Page 13 - RADC 2020

The team on arrival to Wuhan
The JFHQ and consular team that delivered the flight back to the UK
Temperature, visa, passport and security checks at the airport
Wargaming passenger arrival
Multiple organisations were feeding us information from the UK including Public Health England, FCO, Department for Transport, MOD as well as our HQ delivering us further detailed plans as well as preparing for our return.
It is all about the planning and not about the plan, which for us epitomised this deployment. After 14 hours of preparation, we were told the flight time had changed. It was brought forward and totally consumed our plan to sleep!
Our team immediately raced to the airport and set up coordination stations. Stood outside the airport at a Chinese checkpoint, my role was to ensure the people moved through the inspections - passports, virus checks and manifests. This was extremely challenging because people had to wait for up to 8 hours, on a cold night, with limited supplies. Those who were not named on the manifest, without passports, incited
a heightened level of stress. To manage this, I had to communicate with multiple departments to get a solution on top of handling the individual. My options to find a
The tri service JFHQ team on arrival in Beijing
solution involved speaking to the consular staff for Wuhan, the Embassy team in Beijing, the crisis management department in London, the MOD in London, or to JFHQ and PJHQ personnel in Northwood. In 5 hours alone, I had made 94 phone calls around the world and managed to get more people onto the manifest.
There were multiple situations and individuals that I reflect on as being particularly challenging. As an example, there was a mother and child I had to inform that she, the mother, was not authorised to leave China and her options were either that she could keep her child in Wuhan or ‘we’ could take her son to London - a challenging 8 hours! The JFHQ team in Beijing worked hard to get this mother and child onto the flight, at the very last minute, thankfully, understanding the emotions of the situation.
In the airport, we managed to get all passengers through the checkpoints, virus checks, security, document checks and onto the plane. When we had wheels up from Wuhan, there was a feeling of relief on the aircraft and, I have subsequently found
out, across the FCO and MOD communities helping to deliver the HMG effect. Upon landing in the UK, we were surprised as to the amount of media coverage there was. Still, mostly we were just relieved to have completed our mission and enter mandatory quarantine periods on return to the UK.
I was fortunate to be able to celebrate the notification of my promotion to Lt Col
in quarantine with the team. And I just managed to make it out before the birth
of my firstborn baby daughter! The JFHQ team then re-entered the readiness cycle in preparation for future deployments.
Hopefully, this article, and more importantly, the photos, will give you
an insight into my role in JFHQ and my deployment under Op BROADSHARE. Get me a drink at the bar and I’ll tell you the details that couldn’t make it in print.
NB. While finalising this article I was deployed on Op GRUMIUM... next year’s article. You can find out more about JFHQ from Facebook and Twitter by searching for UK JFHQ.
Lt Col L Beales at checkpoint one preparing for the arrival of British nationals
Airport staff in Wuhan
Lt Col L Beales on the flight home with the Team
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