Iraq War hero fears for future of army as veterans celebrate Armed Forces Day in Cleethorpes

An Iraq War veteran has said that he fears for the future of the army unless the government steps up to mark and does more to help with recruitment for the forces.

John Moody, 34, who served for eight years in the army and was deployed to Iraq on three occasions, said that he felt it would only be a matter of time before the UK ended up with no armed forces at all.

The veteran spoke to Lincolnshire Reporter ahead of Armed Forces Day in Cleethorpes, a major event in the UK military calendar.

John said: “The government’s view of diminishing the forces is wrong.

“It is only going to be a matter of time before we don’t have a forces at all and in my personal opinion it is not the way ahead.

“The advertisement is out there, but with recent affairs with soldiers getting a bad rep for doing their job is putting a lot of people off from joining the forces.”

Malcolm Ingram. Photo: Steve Smailes for Lincolnshire Reporter

Other veterans echoed John’s view that central government needs to do more.

Malcolm Ingram, 68, who served for seven years in the tank regiment, said: “I don’t think we have enough people in the forces at the moment to police the world.

“We have lost most of our tank regiments, the ships are mainly aircraft carriers and there is issues within the Air Force with squadrons being reduced, so we are a bit thin on the ground.

“Recruiting is difficult as people don’t fancy the idea of going to war.

“We used to go round schools and clubs and that is how we got young people interested in signing up to the forces. Now all that is scrapped, so the general public don’t see the army, apart from occasions like Armed Forces Day.”

Jim Godkin. Photo: Steve Smailes for Lincolnshire Reporter

Jim Godkin, 83, served for five years being deployed in Egypt, Jordan and Libya, believes that if a medal was awarded for everyone who lost their life while on duty more people would sign up.

“There are thousands of people being killed defending this realm and they are getting nothing for it. I think people in Parliament should get their act together and do what is right,” he said.

Armed Forces Day starts today (June 30) and runs until July 2, there will be some road closures around Cleethorpes due to the event.