All of which may all seem a little ironic to Lance Corporal Roberta Winterton, 20, who only last month was given her marching orders by the Army because she posed topless for Page Three of the Sun. Last night the news brought accusations that the Ministry of Defence is wasting scarce resources at a time when the forces are desperately short of manpower and equipment. If there is an overriding psychological reason for an operation, then it would make good sense,' said a spokesman, adding that making soldiers 'happy' and keeping up morale was integral to Service life.
The first woman soldier to secure a free breast implant was Lance Corporal Angela Inglis, 27, a clerk in the Adjutant General Corps at Catterick, who underwent the operation in She had suffered from stress and is understood to have recovered after her breasts were enhanced from a 32A to 32C - paid for out of Army funds. Other servicewomen are likely to have had similar surgery in the military wards now attached to five major NHS hospitals.
However, the MoD spokesman stressed that operations were only carried out on strictly clinical grounds, and not for cosmetic or aesthetic reasons.
This is for those who have developed serious psychological problems. And given that it costs thousands of pounds to recruit and train soldiers, he added: 'It cannot be argued that this is a waste of money if it means that those concerned can continue to perform their jobs properly. Breast implant surgery is financed from the MoD's general medical services budget, and defence chiefs claim the qualifying criteria remain the same as in civilian life.
But the Patients' Association disputed this claim, protesting that it was more difficult to secure breast implants on the NHS because of a crackdown on 'unnecessary surgery'. Tory defence spokesman Iain Duncan-Smith pointed out that half the Royal Navy's warship fleet is tied up in port, scores of RAF planes are grounded, and the Army needs both personnel and firepower.
