Further.....

.....reductions

The 1st Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment have been marching through Bradford and Leeds today to mark their return from serving in Afghanistan.

Last month the government announced the regiment's 2nd Battalion would be lost as part of defence cuts.

I, as I expect most people, would prefer that there was no need for an army, but unfortunately we live in a world where there is a need. Today it was announced that an extra 3'500 troops are going to have to be deployed to police the Olympic games, many of whome have just come back from active service overseas and are going to have had their leave cancelled meaning they are going to miss spending precious time with loved ones.

I don't want to get in to a political debate over the rights and wrongs of the wars that British troops are being deployed to, but at a time when the Government is making cutbacks to the armed forces, they are also expecting them to make even more personal sacrifices than they already do risking their lifes on a daily basis.

If the demands made on the armed forces were made of any other public service workers there would no doubt be strikes. although I dont necessarily agree with some of the work these men and women have to do, I feel that those in charge have a duty to treat those who risk their lifes for our governments own political agenda much better than they currently do.

So todays blip is.....


..... Further reductions.


Post script :

On a lighter note, last night was the first clear sky there has been since I bought my new camera. I managed to take a photo of an Iridium flare which I have added to my Blipfolio here.
For those of you geeky like me, all the details are on the photo description and it was a 15 second exposure