A group of MPs has described the forcible sacking of troops while civil servants have been shielded from the cuts as "grotesque".
Over 4,000 sailors, soldiers and airmen have been made redundant in the latest round of Ministry of Defence (MoD) cuts, but not one civil servant faces the sack, according to the Commons Defence Committee report.
MPs were shocked that sacked service personnel could not be retrained for career development opportunities elsewhere in the armed forces.
James Arbuthnot, the Tory MP and chairman of the committee, said: "The stark and shocking differences between redundancies in the MoD require an exceptionally persuasive explanation, which we are yet to hear."
Committee members were angered by Ursula Brennan, the MoD's top civil servant, who suggested that civilians were "flexibly employable" whereas those in the military were not.
She told them: "A very large number of the civil service have flexible skills that enable them to work in a variety of places."
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I would expect Ms Brennan, as PUS at the MOD to be better informed and less parochial. Members of the Armed Forces have a large number of transferable skill which they ally to a strong work ethic and 'can do'/'failure is not an option' approach to everything they do. Additionally, forces personnel move post every 2 to 3 years, often to a job requiring different skillsets. This demands flexibility and adaptability. The MOD could not deliver its outputs without the excellent contribution of the MOD civil servants, therefore, it is disappointing to see the MOD's top civil servant appearing not to appreciate the value and capabilities of the military personnel in that partnership.
Disgraceful, shameful and deplorable. Puts our servicemen and women under even greater stress as the operational tempo has to increase to cover further troop reductions.
Surely after all the cuts to our Armed Forces we need fewer civil servants to adminstrate the services....
And as for servicemen and women not being retrainable, what sheer nonsense. Today's Armed Forces are more technically advanced than ever before and even "basic" infantry soldiers have to be adapatable and flexible to learn to use a variety of technical equipment. Certainly transferable skills which could be used in industry and commerce.