UK Military Faces Crisis as Soldiers Quit Despite Pay Raise

In this Thursday, Sept. 2

2, 2016 photo, a British soldier walks by a Typhoon aircraft before take off for a mission in Iraq, at RAF Akrotiri, near the southern coastal city of Limassol, in Cyprus

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – UK soldiers are quitting the armed forces “at an alarming rate,” despite a record pay raise in the summer, the Telegraph newspaper has reported. The report, published on Saturday, said that there were now just two servicepeople per thousand people in the United Kingdom for the first time in history. Over the past 12 months, over 15,000 soldiers have reportedly quit the armed forces, despite the government’s efforts to address the crisis by raising wages by 6%, which is the largest increase in the past 22 years.

In late October, UK Defense Minister John Healey admitted that the country’s military is well-equipped to conduct military operations, but is not yet prepared for combat. In July, the minister stated that the kingdom's armed forces face a number of significant challenges.

The UK parliament’s Defense Committee has earlier urged the government to make a choice between either increasing investment in the military or recognizing that properly prioritizing combat operations will lead to a reduction in the overall number of tasks.MilitaryUK Treasury Reportedly Admits ‘No More Money’ for Defense as Army Runs Out of Ammo6 February 2023, 06:02 GMT

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