Originally posted by EvanB
I would love to see all the swords turned into ploughshares but this is the real world.. Its a dark and violent place with violent men wishing us harm.. Without our deterrent we would be walked over in no time..

How many violent men wish you harm? Men of a calibre that need an army to defend against, and are in a position to walk over you?

Besides, on a global scale, isn't your biggest deterrent being buddies with the US? (Not a dig at your military. They've proven themselves many times)

I'm not trying to be a knob. Just asking.

Originally posted by Arbeit

Originally posted by detachedindividual

Originally posted by Arbeit

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
Talks of cuts of up to 20,000. Pretty shocking stuff. Not a good time to have 20,000 disgruntled soldiers to be put out of work in such economically difficult times.

Good luck with your March, maybe they will take notice of you guys. Unlike anyone else protesting.

Thats because everyone else protesting falls into one of the following categories:

- Rich spoiled student scum who thinks communism is the way forward
- Rich spoiled student scum who is employed by the CIA as an "Anonymous" operative
- Ignorant foreigner who think we owe them a dime for their history
- Ethnic minority engaged in mindless looting.
- Pissed up posh person angry that they cannot abuse wildlife with rabid dogs

I have faith that you will be noticed, people support our troops, and probably will support them even more in the face of these cuts.

I am one civilian 100% behind you all the way.

Yeah, those disabled people protesting cuts to carers were real looters and troublemakers. How dare those SCUM chain themselves up in the middle of the road, blocking traffic with their wheelchairs. Useless scum leeching off the state!

/sarcasm

Seriously, you need to put down your copy of the Daily Fail and step out of that white van long enough to look at the country you live in and how things were before you started reading and believing the tabloid BS.

- Rich spoiled student scum who thinks communism is the way forward
Who are they and when did they protest? I must have missed that day. Most students are nowhere near "rich". I guess you picked out the one or two wealthy students caught out in the tabloids (seriously, what reporter wouldn't want to report about the 1 rich kid amongst twenty thousand acting like a tw@?)
Also interesting to note that "rich" people generally don't believe in communism, you don't get rich through communism, you get rich through capitalism - another system WE DON'T HAVE.

- Rich spoiled student scum who is employed by the CIA as an "Anonymous" operative
Some evidence of this would be nice. We do know - and have evidence that - the Met employ agents to cause violence and justify an attack on an otherwise peaceful protest, but I have never seen any evidence to suggest that the CIA is involved with anything. You'd think that if the CIA wanted to attack the cult of $cientology (which is what Anonymous became globally recognized for) they would have a more effective method than convincing young people around the world to protest outside their offices, wouldn't you? Maybe they could start by shutting down the cult indoctrination centers and the prison camps in the USA?

- Ignorant foreigner who think we owe them a dime for their history
Define an "ignorant foreigner". Do you mean people who come to the UK after our military has bombed the crap out of their country? Or do you mean other members of the EU doing jobs that our pathetic teens think are below them? Lesson for you, England was built on "foreigners". There is no pure English race of people. Our entire society came about as the result of invasion, migration and conquest over thousands of years. You are the result of "foreigners" to this land.

- Ethnic minority engaged in mindless looting.
There were plenty of white people looting in the August riots last year. There was not an "ethnic minority" responsible for the criminality we saw over those nights.

- Pissed up posh person angry that they cannot abuse wildlife with rabid dogs
This I would agree with. Although, it's not fair to assume that just because they're posh they're pissed up. It's also interesting to note that all the things they used as an excuse as to why they should be allowed to continue to hunt have not come to pass - we are not drowning in foxes, foxes have not invaded our cities any more than they had, hundreds of thousands of hunt staff were not made destitute.

I also support our troops, in the defense of our nation - not blindly following orders to attack another. I support this protest too, because we need a military and all of the cuts we are seeing are the result of massive corporate corruption with government.

We can have a social welfare system, we can afford our military and government, we can afford education of the next generation - we just need to make sure that those who are avoiding paying their taxes are forced to do so and those leeching off the public purse are put to use - government and citizen alike.

God you are a knob.

Yes, someone who actually expresses an opinion that you might not agree with, and does so thoroughly, is a "knob".

What part don't you agree with? The part where I tore your assumptions about everyone who protests to shreds?

If you think debating is not worthwhile, why are you on a discussion forum?

Originally posted by subject x

Originally posted by detachedindividual
Of all the times to cut military - now is definitely not the right time.

I don't know- to me, it's always a good time to cut the military.
The world is always on the brink of war, at least it has been for the 50 years I've been around.
There will never be a "right time", so any time's a good time.

I don't agree. The three most recent military endevours have not been world-changing events. Iraq was an illegal and unjust war, Afghanistan was an unjustified war, Libya was the result of us propping up and supporting a dictator when it suited us and going after him when the revolution risked exposing out collusion with a rogue state like that.

None of those three military escapades was actually in defense of the nation.

We haven't been at war with another nation in defense of the UK since Hitler. The cold war was a valid "brink" scenario, and now we are approaching another.

That's why I don't think that now is the time. The next war has the potential to be more than a skirmish to secure regional dominance or preferential oil deals. The next war has the potential to be a global one with China, Russia and the USA fighting for dominance as the US is buried under economic collapse.

We haven't seen a power shift like this since the cold war, and if the UK government had suggested back then that we should scale back our military the public would have been outraged and ousted them. The only difference right now is that we're maybe months away from the start of that equivalent. Right now we're sat watching things unfolding, and many of us see that we're heading into very uncertain times just as many were warning about it prior to the cold war.

Britain is dumping Billions into the Philippines right now. They've got those Filipino boyz to fight and die for them now.

Royal Dutch Shell gave the Philippines over $1 Billion for the oil/gas out in the South China Sea under those areas both China claim...and the Philippines. There's going to be a boom in Britain soon.....and the British military's going to see some new action in the Pacific War looming.

You British soldiers should create a copy of the American "Sea Shepherd" and put some private ships in Scarbarough Shoal and start being pirates chasing the Chinese fishermen away.....get a good ole fashioned war started.

Give me a call if you need extra people to man the ships. IT would be hella fun!

I absolutely support this action by the troops, without the British Army we would have all been under Nazi rule, and my opinion is that the first thing we should be maintaining is our Armed Forces, which are the best in the world, not decimating them, I have cousins in the Army, and I will be cheering you lads on when you march on Cameron and his cronies, hope you give him a bloody nose!

Roy.

My parent unit is about to be deployed to Afghanistan.. They are currently on pre-deployment training.. When they get back, alongside the medal ceremony they will be picking up their P45 and joining the army on the dole..

A regiment is a self sustaining family.. They are ripping families apart and their support networks.. These people will need rehousing, the kids will need to be re schooled... To top that, all of those endless thousands who have fought under the regimental colours and died will have their history and courage wiped out at the stroke of a pen...

The longer the day gets, and the more this sinks in, the angrier I am getting... Not just me either... This government has to go..

I really don't see how this will save any significant amount of money.

The cuts may result in 11000 compulsory redundancies, all of which will cost money.
How many of those made unemployed will recieve benefits as there simply aren't any jobs for them to do?
They have announced that more more money will be spent on providing the correct equipment.
Contractors will be employed to carry out some administration duties.

And the whole plan is reliant on nearly doubling the size of The Territorial Army.
Now there is obviously a cost incurred there.
If they don't get the additional volunteers then the whole plan goes tits up - with obvious security implications.

What savings that will be made will be minimal.

To think The Conservative Party has long tried to sell itself as the party of defence and security etc.

Originally posted by EvanB
My parent unit is about to be deployed to Afghanistan.. They are currently on pre-deployment training.. When they get back, alongside the medal ceremony they will be picking up their P45 and joining the army on the dole..

A regiment is a self sustaining family.. They are ripping families apart and their support networks.. These people will need rehousing, the kids will need to be re schooled... To top that, all of those endless thousands who have fought under the regimental colours and died will have their history and courage wiped out at the stroke of a pen...

The longer the day gets, and the more this sinks in, the angrier I am getting... Not just me either... This government has to go..

Its an absolute disgrace, whatever you think of the actual war, you can keep it to yourself, the worst thing about this farce is the human cost that it is having. Men comming back from that place with horiffic injuries and devestating mental health problems, only to be met with equally disgraceful treatment and red tape by the very same people who sent them there.

It is an absolute disgrace that it down to charities and private individuals to fund treatment and rehab services for soldiers whilst they are given the finger and their papers by self serving treacherous politicians, meanwhile theiving scumbag bankers get multi million pound bonuses even after they crash the economy.

You have my full support, every soldier, sailor, airman and marine has my full support. I will support you on your march, I will donate to whatever fighting fund is set up, christ I'll even make your tea at any meetings you hold and clean up afterwards, its the absolute least I can do to help the men and woman who put their lives on the line and get absolutely # all in return.

Originally posted by Freeborn
I really don't see how this will save any significant amount of money.

The cuts may result in 11000 compulsory redundancies, all of which will cost money.
How many of those made unemployed will recieve benefits as there simply aren't any jobs for them to do?
They have announced that more more money will be spent on providing the correct equipment.
Contractors will be employed to carry out some administration duties.

And the whole plan is reliant on nearly doubling the size of The Territorial Army.
Now there is obviously a cost incurred there.
If they don't get the additional volunteers then the whole plan goes tits up - with obvious security implications.

What savings that will be made will be minimal.

To think The Conservative Party has long tried to sell itself as the party of defence and security etc.

The tories did this to us the last time they was in power.. I was based in Northern Ireland at the time and mates, some very good and experienced soldiers, not to mention comedians lol, were being made redundant and given £20k-£60k pay offs... Plus their resettlement... This will weaken the country and cost a fortune.. That is just the monetary aspect let alone the human element...

They want an 85000 strong army.. You could fit us all in Wembley stadium and have some spare seats... There are 86000 pen pushers at the MOD... Do you see a disparity there??

Its a fkn joke! I fully intend at throwing my medals at Buckingham palace gates..