Army chiefs have splashed out £121,000 on a revamp of regimental dog hunting kennels while thousands of service families are living in squalor.
The Ministry of Defence spent the cash installing a new power and water supply to the kennels of the Royal Artillery Hunt last year.
During the same period over 9,199 complaints were made by families living in armed forces homes riddled with vermin, damp and mould.
Troops’ dissatisfaction with services reached a peak in April when over 867 complaints were made to the MoD about the quality of housing.
One serving soldier, who asked not to be named, said: “I have been waiting months for damp and mould problems to be fixed in my house and I live on Salisbury Plain where the hunt is based.
“Most of the accommodation is in a poor state. My children have to sleep in bedrooms with damp walls.”
An Army wife added: “The MoD clearly prioritises dogs above service personnel. That £121,000 would go a long way to fixing a lot of the problems with service accommodation.”
The spending on the kennels located in Bulford Camp, Wiltshire, was revealed in a Freedom of Information request.
The exclusive Royal Artillery Hunt was founded in 1907 and is the last remaining military hunt in the country.
Its website says: “The Royal Artillery Hunt is made up of all sorts of people. We count serving members of the armed forces and the Household Cavalry amongst us, as well as farmers, writers, academics and people in the equestrian and agricultural world.”
Anyone joining is expected to appear smartly dressed at all times. The website adds: “The idea is to look as smart as you can – and it is a military hunt, so get those boots polished!”
The MoD’s revamp was blasted by one former senior officer campaigning for better treatment of personnel.
Colonel Philip Ingram, a former Nato planner and military intelligence officer, said: “The MoD spending public money for hunting dog kennels whilst families and single soldiers live in squalor around the Salisbury Plain garrisons is a disgrace. This shows a complete disrespect for those personnel and their families suffering poor accommodation.
“If the kennels needed updates the Royal Artillery should have paid for that out of their own charitable association. This is yet another example where, it is clear, people are not the MoD’s most important asset. On this occasion, dogs for sport rank higher.”
Last month, we revealed troops were living in unsafe flats and houses.
The MoD admitted they were being housed in 779 buildings clad in “combustible material” similar to that on Grenfell Tower – where a blaze killed 72 people in 2017. Up to 25 of those buildings are classified as tower blocks, above six stories high. Meanwhile, thousands of service family homes are infested with rats, mice and fleas. Pest control companies have been called out to over 38,000 since 2015.
Electricians have been called out on over 460,000 occasions. And there were 428,000 heating failures and 40,000 roofing problems over the same period.
The MoD has also revealed it is spending at least £38million a year renting empty properties. A spokesman said: “We are focused on delivering the best services for our people and in the last seven years have invested over £930 million to improve accommodation for service personnel and their families, with a further £176 million allocated for improvements this financial year.
“Over 96% of occupied properties meet or exceed Government standards and we have a robust complaints process. Where problems emerge we are determined to tackle them quickly; over 95% of raised complaints are dealt with satisfactorily first time.”
