Wounded soldiers face Redundancy?

Of all the disgusting things.............


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8885552/Wounded-soldiers-face-sack-under-new-Army-redundancy-plans.html

A classified document, seen by The Daily Telegraph, says 2,500 wounded soldiers, including 350 who have lost limbs, will not be exempt from the extensive cuts.
The internal memo, sent to senior commanders in Afghanistan, also discloses that 16,500 personnel will be made redundant by April 2015 – more than double the number originally proposed. Any decision to sack wounded soldiers is likely to prove highly controversial.
The efficiency drive has been ordered because the Army has so many wounded soldiers that able-bodied recruits are being turned away and its fighting strength is being diminished.
Details of the full scale of the redundancy programme came as millions of people paused to pay a silent tribute to the nation’s war dead yesterday.
The ceremony was particularly poignant at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, where soldiers marked the death of the 385th British serviceman to be killed since 2001.

The memo states that wounded soldiers who have been “temporarily downgraded will not be exempt”. They could be dismissed in the next round of cuts, likely to start after Christmas.
It also says that those who are too injured or sick for redeployment will be “looked at in more detail”.
The memo has been seen by soldiers serving on the front line in Afghanistan, who are outraged that they could be made redundant if they are wounded.
In the past month, six British soldiers have suffered double amputations or worse as a result of Taliban bombs. An officer serving with a unit in which a soldier suffered a triple amputation earlier this month said the memo had badly damaged morale.
“We now know that not only will we be left with a life-changing injury serving our country over here but we will more than likely be kicked out of the Army,” he said.
A soldier serving on the front line said his colleagues were stunned to learn of the memo.
“We cannot believe that if we get injured we are at risk,” he said.
“But at the end of the day we are fighting for our mates so we just crack on.”
The policy has angered some wounded soldiers and their families. Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson, 26, lost both legs and suffered brain damage after a Taliban bomb blast in 2006.
Diane Dernie, his mother, said: “This proves that the Military Covenant is just a collection of words convenient for politicians.
“Ben was promised five years ago he would never have to leave the Army but that promise cannot be held to now because there have been so many wounded. An organisation as big as the Armed Forces should be able to find jobs for those who want to stay.”
The document also makes clear that the Army intends to slash more personnel than has been publicly announced.
In last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review, the Army was to be reduced by 7,000 soldiers from 102,000 by 2015. This was quietly increased by a further 5,000 earlier this year.
But the memo shows that without any debate the Ministry of Defence has decided that by April 2015 a total of 16,500 soldiers will be axed.
Under the first round of redundancies earlier this year, 2,000 soldiers were sacked, including 150 of the 3,500-strong Gurkha brigade.
The document discloses that on Jan 10 next year a total of 12,000 soldiers will be told that their jobs are at risk, with 2,300 of them to be made redundant.
Soldiers fighting in Afghanistan will be told if their positions are at risk and offered the opportunity to take voluntary redundancy.
However, troops not in Afghanistan will be vulnerable to compulsory redundancy. They include personnel in the “rear operations group” who are fully-trained and ready to fill in for dead or wounded.
The document states: “ROG [rear operations group] personnel are not exempt from T2 [the second wave of redundancies]. However, key posts will be taken into account”
The third and fourth waves of redundancies will see a further 13,000 soldiers made redundant by April 2015.
The document states: “The total number of personnel selected for redundancy in T1-4 will be approximately 15.5k-16.5k. All redundancy tranches are scheduled to be complete by April 15.”
Bryn Parry, the founder of the Help For Heroes charity, called on the Government to install a respected figure to act as a “champion of the wounded” to deal with the long-term needs of the injured.
Brig Richard Nugee, the head of Army manning, declined to comment on whether wounded soldiers would be among those at risk of redundancy but said no final decision had been made.

That sounds just like our wonderful government, Lily.

Bonny, that seems like such a kick in the teeth? It's outrageous.

That's Cameron and co for you. I can't remember actually loathing a UK government before - I didn't greatly care for Maggie Thatcher's policies, but at least she had a bit of backbone.

Even Labour muddled along without causing too much pain.

But this shower I detest, they are ripping the heart out of the UK, and all for the benefit of his banker friends

Bonny, I hear you. I truly do. It's as though they don't give a flying one for the people they were elected to supposedly serve.