Another disgraceful piece of cheese-paring by Britain's armed forces

A coroner's inquest into the RAF Hercules crash in Iraq in 2005 which killed all ten occupants of the aircraft has produced some abrasive comments from the Coroner, David Masters, about the policies of the RAF and Ministry of Defence and of the attitude of the United States authorities in not allowing their forces, who were witness to the crash, give evidence.

It seems to be another example of Britain fighting a war on a shoestring budget for the most significant element in the coroner' s damning verdict is that none of the RAF Hercules planes were fitted with the ESF anti explosion foam around the fuel tanks. The plane was shot down by enemy fire but the cause of death was the massive explosion which blew the plane to smithereens once the fuel tanks were pierced.



The Americans, it seems, have had all their Hercules planes protected with ESF for over forty years!!! The RAF and the Ministry of Defence knew about the vulnerability of the fuel tanks in battle conditions and had been told for years to fit the anti explosive foam - but they ignored two or more recommendations.

Why? Money, that's why. The cost of applying ESF to each plane is in the region of £600,000. It makes me sick. For all the pomp and ceremony with which each British serving death is commemorated, the truth of the matter is that these men are treated like cannon fodder. In an arena as fraught as Iraq, no effort should have been spared to provide every protection possible but in the eyes of the MOD these men are expendable. Their lives are not worth a light compared to the cost of providing them with equipment that works.

This is not the first case nor will it be the last. Bulletproof armour shared around and if the guy whose turn was yesterday gets hit , its just his bad luck. Guns that don't fire. Boots not suitable for the desert so that our troops have to borrow from the Americans.

We have some of the finest, most dedicated fighting men in the world, who do a dangerous and unrewarding job with bravery and professionalism - and they are treated like shit! Look at the case the other day too, guys trapped in a minefield and no one had thought to give them maps (in the possession of their superiors) to let them know the minefield was there. Then some complete arsehole gives the order to send in a Chinook helicopter to rescue them, a machine that kicks up such a ground swell of wind and dust that it sets all the mines off, blowing off the limbs of the trapped men and killing one of them.

This is not 1914. No longer can British politicians and generals send cannon fodder into the field on a half arsed, ill-thought out campaign, shrugging their shoulders if half the men are killed because 'that's the risk they joined up for'. Nowadays, whether we are in a state of war or not, thank God the consequences of official actions are examined in detail by coroners and their like.

But who pays for this litany of bad decisions, cheese-paring and shortsightedness. Who holds the people to account who sent our troops into a war zone ill equipped, badly supported and badly advised? Nobody! The Official Secrets Act covers too much investigation into how , what and why and these blunderers will continue to kill our fighting troops by their stupidity and anxiety to prove to their political masters that Britain can fight a war on a pittance.

If we are asking these brave men and women to serve Queen and Country to protect us, there should be an independent review into the financing of the armed forces and whether we are deliberately risking the lives of our troops simply to save money. All we have at the moment are a succession of coroners doing a great job in bringing these issues to public attention. I fear however that it is water off a duck's back for there is no authority in a position to make sure the Ministry of Defence listens....and acts!