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Bandsmen are told to stand guard
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/19/narmy19.xml
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent 2:23am BST 19/05/2007
The Army is so short-staffed that military bandsmen have been put on standby to replace infantry battalions guarding Cyprus.
Some musicians have threatened to resign if they are sent on the operation, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
With more than 14,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, planners desperately need more than 3,300 soldiers.
The first band scheduled to go to Cyprus will be the 50 musicians from the Welsh Guards, followed by the Grenadier Guards and the Rifles.
The first deployment is expected in January. During their three-month tours they will be expected to help keep the Greek and Turkish communities apart in the UN operation and guard British bases that are vital to operations in the Middle East.
They will also free up 100 soldiers from the Royal Welsh battalion to deploy abroad if an emergency arises.
Some bandsmen are saying that they joined up to be musicians, not soldiers.
"The worst thing about this is that we are essentially professional musicians who have not seen a rifle since our basic training," said one.
"The whole thing is ludicrous because we are musicians not bloody infantry. Three in our band are already saying if this goes ahead they will resign on the spot." The Corps of Army Music has 24 bands that total almost 1,000 musicians - the equivalent of two infantry battalions.
With the Army now fielding 36 battalions, officers believe the plan is a clear demonstration of how stretched the Forces are.
"It is an imaginative use of manpower which rather indicates the size of the manning problem and how we can fill the gaps in personnel," a senior officer said.
"This will cause great merriment in the battalions seeing the musicians finally going to work for a living. This could be the end of military bands as these people joined up to be musicians not soldiers.
"It is not the most demanding of tours but might be a challenge for the bandsmen." Military bandsmen spend the majority of the time playing music in Britain, including Trooping the Colour and the Edinburgh Tattoo, and around the world. But they are also soldiers who have traditionally acted in roles such as stretcher bearers in war.
Whitehall officials indicated that deploying the bandsmen to Cyprus "remained a possibility" but added that the Army "had to be flexible during a period of high operational tempo".
"We want to use all our available sources for tasks around the world," a source said.
A MoD spokesman said: "Any possible future Band Service deployments are contingency planning, not a firm commitment. No decision has yet been taken to deploy the Band Service."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/19/narmy19.xml
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent 2:23am BST 19/05/2007
The Army is so short-staffed that military bandsmen have been put on standby to replace infantry battalions guarding Cyprus.
Some musicians have threatened to resign if they are sent on the operation, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
With more than 14,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, planners desperately need more than 3,300 soldiers.
The first band scheduled to go to Cyprus will be the 50 musicians from the Welsh Guards, followed by the Grenadier Guards and the Rifles.
The first deployment is expected in January. During their three-month tours they will be expected to help keep the Greek and Turkish communities apart in the UN operation and guard British bases that are vital to operations in the Middle East.
They will also free up 100 soldiers from the Royal Welsh battalion to deploy abroad if an emergency arises.
Some bandsmen are saying that they joined up to be musicians, not soldiers.
"The worst thing about this is that we are essentially professional musicians who have not seen a rifle since our basic training," said one.
"The whole thing is ludicrous because we are musicians not bloody infantry. Three in our band are already saying if this goes ahead they will resign on the spot." The Corps of Army Music has 24 bands that total almost 1,000 musicians - the equivalent of two infantry battalions.
With the Army now fielding 36 battalions, officers believe the plan is a clear demonstration of how stretched the Forces are.
"It is an imaginative use of manpower which rather indicates the size of the manning problem and how we can fill the gaps in personnel," a senior officer said.
"This will cause great merriment in the battalions seeing the musicians finally going to work for a living. This could be the end of military bands as these people joined up to be musicians not soldiers.
"It is not the most demanding of tours but might be a challenge for the bandsmen." Military bandsmen spend the majority of the time playing music in Britain, including Trooping the Colour and the Edinburgh Tattoo, and around the world. But they are also soldiers who have traditionally acted in roles such as stretcher bearers in war.
Whitehall officials indicated that deploying the bandsmen to Cyprus "remained a possibility" but added that the Army "had to be flexible during a period of high operational tempo".
"We want to use all our available sources for tasks around the world," a source said.
A MoD spokesman said: "Any possible future Band Service deployments are contingency planning, not a firm commitment. No decision has yet been taken to deploy the Band Service."
They joined the forces, they are soldiers first, musicians second.
