Is the British Military Ready for a Major War?
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- Опубліковано 13 тра 2024
- Discover the sobering reality behind Britain's military prowess. Despite its nuclear arsenal and global deployments, concerns arise about its ability to win a major war. Dive deep into the challenges and potential solutions.
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I’m currently a serving soldier in the British army and have been for 16 years and I have seen the army gradually decline in effectiveness in the last 10 years.
Maybe you guys can join our military here in the US sort of what the Gurkhas are to you guys.
Er options for change saw too many good service personnel out.....
@@AlexBrown230 The thing with that is that if things do not change our US military will fall into the same problem that the UK is having. Our stockpiles are already cut way down from sending things over to help others. And that's ok as long as you have the economy strong enough to replace it. Right now, it's going out quicker than it can be replaced. That is not good.
but hey you have combat grrrrrrls now.
I serve on the other side of the pond, and greatly respect the genesis of our military tradition from yours. It kills me to see British politicians allow this to happen to you boys. Hang in there. We need big bro around.
As a Pole, hearing Poland being treated as a role model makes me so incredibly proud, You have no idea.
Errant occupied Western Russia.
Poles understand that the world is still a very dangerous place.
@davidcox3076 It always has been, unfortunately, Western Europe and North America have forgotten that.
you may have ordered 1000 tanks but exactly how are you going to pay for them? you think you're going to get them for free, good luck with that.
You are not treated as role model, you are treated and groomed as new batch of cannon f0dder.
If you think they care about Poland you are as naive as a kid. If you think urkaine was coup-ed out of Amreican love and care for them, and not to use them just like this... Than you are not naive, but sutpd.
It’s pretty depressing being a UK citizen right now, just corruption, incompetence and managed decline at every level. The people in charge seem to have agenda’s that do not support its citizens or protection of the realm. Hoping this changes and things will turn round but it does feel like the rot runs deep!
It feels wrong liking this comment, but you're bang on the money. I this also adds to the inability of the military to recruit. Why would anyone potentially put their life in the line for this country/government!?
and you still voting on conservative politics
Don’t understand how they expect the younger generation to actually WANT to fight every since I’ve been born I’ve slowly seen my human rights get took away one by one maybe if they stopped demonising the majority of the population to keep the small minority happy we would have a reason to care
@@nussfurynot if you check the predicted voting at the next election, the conservatives are finished
i just hope labour will be better (cause lets be honest the only way for the tories to win this year is if a genuine miracle happens), but tbh with the refusal to back the unions recently im not too optimistic.
When your recruitment is outsourced to the same bunch of muppets that “enforce” the TV license, you know you’re doomed. 💀
How the Min of Defence and Govt thought that would work is mind boggling and the cause for less joining.because they do it on-line and if chosen/accepted they have to wait a year to be given a start date. Something fishy here.
I know this has nothing to do with your comment or the video, but I like your username
How is completely misguided spending of military budget the bbcs fault lol 😂 don't get me wrong I don't like the BBC but, your point is invalid
Decadence has destroyed the character of people and as such we are unfit to have an army that is bolstered by its citizens, and what is more all the immigrants would flee, blocking roads, and ports, and airports
They ballsed up Probation Services too, although lots of other outsourcing companies did too. It’s almost as if contracting out those sort of government services is a bad idea.
The UK hasn't remembered how poorly prepared the country was at the beginning of World War II. One of my favorite British naval authors, Douglas Reeman (who served in the Royal Navy in WWII) noted that in peacetime, nobody cared (about defense) but in war, the civilians wanted miracles. We never learn from the lessons of history, and our enemies are indeed watching.
if only they had lost, imagine how strong they would have been today.
@@golagiswatchingyou2966 They lost the Empire and gained nothing (beside debt). Even failed at defending Poland
@@dioniscaraus6124to be fair Poland was invaded by 2 major powers at the same time.
As somone from the UK (2 great uncles served in WW2 in the Royal Navy - service that I respect greatly), I honestly think The Empire's political elite thought it could drag France and Poland into a two front war against Germany (The Empire's upcoming major rival), have most of the war be fought on FRA/POL/GER territory and the Empire would then profit regardless if GER lost, or if the conflict stalemated weakening GER through blockade like in WW1.
Declaring war on GER (which was significantly reduced in size from its WW1 empire days) and then losing FRA & POL(!!) so quickly just wasn't expected by planners - it might be The Empire's biggest foreign policy mistake (as "defending Poland" turned into losing The Empire).
Probably should've tried to negotiate around Gdansk, maybe get another year for rearmament to mature and allow FRA to prep too, then steamroller GER (Or, at least, properly defend FRA). Instead of shattering hundreds of years worth of Great Power balancing (in Europe AND Asia) in under a year and a half. Letting chaos run rampant as ITA and JPN took their opportunity - millions dying as a result.
Unfortunately, it's a lesson we did not learn, don't declare wars you are not prepared for! It could cost you a quarter of the Earth's surface, and a world war.
Britain has been living in a king arthur wet dream fantasy ever since the normans fucked off to the mainland. Even back then, the Normans knew britishers on the island are pure cringe. A people used to suckling onto greater powers. Even imaginary ones. As long as they are britisher and on the main island they are cool.
What's that? The fires crackling? The muslims are rap3ing? That's just the sound of a right and proper britisher honoring king queen and country.
As a former American soldier who served in Cold War Germany, I had heard that the British Soldiers could stand up bravely against any foe with the sole exception of the UK Ministry of Defense.
That's brilliant as a Brit your right. Nearly as good as when Churchill said America will always do the right thing after its explored every other alternative and He did not know Mike Johnson
" Class "
Yet they cant even stand up against those that control them 🤣
It will soon become Britishtan😂
@@JohnMackenzieInverness the right thing for the American people is focus inward….not Ukraine..an non-treaty ally.
'Nobody loves a soldier untill the enemy is at the gate'
And when the enemy has been defeated the love goes away again and everybody forget what all the fuzz was about.
Things are going down, there is a drop in civilisation, but for army is good, no soldiers no army equal no war, no point to fight for corrupt gov, for people don't care about others, times for war is gone, can't go to war without food or with depressed soldiers, is recession of everything including people, gov spends for weapons, is this good? Next step if you run out of food can chew grenades, bullets, rockets. World is not ready for war, people can hardly walk with no gear on, many are overweight and in bad shape or in bad health condition and medical system is collapsing if anyone chooses to fight for them there is no medical assistance. They don't care about what is broken or need money to fix, they try to save money on everything. When someone decided that we are too many you should know that is a genocide coming and anyone take part of this will be a victim.
the enemy is in the country and there doing nothing
NATO is the enemy
Exactly @@kopynd1
My annoyance with the British Army is over the past 5 years they have refused over 250,000 people on medical grounds (this has been confirmed by news sources, the Guardian). I personally had an ACL reconstruction to which I got refused because of that. Even though I can out run, easily conduct soldier like physical activities. I am currently a firefighter now and have had zero issues.
I was rejected on medical terms. Supposedly I had wolff white syndrome, I've been checked over twice since then by 2 different doctors at 2 different facilities, both have said there is no condition and my health is flawless. And to think these are the medical professionals looking after our armed forces 🤯
@@jakewhite9179 yep and the funny thing is once you’re in they’re so relaxed with medical. I’ve spoken to a few people who sustained the same injury as me whilst being in the Army and they’re still operational. It’s been in talks for years to make the medical less strict idk why the Army haven’t yet.
People also failed on computer test and people pull out wait programs it take to long get in , the MOD need change the way get in and actually rebuild the military
I hear you I tried getting in in 08 I spent 3-1/2 years in the queen’s (pre-pwrr) (felbridge) as a cadet the careers sgt really wanted me in knowing I’m up to speed on identifying arses and elbows yup you’ve guessed it failed med on childhood epilepsy last fit was 7 mod’s cutoff is 5 also few months on antideps when sis died instead spent the last 22 fitting truck/plant tyres one of my customers being the mod ironically
Disgusting - more like Unprofessionals.@@jakewhite9179
British government *removes military commitment bonus, drastically reduces military pension, spends money contracting out jobs instead of using already trained personel*
Also the British government - "Why is everybody leaving the military?"
Dont forget they wont kick you out if youre biffed, if they do so they have to pay you full pension, even if youve only done 4 year. Instead they stick you in MT and make you so miserable you sign off in 3 months and they avoid a pension and compensation. A great system 😁
At least the soldiers still have better benefits than the civil servants!!!
How about 10 years only to be advised that a year as a boy soldier was not counted, so no pension! Best is that the man only spent 1/2 year as a boy soldier and was transferred to the battalion at age 16!@@cammymillard7385
@@cammymillard7385what does biffed and MT mean?
@@daggy6683 Broken and Motor Transport
Crazy how France and Poland are the ONLY ones in Europe prepared for war this time on round 3. 💀 What a time to be alive.
It might be good to clear things up a bit, Finland has quite a capable defense force, the peacetime army is admittedly small, but we have 870,000 trained reservists and the largest artillery in Western Europe (bigger than Poland, Germany and France combined) although there are only 5.5 million inhabitants, 21,000 conscripts are trained every year According to studies, the desire for national defense is also the highest in Europe, eight out of ten people are ready to defend the country against a superior enemy, our air force is not terribly bad either, and our fleet is designed especially for the Baltic Sea archipelago, our underwater radar system is also one of the most advanced in the world
They learned their lesson.
@@Finnishguy777 Russians stand no chance against a prepared Finlad. 🙏
Poland is not "prepared for war".
That's why they are going to increase their stock within the next 10 years.
Not sure about France either.
@@Finnishguy777 also a huge number of men, who were not given the training at peacetime but are still ready and waiting to get trained if/when needed.
I can barely wrap my head around outsourcing recruitment to civilian contractors. I joined the U.S. Marines at 17, and the uniform was a part of the hook that drew me in.
When I joined the US Navy in 2002, I met the recruiter who was in uniform. At one point during the conversation I asked how quickly I could get in? He replied that he would have to make some calls but he could have a van at the office to pick me up that evening. I went to basic training a few months later but I still remember being amazed on how quickly they could get me sorted out.
Nice to know multiple governments have failed their first objective.
1. Keep the nation secure and its people safe.
@@itwoznotmeI don’t know, I’ve always thought men were dumber (speaking as one). For a species known for its intelligence, humans can be remarkably dumb at times.
@@itwoznotme shall we just wait for the supply chain collapse on par with the bronze age?
Seems they ensure the nation is not secure, and they do everything for everywhere else except keep the public safe
Absolutely dead right @@itwoznotme
@@itwoznotme Congrats this is the dumbest comment I’ve read all week.
Just cause a woman won’t touch you doesn’t mean everything that happens is their fault.
As someone who tried to join the army about 6 years ago, I can confirm that the application process is appalling. Imagine applying for a job, and it takes more than a year to have even a prospect of getting that job. Meanwhile you have bills to pay, rent to pay, maybe a family to feed... it's utterly ludicrous. There are plenty of people like myself who wanted to serve but just could not reconcile the application process with real life needs. The government has been grossly incompetent in ensuring this country is adequately defended.
Didn't they PRIVATISE the recruitment process leading to the LOWEST recruitment rates ever!
@@trevorhart545 Yes because this company, Capita or whatever, has made it so you can ONLY apply online. The website at the time was broke so it took months for them to even register that I had applied. Then apparently my application just goes into some database where it sits for more months while no one does anything with it. Every time you call they just tell you to wait longer. If you ask how long it will take, they'll say they don't know. I dunno if it's still as bad now as it was then but I assume it is given the continued shortage of thousands of recruits each year.
@@someguy3766 currently awaiting progress in my RAF application. Can confirm it still takes up to a year.
Who were you serving? What are you defending, If you got cancer you be lucky to be treated in the next 2 months. You were joining a force of mercenaries that serve the interest of the elite. They invaded or bombed countries like Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan, destabilizing huge areas and causing mass immigration. So please don't say you wanted to serve the population of this country, you wanted to serve the people who control them.
You cannot tell me at my age this is not deliberate on someones part.
Four generations of my family have been armed services at one time or another. I have heard all the Fubars,this is beyond the pale to an old civvy who has known a pretty slick military all his life.
Why would you fight for a country that doesn’t even care about you! I wouldn’t dare fight for anyone of them
This is everyone’s go to comment, but it’s not always about that as an example I’m joining because I am born for it, born in a military family, grew up with a military ish childhood. I’m joining because I feel an incredibly powerful urge to fight, could be for any country, any branch doesn’t make a difference 🤷🏾♂️
@@Wintr66 In the UK successive governments have siphoned money to their friends, destroyed industries, presided over increases in crime and poverty, allowed the degradation of infrastructure, allowed immigration toe get out of control and trigger a population issues, fail to achieve sufficient housing supply. This country has been a failure for years and shows no signs of life getting better for people. Just people playing the game of carer politics and who would ever want to fight for that? I'd rather stand and watch it all burn down.
@@Wintr66 why not become a cage fighter instead? or a boxer?
@@Wintr66 a cage fighter could be a good career path for you instead if you wanted another option because if you are already trained, you have some knowledge on cqc that can be adapted to a cage environment in mma if you mix it into boxing/thai boxing and use your military grappling/throwing they teach you in that for takedowns and submissions etc.
@@floyddean-dp4wi I thought about it, quite hard in fact, but I came to a conclusion eventually; Soldiers, no matter from which country, all fight to protect their country and everything it contains, whereas boxers, mma fighters even Muey Tai they fight for glory and respect, that’s not something I can get behind, the world is losing its shit and no one is doing anything about it, I’m not arrogant enough to save the world but I sure as fuck can save those close to me 🙏🏾
thank you for being the only channel ive seen that posts the answer in the thumbnail or title. A lot of channels tend to explain things in a manner that is avoidant
I recently served in the Royal Navy and one thing that always bothered me was the truly enormous markup on small equipment and components. It's a world where a plastic handheld phone with a beeper, 2 wires and a small circuit board that probably costs 50p to manufacture warrants a near £1,500 price tag, or a £600 bolt that is "nuclear certified" when you can go grab by a pack of 10 from screw fix for a fiver. Military contractors like babcock charge this much because they know the government will pay it because of contracts and bureaucracy
Shipyards were like that with the RN till they were shown the construction costs in the Royal Dockyards.
This is why Russia builds everything with state companies in house.
How ignorant!
Military grade bolts cannot be replaced with Screwfix ‘Chineseium’ bolts. Tensile strength and overall material quality can be paramount in many military applications.
Not sure if you're being facetious or not. But it is the same in the US of A. The M4A1 issued to me as a young Soldier isn't as good of quality as the one I built for fun after my rotation. Even the optics are quickly being outclassed by the modern optics market. I can buy a SIG red dot that is $200 cheaper with a longer battery life and just as much glow as the CCO issued to me. Who says the government doesn't buy "chinesium" anyways? How closely does the GAO, or whatever you have in the UK, actually look? We just had a scandal in the US of a contractor defrauding the US Army to the tune of tens of millions. I wouldn't be surprised if many subcontractors are buying components from China. The entire joint arms industry from the US to Germany is a giant racket. Has been for years once globalization became a thing. Hell, how much money are most of our mutual politicians have invested in China? I'm not saying it is hopeless, but we seriously need to clean house. At least for me, it means less government middle managers that all have their fingers in a big corruption pie.@@turbolevo8703
The UK seems to be run by the banks and a selfish government. I have no idea how anyone who doesn't work for the government or the banks can afford to do anything here. All the taxes and how all services can raise their rates even in the middle of a contract.
I come from a British military family. I'd never join the military willingly. I've seen how the government and military treat veterans. It's disgusting. If they want to fix the man power problem, they need to increase army wages and actually look after veterans who risked their lives for their country!
Bullshit. They rarely do their job for their wages. Please join the queue of "I almost joined".
Pretty sure if they didn't do their job they would be dishonorably discharged. And I never said that I "nearly joined" genius. All I said was that I've seen firsthand how veterans are treated and from a really young age. Never wanted to join an organisation that treats people like that. Why would I nearly join? Learn to read.
Absolutely! Many of the Vets who have been medically discharged could easily still be there in non-combat duties such as clerical, stores, etc. which would leave combat duties for those who qualify. Win-Win situation for all and keep the numbers up.
Both my grandfathers fought in WW2. They were peacetime regulars though. When they were demobed, they were thrown away like so much garbage. My father fought in Korea 1950. Another waste of youth. You enlist, you need to see a shrink.
Best they can do is DEI programs bud. Why actually improve soldiers lives when you can pander to a hyper minority?
Amazing how someone thought privatizing the military recruitment process was a good idea.
They only thought it was a good idea because their friends at Capita would make lots of money from it (£1bn!) and a fair chunk of that money would flow back to them. Corruption plain and simple.
Objective. Relevant. I love you guys
We have more people on the terror watchlist than we do front line soldiers...
Will my country's values and culture be better preserved as a vassal of Russia or as an Islamic caliphate?
🤔🤔🤔
Russia doesn't seems that bad after all. 🤣
10x invade with government collaboration each year than native births. To denuclearise before the official islamic terror state takeover is the only responsibility the British people owe the future if anything at all.
mean tweets and butter knives is the british equivalent to americas mass shooting crisis
@angeloluna529 at least thoss don't kill people daily.
@@Mark-gd2ti go dream about, i will still be Amrican puppet then Russian or Chainse puppets (whos track record show that they are much worse then US puppets in last 100 years, ask Vietnam or Georgia)
As a Canadian 🇨🇦 from across the pond, all this sounds remarkably familiar. A bloated bureaucratic procurement process, poor housing supply, recruitment issues, and austerity measures by the government. Our British heritage is certainly showing!
A suprise considering we're a "post national state"
It is the common thread in military procurement. Nothing is more expensive. Nowhere do you see more backroom agendas and dirty deals. And all protected from public oversight, because "national security".
Second 🇨🇦 here. You are bang on.
I second that as well 🇨🇦
It’s unfortunate. It seems our society doesn’t understand the value of being able to protect oneself
@@philippefutureboy7348 _'It seems our society... '_
That 'society' is comprised of Canadian peoplekind, right? Given Canada has under invested since 1973 (1.83% that year during the Cold War, so collecting the post-Cold War peace dividend almost two decades before the USSR collapsed), I think we can reasonably deduce Canada does not GAF about Nato. They talk a big game 'We stand beside our _______ brothers', they rest of their grandfathers' WWII & Korea laurels, and they post their flags (always with the flags - if only they were lethal!) but when it comes to opening their wallets they're very miserly. Yours is a cosplay country more interested in optics and public opinion whilst dodging burdens.
No respect. Undeserving of it.
Excellent video! Thanks!
Consultancy firms are the bane of every public institution.
What the heck do they know...probably if they saw a rifle they would be in the bunker hiding. Not only that the cowards would expect to be defended by those they dissed! I tell those folks to leave their name and address and our soldiers will be sure by bypass them!
You know what's even more sad.
While discussing the incredibly lackluster power of the current British military, it's still them and France who we'd expect to do the heavy lifting.
People don't even expect anything from Germany anymore, that's arguably even sadder. "Oh yeah the Germans, whatever, they'll bureaucratically discuss whether or not to fire this singular 556 or not for multiple months."
Totally agree
What would you expect ? Germans have been systemathecally been indoctrinated against selfdefense since 1945 (for partly good reasons) and the the complete left wing government puts the well being of people "who not have being living in Germany for a long time " (to quote Mrs.Merkel) way ahead of the own citizens. WHO tf should defend this country ? And the UK spits metaphorically into the face of every white soldier with the "DEI" shit they have been running with. You may think that non white, non male citizens will join the ranks in numbers if required, but I think differently...
To be fair to them, much of Germany’s hesitation to bolster its military comes from it acknowledging its egregious role in the past two world wars. Added to that, their constitution is very firm on ensuring peace and avoiding acts of war. Also, every time they have even mentioned investing a little more into their military, just look at what the tabloids of every neighbouring country has had to say. GERMANY PREPARES FOR WAR AGAIN!!! Absolute fear-mongering bs. But on an international level it has been very difficult for them to represent. We cannot forget this previous context when we now are lambasting them for not investing enough. I do hope that their talk about getting serious is going to turn into concrete action though as they are an incredibly important and capable ally.
Britain fucked up way too badly in assuming that any conflict they entered, they would undoubtedly have the full support of the American Military, allowing them to maintain the strategic defense in depth with their navy. Poland, Belgium and many more countries would warn against such reliance, as historically, the true "powers" in war don't enter unless they become personally affected. The UK should have got the message back when they worked with the French and Israel to try and take back the Suez Canal. France isn't suffering the same issues, AFAIK, as they have a much deeper cultural experience with war and defense due to their constant feuds, not only at sea with Great Britain and Spain but on land against Prussia, Austria and other German States.
I don't have much of an opinion on The UK leaving The EU, but I fail to see how leaving did anything but hurt their military and defense capabilities.
Well thats just the status quo. We haven't forgotten that germany is played pacist for the longest time after WW2. People know that so they don't expect as much from germany regardless of the size of its economy. Now is the time for germany to step up and surprise everyone. However many don't expect germany to fill the void, because that hasn't been their role in the past.
Let's no gIoss over the fact that the government is hardIy endearing itseIf to the demographics most IikeIy to enIist to begin with. One can't reaIIy expect patriotism to be ubiquitous when disIiking the country becomes a normaIized teenage pastime.
Couldn't agree more
Yes shurley the newly arived will sacrifice their life for another country they have no claim to. Surely the muslims will fight their former countrymen and families. More multicultural ism pleaze
How has it been normalised? I've not come across said teens. Are you localing some radical joint?
My thoughts exactly while watching this. The anti-nationalism left really seems to suddenly want a bunch of nationalist to defend them 😂
@@dallysinghson5569 How many young Tories have you come across? They're as rare as rocking horse shit and for good reason, Tory policy has shafted the young.
I wouldn't agree that disliking the country has become a national pasttime, but disliking the Tory government most certainly has been.
First video I've seen from this guy - brilliant summary!
Being a former soldier it’s sad to see the state of our military, I work in the local recruiting office in Portsmouth when Captia came in the amount of good recruits we turned away was shocking. When I joined in 2006 I was in training within 3 month.
First, we need to make sure the country is worth fighting for. The way it's going, I wouldn't bet on it.
Spot on ....I’m an ex squaddie ....no way I’d of enlisted today ...country is a shit show.
No less of a shitshow thanks to export of war and import of refugees from the countries your country helped fuck up.@@Wisemonkeyuk
A lot of the country is just a melting pot of every nationality going with no cohesive community no one wants to put their life on the line and fight for an economic zone with no borders and national pride/identity
Those in power shit on us, disgard us as rubbish, and sadly we now have a nanny state, which means children fill the country, children, so not fit to face any foe, whilst immigrants would flee, block road out of the country, and ports and airports
as a dude inside the army, it's been this way for years. Cutbacks everywhere and less recruiting numbers plus dropped joining standards have changed this army hugely in just the 12 years i've been in.
Edit* didn't spot my spelling mistake. Effed up bigly there
US Navy doesn't even require a hs diploma or G.E.D anymore, as long as you 'pass' the written military placement test, they'll let you in now.
I have a few members of my family leave the Army within the last few years. 1 was a particularly high-ranking Officer too. They all had the same complaint... The new people coming into the Army are the absolute bottom of the barrel and shouldn't be in the Army at all. When they complained to the higher-ups in their regiments, they were told to shut up and get on with it.
Then there's the usual complaints of old, crap kit, no support for families and general low morale all through the Army.
All 3 left and re-trained into other jobs. None of them will go back and they don't recommend others join.
It's quite disappointing to see how their ambitions within the Army were all destroyed.
And from what I understand, it's not a 'let's just throw more money at this' problem, as the UK has the second highest military budget in NATO (only behind the US). It's how badly managed it is, which in turn makes it into a blackhole 😅
@@howareyoualiveifyoudonteatbeef exactly this, like most of our societal problems now, any dissenters are shut up quickly
@@marrybichaelmore3372 yup, unfortunately, I work in a big public sector organisation and I know that I can't open my mouth. We are told that there is whistleblower protection and so on... But nobody believes them. The last time someone tried to raise concerns... They got sacked for something really inconsequential and it seemed like punishment for them complaining.
I do worry about the future security of Britain. I think we're in a death spiral and only radical reforms can change our imminent destruction but it seems everyone is either too scared to do anything or there's total apathy towards our future.
Excellent analysis!
over £50 billion spent every year, but the personnel is shrinking and the equipment isn't being developed....could it be that private arms contracts are draining public funds via the defence budget? This same model applies to housing, hospitals, schools, and all publicly funded infrastructure
I'm from the Netherlands and one of main problems getting personnel is the lousy pay. Sometimes people earn more at McDonald's. You don't attract people that way.
The British army had a major recruitment campaign several years ago. Big colourful advertising right across the sides of our double-decker buses, here in Edinburgh. Somewhat undermined by the tiny notice in the rear window stating that they were looking for new bus drivers, starting pay several £1000s more than that for an infantryman...
I'm from New Zealand and I've heard plenty about us also having a pay problem in our military. It seems to be a widespread problem.
@@Hammerheadcruiser depends. The german army has 40% of its budget in personal cost.
The regular soldier earns alot more than a UK soldier.
The problem is not only pay, but housing, equipment, personal equipment etc.
when 90% of the equipment your army uses is 30+ years old and people have to buy their body armor etc themselves, they will leave service
We have similar problems in the US. There are many military families in the line at food banks to help keep food on the table. Then there are problems veterans have getting benefits they've earned, especially medical care.
But there are other benefits surely? Free housing and board, free education etc? I understand its not enough for someone out to buy a house and start a family, but when youre 18, a bit out of possibilities and just starting out, a service term should be a good way to start up.
Why people gonna fight for a country who says you're the problem?
Don't worry they will come out with a new statement right before the invasion praising you and your courage just as you are about to face a barrage of artillery shells.
Surely that will rectify decades of calling you all kinda names.
They'll stand behind you, a thousand miles behind you. (almost a Black Adder quote)
Who’s said you’re the problem?
@@jamiebee1231 The government pretty much.
Most folk from out of Britain don't seem to really realise the true depth of the disconnect between the British government, as well as the folks in charge of all these important decisions, vs the people living here, day by day.
There's this horrible sense of apathy of late and a complete lack of care, consideration, or understanding.
Feels like we're stagnating.
(And I mean, look, we've always made jokes about how we hate our government, how they don't care, blah, blah, but it's I don't really know, it's somehow worse lately...)
Remember how many times the guy in the video said those bad choices were made intentionally?
It wouldn't take much for me to personally believe that they're doing it to line their own pockets, whilst everyone else suffers and burns.
They make dumb choices that even a child can tell won't turn out right, they're supposed to be qualified to be making those decisions, why then do you think they're still being made?
They don't care.
Genuinely.
And it's kinda scary.
Feels like we're regressing as of late.
A promising future is looking less and less likely for the younger folks and the future seems to be becoming so much more uncertain as of late.
All I hear lately from people is how much everyone is financially struggling, and all these silly changes, that keep being put in place by the government, large businesses, and certain public services sectors, which is only compounding the issues and making it worse.
Got a brother in the military and they're thinking of settling down and leaving, I didn't know our military had problems this bad, i wonder how they feel now, i wonder if they know what's going on internally? I wonder if that may have influenced them to leave sooner rather than later?
I'll have to ask sometime if they were aware at all.
african and asian youth can fight for the country they've been given, as an actual english guy it's nothign to do with me it's not my country im white
Well, they aren't exactly wrong about that statement
2:46 What’s mad is the Uk is great at surveying their own population yet doesn’t have good enough surveillance?!
Maybe they need to stop trying to thought police their own population into submission and focus on protecting their own citizens they’d be better prepared for a war.
I love it when a thumbnail of a video answers the video’s title question.
As an American and a veteran, it is absurd to me that any military would do recruitment via call center. Holy crap.
Hey, I’m an American had brief interest in serving so I filled out the application for the Navy at my school…
Dude, they called every. day. Multiple times a day. It was like getting calls from a crazy ex lol. Pretty sure call centers are being used for recruitment in the U.S, too, or at least that’s just my experience.
if you walked through the streets of London with a union jack, or st georges cross flag. its very likely you would be arrested for inciting hatred.
No one wants to fight for that.
If Tories can outsource something so that another Tory can profit from it they will do it.
Yeah IT is better the put recruitment offices next to schools and send 18-19-20s years old kids on the wars beeing afraid of domino effect in Vietnam or wanting cheaper gas from Iraq. You americans and your high horse.
The UK outsources all of it's important work to third parties, it has been happening throuought the goverment for years. It the main reason for so much decline in public services and our armed forces over the last two decades, traded in for pure greed.
Why fight for a country that won’t fight for you?
That and is trying to ethnically replace you.
Get off your arse, stop waiting for handouts, and fight for yourself
That true patiostim
@@richardhenderson1902Fighting for yourself just means running away from a war
@@ryeguy7941 Looking at the comments from those like you, seems deserved. Nothing but Sky/Fox "entertainment" network scapegoating nonsense.
Why would I fight for a country and government that treats me like crap.
Fighting for our children/ wives / country.
@@TritionoblivionBut being deployed overseas for a BS, staged war? nope.
You don't fight for the government. You fight for your family and the people next to you.
Fr this country and government is trash and they turn around to ask us why no one is joining the military 😂
My buddy who is in the army told me that it is the worst mistake he ever made, thankfully he is leaving this year.
This comment is a cowards loophole, you fight to protect the ones you love yes, like family, friends and so on but if you really wanted to fight for these things, country, government, pride, whatever other bullshit they use as propaganda. You go to fight, whose side doesn’t matter
Excellent stuff.
To put the numbers in perspective, Wembley stadium holds 90,000 people.😢
The army with reserves is just over 100,000 however it’s nothing to brag about.
Well, only about half are fit for active service... Many are too old and overweight; most of the others don't have the skills required for a modern armed forces. You sack the majority and it would make no difference to capability.
@@csvickers151The UK as an island nation with worldwide strategic objectives has a little bit different set of priorities than continental countries worried about being invaded by ground forces. Their army must be able to deploy quicky to any which one of whole lot of places. I think it would be better to think of them as a naval power with an expeditionary army. This is actually a beneficial aspect from the point of view of their allies who might need a quick deployment for their help. The tiny Baltic countries for example, or difficult to reach northern Norway for another.
On the other hand, countries bordering Russia that are expecting a huge ground war on their own turf as the most likely scenario tend to priorize the army. Finland for example has a bigger reserve army than the UK, which to some is surprising given the much smaller size of the country, and a much bigger total pool of reservists with military training. It also has according to public information prior to 2022 more things like main battle tanks and artillery pieces in service. Poland is also increasing the size of its military and especially purchasing a huge amount of new war material for comprehensive mechanization of their military. It is not the biggest country in Europe either nor the richest exactly.
I think the changing demographics and cultural changes going on in the UK are a big part. You wave a St George Cross in London and ppl call you a white supremacist. Also, European countries love talking shit about the UK even though we have come at a considerable cost in life to help during multiple wars to help keep Europe free. And in return Europe treats us like scum. Maybe Europe should look after itself.
@@herptek this I know however it takes us months to deploy a division not weeks. Even for expeditionary force it’s too small to effectively deploy quickly and alone.
I once applied to join the Royal Navy. I was accepted in the end, but the application process took over two years! My life had changed so much in that time that I had simply lost the feeling, I had other stuff on - I’d moved to a new city, had a job that I liked, a new girlfriend. I turned it down in the end.
If they’d have just hurried the process along a bit, I’d have joined. It really shouldn’t take that long.
Well thank your lucky stars the application process took that long. Otherwise you would've missed moving to a new city with a job your like and a new girlfriend
@@4rct1c9Ic3m4n very true, although I don’t live there anymore, don’t work there any more, and she dumped me yonks ago, haha!
Two years is insane. Like you said, a lot can change in that time.
A depressingly common story.
I know many people that grew up in military housing and Yh it is possibly the worst kind of housing you can be in, except maybe a hole in the ground.
What you mentioned just before this seems to be a systemic issue. The government doesn’t want to run anything themselves, they give it to outsourced companies who don’t have the passion or care for the service they’re providing. To them it’s just a contract they’re being paid for, and they know the contract will be renewed because it’s the governments easiest option
15:18 That frigate shown is actually the Danish naval frigate HDMS Iver Huidtfeldt. It was recently deployed to the Red Sea as part of Prosperity Guardian.
An analysis of the Danish Navy/Forsvaret in general would be a pretty sweet video. The Sirius Patrulje is pretty badass in its own right (and King Frederik X is a frogman too).
I joined the Army in 2007 an left in 2020 after exactly 13 years. The removal of things like commitment bonuses for retention, the outsourcing of recruitment, and the accommodation infrastructure maintenance have been, from the average soldier's POV catastrophic. Bring back traditional approaches to these areas and you'll get the lads in that will want to be and stay in.
Thank you for your service 🤝 I truly mean it
You only had 7 more years until retirement though right?
@@d2h655 The British Army has a contract of 22 years before retirement.
@@jamconsi590 oh sorry
You look like MrBallen
Ah good old Crapita. I'd passed all the entrance tests, all I had left was the fitness weekend. Took them an entire year to let me know they could book me a slot but that because it had been so long I'd have to redo all the steps I'd already completed because they'd lapsed. The irony is the Army was doing a recruitment drive at the time so no wonder they're losing numbers with Crapita taking care of it for them 😂
No! Retain them on condition that you accept a token with a British monarch's head on it on entry to their office and you return weekly to take the amount due to a first year trainee.
In other words, if you can fight or otherwise gain entry to their office you are on the payroll. Except that they have to pay you till the Service takes you over.
Crapita takes care o making sure they have insufficient recruits by backing off people like you using the method you described. There are many stories like yours. It's how they're running down manpower while pretending there's a recruitment crisis. It's engineered by govt. When the military said crapita is a disaster govt renewed it for 2024. It's deliberate.
@@myparceltape1169good luck with that
Honestly everything that company touches turns to s**t. How they keep getting extremely lucrative contracts like this, I genuinely don’t know.
@@cobbler9113 Because they're doing a job of crushing recruitment as shown in the top comment. The govt then says the armed forces are disappearing because of a lack of recruits. The navy said what a disaster crapita has been in turning away an uptick in new recruits when they were getting them in 2023 and the govt renewed it for 2024. They're running down the services using crapita. I left a comment on it but it got deleted.
As a polish person it makes me glow whenever Poland get complimented
If it hadnt been for Polish fighter pilots in WW2 supporting British pilots, the battle of Britain would have been lost! Polish pilots had more kills than anyone !
So it goads me when i hear ppl moan about polish people coming to work in Britain! We have freedom because of your citizens!
Well balanced reporting.
My friend's son has just joined the Navy and I'm ashamed to say that he has to go to the next block to get hot water to shower and a working fridge!
It builds character . It’s the military not a paean contest
Damn! He should have it much better since he's putting his life on the line here.
Weird. When my grandfather went to the south pacific in ww2 he never complained about the refrigerators...
@@Xlapiranaprx
When people are joining the military for the sake of a job rather than because of ideological reasons, they care about having creature comforts.
@@Xlapiranaprx This is why so many are eager to join and, "Build Character"
All that dedication just to get paid comparable wage to someone at a fastfood place. In this economy?
Everybody is slowly turning to a wartime economy. France, Russia, China, etc. Eerily similar to the events before WW2.
Tensions still aren't nearly as high as they were during the cold war. People have just forgotten what it felt like for your country to feel threatened again.
It will never happen though.
The west has crippled itself with debt over the last 30 years. A wartime economy will raise that debt massively. Servicing that debt takes a huge amount out of tax revenue, which means more and more cuts to public services.
If Britain had the money it would have invested it in the armed forces.
The state of your armed forces and the country's national debt is a good indication of how your country's economy is actually doing.
Britain's national debt sits at £3 trillion.
@@bubba842I'm not fresh enough on history to remember how it played out, but I do remember the world's war recessions were directly solved by the world wars. The productions eventually paid for themselves as demands were unavoidable and nobody was actually willing to leave our trade markets and leave us to dry as we were leaders in both the military and the resource markets
It’ll go nuclear before the trenches are dug. The margin for error in such an all out war is so high that it’s unlikely that someone wouldn’t fire a warhead and by default someone will fire back.
@@bubba842 and What about the national debt in the east? Why are you so biased and cherry picking your information?
Just think it's bad that we had the harrier retired as we ordered the two aircraft carriers. So we went from about 3 squadrons worth of Jets a 3 carriers to 2 super carriers with an order of F35's that can only fill up one of the new carriers only which are also shared between both navy and air force.
The nimrod program was halted after spending £10m and scrapped just to wait over 10 years for it's replacement with 9 aircraft down from over 20 for the same price as continuing the upgrade nimrod program.
The there's the E3D sentry replacement with those E7 wedge tails. So we went from 7 to 5 then cut to 3. 🙃
Got to respect the guy, being a Brit himself, yet making this video and admitting faults in his country without sugarcoating anything. 👏👏
UK plan be like: Hello United States of America, we followed you into Iraq the 2nd time too, so..
We can’t be like the USA because they were never in a world war Warzone which crippled our empire ! Being involved is completely different
The US leadership could radically change every 4 years. It’s very idiotic to depend on America because they can turn isolationist very quickly and cut off any military support
@@Then.72Meanwhile Germany that was just rubble back then and is more successful
@@dioniscaraus6124 Germany wouldn’t taken the UK if you remember the Battle of Britain but what was wrong with the war was our technology was given to the USA who wasn’t in the Warzone
Yall know America will fight for yall so
Well done. Spot on report. Totally agree. I did 24 years in the Regular Army. I must reiterate, its not all about money. Poor quality recruitment methods and poor levels of retention = Poor moral and effectiveness of its people = A corrosive/rotting problem = Todays British Military reality.
As a Brit with a massive interest in military history and warfare, nothing short of a full invasion would make me even consider joining up. I've known a few people over recent years who are or were in the armed forces and the things I have heard are absolutely disgusting, for example, a corporal taking the rank and file out on night out to the pub and handing them coke and encouraging them to have some knowing there was a suprise drug test the next day. It makes me so sad that a country with such a strong military history has fallen so far but it's just one of many ways that politicians have destroyed this once great nation and I don't see it stopping anytime soon
In regard to recruitment. I remember when I joined up at 18, I walked into the office, had a chat, did a little test. 6 weeks later I was in Catterick doing my BFT. Even in those 6 weeks, I was starting to wonder if I made the right decision. I can't imagine having to wait a year....
"The biggest enemy to the British soldier is HM treasury." 1st Duke of Wellington. nothing new
AND the Ministry of Defence!
' Your kit is as good as the cheapest quote laddie.'
Jesus even then
@@philiprufus4427 Murphy’s law
I served as an Officer in the RN for 18 years, leaving in 2013.
Because we were not combat effective then. And we certainly aren't now.
And to be honest, as a lower middle class white male, I wouldn't risk my life to defend the regime and state of the country anyway.
I agree with you 💯 👍
Served 5 years in the RN. The rot started when females were allowed at sea.
Same, served on Fearless. What would we be fighting for? Diversity?
Maybe the reason that you weren’t combat effective is because you weren’t willing to fight for a country that has brown people in it
@@Doomer1984 Maybe ignore the dogwhistles the toffs use to keep you apart from your fellow low-income citizens and look out for each other.
Note that the decline here and in the UK's government services overall came about under Tory rule... They might like to say it's because of migrants, or Europe, or whatever, but truth of the matter is that the rich saw an excuse to claim more of the pie for themselves and are leaving everyone else with the scraps, using fear and bigotry to keep the spotlight away from just how culpable they are for the UK's sorry state of affairs.
In Austria, the Ajax is called Pandur, and very recently the defense ministres announced ~220 new ones will be purchased
Successive government's have relied on "force multipliers" i.e. more capable platforms to replace older equipment with fewer replacements. But they've taken the concept too far and reduced the number of platforms to an unacceptable level. More capable platforms cannot be in two places at once and something that replaces (say) three of a previous platform levels a big hole if it's destroyed, or spends longer in repair because it's more complicated. In WW2 the Sherman tank was an inferior platform, but it helped win the war by being available in numbers that overwhelmed an enemy that had superior tanks that weren't available in big enough numbers and were so complex they always broke down. We've forgotten the principle of providing adequate platforms in large numbers but instead pour money into low numbers of over-complicated platforms.
Think Britain needs to do a lot of work in having a country that the native population think is worth defending. Im not potentially dying for Economic Zone One, or another random country half way across the world
Especially when it sucks off the illegal gimmeigrates
This "economic zone" argument is a relatively new thing I'm hearing. Where did you get this from and why?
Curious
Also the UK left an economic zone so you've got some explaining to do
@@dallysinghson5569 Well, London isn't british anymore and you have a paki scottish pm and a indian english one working on partitioning the UK, Churchill would turn could if he saw modern london
@dallysinghson5569 The economic zone is the abolition of the nation state, a geographic region characterized with many different people with no set culture, no community cohesion, low living standards and that its existence is only for the making of profits for international corporations.
"Lions led by donkeys" is a saying from World War II, which is still relevant today.
Is a saying from WWl
@@andrewgeddes2103 Either way, the fact it's applicable to the UK today is a sobering and saddening thought.
The British hiding on the island trained the Ukrainians who captured Berlin.
Saying during Mongol Empire aswell
It's a saying from.1960s about ww1....
An important video that everyone involved in UK leadership (military and political) needs to hear. Given all the recent chatter about conscription, it sounds like someone has made that choice about the future of the British armed forces already which is a very sad turn of events. Sitting above the question of what percentage of GDP should be spent on defence (why not 3, 4 or even 5%?) is what does Great Britain want to be? There's no vision for the future and without that, you're simply not going to find the patriotic types that will give their lives in service of the country.
Would you explain the term ‘National Service’? I thought it meant mandatory enlistment but I don’t know the details, i.e. when the program began and ended.
Up until (i think) 1962 every man had to serve 2 years in the armed forces. Some were medically unfit and sent away but most completed it.
I absolutely would not join a military that uses telemarketing to recruit me. Wth does some underpaid cubicle jockey know about the military experience?? Not to mention how telemarketers have incentive to lie to meet quotas.
They wouldn't want you anyway. So a win win on both sides!
Whatever. You’d never join up.
Wuss.
@@romanmanner At 48 years old they wouldn't have me even as a reserve. However, an extremely close family member is an Infanteer. I can tell you would never achieve that! Full of the talk but zero substance.
Plus, the pay would be absolute shit. You’re better off being at home making the munitions. 😂
@@romanmanner I spent 30 yrs with the Forces. I sure as feck wouldn't join up on the word of some shiney arsed PC jockey who had never even been in the same country as a conflict !! When I went to the recruiting office the guy behind the desk had been there done that and had the T-Shirt ...and the scars !! WTF would some wee helpdesk pilot know about it ???
I love the way you say “military spending” as you show a soldier with a camelbak back pack. Knowing they had to buy it.
7:01 that drone definitely got creamed by the IFV.
Our grandfathers fought under the British commanders in the pacific war, we fought under the British in the Malaya war,in both wars many of our fijian soldiers died but i honestly feel that the exact same reason is unfolding once again,but this time we have allowed our enemies,the communists and Islamists to carry out their attacks in our countries ,throughout our universities and schools, attacking us inside out, an attack in such a cowardly manner and we must not tolerate it..
Ditching the nuclear deterrent is beyond stupid.
I would protest
Can’t use things unless the yanks say so and have to pay for the privilege.
It's because each country in the EU focuses on their strengths. Together, they have all the bases covered. France provides the nuclear deterrent for Europe.
@@TheSnowMan-cy9tuIn reality they are still separate and have they're own interests
@@Cobrashadows That is not true in the slightest. We get them from the US but we have 100% autonomy on their use (in line with nuclear treaties of course). Otherwise we wouldn't bother.
I hate to say this but your point about the UK designing it's armed forces around the idea that it is simply a supporting arm for its allies is, more or less the current policy.
It looks that way but should not! We need them to be able to defend us and no one else.
It's the way the whole west is set up... Blindly follow the U.S for their special interests and in return rely on them to defend us if needed.
I think the UK should put a heavy emphasis on reserves as opposed to regulars. In a time of major war, the regulars are normally outnumbered by conscripts anyway. In both world wars regulars made up a tiny fraction of the fighting force. So I think having a large percentage of readily trained “civilians” would be preferable to only conscriptions. And I think more people are willing to be trained if they can also keep their higher paying civi job, and stay with family.
I’ve spent the last 10 months going through the process of applying to the RAF as a pilot, and Ive only just attended the main selection event. If I passed this (ie if Im good enough for the role) then I get thrown into the proverbial ‘hat’ and hope I’m competitive enough to be picked against the other applicants. If, after a set time, I’m not selected for training then I get rejected and that’s it, over a year of being in limbo only to be rejected. Makes me question whether I even want to be part of such an organization.
From someone within the UK military, this video hits the nail on the heads for sure. I dont think we should give up our nuclear deterrence, we do need an investment, or at least to change how we waste our money.
Capita (crapita) needs to go
Not just capita either, we need to get rid of all of the private contractors that have wormed their way into jobs in the military. We need more military engineers, caterers and other backline job roles that have been gifted to sub-standard, profit insentivised contractors.
I'm not British but I quite agree. I don't think you should get rid of your nukes, we're gonna need that deterrence.
Rejoin the EU instead and help us build an integrated army. You would be in it, and we would make a helluva team!
@@Boomerrage32 Oh God NO, rejoin the EU? So MORE bureaucracy and more middlemen people need permission from? Yikes
@@Boomerrage32rejoining the EU would mean giving up all those benefits we had negotiated in the first place before we left like keeping the pound or the rebate we had; making rejoining almost impossible negotiation-wise before you even consider the public split on that issue to overcome. besides, almost no-one in the uk thinks an EU wide millitary is a good thing, many on the left want to shrink the millitary and would see it as an expansion or completely pointless and on the right the idea of a strong and independant millitary would be completely crushed.
@@TheTfrules The contractors aren't the problem people have to create those contracts, agree to them and then ensure they are being followed. You can just as easily have sub-standard military members doing sub-standard work if there is no enforcement of standards.
As a former member of the military One of the big issues with recruitment is the medical. Young guys and girls trying to join are stopped from joining after relatively minor things that wouldn’t remove you from service if you had in service. Things like ACL replacement surgery, childhood asthma, childhood depression. On paper I understand all these however if discussed properly they don’t have to be a stoppage. Right now the tick box method of capital means it’s automatic and many do not bother appealing.
Australia is having the same issue for the same reasons. Oh you broke your leg when you were 8, you need a medical clearance that takes 8 months to get.
Ya, in the US, starting about 10 years ago, it became super chic to have your kids diagnosed with ADHD or something and then put on meds for like six months when they were 10. They now need a Surgeon General level waiver to get into the military.
Every guy in my family going back to the Boer War joined the military, but I was the first to apply as an Officer, nobody had been to Sandhurst ever in my family. I come from a working class background and remember being in a slight internal panic during the AOSB when meeting the other applicants who had done things like trek the Sahara, done bike tours of Asia, been in the Cadets and of course, all attended the best schools - Eton and so on. I had barely scraped my A levels at a town college in Rotherham, hardly prestigious, but met the minimum requirements for application. We had interviews with a Captain in turn, and I was thinking to myself "I never learned to play the Oboe so I'm basically fucked" . Instead I smashed the physicals, the interviews, the group challenges, debates and the exams. I was given a 3 month wait for the next selection board, pending my medical. The last thing I had to do was talk to an on-site Doctor; she had questions for me about a "rash" I had on my hands about 3 years prior. At that time, I'd had a reaction to something that resulted in small red but painless spots appearing on the palms of my hands - I'm sure it was after shaking hands with a particular person, as the rash started the next day. I thought it must be some kind of infection and went to the Doctor. The Doc had no idea and marked it down as a mystery, and it cleared up by itself after a week or so. That record in my medical history was enough to bar me; since they didn't know what it was , they said it could be an allergic reaction and that was enough to stop me ever joining the Army. I was completely gutted. Devastated really.
Its been 15 years and its never come back.
The Medical is what shafts us Scots mun as apparently having ADHD is a curse nowadays 🤣
@@darioxxx see I had undiagnosed ADHD and the marines was the best thing to happen to me. - ADHD is a superpower rather than a curse
I like the argument for specialization it makes sense and almost would seem a natural progression of alliance and time, Just like we have seen the same thing happen with workers for a long time. Each country in a round about way represents a individual worker in this collective or corporation of countries. With each country specializing in a certain area of warfare more so then the others, it not only strengthens the alliance as they all become reliant on each other for survival and security both physically and economically. Pushing all involved to ensure the survival of the others in the alliance.
Ex serviceman here.
I left in 2012.
A lot of people on the sick in the army as well. And it was a certain type of people who were if you catch my drift
The last time the UK had a significant armed force it also had its own coal and steel industries. The Uk also imports 46% of its food.
The UK has been importing food for a really long time which is why it built a strong navy during those times
Yeah and now we have to pay a lot more for that food as we left the EU
@@ArmUkraine Serious question?Who led that effort?Was it The Tories?Who i'm led to believe are your conservatives Sorry I don't know the names of your parties
@@drewwar9344 yes the party name is the Conservatives but they are also called the tories.
@@drewwar9344
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, had said to his party loud enough for the other parties to hear, that if re-elected he would try to renegotiate Britain's terms within the EU.
He tried. But the other leaders did not take seriously the possibility that Britain might leave.
As promised he called a referendum: Should Britain remain in the EU?
When the answer came back he felt so much of a fool that he decided to go away and make more money.
But it was not a clean break. The first settlement should have been dynamiting the Channel Tunnel. Just to point out that Britain was serious. Instead we had people getting honoured for surrendering to Cheese.
Short answer: No
Long answer: Nooooooooo
Long answer: not a chance in hell
Fixed that for ya
I can only talk on the navy as having been in it, training wise yes everyone I worked with new what they were doing. But, government have cut Spending so much yh were fucked
Maybe they just view themselves as a branch of the U.S military anyways? That's the only reason you'd be so nonchalant about your defense. To reliant. Although, I'm fully aware of how good British ground troops have performed. Much respect to them.
I fail to see how spending 1.1 Billion on a recruitment agency will save money. 🤔
There is no real shortage of men wanting to join either. A lot of it is because of corruption, so many people try to join but have to jump through so many hurdles over a long period that they just find another job. It’s capitas fault.
Look at the French Foreign Legion also, you can get in it within a day. Not over a year in some cases.
Also stuff like going to school graduation days with army signups, sending letters to houses, it’s little stuff like that.
We have big money problems. Try look up how much the government spend to repair a “low traffic” pot, which is literally just a wooden box with dirt in it, or pot holes, or how much some government departments spend to redesign their official logo and then how much more to literally change back to the original etc. then you’ll see why we have a money problem
Then check where these decision-makers are working about a decade later, and which companies they invest in!
My friend was in the Para's for 7 years, he upped and moved his family to Australia, he joined the Australian army, he got a house, he was given a massive bonus and over double the pay check. I think anyone who wants to be a soldier long term would be a fool not to consider Australia now.
Cheque.
NB cost of living in Australia is close to double that of the UK.
Trust me, double a uk soldier salary in Australia doesn't cut the mustard when it comes to the cost of living. I'll give you an example.. a six pack of beer in the uk is about £5-6, in Australia, it'll set you back $20 bucks which in British sterling is around a tenner
Fuck off there then, whos stopping you. Stop moaning and do something about it.... Yawn,
Australia is even worse off than UK….as far as the topic of the video. I watch Australian News daily.
regarding recruitment, i think that this was quite well summed up during the debate on conscription which reveal that virtually all fighting aged men in the UK come into two camps:
young immigrants who hold utterly no concern for their chosen host and would simply leave the country
young "native" men who have had decades of belittlement of patriotism and love of country and who have been so beaten down by a broken, spiteful nation that turns its back on them, that they could care less if it all burns down around them
governments are merely reaping the rewards of the complete national apathy that they have created in the culture and policy for the past 20 years, and are surprised when men who have had a pretty miserable life living and working in a country seemingly getting worse by the day, don't particularly want to die against a peer adversary to maintain the status quo of this increasingly miserable little island.
We constantly look at this topic in university as part of my course and sometimes head out to Sandhurst for lectures. One thing is for certain. The soldiers are ready. The government isn't.
I spoke with one of the UK generals on a conference for grad school. He felt the US admonition was tough brotherly love. As a US Marine I would gladly defend every inch of the UK. Highlighting where we fall short is essential. Introspection is one thing no authoritarian state has. Things aren’t good with the UK military writ large. But videos like these give me hope. No commensurate Chinese or Russian video exists
They have their own problems with it, maybe in a different form, maybe we do not hear about it as much, but it definitely exists.
Corruption, incompetence, empty hype masking deep institutional problems - just the ugly side of human nature, combined with power.
The worst thing you can say about it is that because they are tyrannies, they cover up their problems with dead bodies rather than fix them.
But then again, didn't Boeing just have one of their whistleblowers whacked, and claim it was suicide?
The UK can't do what Russia is doing now. Say what you will about Russia, but their soldiers are giving their lives to advance all along the front.
🇬🇧🤜🏻🤛🏻🇺🇸
The UK has already fallen to islam. go defend your own country at the southern border
You've hit absolutely hit everything perfectly! This is exactly why the British Military will struggle to make any realistic difference in any major conflict. We can't just rely on allies or the small number of people and equipment we have, we need to make a seriously re-arm and upgrade push to make sure we have enough of the basics, not throwing money at random projects!
Blair ordered a whole load of Trucks for the army, he did not go to a UK supplier, he went to an Austrian supplier.
Why is it a problem? If the Austrian equipment is inferior then it would be.
Will you be the first to go fight in a real war??,im sure you wont be
It's a matter of logistics and securing the maintenance and repair pipeline. Yes, the Austrian trucks may have an edge in some way, but if you need to import spare parts (tires, belts, spark plugs, etc) from overseas it can lead to a maintenance backlog. It's also dangerous because the other country may decide to ban the export of components you need, or the company may close down, or the country you're importing from could be invaded.
Keeping your military supply chain domestically located is much safer and more durable and allows the government to buy out and run the factory for the components you need, should that become necessary.
Logistics is the God of War.
~ "We can't just rely on allies " ~ .... Poor Ukraine, they can't stop hearing that now!
At a minimum, every country should be able to defend themselves, and put up a good fight for a certain amount of time.
The UK actually fares better than most of its allies in Europe, and that is not saying much. Your weaker allies should not want to start WW3 either. The reality is that almost all of UK's allies in Europe have even worse problems if we are going to be factual.
What should scare everyone is Macron/France. He has lost his mind, thinking he is capable of fighting Russia.
France has sent 40% of equipment they had to Ukraine. Most of the NATO members are a joke but what is scary is when a county like France thinks it's going to take on Russia.... what a joke… a terrifying joke! They will end up pulling in 'allies' that are not ready for war, not at all ready for WW3. Nobody wants that, nobody need its especially over Eastern Ukraine.
Russia is literally outproducing the West by itself. Russia produces more large ammo (152mm) in just 30 Minutes than France makes in 30 Days.(155) (and stop thinking Iran and North Korea are the reason for Russian production)
At the end of the day the key to war is production, if you can not produce do not get into a war. Production and Logistics rule the battlefield. Ukraine is the modern day example of why you should not go to war if you have no production.
Whoever thought Ukraine could win this war must remind themselves of the basics. A simple fact is do not go to war if you have to rely on other countries for a few years to supply money to keep your country from falling and everything needed to fight a war except men. Only a complete lunatic would go to war with a superpower and rely on 100% handouts to fight in a modern war. If you can't understand that simple point then you have issues because it is literally that simple to understand why they are not winning and why they will never win the conflict. It just will not happen, as it can not happen.
As technology progresses, and war breaks out with a high level of parity from both sides initially it actually makes the conflict regressive in certain ways. In Ukraine, with the geography, its a throwback to trench warfare. When you are stuck in trenches, large caliber ammo is your best friend and if the enemy is outgunning you 3 to 1... or in this conflict an insane amount at times, like 10 to 1 you will lose.
You can lie and say well my canons are more accurate, or after 2 full years you only lost 31K men but somehow have to recruit some 500K more, you can get PR victories, you can show enemy tanks blowing up, you can say that you shoot down 95% of all incoming missiles and drones... and even if all that was somehow true in the end you will still lose.
Time and time alone will grind everything you have down and without replacements, you will lose. As time goes forward and you use things faster than they can be made, you are done for. The reimbursements get lighter and lighter, things that get allocated in contracts have fine print, things promised take months if not years to produce. Without a large stockpile and high production your machine slows, then it gets battered and then it dies.
Ukraine has made the worst decision any country could make and to this day all it's doing is further destroying itself and its people, It's a hopeless war. Every day, Ukraine gets closer and closer to that moment where it all just comes tumbling down. It's sad because this could have been avoided and even once it started it seems like they are blind to the inevitable. I really hope that they can get some clarity with the situation they are in. Maybe they need to stop listening to the whispers of the allies telling them they can do the impossible, but they have to first realize that it is impossible while they still have a country and young men to be the future of the country.
I’ve dealt with the issue with Capita first hand after applying for the Royal Marines in 2020 it took 2 years to even get onto my selection course and having failed that I applied for the army spending an additional 15 months from applying to starting training and just left infantry training at Catterick due to an injury and have to say the training team are fantastic as are the military recruiters however another main reason people leave the army is due to the poor pay and piss poor quality of food often being raw and small portions for example breakfast would consist of one small sausage, a piece of bacon and an egg and if you get hungry during training then tough as you’re not allowed to use any of the shops or facilities until near the end of training..normally there would be on average of around 50+ recruits per company mine had only 26 and I guarantee that’s because of the ridiculous waiting times to get into the army as stated in the video even though I passed selection with flying colours I was still deferred for 6 months and apparently nearly everyone else I spoke to had the same result and until something drastically changes then we as a country are in serious trouble.
A private starts on £23,496 per year. My first job in an office doing fuck all most of the time was £27000. If they want to attract people, starting pay needs to increase to at the very least that level. They deserve much more
Last time I was this early, the UK was powerful
back when the first brit thought that trading opium was a great idea 😂
@@Samookelyit is and was a great idea...drugs make the world go round news flash.
Laughs in American pitchfork carrying, farmer.
USA USA USA USA, we're the world power now, we rule the waves, the air and everything else. We're the great power now.
We are the great power now
I was in the US navy and Army did 4 navy then switched to army, and I served with so many British servicemen and women and they’re great people, I just hope they get it fixed. After the Cold War Europe just assumed we would do the heavy lifting but we have so many issues here at home that Europe has to step up.
As I was watching this I noticed the wasteful spending is the same issue the US Navy is going through now with the LCS ship (little crappy ship).
Drachinifel did a video on the LCS. Neat.
Unfortunately the LCS was a bad example and they were trying to fix a problem that did not exist except in their own heads. But yes there's definitely a problem with overcharging. Part of the problem is the way the contracts are written and signed so the military or government ends up being responsible for over payments.
Those type of problems can 100% be fixed simply by wording the contract properly and putting incentives in for the military contractors. Otherwise they just end up prolonging things and they know that the government's going to pick up the tab.
Yeah, building the LCS to throw them away without ever allowing them to see action (because of politics), and yet still building more of them (because of politics), astonishing to the rest of us NATO nations that you have so much money to waste.
In this day and age you can not stuff that genie back in the bottle. Spending is what they know how to do and they will never stop spending more and more and even more.
What blows your mind is that with all the spending by each nation, they can't even supply 155mm ammo to Ukraine. We are talking a basic item, the backbone of a land war, and some 31 nations or more can't supply Ukraine. That is literally insane, and yet we hear the rumbling of the war drums with Iran and China... that is a damn joke!
@@gags730 As we were in 1916..
It took years to get enough munitions factories going
im and engineer on the raf's atlas force and i have to say, we do struggle for manpower and it affects our operation.
Never underestimate the British. Never.
Their fighting mentality and grit is second to none, and that’s just the citizens.
Their armed forces maybe small but their capabilities, training and experience is a force to be reckoned with.
Also armed with nuclear powered and armed defence submarines, nuclear powered attack subs, aircraft carriers, T26 destroyers, etc.
I just love how every bean counting economist points out the recruitment issues with Western militaries, but they just can't be arsed to figure out the why of it. Spoiler: the path to answering that question is a no-no subject, thus nobody broaches it.
Yup
They all know the 'why' but they couldn't care less what whitey thinks. Any white man who joins a western army is a fool.
I been in the service and people will go OH ITS DEI. Its not, the biggest issue is that people dont want to be treated like kids. The military controls your life to a way that no private company would be allowed to. Back in the day you got paid a more than a civilian due to this, Now you get paid about the same or less
My first change for the military would be instead of recruiting, for example 500 infantry and training them up and sending to random places, including 10 to bumfuck nowhere, who are going to hate it and get out ASAP or even do shit to purposely get discharged. Instead hire 10 infantry for bumfuck nowhere. They know when they complete training they will be sent there, they will stay there, they can put their kids into school, buy a house, be part of the community and know that they army isn't just going to move them thousands of KM's to another base because they can
@richardthomson4693 *uh here's a roundabout way of saying young men the stock of your fighting force are refusing to die for "democracy and hooooman wrights"*
I'm still awol from my own post
No Russian ever made me a minority in my own country
There is zero incentive to be a British soldier.
Our entire industry is dead, let alone the military.
Why fight for a government and country that despises the native population?!
But It trys to be more in inclusive. IT even has a sensibilty officer in every platoon
@@oiiouuu1247 so true!!!!!!
@@misfit1978so when times get tough don't expect an army to have your back
I served in Afghanistan.
The treatment of Marine A and the politicking that was "courageous restraint" was enough me to leave, and discourage anyone else from joining.
The way the UK treats its soldiers is nothing short of treasonous.
11:48 seriously, hearing this right now is surreal considering people applying now can wait as long as 2yrs to join.
'Money is being wasted on botched projects'
Yea that's definitely the UK alright. Just look at any project in the UK *cough* HS2
I still feel very, very angry about HS2...
They might as well piss on the money in front of our faces.
They made sure though that before it was cancelled the London got bit built.@@howareyoualiveifyoudonteatbeef
From an empire on which the sun never set to an island where the sun rarely shines.
lol. Mega
How the mighty have fallen
Very true...
Shit happens. Ask the Romans and the Mongols.
That's a funny way of saying a small island where the sun never shines ruled an empire where the sun never sets?
Its funny because you can replace "britian" with "canada" and the video would still hold up
The mind unlearns with difficulty what it has long learned.