Report: Stephen Tyler

IN almost every way imaginable, Afghanistan presents soldiers with a vastly different proposition to any the British Army has faced in modern times.

Away from the urban environments found in Northern Ireland and the Balkans and without the clearly-defined areas of conflict experienced in Iraq, Op Herrick has required troops to fight a disparate enemy which strikes using unconventional tactics.

Thankfully, the nation’s Servicemen and women have shown that they are more than up to the task. Using every ounce of their famed adaptability, they have enjoyed a series of hard-won victories against the Taliban and have set the standard for the rest of the world to follow.

Now their efforts are going to receive a timely boost from the top in the form of Op Entirety. The vision of Land Forces Commander-in-Chief Gen Sir David Richards will fine-tune the Field Army’s structure, training and staffing to focus on achieving success in Afghanistan by switching the Army onto a campaign footing.

With everything from the way people are recruited to the kit they train with being tweaked, Op Entirety is set to ensure that Herrick-bound soldiers will be better-trained, better-equipped and better-prepared for the theatre than ever before.

Maj Ollie Stokes (PWRR), who is responsible for ensuring that Land Forces is correctly structured for operations, told Soldier: “Effectively you have Land Forces in terms of structure, people and how they are trained. What we needed to do was to adjust those three areas to make sure that they were best set up for delivering success
in Afghanistan.

“Previously we had an organisation that was tuned into an old style of war where armoured vehicles were crossing the plains of Iraq. This is about optimising the force structure to meet current requirements.”

While big steps are being taken to ensure that the Army’s kit and equipment is capable of delivering success in Afghanistan, Op Entirety’s spotlight shines just as brightly on the recruitment, training, development and retention of soldiers.

Initiatives such as working more closely with personnel unable to deploy for medical reasons are already in place and the changes extend to family life where more money has been made available for relationship counselling and for the running of HIVES.

The concept of One Army recruiting allows would-be soldiers to choose right from the start whether a full- or part-time career suits them best, while the cream of the new enlistees are now identified early on and put to the front of the queue for training.

Director General Personnel Maj Gen Andrew Gregory explained that attracting and keeping hold of people of the right quality is a fundamental part of ensuring that the shift to a campaign footing is a success.

“The key thing for me is making sure that we have people of sufficient quality, both now and in the future, to cope with the complexities of Afghanistan and similar operations,” he said.

“That means getting young people coming in who are capable of dealing with those challenges, but also retaining the irreplaceable experience of those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Training soldiers so that they are perfectly prepared for the unique challenges posed by Helmand province is a tall order, but theatre-specific scenarios introduced thanks to Op Entirety are helping to make it a reality.

The £9m Afghan village built at Stanta (Pages 54-55) allows troops to familiarise themselves with the sights, sounds and culture of Afghanistan ahead of deployment better than the generic Fibua areas used previously.

Likewise, vehicles and other equipment that do not play a part in Herrick have slipped down the training pecking order so that soldiers practice with the exact kit they can expect to use in theatre.

Time spent on stag or supporting other units’ training while not on tour have also been reduced with the recruitment of MPGS staff and contract security staff.

Maj Gen Gregory added: “One of the key concerns has been the pressure placed on soldiers’ time, both before and after their operational deployments.

“There has been a feeling that some of the activities they have been doing have been unnecessary and not relevant to what’s happening in Afghanistan. We are absolutely focused on those things that are important and if the training is not relevant we have pared it back.

“This is a refinement of what we are already doing. Overall, we want to make sure that people feel that the Army is the right organisation for them to become a part of and that it provides the right support, career development and allowances to them and their families to make them want to stay in it.”

Although Op Entirety has its gaze fixed on Helmand, everything that has been implemented is reversible and can be reapplied to any future conflicts the Army finds itself involved in.

Commander Field Army Lt Gen Graeme Lamb, pictured right, said that the unsurpassed quality of modern soldiers combined with a concentration on specific campaigns would stand the Service in good stead.

“What we have now are some hugely experienced young soldiers. This Army has never been in better shape and the amount of combat experience has not been matched this side of the 1940s.

“I think there is a sense of purpose and selflessness in soldiering and it’s about being part of a band of brothers and sisters. Op Entirety is absolutely necessary because there is a need for everybody to be moving in the same direction, both for the current fight and to set ourselves up for what we consider to be the normal order of a troubled world in the 21st Century.”