Civilian Support

Ahoy...........

Just a short note. I heard a fellow on the radio today talking about the current state of interest in and support for the armed forces, in particular about the state of accomodation and equipment.

He said that the public had broken the "covenant" with the forces, and that the public had little interest.

WRONG ! Whilst not having served myself, I come from a family with a long history in the forces. The public are very concerned about the conditions facing the forces at present, and have been for some time. It is the Government which doesn't listen...... not to the generals, the Forces, or the public. They have'nt listened since the last election (at least).

If the Forces feel let down, I can only say that so does the public.

The "covenant" is very much alive with me. It is the government which is killing it.

Sorry for the impotent rant.

 

Thanks, sadly not every one on HERE agrees with you

 

are you blind?

Number of 'good' civvies: 10

Number of 'bad' civvies: 5,000,090

 

I hear what you’re saying but unfortunately it’s not true.

Like you I come from a long military background and I am passionate about my family and others getting the support and respect that they deserve. However, the more I talk to people the sadder and angrier it makes me.

Take 10 people under the age of 35 from all walks of life and 7 of them will have no respect and 5 of the 7 an active dislike of all things military. There hasn’t been a war on our doorstep that they recognize as being a threat to their personal welfare and therefore they view the Army as aggressive, interfering and populated by a bunch of blood thirsty, gun crazed bullies. Jo Public finds it hard to separate peace keeping, Government orders, a vocation and a way of life.

There is on the whole total apathy regarding our Armed Forces, complete misunderstanding and a general ‘couldn’t give a sh1’t attitude. My flat mate is pretty left wing as are a number of his friends and an evening round here can get very heated but I am proud to say that at least 80% of his friends will go away with more of an understanding and a marked increase in the level of respect for the troops.

I feel that we are in a catch 22. On the one hand, money is desperately needed for the front, no one disputes this. The recent wave of publicity for housing I don’t feel has done the Army any good in the eyes of the public at all. The photographs that were used were for shock value and inaccurate. Give me a bottle of Cilitbang and I could’ve made that bath look great. However, broken windows, broken boilers, mould, window frames rotting etc. No amount of cleaning will fix that but where were the photographs?

I have no idea what to do to solve this problem so I’ll continue quietly doing as I have done and as and when I see or hear things that start to make my blood boil, I will do my level best to gently put the other side across and hope that a small difference can be made.



Edited because............ I can!

 

Parrskool, many of the comments made in recent days have been inaccurate. My understanding is that The Military Covenant is between the Solider and the Army as an organisation - however I feel we are now at a point where just 'getting on with it' as been taken for granted (since the Foot and Mouth drama, through to Op FRESCO and onwards?) and as an organisation we are now 'spent'.

Perhaps therefore it is now time for Jo Civvie to point out to the Govt, wanna be Govt, and any other bugger who will listen that Defence is not an option of cut backs or 're structuring'. Maybe MP's allowances could be a better target!

 

I agree, I even saw a comment from an ex-servicemen saying that we should stop whinging and that he managed to keep his bath clean on 3 quid a day pay.

I think that how this story is managed and for example how we state our case on this site and eleswhere is critical. The MoD has full time professionals in their media department that the government are effectively using (civil service impartiallity notwithstanding) to decry the problems we face with everything from accomodation to faulty ammo.

We have to think about what we say and how we say it and back it up with quality evidence otherwise the media and public will ignore us.

 

The problem is if you send reasoned argument into the BCC the moderators don't include it