From a Times article by Professor Michael Clarke, Director of the Royal United Services Insititute:

from Martin Givens, More guile needed in the Afghan game, Sunday Times 24 January 2010:

No visitor to the British army base in Lashkar Gah, Helmand, could fail to be moved by the quiet sense of purpose of the officers and the cheery idealism of the men and women — hard to appreciate back home when the news is a daily diet of explosions and death. Soldiers spoke of the villages they had helped, the wells dug, the bridges built. Winning hearts and minds on their lips sounds less a tired old slogan, more a vocation.

UPDATE 22 February: The Government again confirmed in Defence Questions today, in answer to a question from Andrew Rosindell MP (Conservative), that emergency measures are being put in place for postal voting from Afghanistan. See Have all service personnel been given all the information to ensure they can cast their vote?

• Are you likely to be on Op HERRICK at the time of the next General Election? The Government has revealed in Parliament that planning is in progress to give you a better chance of successfully voting by post. If this affects you, we suggest you wait out for further info to be issued soon through your unit, and which we will repeat on this website.
• The three Service Family Federations and the British Armed Forces Federation (BAFF) are actively liaising with the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defence and the Electoral Commission. Members of Parliament have also been consulted.

But this is not an argument that can or should be left to the military chiefs or the boffins. In the end it is also about the kind of British military effort that fits with the kind of nation we want to be. It is a debate that should be at the heart of the general election campaign too.

From a Guardian Editorial, 19 January 2010

And from Thomas Harding in The Daily Telegraph: Whitehall's civil war will decide our place in the world.

Last Friday Plymouth Sutton Linda Gilroy visited the Royal Navy's premier training establishment, HMS Raleigh.

The visit was part of her attachment to the Royal Navy with the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme, which is designed to give MPs a better understanding of life in the military.

Geoff Hoon 'denied Iraq soldiers equipment that could have saved lives''

Tories demand that Chilcot inquiry establishes whether then defence secretary delayed ordering body armour.

The government was accused last night of denying British soldiers vital equipment that could have saved their lives in Iraq as a bitter party political row threatened to engulf the Chilcot inquiry into the war.

Two days before Geoff Hoon, the former defence secretary, prepares to give evidence to the inquiry, the Conservatives are demanding that it establish the truth behind claims that Hoon delayed ordering enhanced body armour shortly before the invasion because ministers did not want to alert the public to their preparations and stoke opposition to war.

• Full story from The Observer, 17 January 2010

Injured Armed Forces veterans will be guaranteed priority NHS care for life under new plans unveiled by ministers.

By Aislinn Laing

Published: 4:00PM GMT 11 Jan 2010

The initiative will start with a tailored healthcare plan drawn up before each serviceman or woman leaves the forces.

GPs and hospital staff will be reminded of their duty to provide priority care to those veterans and health authorities will be expected each to nominate a director to ensure they do.

Six pilot projects which saw NHS clinical psychologists appointed to work exclusively with veterans will be rolled out across the country, and six new mental health nurses from the military charity Combat Stress will be appointed in selected NHS trusts to link veterans with the right medical help.

The NHS will also match Defence Medical Services spending on prosthetic limbs for those veterans who need replacements in later life.

Full article at Telegraph.co.uk

NHS doctors who are members of the reserve forces are reporting difficulty obtaining time off for their reserve forces training.

NHS Trusts have also been showing increasing reluctance to recruit staff who are members of the armed forces.

These reports relate to doctors. BAFF is also prepared to publicise any similar problems for other professional NHS staff who are members of the reserve forces.

It seemed unlikely that it could be happening again. But it was......