Page 64 - The Bugle 2018

CO’s Foreword
The 4th Battalion is now into its second year as a Specialised Infantry Battalion, which sees us structured, equipped and trained to work ‘by, with and through’ indigenous partner forces. At the heart of our new capability lies the 12-man Spec Inf team, commanded by a Capt and supported by a CSjt. There are four such teams in each of our three rifle companies. The idea is that we won’t just become experts in training others, but that we will also be ready to support our partners on operations, where appropriate. This could include accompanying them in combat. The 4th Battalion is now permanently aligned to the Middle East, so we have placed a premium on Arabic language and cultural expertise in our training, as well as developing our ability to operate independently in austere and challenging environments, at reach.
Now that we operate a company-level training and readiness cycle, we are uniquely placed to deliver persistence in our overseas engagement. In some cases, this will mean a permanent presence, as we now have in Afghanistan. In other cases, we will offer continuity by working with specific partner forces on regular basis, allowing us to develop deep relationships.
In all, we dispatched teams on fifteen different deployments overseas in 2017. These included exercises, short-term defence engagement tasks and capacity building operations. Given our regional alignment, the focus was on the Middle East and North Africa. We sent mobile training teams to Jordan (three times, all with the same partner), Kuwait, Qatar, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia. The coming year will see teams return to work with several these partners again, as well as develop new opportunities elsewhere, including in Iraq and Morocco.
The highlight on the operations front, however, was the start of our first enduring commitment, which will see troops from the 4th Battalion deployed in Afghanistan for the next few years. Our role there is to assist the Afghan Ministry of the Interior to expand their Special Forces, known as the National Mission Units (NMUs). A Company were the first to rotate through this task and they deployed just over thirty troops. Our role is to deliver a series of six-month long squadron-level collective training packages to newly formed subunits, to prepare them for intelli- gence-led arrest operations and crisis response. In these early days, we are already reaping the dividend of the enduring UK investment in Afghanistan over the past decade. Many of our partners, including the senior Afghan officers driving the project, are graduates of Sandhurst. They share a common language, outlook and approach to training. Our new operation provides a real opportunity for us to capitalise on this, developing and then harnessing both personal and unit-to-unit relationships with our Afghan partners, which will enable us to develop a lasting capability.
Because we no longer take riflemen straight from
training, or officers direct from Sandhurst, gener- ating this Spec Inf Battalion is a regimental effort. We actively encourage people to apply from across all Rifles battalions – indeed we even had our first reservist volunteer this year – and we assess and select those who have the maturity, judgement, empathy and discipline for service in this new role. The two-week assessment cadre marks the start of the eight-month Spec Inf training progression. It is an opportunity to assess volunteers who want to serve with the 4th Battalion and it is focussed as much on an individual’s character as it is on their professional competence. The cadre assesses basic infantry skills, instructional ability, language and cultural aptitude, command and leadership, and team spirit.
On completion of the cadre, the volunteers join a team within one of the rifle companies at the start of its training phase. These teams will remain largely unchanged for the duration of the training and operational cycle: stability of the structure is key, particularly in such a small tightknit team. We have designed an eight-month training progression that exceeds the demands of both the standard ‘high-threat pre-deployment training’ package and the ‘theatre entry standards’ for the most challenging ongoing operations, such as Afghan- istan or Iraq. This means that our teams can deploy from the line of march at very short notice, with ‘mission specific’ training reduced to matter of days, rather than months.
The training starts with the bespoke Spec Inf Battlecraft Syllabus. This includes enhanced medical training, communications, range work (including foreign weapons and advanced close quarter battle skills), small unit tactics, teaching, instruction and mentoring, and driving. Each Spec Inf soldier also
IN ALL, WE DISPATCHED TEAMS ON FIFTEEN DIFFERENT DEPLOYMENTS OVERSEAS IN 2017
70 FOURTH BATTALION
THE RIFLES
Rfn Baseulouss, a reservist from F Company, London Regt, utilises his
Arabic skills on Ex AFRICAN LION 18
FOURTHBATTALION