British Troops: Forced to beg, buy or borrow..

[Nin-Yaaban]

FORCED TO BEG, BUY OR BORROW Aug 25 2003

 

 

By NICK SOMMERLAD and NATHAN YATES

 

 

BRITISH troops serving in Iraq are so poorly equipped they are known as "The Borrowers".

 

They have to get by on second-rate kit or by begging from their American comrades.

 

They earned the nickname - from the classic children's book and film - after running out of necessities even including toilet roll.

 

Earlier this month an Army survey found that 55 per cent of troops and 42 per cent of officers had bought items of kit with their own cash because the felt what they had been issued with was inadequate.

 

And in July top brass admitted British troops had to take part in combat in Iraq without the correct weapons, body armour and clothing. They apologised to troops.

 

The verdict contradicted Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon's words to the Defence Select Committee.

 

He told the MPs in May that British troops had been given "the right boots" and "sufficient clothing and protective equipment".

 

The deaths of three Red Caps - killed as they rode in a hired, unprotected Nissan vehicle - is not the first time the lack of equipment has shocked an army that prides itself on being among the world's best.

 

On the eve of battle in Iraq, many UK troops said they were still waiting for desert clothing.

 

They were forced to buy their own or ask relatives to purchase them from Army surplus stores.

 

One RAF wing commander described his men's boots as "totally inappropriate" and said they had even had to ask the Americans for water and rations.

 

Troops in staging post camps in Kuwait struggled with kit meant for Europe. It was there that many had to write home for toilet paper after supplies ran out.

 

A huge desert training exercise in Oman last year revealed the extent of the problem when boots melted and fell apart. Yet a year on, the problem repeated itself.

 

Paul Williams, a 23-year-old signaller from Bournemouth, complained earlier this year: "It's a new boot, days old, but it's melting, falling to bits."

 

 

 

Mirror.co.Uk