Thread: Colonel Attacks MOD over vehicles

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Theres always going to be whinge bags about the kit, How do you prevent blasts that are designed to destroy a patrol. At the end of the day you have to exit the vehicle at some point and even if the hull was mostly impenetrable from ied's it would take out the driving linkage making the vehicle a very hot toxic tomb, where its only a matter of time until you have to debuss and get on ya toes.
IED detection is a slow and hit miss process and then theres mines so its foot patrols who are also being bumped off so whats the answer? ah must be the boots then NOT.

Its a non story. Most of the MASTIFF will be brought back from Iraq. Which now require, more than likely, a bit of TLC.
PANTHER is not required by Inf type Units and is for the CSS side of things.
RIDGEBACK is there after they 1, arrive from the States to be "in inspected" then they all go off to get the good British bits of kit put on then 2, Back to Ashchurch to await moving to HERRICK. Any others are there as BCR's i expect.
The quote from a "Soldier at Ashchurch" sounds like a sprog soldier or some bloke who stopped off at the local M5 services after picking up the Units new 3/4 tonne trailer from Ashchurch!! Any Soldier "really" working there would not make those comments.
And if you want to put all the MASTIFFS etc in BASTION then feel free. They will be wrecks within months. Shoving them all to Theatre makes not a jot unless you have the Soldiers to maintain and drive them. But then thats a different story that the NOTW maybe should of gone for.

With that stupid attitude there would be 64 Apache in Afghanistan

Oh goody, the press have found out that Ashchurch exists.

Of course its going to look bad, the fleets of vehicles lined up there - the fact that we are simaltaneously pulling kit out of Iraq, receiving a LOT of new kit, and upgrading existing kit means that there is going to be lots of kit there at any one time. Just because it is there today, doesnt mean it will be tomorrow - the guys at Ashchurch work incredibly hard to turn kit around, and its a site thats constantly in flux.

As usual ill informed speculation, the net result of which will be to get a Minister upset, cueing lots of military and CS personnel down the chain tomorrow to stop all the really critical work we're doing to instead answer emails and phone calls to reassure the Minister that the NOTW is talking balls (as usual). Thanks NOTW, instead of supporting the boys, your actions have actually helped delay the deployment of more vehicles.

I think I can see how my Monday is going to be spent now.

Originally Posted by Bubbles_Barker

I think I can see how my Monday is going to be spent now.

Option A:
Roll up sleeves and muck in with the grease monkeys at Ashchurch to get the vehicles prep'd sooner.

Option B:
Brief senior MoD officials on some minor but irrefutable details that they can then repeat parrot fashion to bamboozle the media.

Option C:
Brief senior MoD officials on how a military with aspirations (and claims) of rapid and flexible global intervention requires at least 4 months to refit and refurbish equipment being deployed from one theatre to another.

Option D:
Brief senior MoD officials on how a military with aspirations (and claims) of the closest equipment interoperability requires several months - if not years - to rework all its new equipment so that it becomes unique to UK forces and denies the possibility that any non-UK spec'd has any place in the inventory.

Option E:
Brief senior MoD officials on how the defence procurement process - or more specifically the introduction into service of new equipment - is lead by fears of trial by media not military necessity. And in the process, ends up losing every media trial forthcoming!

:D

Sorry Bubbles_Barker! Don't mean to pick on you specifically. You just gave the introduction to a wee reposte at the system that you are bedevilled with.

Why oh why oh why are the MoD so specatcualalry vulnerable to this kind of ridiculous reporting, has no one ever thought of getting your digs in early. In this case, why didn't they open Aschurch up to the press, explain how vehicle management works, why you need kit at home and showcase what a cracking job is being done.

Originally Posted by meridian

Why oh why oh why are the MoD so specatcualalry vulnerable to this kind of ridiculous reporting, has no one ever thought of getting your digs in early. In this case, why didn't they open Aschurch up to the press, explain how vehicle management works, why you need kit at home and showcase what a cracking job is being done.

Openess and truth are concepts unknown to the MOD

Originally Posted by whitecity

Originally Posted by Bubbles_Barker

I think I can see how my Monday is going to be spent now.

Option A:
Roll up sleeves and muck in with the grease monkeys at Ashchurch to get the vehicles prep'd sooner.
Most of the work is done outside Ashchurch with civilian companies.

Option B:
Brief senior MoD officials on some minor but irrefutable details that they can then repeat parrot fashion to bamboozle the media.

Option C:
Brief senior MoD officials on how a military with aspirations (and claims) of rapid and flexible global intervention requires at least 4 months to refit and refurbish equipment being deployed from one theatre to another.
4 months i think is quite good, bear in mind it has to get from Iraq to UK and back out to HERRICK. In between it goes back to above mentioned companies to be "refurb'd" or updated equip fitted.

Option D:
Brief senior MoD officials on how a military with aspirations (and claims) of the closest equipment interoperability requires several months - if not years - to rework all its new equipment so that it becomes unique to UK forces and denies the possibility that any non-UK spec'd has any place in the inventory.
UK ECM v Rest of the World......no contest, UK all the time.

Option E:
Brief senior MoD officials on how the defence procurement process - or more specifically the introduction into service of new equipment - is lead by fears of trial by media not military necessity. And in the process, ends up losing every media trial forthcoming!

:D

Sorry Bubbles_Barker! Don't mean to pick on you specifically. You just gave the introduction to a wee reposte at the system that you are bedevilled with.

Originally Posted by meridian

Why oh why oh why are the MoD so specatcualalry vulnerable to this kind of ridiculous reporting, has no one ever thought of getting your digs in early. In this case, why didn't they open Aschurch up to the press, explain how vehicle management works, why you need kit at home and showcase what a cracking job is being done.

Since when was the NOTW and the rest of the tabloid press (or any of the press) interested in what the MOD actually has to say or any 'good news' story? They're interested in bringing the government down. Now I don't have a problem with that in this particular case but I'm afraid half-truths, disinformation and downright lies is not the way to go about it (and that's not the MOD I'm talking about ).

Originally Posted by Spanner

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Richard Kemp should (and probably does) know better. I suspect he is trying to raise his profile for business reasons.

Originally Posted by tropper66

Originally Posted by meridian

Why oh why oh why are the MoD so specatcualalry vulnerable to this kind of ridiculous reporting, has no one ever thought of getting your digs in early. In this case, why didn't they open Aschurch up to the press, explain how vehicle management works, why you need kit at home and showcase what a cracking job is being done.

Openess and truth are concepts unknown to the MOD

You're just an old cynic you are.

That's two of us then, pint?

Originally Posted by CH512O

Originally Posted by whitecity

Originally Posted by Bubbles_Barker

I think I can see how my Monday is going to be spent now.

Option A:
Roll up sleeves and muck in with the grease monkeys at Ashchurch to get the vehicles prep'd sooner.

Most of the work is done outside Ashchurch with civilian companies.

That's an answer derived from option B. Well done!

Originally Posted by CH512O

Originally Posted by whitecity

Option C:
Brief senior MoD officials on how a military with aspirations (and claims) of rapid and flexible global intervention requires at least 4 months to refit and refurbish equipment being deployed from one theatre to another.

4 months i think is quite good, bear in mind it has to get from Iraq to UK and back out to HERRICK. In between it goes back to above mentioned companies to be "refurb'd" or updated equip fitted.

The time through the system is reasonable. The system is the problem!

Originally Posted by CH512O

Originally Posted by whitecity

Option D:
Brief senior MoD officials on how a military with aspirations (and claims) of the closest equipment interoperability requires several months - if not years - to rework all its new equipment so that it becomes unique to UK forces and denies the possibility that any non-UK spec'd has any place in the inventory.

UK ECM v Rest of the World......no contest, UK all the time.

And...?

Originally Posted by meridian

Why oh why oh why are the MoD so specatcualalry vulnerable to this kind of ridiculous reporting, has no one ever thought of getting your digs in early. In this case, why didn't they open Aschurch up to the press, explain how vehicle management works, why you need kit at home and showcase what a cracking job is being done.

I drive past Aschurch weekly, and you can see most of the stuff parked up, because a road runs past it, and I mean all down the side of it. Open link fence.
It wouldnt be difficult to make up a story, with load of kit on view?