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Treasury to slash 10,000 from Territorial Army

THE Territorial Army is to be cut by 10,000 troops - a reduction of almost 30% - raising concern that it will struggle to fulfil its civil defence role in the event of a national emergency.

The decision to slash TA numbers to 25,000 is expected to be announced by ministers later this month following a year-long review of all reserve forces.

A senior TA officer said: “Treasury bean counters have ordered the Ministry of Defence [MoD] to cut all budgets, so TA units will have to be axed or amalgamated and the number of training days cut to way below the minimum.”

The TA’s vehicle fleet – which is already underresourced – will be reduced further, while many of the 360 TA bases around the country will be put up for sale.

“That will be a major blow,” said the senior officer. “In many parts of the country, the local TA headquarters, the old drill hall, is the only contact the public have with the forces.”

When the TA was founded in 1908 it had 269,000 members. By the end of the cold war that figure had fallen to 82,000.

Its role as a civil contingency reaction force was established in 2002 after the 9/11 atrocities. It revolves around 14 regional forces which are made available to the police within hours of a terrorist attack or emergency.

An MoD spokesman said: “This is not about the cost of the reserves. Its aim is to ensure that our reserve forces, including the Territorial Army, are correctly structured, supported and resourced to meet current and future challenges.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6078487.ece
 
An MoD spokesman said: “This is not about the cost of the reserves. Its aim is to ensure that our reserve forces, including the Territorial Army, are correctly structured, supported and resourced to meet current and future challenges.”

The MoD spokesman - known to his friends as Mr Cnutybollox - must think we crawled out of a test tube if he thinks anybody is going to believe that! Let's go through the logic.

1. We are engaged in AFG and will be for years.

2. We are EXPECTING a major attack against us by AQ or its spawn.

So it makes sense to reduce the manpower pool available for AFG and remove part of the Civil Emergency response element.

Ah - it's all clear now!

There will be some senior Generals resigning over this. Or maybe even Sir Kock Strap himself. Not :x
 
Regular soldiers are already overstretched as it is, Without the TA component we will reach the break point even faster.

This Goverment obviously knew it couldnt get away with a reduction of Regular forces, and mistakenly thought a cut of Reserves might sneak through the net. How wrong they are.

Just one point for the MOD
A REDUCTION IS A REDUCTION WHETHER IT BE TA OR REGULAR
 
Id have thought this was a late Aprils Fool, by slashing 10,000, how will this ensure the forces are correctly structured, supported and resourced to meet current and future challenges.

Lose 10,000 Troops, and thats 10,000 supporters (for a better word) gone, thus putting a strain on those left.

Wouldnt it be easier to put up a big sign saying "oh feck it, we give up"

Sometimes the greatest enemy lies within.
 
You will just have to trawl through the threads within the forum to see what support there is for the TA in general, from the regular AF and government. When the return from the TA is thought off in terms of those whole volunteer for tours in relationship to the amount who draw their bounty the TA will always be on the front line for cuts and reduction.

I can also remember occurrences in the 70 & 80’s when regular troops were involved in local and national emergencies instead of using TA units. The government does not appear to make it easy for TA personnel to volunteer, but there is still a huge perception that many in the TA are just in for the extra money. As always there are those who cock it up for the more dedicated members.
 
It happens so often now i honestly believe that some people in parliament and high positions in the government really believe all this 'leaner, faster, cheaper' crap they spout.
 
Didnt they try this in 2006 ? Isnt the CCRF they are spouting about the most ill managed inefectual organisation since the Maginot line ?
 
It doesnt make any sense, if the TA is just going to plug holes in the regs then either, the regs are undermanned or ...or the regs are undermanned.
 
If they're talking about binning one in every three TA soldiers then what will the criteria be? Stopping recruitment? Firing long standing members who havn't been on tour? Upping the standards to ensure that some won't make it?

It begs more questions than it answers..
 
Flight said:
If they're talking about binning one in every three TA soldiers then what will the criteria be? Stopping recruitment? Firing long standing members who havn't been on tour? Upping the standards to ensure that some won't make it?

It begs more questions than it answers..

The criteria will be -

while many of the 360 TA bases around the country will be put up for sale.

The value of fixed assets that can be sold quickly will decide which units will go, nothing else.
 
I hope that this does not come about and is just a 'leaked' newspaper story to guage reaction.

What I don't understand is the reasoning behind it (other than money). Even if we don't use the TA every weekend to fight we do have a trained body of men (and women) able to take up arms very quickly should it be needed.

We are in danger of becoming a nation which is inacapable of defending itself or even knowing how to defend itself. Even the Swiss (and who can tell when they last went to war) arm and train ALL their young men so that they have an army to call on if needed. All Britiain will have is neds from the schemes, which might work as any enemy would probably be busy too pis sing themselves laughing at our defences to effectively invade.

Still, we are an island nation therefore nobody can reach us can they? It's not been done since 1066 after all. :(
 
Flight said:
If they're talking about binning one in every three TA soldiers then what will the criteria be? Stopping recruitment? Firing long standing members who havn't been on tour? Upping the standards to ensure that some won't make it?

It begs more questions than it answers..

All three, plus any others that come to mind. No bounty this year? Hand your kit in.

In fact are they going to change the name from 'Bounty' to 'Retention Requirement'?
 
Auld-Yin said:
I hope that this does not come about and is just a 'leaked' newspaper story to guage reaction.

What I don't understand is the reasoning behind it (other than money). Even if we don't use the TA every weekend to fight we do have a trained body of men (and women) able to take up arms very quickly should it be needed.

We are in danger of becoming a nation which is inacapable of defending itself or even knowing how to defend itself. Even the Swiss (and who can tell when they last went to war) arm and train ALL their young men so that they have an army to call on if needed. All Britiain will have is neds from the schemes, which might work as any enemy would probably be busy too pis sing themselves laughing at our defences to effectively invade.

Still, we are an island nation therefore nobody can reach us can they? It's not been done since 1066 after all. :(

What else is there for a Government that knows the price of everything but the value of nothing
 

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