Falkland Islands Tension increase

[dandare 10]

Let's be serious about this.

 

Aside from the resident infantry company down there, the majority of the Mount Pleasant personnell are technical and administrative specialists not in formed fighting units. They have allocated weapons that can be issued, but they are not equipped to go out into a battelfield. Last ditch defence of the base is all they could be used for and, like it or not, many of the RAF and RN ground personnel have bugger all training or experience in fighting. Don't forget MPA is an airbase, with mostly RAF personnel.

 

I'm not saying that the Argentinians could get past the RN at sea or make a successful attack by air, but the islands are hardly teeming with steely-eyed British killers.

 

last time we had no ammo and still won.

[Shogun 10]

Let's be serious about this.

 

Aside from the resident infantry company down there, the majority of the Mount Pleasant personnell are technical and administrative specialists not in formed fighting units. They have allocated weapons that can be issued, but they are not equipped to go out into a battelfield. Last ditch defence of the base is all they could be used for and, like it or not, many of the RAF and RN ground personnel have bugger all training or experience in fighting. Don't forget MPA is an airbase, with mostly RAF personnel.

 

I'm not saying that the Argentinians could get past the RN at sea or make a successful attack by air, but the islands are hardly teeming with steely-eyed British killers.

All army personnel are trained in basic military skills and you have to practice them regularly, you are a soldier first and last before any trade, I was in the engineers and my trade was as a plant op and driver but I was months and months trained as a basic infantrymen before I went to my trade,

no one is sent to the Falklands unless they have been fully trained not now any way mite have been in the past its a live base now.

[Conrod 10]

We had plenty of training, we were better shots and generally more inelegant hence the reason we could do both jobs equally well.

You may have been able to shoot - many people in technical trades do so very well - but that's not the same as having infantry skills and experience operating at squad or company level in field combat.

 

That's why the Marines train year-round to be Marines, while the technical trades are mending things.

[Balpin 12]

words of a coward.

 

here are some better words

 

 

remember where you are man.

 

Be careful

You may retract and I will take the matter no further.

Edited February 6, 2012 by Balpin

[Conrod 10]

All army personnel are trained in basic military skills and you have to practice them regularly, you are a soldier first and last before any trade, I was in the engineers and my trade was as a plant op and driver but I was months and months trained as a basic infantrymen before I went to my trade,

no one is sent to the Falklands unless they have been fully trained not now any way mite have been in the past its a live base now.

What's a 'live' base?

 

As you say, all soldiers do their basic infantry training. I know that, and we both also know that a bunch of REME electricians working in a bay fixing radios aren't the same in terms of their field effectiveness as a honed infantry unit that is formed up and equipped as such. Denying that would be silly - you could hand them a rifle and put a bergen on their backs, and while they'll still be better soldiers than most nations can put forward they will not have the combat effectiveness of soldiers from a pure teeth regiment.

 

You also overlooked what I said about the people down there - it's an airbase, so most of the people at MPA are RAF personnel. For non-RAF Regiment personnel, their annual ground defence training doesn't even include live firing - just a few rounds down the SAT on a simulated rifle.

 

In recent years their pre-deployment training has become more realistic than the gesture it used to be, but it still has its limits. They have some elementary training, but they're not soldiers by a long, long way.

[Conrod 10]

last time we had no ammo and still won.

If we had 'no ammo' we would not have won. We had limited ammo and nearly ran out. There's a difference.

[MrSmith 10]

You may have been able to shoot - many people in technical trades do so very well - but that's not the same as having infantry skills and experience operating at squad or company level in field combat.

 

That's why the Marines train year-round to be Marines, while the technical trades are mending things.

 

I see your point but all they will be expected to do is lay in their dug out and shoot the attacking forces, it will be all about holding the base until reinforcements arrive it much easier to defend than attack.

[Balpin 12]

If we had 'no ammo' we would not have won. We had limited ammo and nearly ran out. There's a difference.

 

Does any one care about about a tupny hapenny place like that anyway?

[Shogun 10]

What's a 'live' base?

 

As you say, all soldiers do their basic infantry training. I know that, and we both also know that a bunch of REME electricians working in a bay fixing radios aren't the same in terms of their field effectiveness as a honed infantry unit that is formed up and equipped as such. Denying that would be silly - you could hand them a rifle and put a bergen on their backs, and while they'll still be better soldiers than most nations can put forward they will not have the combat effectiveness of soldiers from a pure teeth regiment.

 

You also overlooked what I said about the people down there - it's an airbase, so most of the people at MPA are RAF personnel. For non-RAF Regiment personnel, their annual ground defence training doesn't even include live firing - just a few rounds down the SAT on a simulated rifle.

 

In recent years their pre-deployment training has become more realistic than the gesture it used to be, but it still has its limits. They have some elementary training, but they're not soldiers by a long, long way.

I dont know about REME blokes but I can assure we were as competent infantry men as any infantry unit we had to be. live base I just used that word it basically is a base that is fully operative and supplied ready to go for want of a better way of explaining it

Edited February 6, 2012 by Shogun

[MrSmith 10]

What's a 'live' base?

 

As you say, all soldiers do their basic infantry training. I know that, and we both also know that a bunch of REME electricians working in a bay fixing radios aren't the same in terms of their field effectiveness as a honed infantry unit that is formed up and equipped as such. Denying that would be silly - you could hand them a rifle and put a bergen on their backs, and while they'll still be better soldiers than most nations can put forward they will not have the combat effectiveness of soldiers from a pure teeth regiment.

 

You also overlooked what I said about the people down there - it's an airbase, so most of the people at MPA are RAF personnel. For non-RAF Regiment personnel, their annual ground defence training doesn't even include live firing - just a few rounds down the SAT on a simulated rifle.

In recent years their pre-deployment training has become more realistic than the gesture it used to be, but it still has its limits. They have some elementary training, but they're not soldiers by a long, long way.

 

It’s always protected by an army regiment.

 

 

Falkland Islands Defence Force (FIDF) is the locally maintained volunteer defence unit in the Falkland Islands. The FIDF works alongside the military units supplied by the United Kingdom to ensure the security of the islands.

[dandare 10]

Does any one care about about a tupny hapenny place like that anyway?

 

yes, those of us who are non cowards.

[Conrod 10]

I dont know about REME blokes but I can assure we were as competent infantry men as any infantry unit we had to be.

Would you have been better if you'd trained at it all year round?

 

live base I just used that word it basically is a base that is fully operative and supplied ready to go for want of a better way of explaining it

I thought that might be the explanation, just not an expression I've heard used, either at MPA or a variety of Gulf units.

 

I've probably been to MPA more than most people, know how the units works and its defensive capabilities through to present. It's still a bit of a windy Butlins.