Following the resignations of John Healey and Al Carns, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon writes in the Telegraph that Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, who as Chief of the Defence Staff is the professional head of the armed forces, should now "show that he represents British servicemen and women by falling on his sword as well", because –

Given the colossal insult that has just been offered to all the armed services – nobody in defence was apparently allowed to see the funding figures until this week – I believe that the Chief of the Defence Staff, the head of the Armed Forces, should also do the honourable thing.

Colonel de Bretton-Gordon is an all-round good guy who is always worth reading and listening to. His call for CDS to resign is, after all, only a newspaper column about which we could go on for ever agreeing or disagreeing.

The last very senior officer to resign on a point of principle is thought to be General Sir Richard O'Connor, who resigned as Adjutant-General in 1947 over the cancelled return home and demobilisation of troops in the Far East. (Monty had a different version of events, but the cancelled demob was a reasonable point to resign over.)

As far as I know, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton is not a member of British Armed Forces Federation (BAFF). BAFF is all-ranks, tri-service but I believe we have yet to recruit any RAF officer above

The resignation of John Healey MP as Defence Secretary marks the end of a period in which, whatever one's political views, Defence had at its head someone who had prepared thoroughly for it in Opposition and, when the time came, did not disappoint.

I haven't met Mr Healey personally, but I've heard him speak a couple of times at RUSI events, and came away impressed by both his grasp of the issues and the evident work he had put into understanding the challenges facing Defence and Armed Forces personnel. In a field where easy slogans can sometimes substitute for detailed knowledge, he struck me as someone who had done his homework.

BAFF has not always agreed with every policy of successive governments, nor would anyone expect us to. Our role is to represent and promote the interests of our members – Service personnel and veterans – irrespective of party politics. However, it is only fair to acknowledge those ministers who engage seriously with Defence and who make the effort to listen.

Mr Healey inherited a department which inevitably faced significant personnel, recruitment and retention challenges, whichever party was in power. Although much of today's reporting understandably concentrates on the crucial defence investment aspect, RUSI's Ed Arnold has highlighted Mr Healey's efforts on defence reform:

'For the MoD, it is a very rare case of a senior minister taking a principled stand against the hollowing out of the UK armed

The armed forces are set to receive an above-inflation pay award, with an announcement expected in the coming days.

The award, for the current financial year 2026-27, will be backdated to 1st April.

Traditionally recommendations by the Armed Forces Pay Review Body (AFPRB) would be accepted by the Government in time to be implemented on 1st April. This gradually slipped over the years but this time round there was an aspiration for a more timely award. Delay in issuing the award is not ideal, but has at times been claimed to allow a more generous award when it came.

This year's pay recommendations will cover the whole of the Armed Forces including senior officers of two-star rank and above, who had historically had their pay recommended by the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB).

Today, 22nd May 2026, is the fifteenth anniversary of the official end of Operation Telic, the formal name for UK operations in Iraq that began with the 2003 invasion and subsequent removal of the dictator.

UK combat forces, primarily based in the southern city of Basra, had withdrawn from Iraq in July 2009, but, since then, at the request of the Iraqi Government, the Royal Navy had continued to train the Iraqi Navy to defend its territorial waters and offshore oil infrastructure. That mission ended in 2011 but UK defence engagement with Iraq continues to this day.

We remember the 179 British personnel who lost their lives. We honour all who served on Operation Telic and their families. And we think of those who returned injured in body or mind, in some cases catastrophically so.

Some veterans have very mixed memories combining justified pride with pain and anger.

Every BAFF member is either a serving or a former member of the UK Armed Forces.

When the British Armed Forces Federation (BAFF) was formed in 2006, several of the its founding members were veterans of the early stages of Op Telic. Some were Regulars and some were members of the Territorial Army, the predecessor of today's Army reserve.

As time went on, some BAFF members returned to Iraq on further Op Telic rotations. Others returned as civilian contractors or in some other capacity.

Fifteen years later, consequences of the war continue, not

This year's Armed Forces Day national event will be hosted by Rushmoor Borough Council at Aldershot and Farnborough on Saturday, 27th June 2026, with other events taking place across the UK on or around the same date.

When Armed Forces Day was started by the then Labour government one view was that armed forces personnel were hardly honoured by giving them extra work at the weekend.

In practice, events have tended to involve a wide community effort, with considerable local authority input, and - without downplaying the preparation and time involved - forces personnel themselves being as much as possible the 'stars' rather than the 'general dogsbodies'.

We certainly wouldn't argue with the need to improve and reinforce engagement between the armed forces and the community.

Armed Forces Day in the UK started 20 years ago as 'Veterans' Day'. It was rebranded as Armed Forces Day in 2009 to better recognise all branches of the military, including serving regular and reserve personnel, veterans, and cadets. The main national event is held annually on the last Saturday in June; last year's was hosted by Ards and North Down Borough Council at Newtownards Airfield.

Armed Forces Day isn't the same one-size-fits-all event across the United Kingdom. The lead organiser can be the Council, the Legion, or a community organisation. For Armed Forces Day 2026 events in your area, visit this link:

• Armed Forces Day - Find Events

Events will continue to

An MOD written parliamentary answer to James Cartlidge MP (Cons, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence) reveals that in just under 20 months, nearly sixty thousand applications to join the armed forces were rejected on medical grounds.

The answer also revealed striking disparities amongst the figures for the respective services -

Rejections per service

• Army: 45,680 rejected on medical grounds
• RAF:   12,310
• Navy:    1,020

Although not specifically stated, these figures are for regular forces. Applying them to the approximate current size of each regular force reveals a huge variation in the proportion per service of applicants rejected on medical grounds -

Rejections compared with approx service size

• Army ∼ 62% rejections as %age of current force
• RAF   ∼ 41% rejections as %age of current force
• RN/RM ∼3% rejections as %age of current force

Another way to view these figures is that the Army rejected on medical grounds around 6 applicants for every 10 serving soldiers; the RAF rejected around 4 applicants per 10 serving aviators, and the RN/RM rejected less than one applicant per 10 serving sailors or marines.

Comparing the medical rejection figures with annual targets, however, shows the Army and the RAF rejecting about the same percentage on medical grounds, with the RN/RM rjecting far fewer -

Medical rejections compared with target recruitment intake

• Army - around 2.7 rejections per target recruit
• RAF - around 2.6 rejections per target