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The purchase of officer commissions in the British Army was a common practice through most of its history. The practice started in 1683 during the reign of Charles II and continued until abolished on 1 November 1871, as part of the Cardwell Reforms. Commissions could only be purchased in cavalry and infantry regiments (and therefore up to the rank of Colonel only).

Unreliable Haaretz deceving headline about Arabs who fought on British side in WW2On Haaretz "celebrating" a headline about Arab Palestinians fighting on British side based on shaky "research".Many Arabs were not from Palestine but came over from Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.Many did so with the intention to get arms.Jews paid Arabs to be enlisted.Abbasi chose selective sources, yet neither the quantitative nor the qualitative aspect of his theory is supported by the evidence.Shukairy's own testimony in his book states that (1940) almost no one adhered Britain's call to join a Palestine force to help the Allies.Conclusion:The patched up concocted Abbasi...

If the ADF and the British army had a baby...

<p>The men died after their tank exploded during a training exercise when live charges were incorrectly stored inside the armoured vehicle.</p> <p>Corporals Matthew Hatfield and Darren Neilson of the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) were killed when the Challenger 2 tank burst into flames on June 14 last year.</p>

The sun has indeed set on the British Empire. The British Army of the Light Brigade, the Tommies of the Great War, the Desert Rats in North Africa, the Red Devils at Arnhem, the 2nd PARA in the Falklands, and the famed SAS from Benghazi to Northern Ireland to Afghanistan, is disappearing faster than a DACA deal on Dick Durbin’s desk. Like the US Army, the British Army has been invaded by social justice warriors and liberal clowns who think that diversity is a combat multiplier and sensitivity is the king of battle. The British Army Smoke and Mirrors, PAO...

<p>The British Army has painted some of its Challenger 2 tanks in a new camouflage scheme that planners hope will help the 62-ton machines hide on city streets. But the government has withheld other, more important enhancements.</p> <p>The tanks’ blocky, white, gray and brown scheme is actually a throwback to the Cold War, when British tankers prepared to defend West Berlin from the Soviets.</p>

In 2011, the second episode of the BBC documentary series Bomb Squad showed a missile strike obliterating a team of Taliban fighters laying improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan. Afterwards, the film crew captured bomb disposal specialists discussing on the situation. “They got hit by an Exactor missile, I think, or Extractor missile?” one British soldier tells his comrades. “So there’s bits of Taliban spread liberally all over the area currently.” Curiously, at the time, the British military did not have an “Exactor” or “Extractor” missile officially in service. The BBC had caught a glimpse of a secret weapon. The United...

LONDON --- An initial assessment phase portion for the British Army Challenger main battle tank upgrade program has elicited response from multiple bidders. The British Army's fleet of 227 Challenger tanks are to be upgraded under a program expected to reach £624 million ($816 million). Under the latest U.K. Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR) published in November 2015, the Conservative government opted to extend the service life of the British Army's Challenger II main battle tank - which began entering service in 1998 - out by 10 years to 2035. With the deadline for submitting industry proposals to the...

A female soldier was jailed on Friday for seven years and dismissed in disgrace from the army for sexually assaulting a female colleague after telling her she would “make her gay”. Lance Corporal Hannah Heslop, 25, was told she “failed in her duty of care” after she sexually assaulted the woman when she had fallen asleep in her bed following a night out. The court heard bisexual Heslop was “clearly attracted” to the heterosexual woman, who cannot be named, and when she accompanied the victim home had “hoped for sexual activity”. …

Amid ongoing changes to the British Army under the banner of austerity, the bemusing statistic of four legged firepower outweighing the heavy metal variety persists. Recently, the Conservative Defence Minister Lord Astor admitted: “The Army currently has 485 horses, serving in the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, the Household Division and at the Defence Animal Centre." The last time horses were used in a combat role by the British Army was World War I, when a million were sent to the frontline and only about 62,000 survived. During World War II, General Orde Wingate and...

A platoon of about 30 men may take part in an annual US-Ukraine exercise involving hundreds of troops around Lviv near the Polish border. Reserves minister Julian ­Brazier made the announcement while visiting a 120-strong group from the 1st Battalion Duke of Lancaster's Regiment taking part in a Nato exercise in Poland. It is one of a series of exercises in eastern Europe designed to reassure Nato member states and to deter Russian aggression.

Serving members of Britain’s Armed Forces have secretly joined a pacifist organization directly opposed to war and the carrying of weapons, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. In a remarkable breach of military law, members of the Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy have joined Veterans For Peace UK, which campaigns against armed conflict. It also campaigns to stop the UK Government “intervening in the internal affairs of other nations”, and has organized protests at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day as well as visits to schools to teach pupils the “true nature” of armed conflict. Last night, there were...

In an action unprecedented during 12 years of war in Afghanistan, the commandant of the Marine Corps is firing two top generals for failing to protect troops and their base in southern Afghanistan from a Taliban attack. Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos, has agreed to a finding that Maj. Gen. Charles M. Gurganus and Maj. Gen. Gregg A. Sturdevant "did not take adequate force protection measures" at Camp Bastion last year, the service said on Monday. On September 14-15, 2012, Taliban fighters got through an unguarded part of a fence and engaged in a long running gun battle with U.S....

Far from protecting British troops, this week’s novel ruling by the Supreme Court—stretching the Human Rights Act (HRA) to allow soldiers to sue the Government over decisions on equipment, training and operations—will endanger our forces and undermine democratic accountability. The claims followed casualties in Iraq after a “friendly fire” incident between two Challenger tanks, and when a Snatch Land Rover patrol hit roadside bombs. The Ministry of Defense was accused of negligence in equipping the tanks and jeeps, training the servicemen and operational decision-making. In an unprecedented judgment, the court abandoned the bar to negligence claims against the MoD in...

Forcing more spending cuts on the military would be dangerous and disruptive and would damage the country’s ability to win wars, the head of the Army warns. Gen. Sir Peter Wall warned that further savings would place the Army’s future plans in jeopardy and seriously damage its “professional competence” in some areas. … George Osborne, the Chancellor, has said he wants to find £11.5 billion ($18.1 billion) of savings from Whitehall departments, and the Ministry of Defense is expected to be hit hard. The Army is already being reduced from 102,000 to 82,000 personnel after the defense budget was cut in...

The Army has been ordered to take a 25-day Christmas holiday to try to cut its electricity and gas bills. All 110,000 military and civilian personnel must take ‘block leave’ from December 14 until January 7, a leaked memo from a senior officer said. The decision, communicated by Major General David Cullen, means all barracks, Territorial Army buildings and other military sites will be closed for almost a month. General Cullen, the chief of staff for land forces, said it was an ‘opportunity for utility savings’. He added that the measure aimed to ‘fully exploit the utility efficiencies available by...

ARMS and explosives search dog Treo has saved countless lives in Afghanistan. His handler David Heyhoe tells his story. SETTING off into the dawn sunlight, Treo and I are out front doing the lonely walk. We dog handlers say that emotions run up leash and down again. We had just lost our first soldier - killed by a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) - and Treo could sense that I wanted payback. Treo was hyper-alert and raring to go. It was a good thing. We'd been out for several days now and the Taliban would know the paths we'd use...

An heroic soldier from Shropshire, who led a bayonet charge over 90 yards of open ground in Afghanistan under a hail of enemy fire, was today awarded the Military Cross for his bravery.

In the most significant reforms the Army in half-a-century, The Daily Telegraph has learnt that as few as five infantry battalions totalling 2,500 soldiers will be cut but a further 17,500 jobs will go mainly from logistics troops, engineers and artillery. Military commanders have condemned the move as creating an “unbalanced Army” that will be reliant on a “Tesco’s just in time” supply tactic for campaigns. The reforms have been forced on the Army after it was forced to reduce from 102,000 to 82,000 under defence cuts. For the last three decades the Army has put an increasing emphasis on...

(edit) Private Stephens said that he "goose necked" the man, grabbing him around the neck and dragging him towards his vehicle."I jumped out off the wagon and I grabbed the geezer," Private Stephens said. "It was one left, two right fists. That was it. No weapons, just my hands."The captured man turned out to be a bomb maker and the highest ranking Taliban captured by regular British forces.Fellow soldier, Lieutenant Martyn Fulford, said, "It tied in to our intelligence reports that there were a number of suicide bombers preparing to attack us."When the motorcyclist came within 100 feet, a barrage of...