Ministry of Defence...caring for our soldiers?

Even in my soldiering days and I have now been out of the army longer than I was in it the Ministry of Defence was a byword for incompetence. The principle reason for this is that it is an old boy's officers club. If you have the 'right' background, the 'right' connections and you don't rock the boat then you can engineer a  job at the MOD.

Obviously if you qualify for that job on the first two accounts then you probably don't even want to work at the MOD so only people who generally have failed to make their mark fall back on the largesse of the MOD. Consequently we have a government department generally staffed by a mediocre, but well spoken, population who are used to a level of command.

They have no motivation other than to maintain a certain standard of living and respect so they will generally agree with most stances if the 'right' people propose it. They are pliable and accommodating because it keeps them in gin and tonics. Do you know I suspect that it was one of these people who pushed the wrong computor button and sent redundancy notices to 38 'real' soldiers at the tail end of their military careers.

I too was offered this one year 'permanent' extension to my military career but regarded it as an insult and my second civilian career now supports my wife and I handsomely.
I was fortunate that I had the guts to get out.

The MOD has always been incompetent because the people who staff it are demotivated, complacent and have been protected by their society. The procurement teams at the MOD have long been held a joke because they can be bought for an afternoon on the lash and in particular the Arabs/Africans/Chinese/Japanese/Russians...oh hell have I made my point!!

Nothing will change because these past over Majors need a pasture in which to graze. Occasionally they make a catastrophic error like they did yesterday which affects so many people. Who cares because the people affected are only Warrant Officers and their families who have dedicated their lives to the service of this country? However in my book it brings 38 more experienced guys for the revolution! In the meantime I would hate to enter civilian life in the current climate...particularly if I was over 40!