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Old March 20th, 2017 #1
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Post Thousands of British Army soldiers quit the army as morale hits historic low

The shocking figure represents almost one in five of the 83,340 soldiers serving and is thought to be the greatest single fall in 20 years.

According to official Ministry of Defence figures only 1,759 of the 15,325 regular troops to have left in the year leading to November did so because their time was up.

Nearly half – 7,439 – quit early, exceeding the 7,260 who left the Armed Forces during the previous year. There are now concerns that worsening conditions and a lack of “operational tempo” is failing to keep soldiers motivated.

The situation was exacerbated by 3,325 who were sacked on disciplinary grounds. A further 2,337 were “medically discharged”.

Former defence minister Sir Gerald Howarth MP said: “There is little doubt morale is under enormous pressure. Soldiers are concerned about the Future Accommodation Model, which may see them forced to rent or buy properties when what families actually want is to live in an Army environment.

“Particularly concerning is the effect of ‘historic war crime’ allegations. There is an increasing feeling that soldiers or veterans who find themselves arraigned for doing what they thought was right for their country are pretty much on their own.

Andy Smith, of the UK National Defence Agency, said repeated annual cuts have taken away any feeling of job security: “This reinforces what we have been saying for a long time – people in the Services have no confidence in the Government’s commitment to defence.

“Any sense of certainty about the future has been taken away in a 10-year period which saw the defence budget shrink and annual reductions to the size and resources of the Armed Forces.”

Last night an MoD spokesman said: “The Army has enough people to perform all of its tasks to keep Britain safe and continues to offer exciting opportunities that inspire the best of our young people. We’ve seen an increase in recruitment over the last year and we expect this trend to continue.”

“By its own admission the Army is 3,000 troops down,” he said.

Meanwhile, more than 800 UK troops are set to deploy to Estonia with Nato as part of one of

read full article at source: http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/780...oyment-defence
 
 

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