MoD Firing Blanks, Mainly! Cheap Shots!

"Hey! Come on! Hurry up! It's your round!"

pa.press.net

The lucky Soldiers who are not being deployed to Afghanistan are having to train with blank rounds because it is cheaper and they have to spend more time on their WiiWar Training, and virtual killing, allegedly.

WiiWar Training?
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the "ever-improving quality" of computer simulation had reduced the need for live fire exercises for some units.

Unfortunately, this last move may actually bring more 'gamers' into the army and just getting them fit to get off their asses and walk, let alone run, is going to add to the overheads, I would surmise.

Bang! Bang! Your dead!
Fall Down you horrible little man!

The ban on live ammunition will also affect the entire Territorial Army (TA) and a number of non-frontline regular army units (admin, catering and house-cleaning?), which is not a bad thing, really. I think it is very wise not to give the TA live ammo to 'play' with. Personally I wouldn't give them a pointed stick to use in case they poked each other's eyes out.

Battle Plan - Strategic
This recent move is the result of a £700m cutback in spending, needed to 'run' the Army in the UK. Although, it does give you some idea as to how many 'live' rounds they fire at wooden targets, sand bags and the odd stupid rabbit that strays into to the 'killing' zone.

No Cheap Shots?
Each live round for the standard issue service rifle, the SA80, costs about 30p, while a blank one costs 10p. It seems crazy to try and simulate 'battle conditions' without live ammunition. The soldiers will just ignore the loud noises around them and do what they want. Maybe we should give them the 'occasional' live round, just to keep them 'alert' and motivated.

NB - 'Battle conditions' are the circumstances when soldiers are in simulated active service and practicing battle maneuvres. 'Bottle conditions' is when they are in the local pub afterwards.

Alternative tactics
The Army could consider;

• Reduce the number of 'live' rounds in each clip by 25%, 30%, 50%, providing realistic conditions but directly saving 25 - 50% on ammo.
  
• Bullet 'sponsorship'. This has already been done in the past and is still popular in most war conditions. In the past in Europe, it was mainly Austria and Switzerland, allegedly. Now it's a triumph of equal opportunity, open to most countries, especially if you have access to rich natural resources, allegedly.
• A 'Bring your own ammo to the battle' campaign. This is very popular in the US, apparently. Where the average citizen has more ammo stored in his house than Germany, allegedly.
• 'Pay as u Go' ammunition charges. On a 'shoot or return' basis. This is a good incentive to 'shoot less and be more accurate with the shots you use' allegedly.
  
• Replacing the 'slug' end of the bullet with a cheap plastic or alloy replica which will not have the penetration of a bullet but will 'sting a bit' (in a manly way) when you are hit.
• Make more use of the 'Fun Fair' and 'Carnival' sharp-shooting stalls, when they come around or establish a resident one, funded by an external 'off-road' entertainment service provider like Barnum and Bailey, etc.
  
• Make more effort to find a peaceful settlement and live in harmonic co-operation with our neighbours. Yeah! but that's just crazy talk!