General Sir Richard Dannatt's autobiography is entitled "Leading from the Front" but it also might equally be called "The Enemy Within". The autobiography is to be published on 16/9/10 and is being serialised in The Sunday Telegraph. The paper's Defence Correspondent Sean Rayment writes that:

The Guardian reports that an un-named former army bomb disposal expert suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has won a six-figure compensation settlement after claiming the Ministry of Defence failed to properly diagnose and treat his condition early enough. These failures left him more vulnerable to future stressful events.

In a case his lawyers claim has implications for other serving and former members of the military, the soldier claimed his condition might not have deteriorated had the army acted sooner.

One important issue in the case involved the time limit within such claims must be brought.

The Royal Navy is dangerously weak, risking the "silent principles" of the UK's national security unless the future fleet is restored and adequately sized, according to a new article in the latest Journal of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). The article claims that Britain needs at least 10 more frigates, and that ships in the current fleet were nearing the end of their useful life.

"A theorem: In matters of military contingency, the expected, precisely because it is expected, is not to be expected. Rationale: What we expect, we plan and provide for; what we plan and provide for, we thereby deter; what we deter does not happen. What does happen is what we did not deter, because we did not plan and provide for it, because we did not expect it."

In further reporting of Defence Secretary Liam Fox's speech today (13 Aug 2010), the FT says that "Britain's military top brass is to be thinned out for the first time since the end of the cold war as ministers rebalance services that are more top-heavy with officers than at any time in the 20th century":

Sir John Chilcot, Chairman of the Iraq Inquiry, has issued an open invitation to UK military personnel who served in Iraq between 2003 and 2009 to attend an event at Tidworth Garrison on 14 September. Alternatively, views in writing are also welcome.

In further reporting linked to the Strategic Defence and Security Review, The Daily Telegraph says (7 Aug 2010) that ministers and officials plan to scrap large parts of the Armed Forces.

If implemented, the cuts will mean that Britain will almost certainly depart the world stage as a major military power and become what military chiefs call a "medium-scale player".

The Press & Journal reports (16 July 2010) on further SNP-led speculation about the future of Scottish units and bases under the ongoing Strategic Defence and Security Review. The latest speculation concerns the future of The Highlanders, 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (4 SCOTS) and The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (5 SCOTS). In their present form, these two battalions were created in 2006 under the Restructuring of the Infantry, which was intended to improve stability for Scottish infantry personnel and their families.

Elfyn Llwyd MP has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) about Veterans in the Criminal Justice System:

Servicemen and women returning from active combat abroad should have access to "decompression" advice to tackle problems in readjusting to civilian life and to stem the rising numbers of veterans entering the criminal justice system, according to a group of MPs and unions, reported in The Guardian 05 Jul 2010:

The Ministry of Defence announces (02 Jul 2010) that ten years after the ban on homosexuality in the Armed Forces was lifted, the first Quad Service Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) conference is being held at the MoD's Main Building in London today. Welcome as this is, it is seen as being in stark contrast to the Ministry's ambivalent attitude to the armed forces federation, which individual personnel of any rank are permitted to join, but (unlike other businesses and support organisations) is still being denied MoD permission to visit bases and circulate information material with the willing permission of commanding officers.

Below is a Press Release issued by Mrs Catherine Smith's solicitors following the Supreme Court's decision issued on 30 Jun 2010 about whether soldiers on service abroad are entitled to any of the protections of the Human Rights Act and the European Convention of Human Rights:

The courts have decreed in a number of cases, such as the Afghan detainee case only last week, that insurgents and criminals detained by British forces in Iraq or Afghanistan are covered by the Human Rights Act. Now the UK Supreme Court has determined in the Pte Jason Smith case by a majority of 6 votes to 3 that the jurisdiction of the Act does not extend to British forces personnel on overseas missions. Part of the reasoning for that decision is that all British armed forces personnel, including compulsorily mobilised personnel like Scottish TA soldier Jason Smith, are volunteers. Giving his initial reaction to the Supreme Court's judgement issued today 30 Jun 2010, BAFF Chairman Douglas Young said that:

On a visit to HMS Ark Royal, Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged his support for the Armed Forces by announcing that the military covenant will be given the force of law in forthcoming Armed Forces legislation.

The Guardian reports (08 Jun 2010) that the head of the army during the invasion of Iraq, giving evidence at the Baha Mousa Inquiry, has delivered a withering attack on the commander of the regiment in whose custody a civilian was beaten to death:

According to a report in The Guardian newspaper, a spokeswoman for the English Defence League (EDL) has claimed majority support amongst the armed forces:

The German Radar Commission Report concluded that during the operation, maintenance and repair of radar units operated by the Bundeswehr and the former DDR's Nationale Volksarmee (NVA), exposures to ionizing radiation and high-frequency radiation can occur and that this ionizing radiation arises from stray sources such as component parts and electron tubes, in some cases resulting in serious health problems. The report was first published in 2003, but an English translation of its summary has only recently been produced, and has been circulated by EUROMIL to its member and observer associations, including BAFF.

One test for the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government could be how it approaches the human rights of armed forces personnel. Some commentators distrust the whole idea of human rights behind the barrack gates, or while deployed: 'You can't have human rights in the heat of battle'.

BAFF understands that around 760 service personnel in Afghanistan used the special Op Herrick service voter registration form to register to vote. Of these, some 500 applied for a proxy vote and some 260 applied for a postal vote.

An electoral official who is closely involved in national arrangements for troops voting from Afghanistan, and who has a significant number of service personnel and families in his own local area, has supplied figures on the number of service voters in Afghanistan who registered under the special arrangements and have successfully voted by post in the 2010 General Election.

(6 May 2010) The Lancashire Post has a story 'Troops to have say electronically' [broken link] which is widely understood to mean that British troops in Afghanistan have been given the chance to vote electronically in today's General Election. We do not believe that such a thing has happened, however. We think the story is prompted by the fact that the final batch of specially-adapted service voter registration forms (which incorporate postal or proxy voting applications) were delayed in Afghanistan due to the volcanic dust cloud and that the Ministry of Defence, acting in consultation with the Ministry of Justice, Electoral Commission and local electoral officials, arranged for these registration forms to be transmitted electronically to electoral registration offices across the country.

With polling day almost upon us, BAFF has received several enquiries about the attitude of the competing political parties to the principle of a representative professional staff association for the armed forces. Based on responses to our representations during the last Parliament about statutory recognition of that principle, we can confirm that it has official support from the following parties: