Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Is Now The Time For Britain To Merge Its Army, Navy And Air Force?

It’s Time For Britain To Merge Its Army, Navy And Air Force -- Con Coughlin, The Telegraph

In years to come, when our heirs reflect on the events that led to the merger of Britain’s Armed Forces, they will identify Liam Fox’s announcement this week of wide-ranging reforms to the Ministry of Defence’s structure as the moment when the demolition of our proud military traditions began in earnest.

After decades of chronic under-funding, they will conclude, it was inevitable that a small country such as Britain could no longer afford the luxury of maintaining independent command structures for its Army, Navy and Air Force. With defence spending slashed from 5 per cent of GDP at the end of the Cold War to just 2 per cent by 2011, the individual Services had already been reduced to such a parlous state that they could barely carry out even the most basic military tasks.

Read more ....

My Comment: Coughlin's argument was also used in Canada in the 1960s to merge the different branches of the military. It was completed in 1968 and .... not surprisingly .... it decreased morale, caused inter-service conflicts, and the great savings that were talked about never materialized. Is this the way to go .... probably not.

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