Why are our armed forces so badly equipped and yet still the best in the world ??

The British Army is the envy of the world. (I assume you are talking about the British Army since this is the UK and Ireland page). The soldiers are well trained and professional. It's such a disgrace that they are treated so badly by this Government and are so badly equiped.

bert

Discipline and pride my friend,I am a proud ex british soldier!

girl afraid

Who is 'our'? The British army is widely reputed to be the best in the world; most of it is probably due to the fact that it's one of the oldest with centuries of experience fending off invasions from mainland Europe. Also they are a lot more sensitive towards indigenous people of countries they are fighting in, they don't just see all 'foreigners' as sub-human, like some countries, who shall remain nameless....It's all down to traiing, basically.

quasar

you must be talking about the British army???
its the training & the bit thats inside that no amount of training can put their

Hibee

If you want a lightning charge across the desert plains with 1000+ main battle tanks, then you would ask the Americans.

For up-close-and-personal street fighting, you wouldn't get better than the British, although the Canadians are getting there fast.

flip4pop

the British army must be, the British army has the bulldog spirit

DIAMOND_GEEZER_56

If you are talking about the british forces, our guys may not be armed to the teeth and walking about like rambo, what our guys are armed with, I am talking about the ground forces is , teddy bears, footballs,toys and cigarrettes and sweets for the kids. Our boys go into places in Iraq with all these and soft hats on, no dark glasess, no sticking guns up these peoples noses and shouting at them, get to hell down and worse than that. Our guys can sometimes stop a conflict from happening by using the tactics above, by not wearing dark glasses and armed to the teeth and also by talking at least a few words of these peoples language. Playing football and other games with the kids, giving them sweets to eat, ( candy to you guys in the USA ) talking to the people as much as you can in their language, telling them that you are not their enemy and that you are here to help restore their country to a safe place to live and bring up their family, lastly to getting the people to have faith and trust in our guys. So our lads don't need to be armed to the teeth, our guys can stop a conflict before it starts. And a message to our dear friends in America, I am only quoting what a senior officer of another country agreed and also mostly ,said with ref to the above, and beleive it or not, he was American, and said and agreed most of what I said above on national TV on a documentary.

Rourkus

Bulldog spirit!

birdsnakecatharine

Some one has fooled you, with some lies.
We have the best equipped Armed Forces in the world, by far.

helo pilot cfi

discipline trigger control

Roy S

This could be one of those Government yarns to keep up morale when the guys are not given enough ammunition, food or water. There's lots of stones there, throw them and scrounge your food from the Yanks!.
They keep going to protect their comrades even if they do not know why the heck they are fighting and getting nowhere in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Bush/Blair caused the problems with terrorists that is why these guys are dumped in a god forsaken hole - for politicians' face saving.
RoyS

steven j

why does everyone believe that the armed services are so badly equipped have you ever tried to keep up with the ever changing computer market that's a night mare new things appearing every two minutes. The equipment our armed services use are for the most part Fit for service but ask the person on the ground what he or she wants and its the latest up to date all singing and dancing absolute best on the market at the time of asking what they have is the benefit of the best training the world bar none and the best equipment at the time of supp ling bullets don't win conflicts highly trained committed personal win conflicts question answered

Ellie29uk

You forgot to add.... in your opinion!!! I don't believe we all share your views.

david.cawood@btinternet.com

You are obviously on about the british army, as we are the best in the world, as for badly equipped, i dont think so, if every army had a wish list it would ask for more equiptment....I served 22 years in the Army and yes i did buy some of my own equiptment, but that was for my personal use, the equiptment issued is good stuff, after all you cant suit every individual. We are the best because we dont conscript, everyone is a volunteer.

David R

The British Forces have a "can do" attitude but the powers that be should not take that for granted.

rsist34

We consider them badly equipped because there is better technology out there than we currently use (IE: there is better body armor available than the military uses)

but with the technology we currently have is still far superior than most countries out there

whylekyotee2003

Were just that cool.

bob

If you are talking about the UK forces quite right Ask Des Browne.

lordkelvin

Who's armed forces? And what is badly equipped? compared to who or what? Not much of a question... no details

twotummies

If you were a government in power would you tell any one that because of lack of investment the armed forces were second rate.Without doubt are military is one of the most committed and professional outfits in the world,probably due to the fact that they are all volunteers,however don't be deceived by government propergander that they are able to perform to their maximum without adequate funds and equipment.

origamimark

the other armed forces are equipped with stuff that has been replaced by stuff our armed forces can't have.

Have gun, will travel.

They are not "badly" equiped.

Midnight Rambler

Take it from one who's been in the "armed forces". They are not the best in the world! Do not believe what you have read. Some of our major achievements have been absolute shambles and won only through superior fire power, not being "the best"!

sparc77

Don't beleive everything you hear or read, and even when you hear or read something like this, you must question the motive of the speaker or writer. Often it is pure Bull#$%% that is intended to serve as a political tool to shed poor light on the party presently in power. It is also a favorite punching bag for the media who loves to inflate thier ratings by insinuating governement shortcomings. Instead, take it with a grain of salt and actually go ask the military (and not just some grunt who has recently been discharged under "other than honorable conditions". You won't get an unbiased answer from somone like that.)
I am in the military and I can attest that we are extreemly well equipped. Our hardware may not be coming straight out of laboratories, but then again it takes time for something to go from the drawing board to the battlefield. And then you have to get the funding for up to date weaponry past bleeding hearts who want to throw money at a failing social program (which is failing because it is corrupt at its core) or gifting money to fools who stick a crusafix in a bottle of urine and call it "art".
Another thing to keep in mind is that when equipping a military with up-to-date hardware and advanced technology, you have to be careful not to create too much of a dependency on it. The classic example of this was seen between the police actions in Korea and Vietnam. The fighter pilots became so reliant on air to air missiles leading into Vietnam that they forgot the dogfighting skill they had mastered in Korea. That was the reason why the US Navy started the Top Gun program and the US Air Force started the Red Flag program (which often sees guest students from the RAF and other countries).
As for Osama. It is true that he hasn't been caught yet. But then again, he hasn't exactly been very successful in launching attacks on the USA recently. And the UK and other countries are also making it harder and harder for his band of goons to operate within thier borders too. No one ever promised a quick solution. And Bubbles is right. Somtimes the weapon you need is not the one that goes "bang".

spyderman1212

cuz the rest of the worlds armies are even more poorly equipped.

lost&confused

It goes to show you even with toothpicks and chewing gum are soldiers are the best, they are the Macgyvers of the military world...

Francis7

Sorry its just an observation but a few years ago I was at an airshow in Manchester and the commentator told us to expect a squadron of US F15s flying from Wisbech in Germany,with as many as five inboard state of the art computers, Min's went by nothing half an hour nothing an hour later we were told they had got lost over Blackpool,Mind you i suppose you don't have to be that accurate with a tactical nuke missile(friendly fire comes to mind) so its not what you've got its what you do with it that matters.Good Luck to all the lads and lassies in the forces.Cant we ask the troops who have been and are involved please.

manabovetime

The US military is the BEST EQUIPPED in the world, but the quality of the drug-snorting, booze-swilling, low-lifes that infest it make it third-rate when compared man-to-man with other militaries, like Russia or China.

bushfan88

they are most definately NOT badly equipped.

Yoda

Its becuase we are used to bailing out other countries all the time.

U98

You must be talking about the Canadian Armed Forces. Training intensely and only accepting very intelligent people as volunteers. Canada likely has the most over educated military in the universe. They also train them like no other. A crew is expected to be able to continue even if most of them are dead. A driver for a radio unit is expected to be able to signal, set a unit up, to repair the unit if it is damaged or to use the parts to create another unit if he has to. All the rest of the radio crew are expected to do the same. This is different than most military systems. They are also expected to be able to hold a decent conversation in at least two languages and if at a social event to know how to dance!
So would you yankees please quit shooting at them, we are supposed to be on the same side you know!

ps Our current prime minister is an @ss kissing born again idiot. (No offence to any average idiots who may resent the association.)

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