Reserve force

THE British army is being scaled down to a strength of 80'000 and more emphasis being placed on army reservists. This makes perfect sense to me because once the army is withdrawn from Afghanistan the British army will once again return to more peace-keeping operations rather than full scale military conflict. I have never really understood why the British army has not made better use of its reversists who are called up when needed. Some armchair Generals have said that the plan to use more reservists is flawed but let us remember that many have been on active operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. For more than a decade the British army has served in Afghanistan and Iraq but now soldiers are returning home to concentrate on their NATO role. Times have changed. Up until recently the bulk of the British army was stationed in Germany but now they are being brought home to Britain. The defence budget has been slashed by successive British governments but still the UK has one of the biggest defence budgets in the world. I would say that the British army needs a major re-organisation with the regular soldiers forming the bulk of a rapid deployment force which in turn would be supported by the extended number of reservists. Much has been made of the defence and the smaller army. But in these hard times when money is short sacrifices have to be made but the British army will still pack a considerable punch.