A Ray of Hope for the British Armed Forces
Ted Bromund /
There’s not been a lot of good news for, or about, the British armed forces recently. When the Economist asked, in its Jan. 29, 2009 issue, if the Army was losing its way, the story’s lead summed up their answer: “The British army suffers from lack of soldiers, lack of money and lack of conviction.” And that was putting an optimistic spin on things: in reality, the situation was a good deal worse than the Economist allowed.
There’s no reason to be happy about the recession. But you know what they say about an ill wind. The Telegraph reports that:
Thousands of potential recruits have been flocking to recruiting centres in the last few months as the country entered a recession and unemployment mounted.
These are recruits the Army needs desperately. It has to recruit about 12,000 troops a year, but in recent years has fallen about 3,200 short of this level. Almost all the Army’s battalions are under strength, and some are so shorthanded they are regarded as operationally ineffective. At 21,709 soldiers, the infantry is over 2,000 below strength.