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Armed Forces Personnel

I take my hon. Friend’s point entirely. I cannot offer him any change to that situation in the near future, but part of the reason for mentioning the cadets today was to highlight the tremendous job that they do, and I take on board his concerns. Further to the youth aspect and the Army presentation teams that the hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper) mentioned, I made clear the reasoning behind what happened and what is involved in that work. As he knows, we are considering another proposal called Defence Dynamics—a web-based system that we believe will be popular with schools. I have offered to give him a presentation when that is possible. Let me turn to the issues involved in the health and welfare of our personnel, which is why we are here. On Afghanistan and the report that appeared at the weekend, I have spoken to the Surgeon General and to other clinicians, and they are clear that our approach is the right one. The newspaper article was written in an unfortunate way that gave the wrong impression. What is important is that we have dedicated, often consultant-led medical teams out there at the front, not far from the operations that are taking place, to support our injured service personnel. It is important that that rapid medical attention is available, because that saves lives. Of course, they will eventually have to be transferred back through medevac, but it is important that that essential medical expertise and help is out there. That is why we take that approach. As regards helicopters, one cannot compare what went on in Vietnam with Afghanistan, because it is completely different geographically. We ensure that our people are well looked after and that they have the emergency treatment that they need when out there on operations and supporting operations. The article did not explain the improved facilities that are being provided in Afghanistan and Iraq, such as scanners, digital X-rays and telemedicine, as well as the clotting bandages and tourniquets that are also helping to save lives. It is clear from the medics I speak to, and from many of the service personnel who have been wounded and their colleagues, that lives of our service personnel are being saved today that would not have been saved a number of years ago. Talking to clinicians and seeing some of the wounded service personnel who have been saved makes it clear that our medical teams out there in operations are doing a tremendous job.