Brits won’t fight

The [British] Army has stopped actively recruiting Commonwealth and foreign soldiers because the numbers joining up have risen by nearly 3,000 per cent in seven years. Imposing a cap on the number of Commonwealth and foreign soldiers allowed to serve in each infantry regiment has been discussed by army chiefs. “It is after all supposed to be the British Army, not the Commonwealth Army,” one defence source said.

However, in recent years, many regiments would not have survived without the influx of recruits from the Commonwealth, particularly from Fiji, Jamaica, South Africa and Ghana, because of drastic manpower shortages. Soldiers from overseas now account for 6 per cent of the Army’s strength, rising to 9 per cent if the 3,000 Gurkhas recruited from Nepal are taken into account.

Last year the 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment had 116 overseas and Commonwealth citizens serving in its ranks, representing about 20 per cent of the total strength. The Black Watch had 31 Commonwealth soldiers, most of them Fijian.

The overseas recruits are regarded as high-quality soldiers who have played an increasingly important role in operations such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Many have won gallantry medals: Private Johnson Beharry, 25, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for saving the lives of his comrades in Iraq in 2003, was born in Grenada and was one of the 116 Commonwealth soldiers who joined the 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.

The problem for army chiefs is that the number of applicants from the Commonwealth has risen dramatically at the same time as recruits from within the United Kingdom have dropped significantly. General Sir Mike Jackson, Chief of the General Staff, revealed yesterday that in the last financial year recruitment had fallen 7 per cent short of the target.

Yet the Commonwealth figures show that numbers have risen from 205 in 1998 to about 6,000 this year. There are currently 5,500 Commonwealth and overseas soldiers serving in the UK Field Army and another 700 recruits are under training ...

More here.

Posted by jonjayray on Monday, November 14, 2005 at 03:04 AM in Military Matters
Comments (7) | Tell a friend

Comments:

Posted by john fitzgerald on November 14, 2005, 07:20 AM | #

One third or more British males have a criminal record excluding them from the
services.
There’s an untold story here of
class attrition, the police originally being set up to suppress any signs of working class dissent.
Along with the recent race replacement policy, levels of repression against white males has also increased, as it has in U.S.A.

Posted by Andrew on November 14, 2005, 11:46 PM | #

I often wondered if a policy of Elite replacement could and should be enacted, worth a thought and we just might survive this battle, after all, an Elite these days is just a toffee Nosed Psychiatric patient pretending to be intelligent, yes it has merit.

Posted by The Other Guy on November 15, 2005, 06:41 AM | #

Actually, getting someone else to fight someone their battles has always been England’s method. I would suggest reading H.L. Mencken’s essay The Anglo Saxon for insights into this.

Of course, Using auxilia is the only way to have an empire. When you have lost your empire and you are using them in the legions that were previously open only to the citizen, it is probably fatal.

Posted by Al Ross on November 15, 2005, 04:21 PM | #

The US is also quick to employ foreigners in its armed forces and not just alien volunteers. During the Vietnam debacle Green Card-holding non-citizens were drafted whilst many US citizens avoided serving.

Posted by Lurker on November 15, 2005, 09:59 PM | #

Some “foreigners” in the British forces are Kiwis, Aussies - Canadians as well. Not proper foreigners as far as Im concerned and not too many years ago they would have counted as British citizens anyway.

Posted by Ventris on November 16, 2005, 04:41 PM | #

>>>Actually, getting someone else to fight someone their battles has always been England’s method. I would suggest reading H.L. Mencken’s essay The Anglo Saxon for insights into this.

The essay was humour, and very poor at that.

Posted by The Other Guy on November 17, 2005, 07:57 AM | #

I would have Ventris point out the inaccuracies of Mr. Mencken’s work.

To build the empire the Brits either compelled their own (press gang) or hired most of the work.

Next entry: IQ is the Froggies’ problem

Previous entry: Remembering generational conflict

Existential Issues

White Genocide Project

Of note

General News

Science News

Science Categories

All Categories

The Writers

Each author's name links to a list of all articles posted by the writer; the hashes link to authors' homepages.

Links

Endorsement not implied.

Controlled Opposition

Crime

General

Immigration

Islam

Jews

Nationalist Political Parties

Science

Whites in Africa