Half-trained troops to fight the Taleban (UK)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3279578.ece

Nearly 1,000 new army recruits face having their combat training cut by half so that they can be rushed to the battlefields of Afghanistan.

The “exceptional” measure is being proposed by senior officers to meet a serious shortage in manpower, The Times has learnt. It would affect those infantry battalions being earmarked to fight in the country next year. One senior defence source admitted that the new recruits would not be properly qualified to fight since they would receive only 50 per cent of the basic training usually given to qualified combat infantrymen.

“I would be very nervous of having to deploy with this limited level of expertise and experience in the frontline companies,” the source said. He added that such a scheme could undermine the reputation of the Army.

At present every battalion due to deploy next year is at least 100 soldiers short of the required manpower level – that is, 550 instead of 650 men.