- Discontent is growing in the ranks of Britain's part-time
Army.
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- A young female TA soldier with two weeks' basic training
was sent to the frontline in Iraq with a nuclear, biological and chemical
decontamination unit.
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- Despite strict rules preventing regular female soldiers
from carrying out frontline infantry operations, she was ordered to take
part in patrols, replacing paratroopers who were needed elsewhere.
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- Sarah Masters, 27, a project manager with Vodafone, is
one of hundreds of members of the TA who are leaving over the way they
were treated during the war.
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- Around 400 TA soldiers have already quit over the lack
of equipment that is claimed to have left one without a weapon when he
crossed into Iraq.
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- The war led to the biggest call-out of reservists since
Suez with 10,000 troops receiving compulsory mobilisation orders. Around
3,000 are expected to be called out this year.
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- But many are choosing to leave instead. They complain
of being treated like second-class citizens and dismiss the insistence
of senior officers that they have no need to fear loss of income as a result
of leaving well-paid jobs.
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- Miss Masters, who served with the Wiltshire Yeomanry,
told The Telegraph that she was sent to the Gulf last January, having only
completed two weeks' initial training four months earlier.
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- She said: "I had been on one exercise so I wasn't
fully confident in going to war and wanted more training. I wasn't given
the training that the other members of the squadron had received."
She was sent to war with a respirator that did not fit, despite raising
the issue repeatedly with her senior officers.
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- She said: "Some people had to hand back their body
armour or their ceramic plates as there weren't enough to go round. One
guy didn't have a rifle issued when he crossed the border.
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- "There wasn't enough ammo to go round. Some people
were lucky and managed to get some off the Americans."
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- Like many of the regular troops she and a number of other
members of the squadron were not issued with desert uniform until after
the war. Miss Masters said: "In the end my mum had to order a pair
of desert boots and send them out to me. When we had to be in squadron
photos, we had to be seen wearing our desert uniform. Anyone who didn't
have one couldn't be in the photo."
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- The squadron was subsequently ordered to take over from
the Parachute Regiment mounting foot patrols. "It seemed strange considering
the Paras have years of experience doing this and we only had four hours
of training. It can be daunting if you have never done this before. You
could hear Iraqi AK47 rifles going off all over the place."
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- Many TA soldiers in Iraq said they suffered financially,
and, despite strict rules preventing employers from sacking them, some
found their jobs were no longer there when they got home.
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- With many reservists being called up for action in Afghanistan
and then within a year mobilised for Iraq, employers have become less willing
to keep them on. One reservist sergeant who works for a major company in
the West Midlands returned from Iraq to find his position had been filled
and he had been transferred to a lower grade on less pay.
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- He believes he has no choice but to leave. "Employers
are supposed to keep your job open and if they don't they face a £1,000
fine," he said. "What hardship is that for a major company? The
MoD don't care. All they want is manpower and when your time is up they
just dump you."
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- Although reservists are supposed to be able to claim
back any loss of income due to their mobilisation this is not easy. "I
wonder if people are aware that UK reservists receive little in benefits.
They are even encouraged to take out insurance to protect equipment we
are issued with in case we lose it during combat.
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- "What is particularly annoying is that our colleagues
in the coalition from America and Australia were getting tax-free pay as
an incentive. The Aussies are also getting a special overseas allowance,
war bounty and danger pay."
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- A senior Army officer working at the MoD said commanders
were aware that many members of the TA were not happy and were seeking
better benefits, including pensions.
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- The officer added: "The fact is that unless something
is done soon the number of people within the TA we can call upon will get
smaller and smaller and leave us in a no-win situation. We have about 12
months to go before we run out of manpower."
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- The MoD said it was unable to comment on specific cases
but women in TA units were not allowed in infantry roles on combat operations.
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- Figures for numbers leaving the TA were not available,
but a spokesman said reservists called up for long operations were covered
by MoD pensions that bring occupational pensions in line with those of
regulars and enjoyed the same death-in-service benefits as regular troops.
Reservists contacted yesterday insisted this was not the case.
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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