Armed forces of an independent Scotland

In message , Robert Peffers
writes
Frae Auld Bob Peffers:
Just for the record what was said by me was quite plain.

Yes - "give us what we want or we start throwing nuclear weapons
around".

It was due to
someone's assumptions that the armed forces belonged to England.

Not sure who said that, but I was only drawn in by the egregiously
stupid stuff rather than flagrantly foolish nationalism.

My reply
was that if this was true then Scotland would just
hang on to what was already in Scotland - Virtually the entire nuclear
fleet.

Apart from that part of it down at Aldermaston, a point oft neglected.

The guy went of on a great tirade with way to much detail and some
garbled bluster about what England would do.

Translation, poor Mr Peffers didn't understand the facts as explained to
him.

My reply was, a bit tongue in
cheek, that Scotland would just auction off the nukes to the highest bidder.

Oh, I *see*, it was all just a little wee joke, was it? Then how come
*you* didn't see the funny side?

The essential point was, though, that Scotland, as a partner in the UK
already owned and thus were due a fair share of the existing forces.

Surely. But then, those forces include the supporting infrastructure,
and the trained personnel, and the stockpiles of spares and supplies to
support them. (And if you think the UK struggles, that's because we
*use* the kit and that shows up the weaknesses)

For that matter, if you're planning to give up on aspirations to "second
division world power", how many offshore patrol vessels equal one
Landing Ship Dock?




--
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Julius Caesar I:2

Paul J. Adam MainBoxatjrwlynch[dot]demon{dot}co(.)uk