# A Million Bullets - by James Fergusson



## captloadie (10 Mar 2010)

I'm in the middle of reading this book, which is supposed to be "The Real Story of the British Army in Afghanistan". The author interviews British soldiers and airmen who were involved on Herrick 4, the British Deployment to Helmond Province. It is a good read, but the part I find fascinating is that in 2006/7 the British, for the first time, seem to be dealing with the same issues we have been dealing with since the mid-nineties. Lack of fiscal support by government leading to rust out of equipment. Lack of political support, leading to poor intergovernmental cooperation. Lack of public support, leading to a nation questioning why they are in the war at all. And probably most surprising, lack of interest as an employer, leading to poor recruiting and retention problems. One of the quotes says they could face having Apache helicopters sitting unused on ramps because there is no interest in the pilot community to do the conversion training to fly them.

 In some ways, it was like reading the Canadian history of the Armed Forces during the nineties. Has anyone else read this book and come to the same conclusions?


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