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:

Further to BAFF's recent good news about Lib Dem support for the right of representation for ordinary personnel, more detail has now emerged from a BFBS ForcesNews interview with former defence minister Sir Nick Harvey MP.

From the 7 January 2008 edition of The House parliamentary magazine

SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, has published a new research report which shines a rare spotlight on the everyday issues facing younger veterans. The report, entitled "The New Frontline", says that a "forgotten generation" of working age veterans, who have approached SSAFA for help, is surviving on an average annual income of just £13,800. Suffering from long-term physical and mental health problems, some of them say they feel let down by their country.

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.

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.

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Gordon Brown has been asked in Prime Minister's Questions for assurances that service personnel overseas will be able to vote in the coming General Election.