Britain almost out of troops

The head of the Army has issued a dire warning that Britain has almost run out of troops to defend the country or fight abroad, a secret document obtained by the Daily Telegraph has revealed.

Gen Sir Richard Dannatt has told senior commanders that reinforcements for emergencies or for operations in Iraq or Afghanistan are "now almost non-existent".

In the memorandum to fellow defence leaders, the Chief of the General Staff (CGS) confessed that "we now have almost no capability to react to the unexpected". The "undermanned" Army now has all its units committed to either training for war in Iraq and Afghanistan, on leave or on operations.

There is just one battalion of 500 troops, called the Spearhead Lead Element, available to be used in an emergency, such as a major domestic terrorist attack or a rapid deployment overseas.

After knowing this I wonder which bright spark decided that we should be sending an extra 100 troops to fight in Afghanistan. It would also be a good idea to fix those aircraft seeing as half of the RAF fleet is out of action. I wouldn’t bet on the government doing anything though. They haven’t yet even though they have promised things in the past.

Hat tip: Ranting Stan