Squeeze and then squeeze some more.............

[Saracenman]

just come across this

sm

[Nickolas]

Oh God no.


When will these F***ing idiots look at the history books??????????????

[Cluny]

And yet Billions are handed out as benifits to Chavs who have no intention of working

[Hihonyr8811]

[Xplumberlives]

Interesting, here we go again with another round of SHRINK THE FORCES!

The bases most at risk include RAF Cottesmore in Rutland and RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire, both of which will close when the Harrier fleet is retired.

[Sad Sam3]

Ouch, that's going to hurt.

Will the last man (or Woman) to leave please lock the doors and switch out the lights.

I think when I was posted to Gutersloh in 1987, the strength was 147,000.

[Mayfly]

The current size of the RAF is less than half of what is was in the height of the V Force days - times change & with new & more modern equipment is it obvious that man power will reduce IE: 1 computer can do the work of 10 admin clerks.. HOWEVER......

If they believe by shrinking the RAF voluntary before a defence review will save them from further cuts they are living in cloud cuckoo land!!!!!!

The defence budget is something like only 5% of the social security budget.

If they want a home defence force only, so be it - but don't send the troops off to police the world under staffed, under funded & under equipped!!!!!

[Hula-Hoop]

If they want a home defence force only, so be it - but don't send the troops off to police the world under staffed, under funded & under equipped!!!!!

AGREED

[Gully]

The defence budget is something like only 5% of the social security budget.

If they want a home defence force only, so be it - but don't send the troops off to police the world under staffed, under funded & under equipped!!!!!

MF for Defence Minister!!

Gully

[Xplumberlives]

The defence budget is something like only 5% of the social security budget.

If they want a home defence force only, so be it - but don't send the troops off to police the world under staffed, under funded & under equipped!!!!!

MF for Defence Minister!!

Gully

She is not tall enough for Defence!

[RLN]

Good for launching ambushes from behind the average garden hedge, though.

[Xplumberlives]

[Old Rigger]

Hi Sad Sam3, I was another one of those on 18 sqn, I remember our neighbour saying that Gutersloh must be due to close as they were spending money on fixing the drainage/buildings etc, we did laugh until we heard it was true .

We were talking today about Cottesmore and I mentioned the F35, Lightning 2 (allthough we reckon it is technically the third aircraft with that name), but most reckon that will go south to Yeovilton with the carriers, if we ever get them and the aircraft

Wittering may be another Scampton as I believe it also has to be returned to its original condition which I vaguely remember entails putting roads back to their original routes and removing residual contamination from the station grounds, apparently very costly to do.

[Sad Sam3]

Lyneham is another base that has to be returned to the original owners in the same state that it was when the RAF took it over.

Apparently the contamination goes down between 10 and 20 feet, that's going to be a lot of top soil that has to be decontaminated (bit of shame that the politicians that bought in the very restrictive rules on land fill will now have to pay out stupid amounts to recover these airfields)

I personally believe that they will close Lyneham, cram everything into Brize, let the Army into Lyneham (who will make a huge mess of it)

Then they will realise it's a huge mistake putting all your eggs in one basket, probably not long after the first Deathstar planks onto the Runway trapping half the fleet in BZN and meaning the rest can't get back in and have to divert to.... (oh nowhere left open at weekends got to go to civie airfields - oops big bill for lots of approach, also huge bill cos now have to operate from civie airfield until Brize manages to re-open)

In ten years they will then realise / admit they have made a big mistake and re-open Lyneham (and pay through the nose for the privilege.

[Nickolas]

Lyneham is another base that has to be returned to the original owners in the same state that it was when the RAF took it over.

Apparently the contamination goes down between 10 and 20 feet, that's going to be a lot of top soil that has to be decontaminated (bit of shame that the politicians that bought in the very restrictive rules on land fill will now have to pay out stupid amounts to recover these airfields)

I personally believe that they will close Lyneham, cram everything into Brize, let the Army into Lyneham (who will make a huge mess of it)

Then they will realise it's a huge mistake putting all your eggs in one basket, probably not long after the first Deathstar planks onto the Runway trapping half the fleet in BZN and meaning the rest can't get back in and have to divert to.... (oh nowhere left open at weekends got to go to civie airfields - oops big bill for lots of approach, also huge bill cos now have to operate from civie airfield until Brize manages to re-open)

In ten years they will then realise / admit they have made a big mistake and re-open Lyneham (and pay through the nose for the privilege.

We are run by a bunch of ******* Idiots..........................

[Mayfly]

The problem is the people who make these decisions are only in post for a short period of time - thus they want to make a name for themselves whilst in that post, rather than take a long term view of what is actually best for defence, the military, it's serving personnel or the country.

[Old Rigger]

Mayfly, that is so true, but it is also the same in other business arenas as well, our management tend to look at the short term in most cases and allways seem to be off the opinion that they cannot afford anything now so carry on making do, instead off looking at the long term and spending to save.

Scampton is a classic example, they moved the Reds to Cranwell and that was a debacle, now they are going to try Waddington and what have these moves cost , if they did what everyone with an ounce off brain keeps telling them, they should keep the Reds there, move BBMF there and 558 and start sending an aircraft from each type that is going out of service there and turn it into a live heritage centre, there are plenty of people out there that could handle these aircraft.

[Xplumberlives]

Scampton is a classic example, they moved the Reds to Cranwell and that was a debacle, now they are going to try Waddington and what have these moves cost , if they did what everyone with an ounce off brain keeps telling them, they should keep the Reds there, move BBMF there and 558 and start sending an aircraft from each type that is going out of service there and turn it into a live heritage centre, there are plenty of people out there that could handle these aircraft.

That is a wonderful idea, if only it could actually happen!

[Dan4th]

Due to the similarities between our respective
gummints, I feel qualified to say:

The more Sense it makes, the less Likely it is
to Actually Happen.

Sounds Great to Me, though.........

Danf.

Edit for Emphasis........

[Xplumberlives]

The more Sense it makes, the less Likely it is to actually happen.

Danf.

Amen to that!