Army will soldier on and get us out of big Olympics mess (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Army will soldier on and get us out of big Olympics mess

9:40am Saturday 14th July 2012 in Simon Parker Column By Simon Parker, Bradford City Reporter

So let’s get this straight. Before we start sacking these soldiers, let’s get them to give up some holiday and provide Olympic security.

Sorry boys, we know you’ve just done a tour of Afghanistan but if you wouldn’t mind checking tickets and looking out for naughty people smuggling fizzy drinks into the Games …

Every major sporting event is always preceded by the scare stories. It’s part of the build-up to tell everyone that the tournament cannot possibly go ahead.

Whether it’s the building work not finished, poisonous snakes on the hotel lawns (admittedly that was more South Africa than London) or anti-aircraft missiles parked on top of a block of luxury flats. We all like a bout of “if only”.

But the failure of security firm G4S and the predicted shortfall in security staff is more than just the usual grumble.

According to reports, they could be up to 3,000 short of the number that need to be trained up for the Games with less than a fortnight to go.

So the Army, who else, get the frantic last-minute call. As they do whenever there’s a shortage or strike.

And some of those “lucky” enough to be picked will be using up the leave earned from their latest tour of duty.

I bet they feel really appreciated.

At a time when the powers-that-be keep cutting our armed forces to the bone, it seems these soldiers are still good for something.