As Republican senators rejected attempts to reverse the so-called "don't ask, don't tell" policy which prohibits openly gay personnel in the US armed forces, a decade after similar rules were abolished in the UK the head of the British Army's diversity unit confirmed it had been consulted by its military counterparts across the Atlantic.

The British Armed Forces Federation (BAFF) has responded to the UK Government Scotland Office consultation on arrangements for a referendum on Scotland's constitutional future. The Federation is also responding to the separate consultation by the Scottish Government.

UPDATE: Following the publication of the results of the UK Government's consultation, the BAFF response to that consultation is now available at the link below without the need to log in. The UK's Government's summary includes a quote from the BAFF submission.

Last year we followed the story that that women might be allowed to serve aboard RN submarines for the first time. The Sunday Mirror now reports that:

Three quarters of service personnel believe that they are registered to vote but according to the latest research, 44% of those are not properly registered after all.

To what extent does human rights law apply to British forces on operations overseas? This vexed question has been in the news again lately, the latest development being the long-awaited decision by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the case of al-Skeini and Others. Update:

Elfyn Llwyd MP has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) about Veterans in the Criminal Justice System:

defencemanagement.com reports that military families are set to benefit from £10m of additional funding for their children's education through the introduction of a special 'pupil premium' as the government looks to 'rebuild' the military covenant.

Servicemen and women returning from active combat abroad should have access to "decompression" advice to tackle problems in readjusting to civilian life and to stem the rising numbers of veterans entering the criminal justice system, according to a group of MPs and unions, reported in The Guardian 05 Jul 2010:

Below is a Press Release issued by Mrs Catherine Smith's solicitors following the Supreme Court's decision issued on 30 Jun 2010 about whether soldiers on service abroad are entitled to any of the protections of the Human Rights Act and the European Convention of Human Rights:

The Guardian reports (08 Jun 2010) that the head of the army during the invasion of Iraq, giving evidence at the Baha Mousa Inquiry, has delivered a withering attack on the commander of the regiment in whose custody a civilian was beaten to death: