By IRNA,
London : Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) was accused Wednesday of not responding with “sufficient flexibility and imagination” to the problems it faces relating to the recruitment and retention of Armed Forces personnel.
The parliamentary Defence Committee expressed alarm that British troops were operating an unprecedented tempo due to the Iraq and Afghan war and their commitments “outstrip the levels for which they are resourced.”
“The number of trained military personnel joining the front-line is falling and the number of personnel leaving the Armed Forces early is increasing,” the all-party group of MPs said in a new report on recruiting and retaining armed forces personnel.
“The operational capability of the British Armed Forces is particularly threatened by “pinchpoint trades”” trades which are significantly undermanned such as submariners, medical staff, aircrew, mechanics and engineers, the report warned.
The number of pinchpoint trades has increased since 2004 and there are currently 30 pinchpoint trades in the Army, 31 in the RAF and 25 in the Naval Service, it said.
Committee chair James Arbuthnot said that recruitment and retention targets are being “consistently missed resulting in increased pressure on those who remain.”
The Ministry of Defence, Arbuthnot warned, “must take action to address this vicious circle before it becomes irreversible.” “Our Armed Forces are being worked extremely hard to support current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and it is vital that the pressures on our Service personnel and their families is minimized,” he said.
The report confirmed that harmony guideline on the treatment of military personnel were not being met. Troops were spending “increasingly long periods away from their families and gaps between deployments are narrowing.”
“Retaining highly skilled and experienced Service personnel must be a key priority and the MoD needs to push forward as quickly as possible with its plans to improve Service accommodation – a key reason why many Service personnel decide to leave,” Arbuthnot said.
“Taking action to retain those already in the Armed Forces will also make the Armed Forces a more attractive employer,” he said.
“The MoD must respond with sufficient flexibility and imagination if it is to recruit the number of new Service personnel required to enable our Armed Forces to continue to operate effectively,” the chairman reiterated.
The Defence Committee, which acts as a watchdog, has frequently expressed concern about the lack of resources for British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and the impact that the two continuing operations are having on the armed forces’ capability.