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UK armed forces 5,170 'below strength'

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Nov 3, IRNA
UK-Armed Forces
Defence Minister Derek Twigg admitted Friday that Britain's armed forces were "stretched" with sizeable deployment in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans, but insisted that troops were "not over-stretched."

Twigg was responding to a report from the National Audit Office that said the three military services forces were 5,170 below strength and that troops were sent on missions too frequently.

While the armed forces had reached 98 per cent of recruitment targets since 2000-2001, there are major shortages in certain trades, the government watchdog warned. Worst hit were the medical services, with reservists filling the 66 per cent of vacant posts.

The gap between the UK's commitments and resources is growing and putting unacceptable pressures on service personnel, which currently total 180,690, it said.

Speaking to the BBC, Twigg admitted that the forces faced a "particularly high level of operational commitment" but said steps had been taken to help.

Army recruitment, he said, was up 10 per cent this year and other improvements are being looked at in terms of accommodation, equipment, training, and of course other financial incentives."

But the Conservatives' Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox said the report was "damning" and showed the government must be prepared to pay more for the increased operations faced by the armed forces.

"The gap between our commitments and our resources is growing and putting unacceptable pressures on our service personnel and their families," Fox warned.

The report found that 14.5 per cent of soldiers were being sent on missions more frequently than recommended under guidelines because of commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans.

Rising numbers were also found to leaving early, with 9,200 resigning in the last year before their period of engagement was up.

Some blamed too many deployments and the impact on their families.

An added problem to recruitment was that two thirds of British teenagers were now considered too fat to join the Army, with just 33 per cent of 16-year-old boys meeting the Body Mass Index target of 28, although this has been recently been raised to 32.

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