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Outcome of the SDSR

msr

LE
I wonder which of these will be applicable:

“Simplicity is the outward sign and symbol of depth of thought.”

Lin Yutang

“Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most.”

Clement Mok

“The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed - it is a process of elimination.”

Elbert Hubbard

“You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.”

Vernon Howard

“Live simply that others might simply live.”

Elizabeth Seaton

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

Confucius

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak”

Hans Hofmann

“Simplicity is indeed often the sign of truth and a criterion of beauty.”

Unknown

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Leonardo da Vinci

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

Albert Einstein

World of Inspiration / Quotations about
 
When is the chop due ?

2015, when we no longer require an Armed Forces of any kind because, having pulled out of Afghan, all War will cease. This is a fact because DC told me so.

msr you're awfully keen on the word "simple". Try inserting "downsized", "smaller", "lean" and "unnecessary" into the equation and see what you produce.
 
The Army Dictionary:

Downsize - cut units
Smaller - reduce size of subunits
lean - keep those leaning against garage doors/walls or leaning on the brooms.
Unnecessary - get rid of soldiers, we don't them, we need numbers to match smaller

but it's all too much so something has to give, so lets swap downsize for upsize..

upsize - increase the size of uniforms to help maintain a lean army (see def above for lean)
 
I wonder which of these will be applicable:

“Simplicity is the outward sign and symbol of depth of thought.”

Lin Yutang

“Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most.”

Clement Mok

“The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed - it is a process of elimination.”

Elbert Hubbard

“You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.”

Vernon Howard

“Live simply that others might simply live.”

Elizabeth Seaton

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

Confucius

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak”

Hans Hofmann

“Simplicity is indeed often the sign of truth and a criterion of beauty.”

Unknown

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Leonardo da Vinci

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

Albert Einstein

World of Inspiration / Quotations about


Your Fired - Sir Alan Sugar
 
msr, if you have your battered FOO binos trained on FR20, I'd suggest that "Look behind you!" (Trad.) might be a more appropriate quote.

FR20 will make recommendations for the employment of the reserves in the Armed Forces of 2020. There is a congregation (bask, float, nest...take your pick) of policy crocodiles much closer to the reserves canoe which are far more likely to have an earlier effect both on your meteoric rise to the General Staff and the general shape of the TA as we know it today. Few deal exclusively with the TA or the reserves but their recommendations may well include action points that involve the reserves.

I don't believe that a definitive list of such 'workstrands' exists but—as an example—it might include the work that is being done on the volunteer estate or perhaps the new employment model. The point is, as far as the TA is concerned, FR20 is very far from being the only show in town.

Edited to change 'Army' to 'Armed Forces' coz FR20 is of course a 'purple' study and I is a mong.
 
In all honesty, I don't care - as long as my Battery doesn't disappear, I am going to be happy. If it does, then I have plan B ready.

msr
 
That's what I love about the TA - always looking at the bigger picture!

I'm not responsible, not accountable, not consulted, merely informed of the outcome. One of the joys of being a humble FOO ;-)

And it's what I love about the regular army - always willing and able to give their reserve a clear mission statement, adequate resources and a sellable 'offer'!
 
That's what I love about the TA - always looking at the bigger picture!

If you want a reserve with people constantly interested about the bigger picture as opposed to doing their TA job and balancing that with civi work, family, friends, life etc then be prepared to end up with a TA of about seventeen.

..........on second thoughts, that's what we're about to get.

Whether it is what we are given, or people just get so pissed off with the lack of budget/ training - it will still end up with good people leaving, sign of the times and all that.
 
If you want a reserve with people constantly interested about the bigger picture as opposed to doing their TA job and balancing that with civi work, family, friends, life etc then be prepared to end up with a TA of about seventeen.

..........on second thoughts, that's what we're about to get.

Whether it is what we are given, or people just get so pissed off with the lack of budget/ training - it will still end up with good people leaving, sign of the times and all that.

'sign of the times'? I've heard that somewhere before....

Look chaps, it's all a bit fluid at the moment.

The 'powers at be' have had to turn their attention to the TA over the last few months; probably for the first time 'properly'. In the past, there's been lots of talk about Reserves Review's, the 'proposition' (as articulated in the previous Review), the 'offer', the 'mission', etc etc etc, but this was all ultimately window dressing around the following:

a) There was/is no money
b) There was no real understanding of the TA ethos and 'drivers' for the volunteer
c) No-one in the Regular Army actually cared that much i.e did it affect their pension? (No)
d) No-one in Government either understood or cared that much either (Gordon Brown? do me a favour)
e) Was the TA stumping up the IR's? (Yes), so what's the problem then?
f) Compared to the threat to the Regular Army, the TA's problems were a pin prick on the orange skin of life.

Things have, in the last few months, changed fundamentally.

Point d) above in particular as the new Governement is all over the Reserve at the moment. Point b) is rapidly changing as the Reserve issue gains prominance in both the MOD and the Coalition. Point a) is always going to be a sticking point, and point f), ironically, may come back to haunt them all as the Reserve might even be well placed to make up the inevitable further reductions in the Regular force.

As the 'whole force' concept takes shape, the Reserve is about as best placed as it has ever been to benefit from current thinking, possibly better placed than at any time in the last 50 years.

Suddenly, it's dawned on the Government that a group of willing volunteers might actually be worth having around. One's that don't cost a fortune in allowances, that are not paid to sit in barracks, or married quarters, or paid to live in rented property in the private sector (see the farce at Innsworth if you need any evidence of that).

These 'volunteers' could simply be used whan needed, and the only reward they need is to be treated fairly and paid when they attend, not dictated to and constrained by some appalling piece of regular mumbo jumbo known as the GCM (which, incidentally, is a much more damaging piece of work than anyone will admit and should, in my view, be erased immediately), nor led and managed by regulars who have no empathy with the TA nor understanding. Simples.

Massive change is on it's way. Dressed up as FR20, it is opening doors that haven't been opened for a very long time. Don't be fooled by the '20' bit as many of the changes will have to happen much earlier (2014 onwards) to deliver anything remotely new by 2020. FR20 is causing waves all over the place and not before time.

Hold on to your hats.

This really is a 'sign of the times'
 

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