Ahead of the T2 redundancy announcement, the Independent's Defence Correspondent writes that the blueprint for shape of the army will be submitted to the Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, in the next two months. The plan will reduce Regular Army numbers to 82,000, and a  number of historic regiments may be merged and bases more dispersed throughout the country.

The lot of our wounded, injured and sick (WIS) personnel has changed very little in the last thirty years.  If we are going to change this situation, the first step we must take is to appoint an Armed Forces Ombudsman.  

The Herald (Plymouth) reports that a benefits cut "that could hit the pockets of thousands of frontline troops" has been blasted by a city MP. From the newspaper:

BAFF members attended a RUSI Members' Discussion Panel this week to discuss the security implications of Scottish Independence, should that be the outcome of the referendum on Thursday 18 September 2014.

BAFF has submitted written evidence to the House of Commons Committee which is considering the Armed Forces Bill 2011. Our three-page memorandum is about Representation of Armed Forces Personnel, the Military Covenant and the External Reference Group, Complaints and Redress, Recruitment of Young People, and Human Rights.

BAFF submitted evidence to the Armed Forces Bill Committee in 2011 on a number of points, including the recruitment of young people into the armed forces. With MoD policy on that issue again coming under attack, below for reference is what the British Armed Forces Federation said at that time in part of our written evidence:

The Ministry of Defence went some way to meet our point, but not far enough in our opinion, by introducing the Armed Forces (Terms of Service) (Amendment) Regulations 2011. These regulations extended entitlement to Discharge as of Right (DAOR) to some trainees who would previously have lost their right to discharge before reaching 18. BAFF's view remains that under-18 enlistment subject to all necessary safeguards should not lightly be withdrawn from young people.

Rumours have been circulating that the Army would start sending out the first of a couple of hundred Manning Control Point letters about now. In an astonishing related development, the lead story in today's Sunday Times claims that the Ministry of Defence is planning to renege on a previous promise not to use Manning Control to discharge personnel who had been wounded on operations.