Page 103 - Bugle Autumn 2014

the Army Reserve Shooting competition where our young team performed admirably and look forward to deployment to Poland in September to take part in an international shooting competition. In addition to
the ‘green’ training, I can honestly say I cannot remember ever seeing as much sport and adventure training taking place
as it has done over the last year or so. Whether it be skiing in France, sailing in
the Caribbean, trekking in Nepal, cycling, rugby, fishing and diving, the list goes on and is very well received by reservist and regular Riflemen alike. In addition, the unit enjoyed a fantastic but sobering battlefield tour to Ypres last November which
provided useful context ahead of the WW1 commemorations.
Major Simon Freer, Lt Col Nev Holmes MBE and Maj Dom Maxwell-Batten at the Menin Gate in Ypres following a very moving Last Post ceremony where the CO laid a wreath.
The media has been
full of speculation about
whether or not the
reserves can meet their
manning targets and
while I cannot comment
on other arms or
services, I am confident
that 6 RIFLES will do its bit. Indeed as I
write we have a trained strength of 80% and are tracking over 150 individuals
who are keen on joining the Battalion; 47 currently undergoing training
for complacency and while there are still some issues with the process, these appear to be abating and
as such there does appear to be room for some optimism. The generous incentives
now being offered to ex-regulars has also started to pay dividends as 35 have now joined and plenty more have expressed an interest. We have also started to implement additional enhancements to terms and
82% of reservists questioned would recommend joining the reserves to others
and a further 12 who have passed out at the Infantry Training Centre in the last 3 months alone. There is clearly no place
conditions such as paying for leave and providing reservists with rail cards to bring them in line with their regular counterparts. We look forward to further incentives such as the Army Skills offer to be introduced shortly which will provide Reservists with the opportunity to gain civilian qualifications as a result of Army training and service. As a result of this other factors such as the shift in training focus, retention also appears to be improving perhaps typified in a recent Army continuous attitude survey which reported that 82% of reservists questioned would recommend joining the reserves
to others. Given all of this investment, excitement and interest, perhaps a better question now is ‘Why wouldn’t you join?’
A poignant reminder of cost and sacrifice of WW1.
THE RIFLES
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