Thousands of troops lose jobs today in biggest redundancy cull for decades

By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent

6:00AM BST 12 Jun 2012

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9325259/Thousands-of-troops-lose-jobs-today-in-biggest-redundancy-cull-for-decades.html

At 9am this morning thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen from across the country will be ordered to appear before their commanding officers and handed their redundancy letters.

The biggest redundancy of service personnel for two decades will see a cull of mid-ranking officers who have gained the most operational experience in a generation with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Officers starting their advanced course at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in Shrivenham said they were waiting the news with “great trepidation” last night.

“We have all been on near constant operations for almost a decade but some of us know it’s going to be good bye tomorrow without much gratitude or respect for all we and our families have gone through,” said one officer. “You can imagine the state of moral.”

The axing of 4,100 troops from all three Services comes as the Armed Forces reduces from 180,000 to 150,000 over the next five years as part of cost-saving defence cuts.

But Andrew Robathan, the Defence Minister, said: the MOD would "retain the capabilities that our Armed Forces require in order to meet the challenges of the future".

Almost 3,000 soldiers were sacked in the first round of sackings last September. The second round will be the last tranche of redundancies for the Navy and the RAF with the Army expecting a third tranche later this year. It is expected up to a third have asked for voluntary redundancy.

But Labour said the Government must do more to demonstrate how the Armed Forces would meet future demands and criticised the continued uncertainty over changes to regimental structures.

Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary, said: "We are concerned about the human and military impact of these job losses. Capability is being lost, as are people's livelihoods.

"The Government has focused on structures not purpose. Savings have to be made but ministers must do much more to explain our future ability to project force around the world as well as how they intend to support the thousands being sacked.

"The Government are not reforming but dithering. We have no final decisions on the future of basing or regiments and the continued uncertainty is deeply debilitating."

Up to 2,900 Army personnel will be told of their fate, as will up to 900 members of the RAF and up to 300 from the Royal Navy in the latest tranche of military job cuts.

It will be the second round of redundancies - including a mixture of voluntary and compulsory - resulting from the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.