The London Sunday Times contains an article about a new book by a former British officer, condemning its military bureaucracy as bloated & unable to provide properly for the front-line forces. The comments are even worse about the defense industry, with claims that weapons are poorly designed & forced to be produced locally to save British jobs. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1965526,00.html “The army (has) two combat divisions ...There are 180 brigadiers and 60 generals. And ... the military hierarchy is even more distorted in the Royal Navy, where there are 41 admirals with only 40 major warships or submarines to look after. The RAF has 40 air marshals for 36 squadrons. ... The distortions do not end with the top brass, as Page explains. There are 10 different officer ranks in each service, far more than are needed to command actual units. So the rest are given desk jobs." Does anyone know the comparable US figures? I recall reading (& citing?) that there are 800-900 'flag' rank officers in all US military branches.
All volunteer is a good thing for effectiveness in comabt, and unit morale. among other things. Sad to say, but the US military is in a similar situation. It would be great to see a streamlining of the officer ranks. Oh, by the way, this is coming from a former US military officer.
Top heavy military? damn - I was hoping for some pictures of 48DDD girls in army uniforms. Mammaries of mass distraction, so to speak. That would do wonders for our boys in Iraq, wouldn't it?
And how many units and ships are now understrength. Serving in the Canadian Forces I've noticed that units, when they go overseas, will borrow certain elements from other units just to reach that operational level. I'm a reservist Clerk and we keep getting constant messages from other units who need help in dealing with their paperwork. It would cost a pretty penny since releasing those officers would result in large severance packages and handing out of pensions. I blame technology since some of the jobs require educated people to fulfill. No point keeping them as NCM's can we?
Actually, we don't have to provide officers with severance packages when we decide that they are no longer needed... unless they have enough time to retire.
If I could start this thread over ... Desert Camouflage: PFC Alice [/QUOTE] Ensign Catherine: Lance Corporal Lucy: Wing Commander: