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Having read the speech, and not what journalists and No.10 spox has said, the general is referring to the generation of the third echelon in the event of a large scale, expeditionary force. It’s over a decade since I was more engaged in this so might not be 100% accurate:
The first echelon would be the mobilisation of the regular military plus specialist elements of the reserves (e.g medics) the second echelon would typically follow 6 months later, comprising regulars not mobilised the first time, plus further elements of the volunteer reserve. Where the difficulty arises is after 1+ year, where you need to start mobilising resources not just to continue combat operations, but also to counter-insurgency and facilitate stabilisation and reconstruction. This was where the Iraq campaign failed, because of the failure to implement effective law and order, water and power that then led to the insurrection.<br />There are also ‘defence’ tasks that are assigned to the military at home in the UK such as flood resilience, natural disasters that would now need to be done by civilians because the military wouldn’t be there to do it. So in effect, conscription would involve doing things like filling sand bags in your home town rather than fighting Russians on the steppe.
Keyboard warriors of STW needn’t worry….
Great summary @dovebiker
This was where the Iraq campaign failed
Sacking the entire Army and police force didn't help either, making a bunch of skilled and trained people unemployed in their own country was Rumsfeld's bright idea and oh, how that bit everyone in the arse.
We created a ready made militia, Iran just added the water (arms) and off it went.
I think the challenge in today's society would be the sheer range of roles that are deemed essential eats into any resource pool, but i'm sure there's a lot of industry knowledge that defence could benefit from.
@ernielynch et all, infantry training typically takes 6 months and then the newly qualified soldiers move to thier respective units, that's when they are further instructed on different skill sets which are constantly practiced and enhanced through further training, courses, exercises etc. This results in professional highly skilled individuals working together to a single purpose to achieve their objective, warfare, assisting civilian powers, humanitarian aid etc.
I've been an infantry instructor twice, both two year posts. I was very much physically fitter and mentally robust than any 18 yo recruit well into my mid 30's. No 18yo's in the SF world as they would have none of the required above/experience.
As being younger and more apt to take risks I would have to agree with the RM. The risks are calculated by your peers and direct line of command and through training. Yes there are benefits of having individuals that take risks for the good of thier comrades or group, but that cannot border on behind reckless and doing the opposite of endangering them.
Prob quite a few serving or veterans on this forum who have put thier bodies and minds on the line for this country whatever other members views are, however some comments on here are rather bizarre.
I'm in my 50's and am still pretty much the same risk taker as I was when 18, probably a trait that has served me well as a serviceman and civilian. You can train in, however IMHO you have to want to do that sort of stuff.
Sorry for the waffle, hope that gives some reference to the discussion.
Edit: Dovebiker, nail, head.
@inbred I think the biggest hurdle would be reforming the Army Reserve into a deployable force beyond a handful that are that way inclined, The volume of training that is required by a multitude of cap badges is often beyond reservists to complete in a period of time that is realistic and minimises skill fade coupled with the very 'relaxed' contract.
To increase the commitment would come with a burden to reimburse civilian employers and legislate for better protections to ensure reservists couldn't be discriminated against when it came to employment.
Gen Sanders concept is great, I think the execution would be a rather large headache.
@RM, I agree there, I spent my last 1 1/2 years as a reservist with a very well trained and manned unit. It was however a complete fantasy that 30,000 reservists could be brought to bear to bolster the regular army. Looks fabulous on paper, in reality a total smoke and mirrors exercise by the politicians.
I have seen both very good and very bad reservists in my former unit over the decades.Not totally putting all reservist in the same pot, some great individuals, however if it all kicked off the, "bounty hunters", would be off like the proverbial shot😁
But at least we would win the most argumentative, talking out of your arse forum war🤣........god I feel safer already.
We'll be safer than steak at a Vegan BBQ.
so is relapsed madelorian Cpt Mainwaring?
so is relapsed madelorian Cpt Mainwaring?
No, I'm Pike.
🙂
quite a good episode of the News Agent podcast on this tonight.
Address the root cause of the recruit & retain issues that the professional military have suffered for a decades!
This should be the priority, rather than talking about press ganging people who have no motivation.
If you've served in either service, we all know the issues and the P**s poor conduct of the .Gov to change anything.
If the professional troops aren't motivated to serve, what chance is motivating civvies!?
Led by Donkeys!
No, I’m Pike.
Don’t tell em………
If the professional troops aren’t motivated to serve, what chance is motivating civvies!?
can we get some in from an agency? 😉
If the professional troops aren’t motivated to serve, what chance is motivating civvies!?
There's also something in serving a government and nation that represents the values you stand for. Look at V&S and tell me how many ways the current Govt take a huge shit on them.
But yeah, you're spot on, how the hell do you even begin to motivate in the face of recent choices.
Boxer, I'm looking at you.
can we get some in from an agency?
Of course you can, but mercenaries, sorry, Military Contractors are not really good for all the things you want an army to do. You can use them effectively for guarding things or providing security, but I don't think there is a rent-a-navy or a fly-by-mile service anywhere. Even the Russian Wagner group was more keen on working in Africa guarding mines than in fighting in Ukraine.
TL;DR: War is a national military thing and, if you want to take and hold ground you really need a professional, well recruited, well trained and well directed army to do it properly.
can we get some in from an agency?
Don't pay them on a Friday though, or Vladimir will invade on Saturday 😜
Seems to be quite a few reservists In the tory party including Ruth Davidson - tank commander 🙂 I am sure they will all be at the front of the queue
Davidson? She was in the TA Royal Signals for a few years. But yeah, there's plenty and obviously they'd be the first ones volunteering their skills and leadership acumen. 😂
she loves posing with a tank tho so must be well qualified.
she loves posing with a tank tho so must be well qualified.
See also, Mark Francois.
As a general rule, the more that politicians talk about their previous service/reserve service, the less they actually did or would ever do.
Can't remember who it was (another vile Tory no doubt) who banged in an awful lot about his reserve service 15 years ago where the nearest he got to a combat situation was a mild disagreement in the NAAFI queue.
Still, could be worse...
[img] 
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e loves posing with a tank tho so must be well qualified.
Liz Truss will be there
Kier has the 1000 yard stare down though.
He is staring at Theresa May running through that wheat field. I can imagine his next speech now....
"YOU WASN'T THERE MAN, YOU DIDN'T SEE WHAT I SAW"
Naked?
AI generated a horrific image that I don't have the balls to post.
Here's the SFW version.
MSP, na that's Starmer getting himself pysch'd up for the infamous MP's 5 miler of death😁
Gen Sanders concept is great
Greasy chicken covered in batter ?
No wait...thats Colonel Sanders.
I’m in my 50’s and am still pretty much the same risk taker as I was when 18, probably a trait that has served me well as a serviceman and civilian. You can train in, however IMHO you have to want to do that sort of stuff.
Sorry for the waffle, hope that gives some reference to the discussion.
Not waffle at all, it raises an interesting point and brings to attention the big difference between a professional army and a conscript one.
I reckon the difference between the two might be greater than some people think, your job as in an instructor would certainly have been very different.
My experience was only as a conscript but I am absolutely certain that it would have been very different had I been a professional soldier in a professional army.
One very obvious difference is discipline. I made it to corporal but there was zero chance that I would put a fellow conscript on a charge. That was the accepted attitude across all conscripts - a conscript didn't put another conscript on a charge, not even a conscripted lieutenant (the highest rank for a conscript) would. It did occasionally happen but it was very rare indeed.
Professional soldiers, who were always either NCOs or officiers, however regularly charged conscripts. Although even among professional soldiers attitudes could also be extremely relaxed because often the reason they signed on was to avoid conscription, not because they were necessarily attracted to military life.
Conscripts didn't get paid, just pocket money, free train tickets, cigarettes, etc. If you signed on you received a proper wage and could eat it the NCO/officiers messes. You had to sign on for a minimum of probably about 5 years - you can't buy yourself out of the French armed forces.
Most reluctantly conformed but some conscripts simply never accepted military life - can you imagine being an instructor dealing with those? I don't know how dishonourable discharge works in the UK but that option didn't exist for conscripts. Wayward behaviour would land you in what was called "the hole", a tiny cell with no window apart from the bars on the door. Any time in the hole was simply added to the end "liberation day" as it was called.
Civilian courts would often waiver sending young offenders to prison if they agreed to complete their military service in high discipline units, can you imagine what sort of soldiers they made?
Add to that the fact that many conscripts were often members of far-left organisations/trade unionists/pacifists (although to be fair France might be different than the UK in that respect) and you can see that conscript armed forces can be very different to professional armed forces. And imo probably a lot saner.
Obviously I am talking just about conscription but that is the subject of this thread. And btw I definitely took more risks when I was 18 than I took three decades later.
Didn't sleep so well last night and ended thinking about this again. Not sure this subject would have been the cause as I enjoyed a lot of my time. Anyway, out of curiosity I checked and there is nothing in service still (equipment) that I worked on so I would be of no use what so ever unless someone need an overly complicate excel sheet making.
unless someone need an overly complicate excel sheet making.
Straight to logistics for you.
UK probably has enough people to survive in most situations with volunteers for professional military without need for conscription.
For smaller countries (1-6 million residents) with more bear-like neighbours there wouldn't be enough volunteers, so far conscription in addition to reasonable sized professional military organization has been working fairly well. People serve 6-12months and then specialist roles have additional training and exercises yearly (usually less often) until they are 50 or 60 years old.
What a terrible thing to wish on anyone. RLC indeed!
If you compare this situation to all the other gov departments, it's the ultimate 'backdoor privatisation '!
Gov model - Underfund and run down gov department (HM Forces) until it can no longer fulfill it's role. Bring in private sector so that .Gov can squirrel public funds to chums.
In this scenario the private sector is the conscripted public 😄
Funds will find their way to chums somehow....... Maybe the drafting contractor.
Funds will find their way to chums somehow……. Maybe the drafting contractor.
Could this be the next evolution of the military-industrial complex?
Draft Dido Harding!
Michelle Mone is already sniffing out the potential contracts, to help cover her upcoming court costs for PPE fraud, and before her assets are frozen...
Michelle Mone is already sniffing out the potential contracts, to help cover her upcoming court costs for PPE fraud, and before her assets are frozen…
All hail Field Marshal Mone.
Shiiiiiit. Crapita is bad enough at the recruiting without bringing in other, shittier private companies. I know of some people that were keen as hell to join, but got such a poor experience during the recruiting that they just gave up. I don't blame them, Crapita have the inverse Midas touch, but somehow still get paid.
For reference, Sweden used to have conscription (and may be heading back to that in some form), but it was not compulsory (as in, you could get out of it if you were unsuitable). It also has, especially in the younger age groups, a large percentage of left-leaning individuals. This does not stop people joining the military, it does not stop them wanting to defend the country or impact their effectiveness in the services. In a lot of cases it is them wanting the country to be a bit more equal, something that, weirdly, exists in the military here.
I hate to say it but there is something alluring about that pic of mone above..
shudder.. I need a cold bath
@willard, they're a car crash, my last job was PSI to to an AR unit, so many potential recruits put off due to being messed around for no good reason.
The MOD expresses concern of the recruiting but expects the potential recruits to do more of the heavy lifting to get through the door than is acceptable, I could rant on at length about them as I spent far too much of my time on the phone to their people trying to unpick delays to allow bods to start training with the troops.
Shiiiiiit. Crapita is bad enough at the recruiting
How much is the starting salary for OR1/private these days, about £18K? I'd imagine that's got something to do with how well the recruitment drive is going.
@relapsed_mandalorian Yeah, that sounds very familiar. I was only a STAB, but we had a person in G1 dedicated to keeping people in the pipeline engaged with the process and stopping them drop out. Utterly insane and there was still the expectation that the Reserves would take up the slack on ops when the regulars were short or needed specialists attached.
That is something that always used to make me annoyed... Large disaster/strike/whatever: Call out the Army to fill the gaps, but a lot of the specialists are reservists and often work in the area that needs support so, if it's say a medical emergency, where do you magically pull the staff from?
Whatever, I'm out of all that now and being pulled back into it would be a challenge for them. I just feel sorry for the poor bastards that have to take up the slack.
If I'm honest, that's a fair wage for the average Private in training/their first year, but as you can see it accelerates at a pretty good pace. after training, with an incremental rise for every year of service, and pay rises on promotion.
This is where defence correspondents don't help with erroneous and inaccurate reporting.
Add in cheap accommodation, messing, access to medical and dental akin to private healthcare, subsidised/free education, it ain't all bad.
When you see the bods leaving camp on a friday they're not leaving in shitbox cars that's for sure.
No, and I would be prepared to go to prison. I have avoided working in any defence industry - for a reason. I am not prepared for any of my children to fight.
Yeah, I know that pay rates escalate pretty rapidly, but to get to even my immediate staff (lower management, 5-6 receptions/admin responsibility, 9-5 Mon-Fri indoor work, no heavy lifting at a reasonably run-of-the-mill GP practice) is the equivalent of a soldier doing what? 5-6 years time served and Lance Jack, and all the responsibility that goes with that.
Yeah there are other benefits fo'shure, but a youngster looking at the Military as a career now has to be motivated beyond salary, and I'm not sure its that attractive, given that 1. It's no longer the stable career it was even just a decade ago, and 2. There's a more than better chance of being in a shooting war..
Talk of the UK going to war with Russia is absurd, a sick joke. In any case, what would these working-class males be fighting for? Their minimum-waged, dead-end jobs in the Amazon warehouse, packing up Macbooks and iPads for Audi drivers' kids in the burbs? The sick, predatory care system in which their parents will die miserable, exploited, and neglected? A welfare system that punishes and humiliates the victims of economic decline, their communities and industries asset-stripped by hedge fund managers and Porsche drivers?
Should they fight for the Mones and the Lords and the Dukes who pay zero tax on their multi-billion-pound estates they stole from their ancestors and never gave back? Fight for the land and fields and rivers from which they have no right to roam upon? How about a corrupt, irrelevant monarchy which liquidates the estates of dead citizens to upgrade their Airbnb lets? What the English simply cannot see is that they are already an occupied land and have been for a very long time.
So, if you talk about fighting for this country, taking back our own land which was stolen from us, smashing the corrupt, incompetent ruling elite, maybe I'd sign up for that, but not to die cold, hungry and afraid in some muddy field, murdered by a deranged Russian teenager for a continent from which the prosperity and freedom I am bereft.
“See that little stream — we could walk to it in two minutes. It took the British a month to walk to it — a whole empire walking very slowly, dying in front and pushing forward behind. And another empire walked very slowly backward a few inches a day, leaving the dead like a million bloody rugs. No Europeans will ever do that again in this generation.”
There’s a more than better chance of being in a shooting war..
It's a bitter irony that it then when the Army actually becomes enjoyable. All the bullshit goes out the window and it becomes a much more focussed organisation, training increases, resourcing increases, extraneous processes are discarded, it's why post-operations the forces hemorrhage people and then struggles to recruit as all that stuff ramps up again.
Seems the head shed haven't joined those dots yet and figured out how to solve that issue. Might be worth a look at how to make post-op defence a less shit place.
Ultimately the job is what it is, it's not pink a fluffy where we hold hands and skip through fields of wheat, it's about preparing, directly or indirectly to kill other humans and/or support that end goal. Yes there are other other tasks that it can be called to do, which is fine and dandy but that core mission is what 90-95% of training and preparations focuses on. I'd challenge anyone to make a successful recruiting campaign without lying or omitting the obvious. 😂
Also, if the MOD for some bizarre reason started to pay the forces more, gen pop would be up in arms in a heartbeat.
n any case, what would these the working-class males be fighting for?
Hey, women can die too now. Equality and all that.
<br />1<br />tpbikerFree Member<br />I hate to say it but there is something alluring about that pic of mone above..
shudder.. I need a cold bath
As Sean Lock would say, "That's a challenging......"
You ought to see the other pictures the AI generated. 🫡
@fatmountain has it. Sadly, it was exactly the same in 1914 but they still went in their droves. - not that they had much choice. When the survivors came home they all got a pay cut because there was a recession.
Fight for this country? Naah, no thanks.
It seems there are a number of (ex)military personnel on here, so I'd like to ask some questions. <br /><br />For those of you who willingly signed up/volunteered, why did you do so, and what were your thoughts on how you would be deployed, and for what reasons? Did/do you agree with those reasons? Do you think your service was worthwhile? And did you ever experience any real front line battle action? Have you ever had to kill another human being 'in the line of duty'? If so, what are your thoughts on that? Do you think it was worthwhile/justified? Do you believe your decision to take up arms has achieved a positive outcome at all, for all involved? Do you feel used/exploited in any way, lied to, cheated? Did your opinions change following your service? Would you sign up again, knowing what you do now?
And the same questions to those who were conscripted/forced to do military service, more or less.
What are your thoughts on those?
Life in HM Forces (RAF) in my experience was a very positive experience. Training, discipline, travel and all the other good things.
It has to be remembered that the use of HM forces requires a political mandate and therefore the projection of force is a the decree of the politicians and therefore ultimately the constituent.
When the forces are used, they follow legal rules of engagement and are accountable for their decisions, which is why the training is so thorough.
So yes, very positive and I would do it all again in a professional capacity.
The prospect of un motivated civilians being given weapons is not a great position, especially in today's mentality.
To recruit & retain, a big lever is a pension scheme like AFP75. People stayed, just to reach that.
Now people chase the instant big cash, which the gov departments will never be competitive with. That is also happening in Industry where the final salary pensions have been quietly scrapped.
The youngsters will go through their working life very differently to my generation.
Dictator for life Farage.
He actually looks the part.
@brownperson that's a very long list of questions that to answer honestly would make a very long and boring post. I'd happily chat about these things face to face over a beer, but I'm not going to spend an hour or more typing a humongous reply to some deeply personal questions and have it picked over by some of the usual suspects on here.
I do have to say that it feels like there is an undercurrent of prejudgement in the way you have worded that. That would I'm afraid make me a little guarded in my replies. If you're ever near south Shropshire, give me a shout and we can chat over a curry and beer, and I can better judge your character and motivations before I bare my soul!
The very short answer for me is I am proud of my service and would do it all again in a heartbeat. I spent my whole career in counter terrorist bomb disposal and know for an absolute fact that my service saved lives.
A lot of those questions I would not want to talk about in public, but the core of why joined the reserves was because I saw a chance to use my civilian skills in a more focussed, meaningful way than I had with my day job.
That AI picture of Farage as Dictator for life...What's going on with that image of the soldier top left? Are those bat? bird? wings, why has he got those? Why is he carrying a candle? and why is he kneeling?
WTF
I massively appreciate what everyone who goes into the military. It has many appeals to me but I would struggle with not questioning things which is what put me off when I was at uni.
This is a worthwhile read.
https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/butlersd-warisaracket/butlersd-warisaracket-00-h.html
Jamj1974
If you were in the position of the ukrainians when an agressor has invaded would you still refuse to fight to protect your children?
I agree with you about fighting outside of the UK but after an invasion would you still refuse? Only a theoretical point of curse
Anyway the wars already been lost and we didn't know we were fighting it 🙂
Can't see them bombing Londongrad in a hurry.
Anyway this has made me remember about that 2000AD - story Invasion ,that I loved as a kid:-)
I think @tjagain makes an important distinction. I wouldn't support conscription in the UK as a normal thing. But if Russia had battered its way through France and was busy reading the "So You Want to Drive a Cross-Channel Ferry" annual for boys, then I'd expect the answer would be different.
I work a few American ex-services and they certainly seem to get better looked after PRIOR to enlisting.
For example: They will pay for the entirety of your college degree and give you support payments through the ROTC.
https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/find-your-path/army-officers/rotc.html
I also thought it would be interesting to compare the size reduction of the US armed forces vs the UK armed forces.
Looking here https://usafacts.org/articles/is-military-enlistment-down/ and https://www.statista.com/statistics/579773/number-of-personnel-in-uk-armed-forces/ it looks like the numbers have reduced at a similar-ish rate.
For example: They will pay for the entirety of your college degree and give you support payments through the ROTC.
Not quite as generous, perhaps but there is a similar university sponsorship scheme here for potential officers. UOTC members also get paid and shit loads of free 'adventure training' (skiing etc).
https://jobs.army.mod.uk/regular-army/what-you-get/bursaries-scholarships/
if you talk about fighting for this country, taking back our own land which was stolen from us, smashing the corrupt, incompetent ruling elite, maybe I’d sign up for that
No one's stopping you comrade - crack on!
I've discussed my service to that detail with a handful of civilians; one was my best mate, the rest were part of the medical/therapy chain.
Even my best mate struggled to wrap his head around some of it, the reality is only others who've walked a similar path understand it especially when you talk about mistakes and regrets.
Even Ms. RM and I have rarely spoken about it as it's a world that she need not know exist.
So I won't be sharing it an internet forum with strangers. Nor will I be as gracious as others and extend an invitation of a chat over food.
But much like @blokeuptheroad, I'd do it again in a heartbeat, even the shitty painful parts, the parts I regret, and despite some of the anger and resentment that I feel towards politicians of all colours.
That job showed me the true breadth of human nature and brought some of the most exceptional human beings into my life, to experience life with some of them again would be a privilege I'm proud of what I accomplished with them, and where we failed, I'm glad we were by each others side as it went sideways.
You're more eloquent than me RM. Well said 👍
if you talk about fighting for this country, taking back our own land which was stolen from us, smashing the corrupt, incompetent ruling elite, maybe I’d sign up for that
No one’s stopping you comrade – crack on!
You sure? I feel fairly certain someone would stop him - armed rebellion is generally frowned upon.
Civilian courts would often waiver sending young offenders to prison if they agreed to complete their military service in high discipline units, can you imagine what sort of soldiers they made?
An equivalent practice happened here. Young offenders were offered the option of joining the regular army to avoid incarceration - one consequence of this was some important early work on learning difficulties was done in the military because they identified this as the cause of many the behavioral problems.
Brownperson
I am not military but I cared for a lot of WW2 veterans who would have been conscripts. Army, royal navy and some merchant navy who had been on the arctic convoys. Different times but every one of them who had seen active service were deeply damaged by their experiences with PTSD as it would be called now. this all came out in later years in them. those who had killed in particular were deeply traumatised
these where guys who knew they were "on the right side" as well
One would hope aftercare is better now but given how many ex servicemen end up homeless I do wonder
I think those of us that have ne3ver served will never be able to understand except on a very superficial level but there are faces I have in my head of these guys I will never forget
@brownperson, you'd struggle to get answers to most of those questions face to face with someone you know let alone a cycling forum.
I have thought for a while about your post and whether or not I would reply. I served, in the army, during the 90s, and did a couple of tours of FRY. I cannot change anything and am perfectly happy in what I have done and where I am today. I have the utmost respect for those who've served after me during the 2000s as their tours were different than mine. I still work in Defence and have daily contact with serving members of the forces and the issues that they have in their world which are different to mine in the 90s, the general consensus is it's shit but that was the same 30 years ago...😃
To the original thread. Conscription, is that the right question to be discussed as that is unlikely to happen IMO, a civil defence force though? I think it has the wrong naming, if we are asking for volunteers to help with jobs that traditionally the military get dicked with, such as flooding, then I think there would be a lot more buy in.
Probably not. It would make irritable no doubt, but I'd make sure I got a high fibre diet and ate some prunes.
To the original thread. Conscription, is that the right question to be discussed as that is unlikely to happen IMO
I believe that the thread was started in reference to a comment made by Gen Saunders in which he suggested that 'conscription would be needed to fight a future war with a country like Russia'.
I would have thought that it was a given that Britian would introduce conscription if the UK was engaged in a full scale war against a country such as Russia.
Has there been a time in recent history when the UK was at war with a formidable military opponent and there wasn't conscription?
I'm not sure that the point Gen Saunders made needed to be made. Although I guess the size of the armed forces required to repel a Russian attack (which imo will never happen) is open for debate.
It be Inclined to turn around and run and take out a few of our own assholes allegedly running this country first before going after another country's nut case.
For those on this thread who think that 'this country isn't worth fighting for', if the alternative was life under Putin, I would think that was a battle worth fighting. Michelle Mone et al are total amateurs compared to Vlad.
Whilst our political leaders are weak and low level corrupt and self serving, there are many worse places to live.
I would take broken Britain over most other countries in the world. Yes, there are better places out there, but not in every respect, and they are all allies or at least friendly.
There isn't a single country that we might class as hostile that would provide a better regime or ideology than our own, particularly if they were an occupying force. If they treat their own people so poorly, how do you think they would treat us?
The fact that you can openly berate our political system and the state of the country is in itself worth fighting for when the alternative would be persecution, torture, imprisonment or worse simply for writing much of the entitled bollocks spouted on here. Entitled it might be. Bollocks for sure. But it is still a freedom that we should not take lightly.
For those on this thread who think that ‘this country isn’t worth fighting for’, if the alternative was life under Putin, I would think that was a battle worth fighting.
That is because no one really believes that Russia would attack and invade the UK. I am sure not even Gen Sanders believes that.
Why would Russia even want to do that - what possible advantage could there be for them in occupying the British Isles?
It sounds like just a pointless waste of limited resources, for almost no benefit, over a tiny piece of overcrowded land, and with very little to offer the Russians.
If the Russians want to start wars expanding their existing boarders would make much more sense than an airborne/sea invasion of a few islands with unpredictable weather in the North Atlantic. Especially into areas with vital natural resources.
Any hostile action from the UK can be dealt with where and when it occurs.
I reckon that it is misguided British exceptionalism fueled by petty nationalism which makes some people believe that the Russians are desperate to invade the UK.
Besides, the UK has the nuclear deterrent, the Russians would never invade because of it. Apparently.
So yeah, people make flippant remarks because they know deep down that it will never happen. It's not a reflection imo of what their attitude would be if it did actually occur.