[wvns] UK military families overwhelm charities

UK military families overwhelm charities
Monday, 03 August 2009
PressTV
http://www.therebel.org/politics/europe/uk-military-families-overwhelm-charities/

British servicemen's families have overwhelmed local charities appealing for basics in the absence of sufficient government support.
On Monday, the British newspaper The Sun quoted the management at the hunger relief organization Foodbank as attacking Downing Street for abandoning families of servicemen, leaving them to their own devices.

Army veteran and the body's Network Manager Jeremy Ravn said that with the petty wages the government pays to its soldiers "often a large bill or a hiccup in the pay system is enough to push them over the edge into financial crises."

Many of the families in Salisbury south of the country, known for its personnel contributions to the Army, have been living on food packages from Foodbank for the past four years.

"It is heartbreaking when you see them come in, but it's nice to be able to help them immediately," Ravn regretted.

The paper added that, for staking their lives, young privates receive a meager annually wage of £16,681 (USD 27,922).

Shadow Defense Secretary Liam Fox said "For a government that can find billions for bank bailouts, service families going hungry is a betrayal of Britain's finest."

He added that "This would have been a scandal in the 19th century. It's an outrage in the 21st century. What does it say about our country?"

Number Ten is already in hot water over the poor logistics on the ground in Afghanistan where the military has suffered a record number of casualties.

July witnessed the death of 22 soldiers bringing to 191 the overall British mortalities in both Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.
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