Page 104 - The Bugle 2018

Young Officer Pipeline
It has been another strong year for the battalion on the officer front. Despite losing some settled platoon commanders in 2Lt Cassidy and Montane-Willis to the Regular Army, the battalion has gained six new young officers in the summer just gone – namely 2Lt’s Rory Coughlan, Hugo Flint, Tim Clarke, Tom Vincent, Will Brackwell and Joe Partridge. Likewise, we have gained a new Intelligence officer Lt Ed Ireland.
Similarly, the battalion has continued a run of form with regards to Lead First. This year 2Lt Louis Relton has been on the scheme: “I started the Lead First scheme with 6 RIFLES on our Annual deployment exercise on Dartmoor. This was the first time commanding Riflemen which proved to be a typically steep learning curve. This was matched by the challenging exercise which involved a beach landing, helicopter moves and one of my sections being made up of Georgians which proved to be an interesting deployment.. Following on from ADE I attended the reserve platoon commanders battle course. This again, proved to be a huge challenge but remained a very enjoyable course and one on which I learnt a vast array of new skills which set up me well for the rest of my year. I went to Kenya in support of 1 RIFLES on Askari Storm; here I was employed as a battle captain with 160th Infantry Brigade and which allowed me to gain an appreciation of the tempo of an ops room. I also had the opportunity to manage an OPFOR village as part of the exercise which proved to be different and somewhat more native! The high tempo of my year continued when I found myself on Ex Joint Venture with PJHQ in Cyprus where I started to wrap my head round staff work. Finally, for the last six months of my year I joined 3 RIFLES. This was great exposure not least to regular Riflemen but also to how light protected mobility works as opposed to light role infantry. Similarly, living in a regular mess has been hugely enjoyable and was a welcome break from Brecon and Kenya! My time with 3RIFLES came to an end with Wessex Storm which further allowed me to enhance my platoon commander skills and my understanding of how battlegroups work. All things considered it has been an immensely enjoyable but developmental year, at the same time, as well as being a great privilege to command riflemen throughout the year.”
110 SIXTH BATTALION
THE BATTALION IS MANAGING A PIPELINE OF 100 ATTESTED RECRUITS
OP FORTIFY
At the time of writing 6 RIFLES has a trained strength of 98%. Trained strength for reserve units is calculated by all soldiers who have completed basic training. Unlike regular units, the reserves manage and mentor their applicants from initial contact to completion of training, interacting with individuals on a weekly basis or more. The battalion is managing a pipeline of 100 attested recruits who are in training and an equal number of applicants who are yet to attest. With recruits dispersed between 10 locations and 5 counties, coordination and considerate management is critical to maximise conversion of the pipeline into trained soldiers.
The 6 RIFLES team responsible to the Commanding Officer for recruiting and recruit mentoring is headed in Battalion HQ by the Regimental Operational Support Officer (ROSO); he has been supported by the Regimental Operational Support Warrant Officer (ROSWO). They have additional responsibilities which include unit welfare. The Army has made a decision to remove the full time post of ROSWO from the establishment of all reserve units and the post will be vacated from 30th September 2018. ROSWO 6 RIFLES, WO2 Steve Barnes has been instrumental in shaping the Battalion recruiting team for the past 5 years and pivotal for the current positive manning in 6 RIFLES, he will remain a reserve soldier with influence on recruiting and recruit mentoring in the part time post of OC Recruiting, Retention and Mentoring Team (RRMT).
Each sub unit has a full time Regimental Sub Unit Support Officer (RSUSO), this is a rank ranged post
and at 6 RIFLES we are very fortunate to have 4 very capable WO2s. Each RSUSO has a small team of part time reserve soldiers. The RSUSO post is lifed on unit establishments and they were due to end contracts on 31st March 2019. After much campaigning by reserve units, the post has been extended until March 2021. Without these posts, reserve manning would undoubtedly decline; the challenge now is to convince the Army of their utili- sation in recruiting, recruit processing, community engagement and employer engagement, hopefully resulting in RSUSO posts forming part of the enduring establishment for reserve units.
To enable a continuous flow of applicants the team conducts outreach activities throughout the West Country and the Hereford area. It is accepted that the average reservist is willing to travel approx- imately 25 miles to their unit, therefore the majority of outreach activity is conducted with the aim of attracting applicants living and/or working within this radius of a 6 RIFLES location. Whilst conducting outreach activities, not only is the team recruiting for 6 RIFLES, they are a significant component of the Army and RIFLES community engagement (CE) plan. A good example being the county shows attended throughout the summer. These include, Royal Cornwall Show, Devon County Show, Dorset County Show and Royal Welsh Show. The unit has also established a partnership with Exeter Chiefs the rugby union premiership champions 2017 and runners up 2018, national TV coverage was achieved for the RIFLES. Civilian employers are understandably important to reserve soldiers and a good relationship between the civilian employer and the reserves is critical. Therefore, employer engagement (EE) is another important aspect of reserve outreach activity. Recruiting, CE and EE are conducted seamlessly together at the majority of events. Occasionally the team will conduct specific events tailored for recruiting, CE or EE. An example would be an EE event at an employer’s location to educate management and staff on the positive opportunities available through reserve service both for the organisation and individuals. Many of the outreach events have seen reserve and regular RIFLES personnel deploy together in mutual support. Additional to recruits the unit also attracts a regular flow of trained regular to reserve transfers and inter reserve unit transfers.
Retention is as important to unit manning as recruiting. This year has seen retention incentives being invigorated, the CO has given clear direction on retention which is the responsibility of sub unit OCs. Long term non-attenders and how they are managed is one such initiative. There is now a process in place which will encourage them to resume their reserve career when the time is suitable to them, their family and their civilian employer. Not all loss is negative, in the past 12 months, 20 reserve soldiers from 6 RIFLES have transferred to the regular army.
In summary, manning and recruiting remains buoyant in 6 RIFLES. This is due to the hard work and dedication of the unit recruiting and recruit mentoring teams, unit civilian and military adminis- trators and sub unit reserve and regular military staff. In short it is a team effort throughout 6 RIFLES. Capt Chris Gillespie ROSO
THE RIFLES