Page 84 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2017
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82 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
  A PC-6 flying over Montenegro
A Year at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
In February 2017, I moved to Mons, Belgium to take up the role of Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the new Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR), General Sir James Everard, based at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The number of acronyms bandied about was only the first shock.
2017 was a truly fascinating time to be a fly on the wall at SHAPE. In reaction to a resurgent Russia, NATO is to be un- dertaking more activity than ever before. With the creation of the enhanced Forward Battlegroups (eFP) in the Baltics and Poland, NATO has signalled a renewed focus on its eastern borders. But the threats to the South (Afghanistan and Iraq, of course, but also the Mediterranean and North Africa) are nev- ertheless still relevant. Add to that the increased desire to fight through all five domains or seven dimensions (NATO 360). A major talking point throughout my time at SHAPE was the ef- fort to improve NATO’s warfighting capability, including key changes to the command structure, namely the NATO Com- mand Structure Adaptation. These themes, combined with the European Union’s increased military ambitions, meant that it was a particularly busy year for anyone doing business in Brus- sels. Anyway, enough of that – I certainly was not doing much staff work, so life could have been much worse.
SHAPE is, necessarily, a rank-heavy environment, and with three 4-star generals in residence, Lieutenant Colonels could al- most be considered as the ‘subaltern’ of SHAPE i.e. they do most of the work and get little recognition. Consequently, I spent the first week or so of my time at SHAPE in that state of constant dread that is familiar to the newly-commissioned officer, where your first instinct is to bang up a salute, whether it’s to your Squadron Sergeant Major or the Commanding Officer. The next
shock was the tri-service environment. Between navigating the differences between a Captain in the Royal Navy (good at stuff) and one in the Army (good for nothing) and the unusual chum- miness of senior officers and junior Non-Commissioned Officers in the Royal Air Force, it was an etiquette minefield. Being a good bloke and despite my rigid upbringing at Regimental Duty, I relented and consented to being called “Captain A-I”.
The final complicating factor is the multinational element. DSACEUR’s office was mainly staffed by British military per- sonnel, but two European Military Assistants (a German Navy Commander and a French Air Force Lieutenant Colonel) com- pleted the team. A bit of gentle ribbing from the rest of the office (read “character building”) soon ensured they were sick to death of Brexit and the British. The four years I had spent learning French at university were finally rewarded as I acted as an in- terpreter on more than one occasion. The General would never have paid his car tax without me – international diplomatic inci- dent averted. Serve to Lead indeed.
Despite failing at my very first task; booking General James into a hotel at Heathrow Airport (who knew that there were two Mar- riott Heathrow hotels, one just two hundred metres away, the other several miles further), I was kept on. I quickly discovered that there were three things that General James liked above all else. The first was his manly attack dog, Billy the pug. The sec- ond, as befits someone who commissioned originally into the 17/21L, is skulls. His office was clearly a model for Death’s Li- brary in the Discworld series, if Death were into ‘tasteful’ self- portraits. The last thing is badges. Cap badges, emblems, patch- es, tactical recognition flashes. A favourite memory is seeing fellow generals leaving DSACEUR’s office with their uniform shorn of all removable insignia.


























































































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