The way many politicians talk today one would think that cruel, butchering tyrants down through the ages have been somehow mysteriously overcome through a few well chosen words a bit of clever committeeing. The truth known only too well by the tyrants' victims and those brave enough to oppose them is that such monsters are only ever successfully opposed by superior physical force.

This party honours and respects those in our armed forces defending the life we enjoy in this country and fighting across the globe for the cause of freedom, justice and democracy. These heroic men and women are, truly, the only ones standing between us and the cruel servitude of rule by tyrants. Whatever view one takes of the history of Britain's colonial past, for over a century now, Britain's armed forces have been an unambiguous force for good in the world, whether helping to defeat Nazi Germany, staring-down Communist Russia, serving in Sierra Leone or the Balkans or enduring the thankless task of street patrols in Northern Ireland, or helping Iraq and Afghanistan find the path to a democratic future.

Government policy must reflect the public's appreciation for the priceless contribution of service personnel and must do all it can to improve their lot in life both during and post active service.

A Fair Deal For Frontline Personnel

With increasing overseas commitments, recruitment problems and cut-backs in the defence budget, in recent years our armed forces have been overstretched. This has culminated in personnel on frontline duty in Afghanistan facing the enemy after inadequate training and with inappropriate gear. This has needlessly cost lives. That is unacceptable.

MILITARY COMMITMENTS CURTAILED

The government should restrict military commitments to the level that can be sustained with all personnel fully trained and fully equipped with a full complement of state-of-the-art battle-kit. Once in theatre, the government must always ensure that serving frontline troops remain fully equipped under changing circumstances even if it means budget over-runs — troops must be given every possible chance to complete their mission unscathed. Sort the poxy paperwork out afterwards.

The approach should be one of continuing to send troops to every arena where military engagement is thought appropriate, but to simply send less troops of our own and look to other nations to make their own contribution to what must increasingly become a global effort.

FAIR RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

With an increasingly active International Criminal Court applying essentially a civilian approach to battlefield situations, frontline soldiers under fire and in fear of their own lives are now liable to be dragged through the courts upon their return home for infringing some aspect of their overly complicated rules of engagement. Over-reacting when in fear of your life is not a war-crime and the government should not recognise the ICC's right to legislate about run-of-the-mill battlefield situations. Apart from the most blatant of abuses, our troops should never need to fear repercussions in court upon their return home. The government must also only send them into battle under simple and fair rules of engagement — ones that demand every bit as much of those trying to kill our troops, and those aiding them, as of our troops themselves.

THE MOST DANGEROUS DEPLOYMENTS FULFILLED WITH SINGLE PERSONNEL WITH NO DEPENDANTS

It is a tragedy when a soldier is killed in the line of duty. When the soldier leaves a grieving widow to rebuild their lives it is a double tragedy. When children are left to grow-up as best they can without a father with repercussions that can last generations then it is time to arrange military deployments so that personnel without dependants are called upon to fulfil the posts with greatest risk — and receive a commensurate increase in pay as a result. Married men with children should not be sent to the frontline except as a last resort.

Greater Support For The Families Of Service Personnel

Every effort must be made to make service life as non-disruptive of normal family relationships as possible. The government must reduce the length of postings to a minimum and ensure a transparently fair rotation of units. Whilst in-theatre, whenever operationally possible, the policy should be one of regular 'fly-ins' of wives, girlfriends and children or 'fly-outs' for service personnel back to their loved ones at home.

A Career In The Services Made More Flexible and Attractive

Currently, outside an initial 3 or 6 month period when new recruits can choose to leave, signing-up means being locked-in to several years of no-way-out compulsory service (although local commanding officers do sometimes allow recruits to leave after the initial period). Is it any wonder there is a recruitment problem. Slavery Anyone ?

Yet the forces can offer a lifestyle and adventures that no other professions or jobs can even come close to matching, and they can provide a route to a professional qualification and even save recruits from themselves in ways that no other job can. Even after active service is over, countless ex-servicemen draw fond memories and encouragement from their time in the forces often for the rest of their lives. A career in the forces has much to recommend it. It is time to remove the unnecessary restrictions and conditions that deter would-be recruits.

MORE FLEXIBLE

A recruit's right to leave must no longer be at the medieval whim of a local commanding officer. All personnel should therefore be granted the right to leave the forces whenever they wish upon 2 month's notice, with the exception that :

• once a period of specific pre-deployment training has begun then the right to leave is withdrawn — since at this late stage, in-theatre plans have already been drawn-up and shuffling personnel around to compensate for unexpected shortages undermines the capacity to complete the mission.
• once personnel have been deployed to the front-line then the right to leave is withdrawn — once the enemy has been engaged all personnel have important tasks to complete which affect the safety of other service personnel.

MORE ATTRACTIVE

If life in the service is so bad that personnel need to be held-in by long-term unbreakable contracts, then the fundamental nature of service life needs changing. In consultation with senior officers, forces personnel and potential recruits the government should conduct a thorough review of existing practices to make service life a more attractive option — likely changes being the adoption of more flexible career paths, less mindless balling and shoe-shining and shorter terms of duty in danger zones. Particular attention should be paid to shortages in the less glamorous, but vital, support services such as signals, engineers, intelligence and logistics units.

Regimental Structures Reviewed

A review should be conducted of the recent changes in organisational structures within the forces and those changes that accord with the changing role of the forces and efficiency-savings retained, whilst changes of a merely political nature that are not supported by the natural allegiances and fighting instincts of rank and file service personnel should be reversed — the presumption should be be for either a return to county-based or a move to city-based regiments.

Army Hospitals

Additional army hospitals should be made available to cater for likely future demand. During quiet times, as part of a policy of zero tolerance for abuse of health service personnel working within the NHS, wherever possible, disruptive and aggressive civilian patients should be required to attend an army hospital in order to receive treatment.

A nationwide Network of Wednesday Morning CCFs Established

As part of proposals for reform of the education system, Wednesday morning would be an out-and-about day for pupils who would be given the option of participating in sports, volunteering in the community or taking part in CCF training at a local centre.

As well as traditional CCF activities such as war games, assault courses, drill and shooting, the activities will also include fitness training, boxing, first aid, survival skills and Bear Grylls -style scouts-with-muscles activities.

Each year national competitions will be held in all the main skill sets and the finals televised.

Personnel Issues

BULLYING

Forces personnel are there to fight the enemy, not one another. Anyone found guilty of bullying their colleagues should be disciplined for first offence, suspended on second offence and dishonourably discharged upon a third offence.

AWOL/DESERTION

The numbers of serving personnel going awol is on the increase. This is sometimes in order to attend to pressing family issues, so a more sympathetic approach should be adopted to matrimonial and family crises affecting forces personnel, allowing compassionate leave at times of the birth of a child, bereavement or serious illness of a close relative or when the relationship with their spouse/partner is under severe stress. In addition, outside pre-deployment training and frontline deployment scenarios, all personnel will be allowed to take occasional unpaid sabbaticals, allowing for a more flexible approach towards those having doubts about their service career or feeling particularly stressed. Within the need to work as an overall team, wherever possible, personnel will also be allowed to bunk and serve primarily with those they naturally 'get along with', to reduce personality conflicts to a minimum.

However, a firm line needs to be taken with those absconding during the key pre-deployment training or active deployment phases — the intention is not to be overly hard on personnel weakening under fire, but to help stiffen their resolve at such times to remain at their post come what may. The following punishments will therefore be implemented :

• Going AWOL during pre-deployment training — 6 months imprisonment and £1,500 fine.
• Going AWOL during frontline deployment — 12 months imprisonment and £3,000 fine.

GENDER

The battlefield is no place for misplaced notions of gender-neutrality. Life in the armed forces is fundamentally different to all other jobs, it is about blood and guts, life and death, kill or be killed, not providing interesting careers for a tiny minority of women who want to be soldiers. Every post occupied by a woman is denied to a man who — other things being equal — is likely to be fitter, stronger, faster, with greater stamina, more practically-minded, naturally able to gel with other male team members without risk of sexual 'undercurrents' and more physically, mentally and emotionally robust in situations of prolonged physical hardship and when under fire. The army's own figures show that only 1% of female recruits can match their male counterparts for strength or stamina — the commitment of all female recruits to defend their country is admirable and their physical bravery is acknowledged, but it remains a simple fact that the more females recruited to frontline forces, the more ineffective it becomes, which will suit our enemies very nicely thank you.

Romances between service personnel are also a frequent occurrence and (in the navy) have been the direct cause of several costly and dangerous incidents due to non-communication between officers at crucial moments (due to a lovers' tiff). The constant possibility of such romantic involvement also can't but undermine the effectiveness and cohesion of a fighting team as well as give the wives of serving male personnel extra cause for concern over the close proximity of their husband far from home, in difficult and trying situations, with members of the opposite sex — as if service wives don't already have enough to worry about. Also, female recruits, after incurring the expense of training, will also be much more likely to leave to raise a family and even when in service unavoidably attract the additional expense and logistical complexity of requiring separate quarters whilst being less able to move between different roles within the services due to unsuitability for many posts.