British Military

Army honours soldier who checks on a driver twice Private Dan Montgomery of Catterick, North Yorkshire, earns a commendation for helping a seriously ill woman and staying over two hours until ambulance crews arrive.

Darwin’s a fair way to go to take over a shift.

ON DARTMOOR: NHS teams try Army Reserve medicine for two days 🩺 The Army’s 243 (Wessex) Multi-Role Medical Regiment brought more than 16 teams from NHS trusts and other healthcare organisations to Okehampton Training Camp on Dartmoor, Devon. Reserve personnel set the teams of eight a series of challenges, from treating simulated casualties to finding their way while blindfolded. The weekend finished on the camp’s obstacle course, where the teams had to work together under physical pressure. Kernow Health’s team took first place, and for one doctor the weekend offered a glimpse of work she was already looking to take on. Dr Nathani Ogbu of Torbay Hospital was applying to join the Army Reserve and said she could use what she’d learned about communication and teamwork back at work. Warrant Officer Jane Hosker said several of the medical professionals there as reservists had started out at an exercise like this. At Okehampton, some of the people showing NHS staff what the Reserve does had once stood where those staff were standing.

WOW: A 700-strong jump marked the launch of Britain’s airborne standby force 🪂 Six hundred British paratroopers jumped into northern Germany with 100 French troops during Exercise Rhino Titan, the biggest jump by UK forces in 15 years. The jump came during seven weeks of training built around a simulated invasion of NATO territory. The Joint Airborne Task Force draws troops from the Army’s 16 Air Assault Brigade and air crews from the RAF’s Air Mobility Force. Brigadier Ed Cartwright, who commands the brigade, said the combination gives the Army a way to move troops quickly with the RAF’s reach. France took part in the exercise as an ally, while the troops and air crews on standby come from the two British services. The jump took a day, and keeping the force on standby depends as much on the RAF crews who fly and maintain the aircraft as on the soldiers who jump from them.

UPDATE: Devonport’s 10 Dock timetable question is past its answer deadline ⚓ The Ministry of Defence was due to answer a written question about Devonport’s 10 Dock upgrade by 10 November, and Parliament still listed it as awaiting a response on 12 November. Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative MP for Huntingdon, tabled the question on 3 November and asked whether the upgrade would be completed to its original schedule. The Ministry of Defence had given 2027 as its target for the wider waterfront programme, which includes 10 Dock. Babcock’s award of an approximately £600 million contract to KierBAM marked the start of the main construction phase, and the contract announcement gave no new completion date. The work is meant to give the Royal Navy another dock for deep submarine maintenance. For the Navy’s refit programme, the useful date is when the dock can take its first submarine.

Imagine turning up to your away fixture in a warship.

AFTER DARK: Why the Army put red lights in its dog kennels 🐾 When handlers need to check on a dog at night at Kendrew Barracks in Rutland, they can use red lighting inside the kennel to minimise disturbance. The Army designed those kennels for a compound opened by the Princess Royal on 29 September, with barriers to cut noise and a speaker for music in each kennel. Keeping the kennels comfortable took a different set of changes, including underfloor heating, heat pumps, insulated walls and ventilation to help keep temperatures steady. That’s attention to the night shift, right down to what happens when a handler switches on a light.

SHARED FLEET: Norway wants British and Norwegian frigates to use each other’s repair yards ⚓ Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told a defence forum in Oslo, Norway, that he wants the two countries’ Type 26 frigates to be interchangeable. Under the Lunna House agreement, the two navies envisage eight British frigates and at least five Norwegian ones built to the same basic design. Eide pointed to the NH90 helicopter, which was meant to be a common aircraft until national requirements produced versions that were too different to treat as the same machine. The test for the frigates will come when a Royal Navy ship needs a repair in Norway, or a Norwegian ship needs one in Britain. A common design would help, but the yard would still need the right spare parts, the technical drawings and permission to do the work. The two navies would also have to keep their ships close enough in design as they go through refits and upgrades. That makes the years after delivery just as important to Eide’s plan as what the two countries agree to buy.

SERVICE LIFE: Prince William takes servicewomen’s concerns to defence leaders 🎖️ Prince William spoke to serving women in the Army, Royal Navy and RAF about how they were treated, then brought senior defence leaders together to discuss what was being done about their concerns. Former defence minister Sarah Atherton welcomed his involvement this week, having led a 2021 inquiry into women in the Armed Forces. Atherton said the appointment of an Armed Forces Commissioner was a step forward and pointed to the work still needed to give personnel confidence that they could speak freely. The commissioner can investigate concerns about service life, including unacceptable behaviour. Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Rich Knighton acknowledged that women’s experiences had fallen short of the standards the services should meet. Prince William is considering a longer-term initiative on servicewomen’s welfare. For someone deciding whether to report a concern, the test is whether they can do it without fearing what it might cost them.

The RAF sent a Protector from Waddington to patrol the Channel, its first operational sortie in UK airspace.