Page 29 - Bugle Issue 20 Autumn 2022

4 RANGER
Green Beret instructors take Rangers and Riflemen through the Ranger Advanced Urban Combat Course in the first-rate facilities at RAF Honnington
EXCHANGE TWO WITH THE GREEN BERETS
Late last year two members of A Company 1 RIFLES deployed to Fort Campbell, Kentucky for the second rotation of embedding with our closest operational partner, the US Green Berets. An idea born out of a personal friendship between Commanding Officers from past operations, this has evolved into a reciprocal arrangement of UK and US personnel embedding within each other’s units to build deep understanding of each other to enable future operational success across the Middle East.
As opposed to a chronological account of experiences, a few reflections may provide value to the wider Regimental family.
Excellence in the basics
We quickly found this to be true on both sides of the Atlantic; green skills are often the first measure of respect. High quality soldering, that is: shooting, moving, communicating (both verbal and written) and medicating are basics we must be excellent at. As you know, but we found reinforced from our time abroad, the courses we undertake at the Infantry Battle School are world class, enabling us to hold our own and consistently add tactical value. This is especially clear when technological aids are removed in a denied environment. Hold true
to those skills learnt early on and demonstrate
excellence to our partners and trust quickly follows.
Persistent investment in interoperability with partners
This is not a relationship which can be built overnight. For us, it has taken over 24 months to develop a mutual training relationship to finally be able to take it to the operational side. Low-level friendships ultimately develop into deep working relationships between units, whilst training performance builds credibility. Conducting pre-deployment training embedded with the Green Berets allowed
us to integrate at the Team and Company HQ level which subsequently saw us deploy operationally across the Middle East.
Learning from others is key
We will never match US resources, but our limitations breed creative thinking around problems. British charm and networking extensively opened numerous doors and opportunities to bring fellow battalion members out to attend courses ranging from Advanced Urban Combat, Ground Force Commanders to Advanced Sniping. Our development of our role in warfighting has allowed us to work ahead of UK and US Conventional Brigade Combat Teams to
Soft skills are critical, from engaging with senior officers to diplomats to partner forces. How we act and dress is often many people’s first interaction with
the UK military
shape the battlefield, conducting insurgent style operations. As I write, we have a
Team operating in the Louisiana swamps against a US Brigade attempting to make
life as challenging as possible for them. The opportunities, learning and experimentation is feeding into Ranger Force Development as we build our capabilities.
The ambassador for your organisation
First impressions count. Soft skills are
critical, from engaging with senior officers to diplomats to partner forces. How we act and dress is often many people’s first interaction with the UK military or your organisation. How you engage will have a lasting impact on them and what we represent as a professional army. This, for us, is even more critical as we are one of very few UK Special Operations Forces to
be raised, rather than amalgamated, since the Second World War.
It has been a privilege to train and operate alongside the Green Berets over eight months and the experience has exponentially developed us as individuals and we have brought lessons and opportunities back to develop our own capability.
Captain Chris Horne and Sjt Jamie Wills. Team Commander and Team Serjeant.
RIFLES The Bugle 29