The Defence Force Welfare Association (DFWA) is the representative group primarily concerned with the welfare, individual rights and financial interests of former members of the defence force (in both peace and war).
A Conservative Shadow Minister asked the Government if it will review the prohibition on insulin-dependent diabetics joining the armed forces. The Minister's reply indicated that there were no plans to review the policy whereby the services do not recruit or commission personnel with existing medical conditions which require regular access to medication, such as diabetes. The single services do, however manage individuals who develop diabetes during their service careers "according to their specific operational requirements" and "each case will be considered on an individual basis":
(Source: Lib Dem press release 22 May 2006) As the Armed Forces Bill has its final reading in the House of Commons, the Liberal Democrats have tabled amendments to achieve effective representation for British servicemen and women:
British Armed Forces Federation spokesman Adrian Weale said: “You can’t treat service personnel like children. They are in the front-line of the war against terrorism but the MoD doesn’t trust them to behave responsibly online.”
Below is the text of BAFF's evidence as submitted to the House of Commons Defence Committee Inquiry in 2007-8 into medical care for armed forces personnel and their familes.
The pre-1975 service pensions grievance relates to British ex-servicemen and women who served as regular "Other Ranks", and left the armed forces before April 1975 without completing a 22-year 'full career'. These veterans have no armed forces pension for their years of service in the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army or Royal Air Force. The issue also affects the widows or widowers of pre-1975 service personnel.
We understand the strength of feeling about this so-called "legacy" pension issue. Our original lead on this matter is married to a veteran with no pension for 7 years' regular army service in late 60s / early 70s.
If you are absent from the armed forces without leave, the following links may be helpful:
Do British armed forces personnel have any human rights while on operations?
From a story in the Inverness Courier, March 2008:
Inverness lawyer Douglas Young dedicated more than 30 years of his life to the Territorial Army, serving in Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo. In 2006 he helped set up the British Armed Forces Federation to represent rank and file soldiers as well as officers. Calum Macleod talks to a man much in demand... "Nobody should think [BAFF] is about battles stopping for tea-breaks or anything like that.......
The federation could not strike or change the government's strategic policy. Lord Garden said: "It could not say, 'we will not go to Iraq' but it could say, 'we would like enough body armour'." From The Guardian, 26 January 2006: