"Perhaps Gove could take a leaf out of The Dept of Health's book with healthcare regulation. The regs are all outcome based. Apply that to this situation and an inspector would conclude the following;

"Yes, I have reviewed your evidence to say the men were well led and knew what they were letting themselves in for, but the outcome is that they are dead. Lots of them dead in fact. If your evidence of process was robust, there wouldn't be so many dead.

I am issuing a compliance action for gross incompetence, served on the armed forces and politicians of the day, and express no confidence in the cover up being attempted by present incumbents."

Now what were those figures from just one of the NHS Trust Hospitals again?

Oh yes three years 400 to 1,200 deaths, now the reason they cannot actually quantify them couldn't possibly be because of any cover up by managers, administrators and staff could it?

Three years entering a NHS Hospital in the West Midlands of England as an emergency admission and the death toll is 400 to 1,200

Eleven years serving as a combat infantryman in Afghanistan and the death toll is 446 IIRC.

Stafford Hospital:
- Investigation by the Healthcare Commission (Resulting in inadequate explanations - resulted in?)

- A full-scale investigation which reported appalling conditions and inadequacies, resulting in the trust's Chief Executive being suspended on full pay, until he finally left with a rather large "golden handshake". By the way this sterling example of one of the NHS's great captains did not give evidence to any of the enquiries because of health problems (You couldn't make it up could you?) - Bet he didn't book himself into the Stafford Hospital for treatment. On leaving his Chief Executive's post at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust he was appointed to head up another Quango in 2012 (There's a good chap keep drawing the dosh and try not to fuck this one up).

- In July 2009 the Secretary of State for Health announced yet a further independent inquiry into the care provided by the Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust, resulting in 18 local and national recommendations and?

- In February 2010 the Secretary of State for Health announced yet another independent inquiry covering all Foundation Trusts looking at the bodies responsible for their commissioning, supervision and regulation.

Now eventually getting back to the topic under discussion and using the parallels introduced by Musket, take a look at how well you think things would be handled by such capable leaders were they dumped with the same challenges that faced the British Army between 1914 and 1918.

You have four years, in that time you must increase the size of the NHS by a factor of 16 (Within two years you must have succeeded in increasing the size of the NHS by a factor of 10), you must build the required infrastructure, manufacture and build all the equipment, recruit and train all the staff covering medical, surgical and administrative disciplines. How do you reckon they would do considering that simultaneously while doing all of that they must also deal with a major pandemic?

Oh and Musket the one thing that you forgot to mention was that potentially everyone in the Army sent to the Front could get killed, only 1 or 2 in 10 did, depending upon which set of statistics you take.