UK News 21-11-2002 who: Defence Chief of Staff Sir Michael Boyce what: Says army cannot fight both fire and Iraq where: LONDON when: Yesterday snippet: Standing next to an aghast-looking defence minister Geoff Hoon, Sir Michael complained: "We cannot perform at the fullest end of our operational capability while 19,000 people are tied up standing by to do the firefighting duties. A lot of troops had come straight from Bosnia and Afghanistan and gone to firefighting work without any home leave, so there is a morale problem." To prove the point, The Sun prints an scathing internet poster being circulated among the armed forces, part of which reads: "Sign below if you want to work for 12 months of the year, have your personal liberties removed from you for up to 6 months at a time and train for the possibility of dying for a country full of greedy, selfish pathetic individuals who cannot see past the end of their narrow minds (or fire engines).” [... more]

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