Troops have a right to be properly armed, says British bishop

Published: 2006-11-02

LONDON (CNS) -- In a pastoral letter to mark Britain's Remembrance Sunday, the head of Britain's military diocese said soldiers have a right to be properly armed, supplied and reinforced. "Anything less risks lives and is morally reprehensible," said Bishop Thomas Burns of the Bishopric of the Forces, the nation's military diocese. In a pastoral letter to be read Nov. 12 on Remembrance Sunday, which honors the deaths of British troops, Bishop Burns said military personnel needed to know that "none of their superiors will ever lack the moral fiber to stand by them." The bishop said, "Force strengths have to be sufficient, strategies realistic, supplies adequate, equipment appropriate and apparel proper to the task in hand. Delay has no excuse. All improvements are welcome. These things are owed to our servicemen and women as (a) right," he added. "They are inherent parts of the job that they are asked to do." The bishop's letter was to be sent out to all Catholic military personnel and their families and dependents.

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