Saturday, September 03, 2005
MORE LEGALISTIC DISMEMBERMENT OF MILITARY READINESS?
Why on earth did anyone think this was a good idea?
Why on earth did anyone think this was a good idea?
Defence chiefs are fighting to prevent the Army's tanks being stopped in their tracks by the introduction of a European directive on vibration and noise at work.
Noise at work? I'm quite eager to see how they intend on keeping that one when going to war, which tends to be a rather noisy affair. Well some Health and Safety clever dick has noticed this already and pointed out that
If you are in a combat situation then clearly it will be difficult to bring in these regulations
No kidding. And what’s to be done?
But with a slim chance of reducing vibrations in a Challenger 2 tank and the Warrior armoured vehicles, the Ministry of Defence will be seeking an exemption from the rules by invoking an "opt-out" clause.
The famous opt-out. Though again I can only complain that there is no clear policy of principally exempting the military from such regulations. That's not to say that there should be no work place protection for soldiers, but that these should be set separately and independently from the civilian world. The two are very distinct from each other and it would help to bear that in mind. If we don't make that separation clear we will either get a militarised society (thankfully not very likely in this time and place), or either a completely civilianised military incapable of war fighting. Certainly an extreme end scenario but we are already drifting that way.
Labels: defence
