Honour the fallen by doing better for those still serving

Today, many of us will stand around our local war memorial, medals polished and poppies worn proudly, and remember people who never got to grow old. We’ll think about lives lost, families changed forever and the price paid for the country we are fortunate enough to call home. But this year, I think we should also ask ourselves a difficult question. Are we doing enough for the people who might be called upon to defend it next? Perhaps it’s just me, but I seem to have seen fewer poppies this year.

I wear mine with pride, though I know people who feel remembrance just as deeply without pinning one to their coat. That should always be a personal choice. After all, the freedom to decide for ourselves is part of what makes this country worth defending. What worries me more is the distance between the British public and the Armed Forces who protect us. As generations with direct memories of the world wars pass away, that connection becomes harder to maintain.

Without a relative who served, remembrance can seem like something from a history lesson rather than something relevant to your own life. But the names on our memorials belonged to people who walked those same streets, drank in the local pubs and had plans for their futures. They were part of the communities we live in today. A few years ago, a friend of mine wore a purple poppy, which raised a few eyebrows in our group until they explained the meaning.

It was to remember the animals that served and died in war. That seemed entirely reasonable to me. Think of the horses sent into shellfire or the dogs that have saved soldiers’ lives. They had no say in any of it, and there is lots of room to remember them alongside the people they served with. People mark this weekend differently. I know some who will be on arduous hikes in the Brecon Beacons. Others will be working and will pause wherever they happen to be.

Many will gather around a memorial alongside neighbours they barely speak to during the rest of the year. There are very few occasions when you stand silently with other people in public. For those two minutes, nobody needs to fill the gap. We understand why we are there. There is something deeply moving, and deeply British, about that quiet, shared act of gratitude. But when the silence ends, we need to think about what we owe those still serving or wanting to serve.

We ask them to leave their families, go wherever they are sent and face dangers most will never have to think about. The least they should be able to expect in return is the training and equipment to do their jobs properly, and the reassurance that their families will be looked after while they are away. Yet I know there are soldiers running around Salisbury Plain shouting “bang” because there was no money for blank ammunition. It sounds like something out of Dad’s Army, but these are people we will one day send into battle.

They deserve every opportunity to practise, make mistakes and learn from them in training, because when someone is shooting back, those lessons come at a much higher price. The Government says essential readiness and operational commitments are being protected as training is prioritised. But every saving on an exercise must be weighed against the opportunity lost to practise, make mistakes and put them right before lives depend on it. Then there is accommodation.

Parliament’s Defence Committee has described conditions as “shocking”, with persistent damp and mould among the problems facing service families. We ask someone to deploy overseas while their partner battles to get repairs done at home. What message does that send about how much we value their service? I am proud of this country and the people who put on its uniform, with all the courage, professionalism and sheer bloody determination that service demands.

That pride comes with an obligation to do right by them, which is why I find it so infuriating when Britain asks so much of its Armed Forces and fails to give them the support they deserve. We cannot keep expecting good people to work around bad decisions and then congratulate ourselves on their ingenuity. Courage cannot supply missing ammunition, repair a vehicle or replace training that never happened. Of course, the Ministry of Defence must account for how it spends our money.

If we are serious about backing our Armed Forces, we should be asking difficult questions about what actually reaches the people doing the job. Money wasted on poor decisions is money that could have paid for better equipment or another training exercise, things that might make the difference between someone coming home and their family receiving a knock at the door. Successive governments bear responsibility for getting this right, but the rest of us cannot simply lose interest once the poppies come off.

We expect our Armed Forces to be ready whenever Britain needs them. We should care just as much about whether they have what they need when there is no crisis on the evening news. A capable military helps prevent the wars we gather to remember. Deterrence requires trained people, working equipment and the ability to sustain them. We should want someone joining today to have a long career, a decent life and a retirement in which they can stand at their own memorial.

We should want them to grow old. So today, I will wear my poppy and fall silent with pride, gratitude and sorrow. I will think about those who never came home, the people I have lost, and the families who have carried that loss. But I will also be thinking about those wearing the uniform today, and the young people who will follow them. We owe them more than our gratitude for two minutes each November. If we are proud enough to stand at a memorial and honour those who gave everything for Britain, we should be determined enough to look after those still prepared to do the same. ____________________ EJ Ward is LBC's Investigations Editor and covers intelligence, defence and security topics.

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position. To contact us email opinion@lbc.co.uk