Why are the British Armed Forces short of personnel?
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 31 May 2018
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How well equipped is Britain today to defend itself both at home and overseas?
Britain's armed forces are struggling to maintain numbers. According to the National Audit Office there is a shortfall of more than 8,000 among military personnel and there is a significant shortage of personnel with skills in critical areas.
The Army is at its lowest level since the days it was preparing to confront Napoleon, unable to meet even the reduced requirement of 82,000 regulars.
Several reasons are cited: the lack of a current war to act as a recruiting sergeant, a recruitment process that's not working well, discontent within the ranks and a higher number of people leaving the forces than normal.
We examine these causes and ask what effect the shortages have both on the battlefield and strategically.
Contributors:
Mike Martin, former captain in the Royal Yeomanry and author of 'Why We Fight'
Anthony King, chair in War Studies at Warwick University and former civilian adviser to General Sir Nick Carter
Ben Barry, a former British infantry officer and now senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London
Mandy Hickson, former RAF pilot
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Aronovich. Let's pretend we're important folk who need to make a |
| 0:05.6 | decision on a big issue of the day. But first, we need to get briefed by the experts, and there's only 28 minutes to do it in. |
| 0:13.5 | Step inside, where this week we're asking why the British armed forces are struggling to find recruits, |
| 0:19.4 | and what effect that has on Britain's ability to fight wars. |
| 0:23.3 | And if you enjoy this, you might want to listen back to other editions of the briefing room. |
| 0:26.8 | Just type BBC Briefing Room into your favourite search engine. |
| 0:30.6 | One of our contributors last week told us with some prescience that he thought Italy might be headed for new elections. |
| 0:37.1 | This week, we're asking why the British armed forces are struggling to find recruits |
| 0:41.8 | and what effect that has on Britain's ability to fight wars. |
| 0:45.6 | And if you get a moment, please let us know what you think by writing a review |
| 0:48.8 | or rating us on iTunes or your podcast provider. |
| 0:52.0 | My thanks to Clovis Crun and Old Robino for their recent reviews. |
| 0:57.2 | Anyway, for now, take your seat in the briefing room. |
| 1:10.1 | For your mates, for your family, for each other, to train, to learn, to better yourself, |
| 1:19.1 | for the travel, for the action, for adventure. |
| 1:23.9 | For all the attractions of recruiting ads like that, the military is suffering a recruitment |
| 1:29.4 | problem. |
| 1:30.4 | The National Audit Office reported in April that across the three armed services the number |
| 1:34.9 | of full-time personnel is almost 6% below what's required. |
| 1:39.3 | That's more than 8,000 men and women. |
| 1:41.7 | With courage, with pride, as a unit, as a team, through it all together. |
| 1:50.7 | So I want to know what's going on. |
... |
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