'UK military stretch could hit operations'

London, July 3: Britain's armed forces, stretched by deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, are suffering shortfalls in personnel that could jeopardise their operating capability, a parliamentary committee said today.

More staff are leaving the armed forces early, partly due to the pressures of long tours of duty overseas.

Recruitment is not keeping pace, leading to a shortfall of almost 6,000 personnel or 3.2 per cent in April 2007, said parliament's Public Accounts Committee.

The opposition Liberal Democrats, who were against the Iraq war, said the report showed personnel faced an ''intolerable burden'' and called for a timetable on withdrawal from Iraq.

But the Ministry of Defence said recruitment was strong and rejected the idea of growing personnel shortages.

The committee said the numbers leaving early are at a 10-year peak for Army and Royal Air Force officers. There are more acute shortfalls in specialised areas, notably medical staff, it said.

''The increasing frequency of deployments on overseas operations and time away from home are factors causing people to leave the armed forces,'' the committee said in a report.

''The impact of continuous downsizing, pressures and overstretch is affecting the (Defence) Department's ability to retain and provide a satisfactory life for armed forces personnel,'' it added.

''The longer this situation continues the more it will begin to affect operational capability.'' Guidelines on how often personnel should be away from home are consistently broken with more than 15 per cent of personnel away more than set out in the guidelines, the report said.

More personnel could leave the military if current pressures continue, the parliamentarians warned.

Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said: ''We cannot expect the needs of our armed forces to be adequately met whilst they are faced with overstretch, downsizing and extended tours of duty.'' ''The time has come to set a timetable for the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq,'' Harvey added.

Defence Minister Derek Twigg said he accepted the armed forces were ''very stretched'' but ministers deny ''overstretch'' since forces continued to do what is asked of them.

''With the drawdown of troops in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and the reductions already made possible in Iraq, some of the pressure should soon start to ease,'' Twigg added in a statement.

Twigg accepted there were shortages in some specific areas but he said talk of a ''peak'' in outflow was inaccurate.

Reuters

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