

As these civil service tossers (and government ministers) sit bemoaning the difficulties around claiming inflated expenses, they would do well to remember that; despite HRH Andy being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and of privalaged parentage, at least he made the effort to get of his arse and do something in service of his country, even though he didn’t have to.

Whilst Muppets sit on Defence, continue polishing their self-inflated egos and sense of self-importance, our servicemen and woman are laying down their lives. Often all for want of suitable equipment, to (rightly or wrongly) carry out the tasks set them by even more self-indulgent ministers and civil servants. Those same servants who usually serve very little but themselves!