WEBVTT

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A show of force.

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These are soldiers from the
British Army’s Parachute

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Regiment training for
action, storming and taking

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control of a replica enemy town.

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With the UK and its Nato allies
facing an increasingly hostile

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Russia, this international
training exercise

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on Salisbury Plain
was perhaps designed

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to send a message to Moscow.

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But it might also have been
aimed at those critics who say

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the British army is being
hollowed out and desperately

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needs to win more money from
this summer’s Defence Review.

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How can we actually modernise
our defence forces and actually

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make sure that we have that
cutting edge and cutting

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advantages doing it?

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It was something that for
me coming into the job

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was really important.

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We had the opportunity
to do that.

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That’s why I thought the
Modernising Defence programme

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is really important because
where we were before,

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we weren’t going to have the
time and the opportunity to be

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able to look at it in as
much depth as we needed to.

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The British Army is
facing challenges

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on a number of fronts,
not only in terms

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of having to make
cutbacks and savings,

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but also in terms of levels
of recruitment and morale.

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The challenge for the Defence
Secretary Gavin Williamson is

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how to ensure that he can get
more money for defence and keep

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all parts of the
British military happy.

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The army is at its
lowest size in a century

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and is struggling to
recruit the right numbers.

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Experienced soldiers insist
it’s still worth joining up.

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If it’s something you’re
really passionate about

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and you look towards doing,
I would say do it 100%.

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Like I said, I’ve been
in eight and a half years

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and I’ve absolutely loved
every single moment of my time

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in the Army.

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I would never take it back.

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Meanwhile, there are
questions over the Army’s kit

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and equipment, with
the lion’s share

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of capital investment
at the MOD being taken

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by the Air Force and the Navy.

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Have you got
everything you need?

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It would always be - from
a parachuter’s perspective,

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it would be nice to do
slightly more parachuting,

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and the challenge we
have is securing access

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to the airframes.

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The RAF is very busy doing its
work around - around the globe,

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and it’s in
balancing priorities.

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Commanders nevertheless
dismissed talk

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of the Army being run down.

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I push back on that notice.

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There is so much that we
should be proud of as a nation.

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We are involved in
over 25 operations

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worldwide in over 30 countries.

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We have a capital modernising
programme of £178 billion over

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10 years.

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That’s big sums.

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We are at the heart of Nato,
we’re at the heart of the EU,

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we’re at the heart
of the UN, and we

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have some really strong
partnerships because we are

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a strong and credible military.

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The next few weeks will
be crucial for Britain’s

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armed forces as they make
their case for more cash.

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As Britain prepares to
break away from the EU,

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the question for ministers is
whether they can afford not

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to invest in defence.