http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/2006/11/06/38062/Armed+Forces+are+understaffed+and+overstretched.html
Armed Forces are understaffed and overstretched PersonnelToday.com06 November 2006 10:21 The Armed Forces are understaffed, with rising numbers of personnel quitting early, the government has been warned. A National Audit Office report warned that coping with simultaneous operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans had left the forces 5,170 below strength. The report said the Armed Forces were 2.8% short of full strength -- total personnel is now 180,690. The government agreed operating at this level meant "additional strains" on staff, but denied forces were overstretched. Worst hit are medical services, with reservists filling the 66% of vacant A&E and intensive therapy nurses posts. Rising numbers were quitting - in the past year 9,200 had left before their period of engagement was up. Defence minister Derek Twigg said the government "recognises that the Armed Forces currently face a particularly high level of operational commitment". "We do understand the impact that frequent operational tours have on serving personnel, their friends and families and we have recently announced improvements in pay and benefits for those who are deployed on operations," he said. On the issue of retention, Twigg said: "Our focus is to improve retention through polices that genuinely reflect the priorities of our people and their families while optimising their operational effectiveness." +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
