Why is the British Army shrinking?

Retired Air Vice-Marshal Sean Bell looks at the state of Britain's Armed Forces, after a US general's warning that they are no longer regarded as elite.

#britisharmy #skynews

[tillytilford]

I submitted my notice to terminate service before xmas and will leave late summer. Over 3 decades I've watched the Army reduced in size and capability and whilst our budget is ok, taxpayers cash is squandered in ridiculous, expensive contracts. We're constantly being asked to do more with less and morale is the lowest I've known it to be. Add to that, quotas dominate our commanders' thinking and a sense of unity and purpose is noticeable by its absence. I'm sick of it so its time to leave.

[Houndsman]

It astonishes me that the entire population of the British army could fit in Wembley

[bigboyrambo]

If Britain did a mobilisation I reckon 90% of the fighting age men will say "up yours".

[kaleeyed]

Just a guess, but I would imagine the army is in a similar state to the rest of British society.

[MrSharpe]

It's simple.
Poor pay poor conditions and being extremely short-sighted !!

[timduck]

Why is the British Army shrinking? Hmm good question could it be that the MOD keeps wasting money left right and center (example:The Ministry of Defence was blamed by MPs for "one of the most incompetent" supply deals of all time after auditors revealed that a fleet of helicopters costing £259m cannot be flown in cloud cover, our most modern navel ship run's on windows XP and we issued gun's to our soldiers in iraq that do not work in sandy conditions, Mod spent millions on bomb detection equipment that turned out to be just a plastic box with a led light and two metal RC aerials) and to top it off we keep giving our weapon's away!

[drlarryjohnson]

He skirted most of her direct questions about the British Army weaknesses and weapons depletion. I get it; loyal British analyst doesn't want to spill the beans himself.

[brianlai]

The British army, navy and airforce doesn't have a recruitment problem. They have a major leadership and bureaucracy problem when it comes to screening applicants. I applied in 2017 for the British Army. Passed the interview and was physically and medically fit but rejected on the grounds I had eczema, which is a non issue that doesn't affect my performance whatsoever. It seems to me the military is constantly finding faults on candidates to disqualify them. It should be noted that the pay for a recruit is on par with a 5 days minimal wage job.

The British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Airforce is willing to spend millions of pounds in advertising campaigns for bragging rights but are unwilling to accept candidates in because they aren't willing to pay for their training, equipment and treatment/insurance.

[dan]

Yes we spend a lot of money on defence but we also waste a lot of money. We’ve spent £3.2bn on the Ajax armoured vehicle programme since 2010 and so far it’s failed to deliver a single deployable vehicle. The list of MoD procurement disasters is extremely long and tiresome.

[Dave-cwie]

The Government and mod couldn't give two hoots having served for 32 years in the army over the years they've proved how much they really don't care about the forces

[robertarmstrong]

Because no one wants to fight for a corrupt government?

[iamcarbonandotherbits.]

I served 15 years in the army and not once did I use or wear a piece of kit that impressed more than my hexi burner.

[damnson]

Maybe British men don't want to be killed fighting unjust wars for the financial benefit of share holders?

[paulslater]

It could have something to do with not recruiting and soldiers leaving in embarrassment

[adamuk]

This clip seems to be missing the answer to the question "Why is the British Army shrinking?". The answer is the Soviet Union hasn't existed for 30 years and the UK is primarily a naval power followed by an air power, not a land one. Because of the English Channel.

[liverpudlian]

Join the army and fight other people's battles and enemies 😂😂

[simonamblin]

The Army has been shrinking since I joined in 1983. When I joined my Battalion in West Germany in 1984 I was part of 180, 000.00 troops in BAOR alone, look at us now .

[joshslosh]

People are sick of fighting other peoples battles

[brendasg]

I'd be ashamed to be a soldier these days, they're even getting 'em to patrol the beaches on the Kent coast, not to capture illegal immigrants landing, but to stop us from 'interfering'. It won't be long before they're ordered to fire on their own people.

[hiyorisarugaki]

The fact is,
We spend about 1% on defence.
Most of the money is pensions, and they keep adding new departments under the name of “defence spending” so on paper it looks like we spend 2%, but in reality we have had a huge cut in defence and spend less than 1%