Page 10 - Rifles 2017 Issue No 3

WE LIVE BY THE VALUES AND STANDARDS THAT WE EXPECT OUR RIFLEMEN TO LIVE BY; WE SET STANDARDS, AND WE HAVE THE MORAL COURAGE TO ENFORCE THEM
1. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Regiment’s formation. It is therefore timely to re ect on what we have achieved and where we are headed. As a starting point it is worth stating clearly and unequivocally what we are – and this comes from our ethos, which I de ne as follows:
The Ri es is a national Regiment with strong historical ties to the cities and counties whence our forming Regiments were raised. We pride ourselves on being distinctive, on having a forward looking and innovative attitude; profes- sionalism and military effectiveness that are second to none; and leaders who really know and care for their ri emen.
We have a leadership style based on self-disci- pline, mutual trust and loyalty; a spirit of self-re- liance and disciplined initiative embodied in the ‘thinking ri eman’; and a strong inclination towards empowerment and personal devel- opment. While all of this is underpinned by hard work and getting the detail right, it is done with a light touch, with humility, a sense of humour, style and a spirit of adventure - and without pomposity or fuss.
All of us who serve in The Ri es take pride in being known as ‘ri emen’ because the term is an expression of our uni ed and collective identity, and the respect we hold for each other.
You are to think hard about what this means, for it provides the guidance on how we should live our lives as Ri emen. The rm implication is that we cannot afford to stand still. We may well have established an enviable record during the combat phases of the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the world has moved on and new challenges present themselves. This also means encouraging those who have fought to welcome and include those who have joined since, and who wish they had had the chance to ght. So while we can be proud of what the whole Regiment has achieved – with all ve pillars rmly involved – let us now bank this excellent start, learn the right lessons and adapt as appropriate.
2. Looking forward the context in which we operate as a Regiment is clear and is drawn from the three core purposes of the Army – namely:
• A combat ready and adaptable Army prepared for current and future contin- gencies;
• An Army persistently engaged overseas to understand and shape, to deter and protect, and to enhance national prosperity;
• An Army engaged and connected positively at home, contributing to national security, and assuring its own enduring resilience.
These purposes provide the framework for the Regiment’s ve pillars: Regulars, Reserves, Cadets, Associations and Communities to play their part. With our ethos and this context in
mind I am setting the Regiment three objectives to focus our collective effort.
Realise the potential of every Ri eman and maximise the opportunity of being a large Regiment
3. First and foremost we have a responsibility to realise the potential of every Ri eman, and there is more opportunity to give meaning to this through being a large Regiment. But it will only be realised through good leadership. There has been a renewed Army level focus on this, re ecting a view that the coming generation has a different expectation of leadership. And the context in which we lead has changed markedly with the pervasiveness of information. Rightly the Regiment has established an enviable reputation – but we cannot afford to be complacent. Our ethos is clear – we are about “leaders who really know and care for their ri emen”. So I would like you to test the extent to which you consider yourselves to be downwards-looking leaders by thinking hard about the principles we espouse:
• We work tirelessly to really know our ri emen
• We listen, we encourage learning and devel- opment, we set sensible constraints, and then we allow our ri emen to learn from honest mistakes
• We require our ri emen to respect each other
• We ask ourselves - what have I done for my ri emen today? We believe in providing clarity of purpose and we don’t shy away from making decisions
• We take pride in setting the right example, in accepting responsibility, and we strive to improve ourselves as leaders
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• We live by the values and standards that
we expect our ri emen to live by, we set standards, and we have the moral courage to enforce them.
4. Getting the basics right is something much of the Army is struggling with following 10 years of campaigning. We became an Army that was centrally organised; operations were demanding, but the rhythm in between was predictable, with pre tour training delivered by a training machine. We need to return to a decen- tralised model in which Commanding Of cers have the space to lead and the time to allow their subordinates to train, to fail, to re ect and then to succeed. This starts with a well-under- stood weekly routine, based on sound adminis- tration, in which time is managed constructively, and friction is minimised.
5. The “self-reliance and disciplined initiative embodied in the thinking ri eman” is drawn from our inclination to empower, and to allow honest mistakes to be made in pursuit of learning, through sensible risk management, which does
RIFLES REGIMENTAL DIRECTIVE 2017
8 RIFLES REGIMENTAL DIRECTIVE 2017
THE RIFLES