Brits buy their own gear

2 Pages·2021·0.07 MB·English

Jan. 16, 2003, 8:39PM

British soldiers disdain 'shoddy' gear, buy own

Associated Press

LONDON -- They're among the world's most elite fighting forces. But plagued with boots that melt in
the sun, stifling uniforms and radios that go on the blink, some British soldiers are buying their own
gear.

The Ministry of Defense said Thursday that more than one-quarter of British troops buy their own
equipment, including rucksacks, jackets, footwear and flashlights. Officials insist that standard-issue
gear is "better than ever" and that soldiers are merely replacing items they have lost, or expressing a
"personal preference."

But Paul Keetch, defense spokesman for the opposition Liberal Democrats, has urged the government to
ensure troops are adequately equipped for possible military action in the Persian Gulf.

"British soldiers have historically been forced to spend their own money to replace shoddy equipment or
get kits the (Ministry of Defense) refuses to provide," he told the House of Commons on Wednesday.
"Our troops should not be expected to put up with cheap and inferior equipment when better kits exist
on the open market."

A recent government report on a British military exercise in Oman in 2001 concluded troops
experienced problems with several items.

Soldiers complained that standard-issue boots fell apart or even melted in the sun and, in some
instances, caused foot rot, while the man-made fibers of standard uniforms resulted in heat stress
illnesses, the National Audit Office said.

The SA80 rifle -- already widely criticized as unreliable -- was prone to jamming in the sand, and some
equipment, such as the decades-old Clansman radio, was outdated and "completely inadequate" for
desert conditions, the report said.

"The National Audit Office made it clear that a decent kit is essential to morale," said Keetch. "All
troops heading for the gulf must be provided with a theater-specific kit that is of top quality and can
cope with the high temperatures troops can expect in the desert."

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: World
This article is: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/world/1739871

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