The Soldiers do need good gear. But, as had been said, we do not need to spend such large amounts on other things such as Trident.
I do think we spend needless money. Personally, i think the size of our army is bigger than it has to be. We are not an empire anymore and so do not need a large military force. We do need a force of substancial size, but not as big as it is. We change our outlook regarding Foreign policy, and we could save billions of money, let alone hundreds of lives.
As of Dec 2009 the British army consisted of approx 150,000 regular soldiers and 121,820 reserves that gives us a total of 271,820 serving troops available for war. During WW2 we lost 382,700 troops. You do the maths and call for cuts in numbers. I agree that things like trident should be discontinued but whilst other countries have these capabilities we need them. If Iran or some other loony starts shooting missiles at us you will be thankfull for our defence system then.
yeah, i see what you mean. But think about it. Who is the more dangerous... Iran... or the USA? Thats an actual question. Personally, i do not think theres much between the two.