By John Knox
The skirl of the pipes is at once magnificent and frightening. It captured my mood exactly as I joined the crowd in the Royal Mile on Saturday for this year’s Armed Forces Day. Prince Charles, David Cameron and Alex Salmond, each representing their different interests in the day, stood outside Holyrood Palace to take the salute as 2,500 troops marched past.
Edinburgh was the centrepiece of this year’s celebrations – taking place across the UK. At noon, the RAF Red Arrows streaked across the sky trailing clouds of glory in the form of red, white and blue tail-smoke. Down in the docks at Leith, HMS Portland, a Type 23 frigate, was open to the public. Various displays, piping competitions, flypasts and church services have been held over the weekend.
As a group of soldiers waited their turn to march forward, a proud mother next to me photographed her son in the ranks. “Smile,” she called out, which her son duly did, trying not to look too embarrassed. “That’s my boy,” she told her neighbour in the crowd, a visitor from Australia. “Tomorrow he’s due to get his sergeant’s stripes. He’s served in Bosnia and Afghanistan and just now he’s based in Ireland.” She then showed the visitor a picture of her son’s family. “Oh that’s so sweet,” said the Australian.
The war in Afghanistan has brought home to us the danger these men face and the sacrifice their families make to carry out Britain’s international commitments. Over 370 service personnel have been killed in the ten years we have had troops in Afghanistan. That awful phrase, “The men’s families have been informed,” tolls like a bell as each news story from the front comes in.
As the number of deaths escalated, three years ago the idea was born of an Armed Forces Day. It’s a day for the nation to thank the soldiers for their service and sacrifice. And it’s a day for the Army, Navy and Air Force to connect with the people who are asking them to serve and who are paying the bills. Whatever we think of the particular wars and missions these men are sent on, everyone wants to “back our boys and girls”.
The cobbles of the Royal Mile have been tramped on by military parades for centuries. They have echoed from the sound of war at home and abroad, wars of imperialism and wars of defence. Military action is a nasty and unpredictable activity, to be avoided if at all possible. But sometimes it is necessary and someone, very often our very best people, has to do the bloody business.
Otherwise we would have to give up our role of peacekeepers and fighters against tyranny, oppression, cruelty and injustice. People such as Saddam, Gaddafi and the Taliban would continue to abuse their people. And to allow that to happen would be to give away part of our humanity. Thus a military parade is both a magnificent thing and a dreadful thing.
This year’s parades are particularly sensitive, not just because of Afghanistan but because of the defence budget cuts. The cuts are happening for two reasons, both of them controversial. One is the UK’s overall budget deficit and the coalition government’s determination to reduce it. The other is the long-term downsizing of Britain’s place in the world.
The British armed forces, at 233,000 strong, are the second-largest in the European Union – after France. We have the fourth-largest military budget in the world – after the USA, China and France. For decades, we have been debating how long our relatively small country can continue to play such a large role in the world. And these issues are now coming to a drum head. The government wants to cut the defence budget of £34 billion by 8 per cent over the next four years. That will mean a reduction in personnel of 17,000.
In Scotland, we have already had the amalgamation of the six army regiments. The RAF base at Kinloss is due to close down at the end of next month. It looks like either RAF Leuchars or RAF Lossiemouth will become a base for Britain’s returning Army of the Rhine. The two aircraft carriers to be assembled at Rosyth will not be equipped with jump-jets until at least 2020, following the decision to scrap the Harrier squadrons. A decision on replacing Trident nuclear submarines has been postponed. And so the cuts go on. Some may be welcome but all of them will be unsettling.
Armed Forces Day thus has a third purpose: to prevent morale in the ranks taking a nose-dive. The budget cuts and the losses and uncertainties in the sands of Afghanistan are a double burden which must be difficult to bear. It makes the parade of smart, cheerful soldiers down the Royal Mile all the more impressive and the skirling of their pipes all the more magnificent.
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