Page 14 - Eagle Eye Spring 2021

OP RESCRIPT – 16 Mar-31 Jul 20
By WO2 Roy Moulding, 16 Squadron, 42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic).
On a chilly March morning when the uncertainty of the pandemic was only just becoming a reality in the UK, I was asked if I wanted to help with the COVID-19 response for a couple of weeks. I quickly agreed to what I considered a worthwhile opportunity and ended up being one of the best times I’d had as part of the military, lasting slightly more than two weeks!
There was a sense of the unknown with a bit of nervous excitement as we sat in the briefings held at SJC. A day of needing to absorb a great deal of information on response plans, local government hierarchy and the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government brief on expectations. Thirty-eight of us were primed and ready to deploy with ranks ranging from Sergeant to Major and from all cap badges and services. We were dispersed out to every corner of the country to embed into the Local Resilience Forums (LRF) and help plan at local level. Our top cover came in the form of the Joint Regional Liaison Officers (JRLO), a treasure trove of information and experience.
I deployed to Cambridgeshire Police HQ in Huntingdon and met with the Strategic Co-ordination Group (SCG) lead planner. My initial task was revamping the duty flu pandemic plan into something up to date that could deal with the real worst-case scenario. I developed the initial strategic response plan to coordinate agencies while the pandemic picture matured. We immediately set up a network of military planners around the country, sharing ideas and planning directions. This network gave another dimension to the local planners and proved extremely successful. The biggest challenge initially was getting the buy-in from all the local government departments as for most
of the civilians involved, the LRF is an extra duty, only exercised when required by central government. These civil servants have been ripped from their desks and told to deal with this wave of uncertainty. As time went on, and I began to understand this, my respect for these people working to make sense of the situation grew without limit. They were on the front line and were delivering.
I moved from project to project, helping in the excess deaths planning, community support, multi-agency intelligence cell, the local outbreak control plan and then finally the biggest task; PPE delivery. Demand from the local authorities (much of which were the care homes) and medical providers was enormous. I worked with a team including NHS, Red Cross and 4x4 team volunteers, and Team Rubicon (now RE:ACT) making this happen. At its beginning, the PPE team were delivering approximately 1,500 items per day, increasing to 50,000. By the time the project was handed over to the Local Authority at the end of July, the team had delivered over five million items around Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. A huge feat in such a short time. Our PPE delivery model was used as the example for further projects.
The military personnel increased as the months went by and three more were allocated to work with me in my LRF and two
officers rotating around the military liaison role. We had all embedded into our areas helping with planning and delivery. I continued with the PPE, setting up the warehouse and facilities, reporting stock levels and delivery to central government and planning for the end of the process; the extraction. Working with our civilian partners gave a huge sense of satisfaction, delivering something of real substance to the community. This was highlighted with the numbers of military planners requested by the authorities around the country, which started at thirty-eight and rose to nearly two hundred.
In summary, volunteering for this role was one of the best things I have done, and I encourage others to volunteer when opportunities arise. You may not know what you’re getting into initially but the sense of teamwork, achievement, and working alongside other agencies is second to none.
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