In response to Patrick Benham-Crosswell: Scrimping on our troops won’t buy us defence, Craig Martin wrote:

I see these Army adverts on TV and shake my head.

I would never, at this point in time, support my children joining the forces unless a significant funding boost and spending overhaul has been put in place.

My distaste is not with the forces, but rather with a Government that has seen fit to send troops into hotspots under-equipped and into conflicts that acted more as a global PR stunt (that went wrong) than serving genuine British interests.

It is the responsibility of Government to ensure that the deployment of forces is justified and that they have the best training, equipment and intelligence available in order to preserve life and complete their objectives as quickly as possible.

This has not been the case over the past couple of decades.

And people have died.

It’s on the Government to improve the forces, not to disprove the concerns.