There is some consternation with the defence secretary today, who has indicated, in as much detail as he can at this stage, how the regular army will be reduced from a permanent establishment of 102,000 men to 82,000 men by 2020. You get a flavour of the disquiet on the Army’s anonymous message board service, where there is some anger that regular soldiers’ duties will be ‘outsourced’ to ‘contractors’ as and when required. Some servicemen, both on and off the message boards, are stumped by the government’s strategic logic. If the army lacked the strength and resources to hold positions in Basra and Helmand, then why is it cutting troop numbers still further, even if the majority of those are support troops? The answer seem obvious: Britain will not be seeking to project its power to quite the same degree in future.
There is also some shock that the two Ghurkhas battalions have been spared when equally historic county regiments are to be amalgamated.
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