As part of the armed forces parliamentary scheme, I recently had the opportunity to take part in a dawn attack exercise on Salisbury plain. We were in the back of a Saxon armoured personnel carrier at four o’clock in the morning—albeit on an exercise—and we were reliant on two guys, one on either side of the vehicle, each with a light anti-tank weapon. In a war environment, I would like to know that those guys were there with their light anti-tank weapons defending the vehicle, rather than thinking that they may decide, according to their consciences, at four o’clock in the morning, that it was all a bad idea. What is the hon. Gentleman’s view on a squaddie—if I may use that word—lying there with a light anti-tank weapon, thinking to himself, ““Two years isn’t so bad. Let’s slope off home and not lie here at four o’clock in the morning in the cold.””?
Armed Forces Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Robert Flello
(Labour)
in the House of Commons on Monday, 22 May 2006.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Armed Forces Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
446 c1225 
Session
2005-06
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2024-04-21 20:07:37 +0100
URI
http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_325657
In Indexing
http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_325657
In Solr
https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_325657