Below is the main text of Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)4 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, about the human rights of armed forces personnel. Our notes in square brackets are not part of the recommendation. Click here for BAFF introduction to this document. Click here for Council of Europe's Explanatory Memorandum to CM Recommendation on human rights of armed forces personnel.

A Welsh Territorial Army soldier who shot dead an Afghan he believed to be in the act of laying an IED could become the first British soldier to be charged with murder in that theatre. While any charges under military law would be a decision for the independent Service Prosecuting Authority, BAFF has commented on an aspect of the case.

According to the armed forces mental health charity Combat Stress, defence cuts could see thousands more combat veterans needing NHS help to cope with a range of mental illnesses

From a story by Nick Hopkins of The Guardian:

A soldier in Afghanistan wearing the new camouflage pattern. Picture: Corporal Barry Lloyd RLC, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010According to the Army's in-house magazine Soldier, the relatively new PCS field uniform in Multi Terrain Pattern (MCP) camouflage material has been criticised as a "fashion faux pas" which is shapeless, too American and more akin to an Action Man costume.

We havent picked up such strong feelings before, to be honest. What do you think?

Inevitably, the dreaded "jacket v shirt" argument has been resurrected again! That particular argument goes back as far as the Second World War, when the Army supposedly rejected a jacket-type top because of representations from the Brigade of Guards, and the undeniably smarter short battledress jacket was adopted instead for temperate uniform.

Many members of the irreverent 'ARRSE' community website have been expressing their concern and good wishes for the early recovery of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh after an emergency hospitalisation. This video report shows HRH on duty earlier this month at RAF Kinloss, where he presented new colours to The Highlanders, 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, recently returned from Afghanistan:

Earlier this week Forces News revealed that there has been an alarming rise in the number of service personnel struggling with debt.  Today Forces News takes a look at Germany and how the change in overseas allowances and debt is affecting those living in BFG. BritishForcesNews reported (22 Dec):

The Ministry of Defence has published the first interim report on the Military Covenant, as required by the Armed Forces Act 2011. We quote in full this copyrighted story by Huffington Post UK, because of its obvious interest, but also because of its multiple references to "those representing rank-and-file-officers".

They mean the Mod-supported service family federations - but not any federation specifically representing personnel. In fact, the MoD's report goes out of its way to say that personnel are not entitled to (collective) representation by a federation.

The Army Welfare Service in Germany has described the number of people approaching the organisation with debt problems as only the tip of an iceberg. AWS's message this Christmas is that, however large the problem, nobody in financial difficulty should fear seeking help and that there are free specialist services available. Some of these help sources are listed at our Web Links page. BritishForcesNews reported (21 Dec):

Interview now available online

Logged-in members and supporters can now listen to a recent BBC interview by BAFF spokesman Adrian Weale.

This was a telephone interview at very short notice on BBC Radio Wales's Good Evening Wales programme on 20 Dec. With Sarah Dickins.

Recommended listening for BAFF members and registered supporters. If you are not already registered but are serving or have served in any part of HM Forces including the reserves, you can register free of charge today.

British Army morale is now claimed to be at an "unprecedented" low ebb. Soldiers interviewed by the official British Army magazine, quoted in the Daily Telegraph, have expressed "previously unheard" views on the state of the Army.

The Ministry of Defence has announced that British troops are to get pelvic protection to protect them from roadside bombs. The special anti-blast underwear consists of a three layered system of clothing and armour, which also includes special armoured trousers. Nearly 350 British troops have been killed in Afghanistan and many more have been injured, often by IED blasts. 

BritishForcesNews reports (16 Dec).

The House of Commons Select Committee on Defence has just published the following report:

The Department of Work and Pensions has confirmed that the review of bereavement benefits announced by the Minister for Welfare Reform on 12 Dec does NOT affect payments to service widows or widowers under the War Pensions Scheme or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

The Defence Secretary has confirmed, as predicted, that women will be allowed to serve aboard Royal Navy submarines. In a major speech today at the Royal United Services Institute, Mr Hammond said that:

Dudley MP Ian Austin has backed a Parliamentary campaign against "plans to cut pay for members of the Armed Forces". According to the Labour MP's website:

The Chancellor, in yesterday's Autumn Budget Statement, announced that public sector pay rises would be capped at 1 per cent for two years when the current pay freeze ends in 2014. With inflation likely to exceed 1 per cent the pay cap means a pay cut in real terms for public servants, including members of the armed forces.

Unlike earlier announcements by the Coalition government and by their predecessors, there is no mention this time of measures to protect the pay of junior personnel.

While there are unique characteristics of military service which must always be reflected in a fair remuneration package, the armed forces are clearly not exempt from the current public spending situation. The real-terms pay cut should, however, be viewed in the context of ever-increasing charges and diminishing opportunities to save money from allowances.

Irreverent military bullshit website, the Army Rumour Service - ARRSE for short - has now produced what is laughably described as an insider's guide to the British Army. Author Major Des Astor is described by his own literary agent as "one of the most extensively passed-over officers in British military history". Astor told British Forces News what readers could expect. Update: This fine training pamphlet is now available in Kindle format, as well as in handy wipeable hardback.

The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS), which was introduced and subsequently reviewed under the previous Labour Government, treats the most seriously wounded personnel more generously than the War Pensions scheme which preceded it. BAFF members who had suffered serious but not catastrophic injuries told us that their claims have been settled promptly and satisfactorily under AFCS. Yet the scheme remains controversial. The Sunday Mirror reports that:

The Sun reports that volunteer members of the armed forces will be working as security staff at the London Olympics. It appears that, in a similar arrangement as that for forces personnel assisting at Wimbledon, they will be paid by the MoD as normal during the period of duty. Supposedly, one difference from Wimbledon is that they would be wearing civilian security staff uniform. From the newspaper:

Philip Hammond gave his first newspaper interview as Defence Secretary on Friday, during a visit to British troops who have been involved in the Libya campaign from Italy's Gioia del Colle airfield. From MoD Defence News:

According to this report by the Daily Telegraph, an adviser to the Ministry of Defence has warned that the Armed Forces remain "critically ill" and recent proposals amount to "little more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic":

(Update 02 Nov: MoD response below). Various media have carried the story that apparently for the first time since the Falklands War in 1982, defence cuts have left the "stretched" Royal Navy unable to provide an emergency standby ship to protect British waters for a month. The Daily Telegraph reported that:

UPDATE: Aasmah Mir's report, which was in many ways uplifted by the positive approach taken by former Iraqi local staff who were relocated to Glasgow under the UK Government's Iraqi Locally Engaged Staff Assistance Scheme, is now available from the BBC iPlayer at the link shown below.

British troops serving in Afghanistan could miss out on mail from their loved ones because of the "huge and unmanageable" amount of donations sent by members of the public, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has said.

Army chiefs have revealed they are being "overwhelmed" by the volume of parcels and shoeboxes sent to unnamed British service personnel overseas.

They say that makes it more difficult for frontline supplies and post from families to get through. BritishForcesNews reports (16 Sep).

Poles, Czechs and Slovaks fought in British skies, far from home, and helped win the Battle of Britain.

Those service personnel who joined British forces in the skies and on the ground are being honoured in an exhibition at the RAF Museum in north London. BritishForcesNews reports (19 Sep).

Guardian 14 Sep 2011: "A family who were repeatedly denied compensation for their internment during the second world war were treated disgracefully by the Ministry of Defence, which acted in an "extraordinarily insensitive" way towards them, the parliamentary ombudsman has ruled." The story continues:

This year's Continuous Attitude Survey was published some days ago, but due to competing armed forces stories has received unusually little media attention. BritishForcesNews reported on the same day as the report was made available on this website for logged-in BAFF Members and BAFF Military Supporters. Now today's Mirror has a story about the survey.

A BAFF spokesman was asked about morale in three recent radio interviews about the tranche 1 redundancy notifications. Talk of "low morale" in the armed forces can be easily misunderstood, so our man made it clear that people generally were "not going about with long faces", and that service personnel were getting on with their jobs as they always do. But

On the last day for posting parcels to Camp Bastion, BritishForcesNews reports (02 Dec) that with comedy home movies posted on the internet having become something of a seasonal tradition, first out with their camcorders this year are the men and women of the Royal Logistic Corps's Eighty Postal Courier Squadron bracing themselves for a busy time ahead... Related links below.

The British Armed Forces Federation (BAFF) has been quoted again in Parliament.

The British Armed Forces Federation takes the view that the Baha Mousa Inquiry chaired by Sir William Gage has made a fair and thorough job of a difficult and painful investigation. In addition to the fullest possible implementation of the recommendations, BAFF regards it as a further test of our system that any further investigation, prosecution or administrative action be conducted fairly, and not in the atmosphere of a witch-hunt or for reasons of political expediency.

While there can be no excuses for the criminal or undisciplined mistreatment of anyone in the custody of British forces, comparatively junior individuals must not be left to take all the blame after what the Inquiry found to be a clear “corporate failure” by the MoD to adopt a proper and consistent doctrine for detainee holding and questioning. Failures to plan and provide adequate resources for the occupation also played their part.

According to a story in the Telegraph (09 Sep), "Nineteen soldiers could face criminal charges for their role in the death of an innocent Iraqi man after a public inquiry found he was the victim of “appalling and cowardly” violence while in British custody":