The Times - UK (2021-11-10)

the times | Wednesday November 10 2021 2GM 11

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addressed the platoon at the start of the

first term. “She said something along

the lines of, ‘You’re mine now, bitches’.

“At the start of the second term Cor-

poral Hey addressed the platoon again.

She asked us, ‘Who thinks they’re hard-

est?’ Three people put their hands up

and Corporal Hey punched them all in

the stomach.” Harwood added that in

the third term Hey punched a male

trainee “and winded him to the point

where he cried”.

Craftsman Joseph Wiggin said he

had been punched by Hey when he was

16 but added: “There was no malice

behind it — it was more of a sort of

bonding thing.” The trial continues.

Military chiefs encourage a “laddish
culture” in the army because soldiers
have to go and fight the enemy, the out-
going head of the armed forces has said.
General Sir Nick Carter also
acknowledged that there needed to be a
“fundamental cultural shift” so more
women signed up as he faced questions
from MPs over the treatment of women
in the armed forces.
The army is addressing the “culture
and conduct” in the service after a
dressing down by Ben Wallace, the de-
fence secretary, on Monday.
Wallace held a meeting with the
army board after becoming “exasperat-
ed” by concerns raised about bullying
and harassment, as well as other issues
such as the behaviour at the Sandhurst
military academy and the murder of a
Kenyan woman in 2012.
Wallace and the top generals also dis-
cussed ways to “drive out unacceptable
behaviour at all levels, particularly with
respect to the treatment of women”.
Carter told MPs on the defence select
committee: “We are talking about long-
term cultural change... you’ve got to
keep going at this.
“Part of the reason we encourage a
laddish culture is ultimately our sol-
diers have to go close and personal with
the enemy. What you’ve got to try and
do is square both those outputs and
that’s what we have to work on.”
The Ministry of Defence has faced
criticism over its “totally inadequate”
response to the death of a Kenyan
woman, whose body was found in a
septic tank in 2012, and the alleged sub-
sequent cover-up by members of the
army. The death of Agnes Wanjiru has
raised questions about the general

SAC KITTY BARRATT/RAF/TNG

A female army instructor told recruits

“you’re mine now, bitches” and

punched them during training, winding

one young male soldier so badly he

cried, a court martial was told.

Corporal Kimberley Hey, 34, ordered

teenage recruits who made mistakes in

tests to raise their arms and loosen their

belt buckles before hitting them in the

stomach. Bulford military court in

Wiltshire was told that Hey, a boxer,

subjected male and female soldiers

under 18 to regular punches as they

underwent training.

Hey, who worked at the Army Foun-

Army needs a

lad culture so

soldiers fight,

claims Carter

behaviour by British soldiers who regu-

larly carry out training and exercises in

Kenya.

The Times can also reveal that in

another case to have emerged from

Kenya, a paratrooper was found guilty

of grievous bodily harm after beating

up another soldier while in the country.

The trial of Private Anthony Smyth,

of 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment,

heard from two Kenyan witnesses who

gave evidence via Zoom.

The incident happened in February

and Smyth was found guilty at a court

martial hearing in Catterick on Friday.

He will be sentenced this month.

Last month a colour sergeant was

thrown out of the army and ordered to

pay £500 after he lifted the skirt of a

Kenyan woman while in the country.

It is understood that Kenyan MPs

have raised the prospect of throwing

the British Army out of the country

because of troops’ behaviour.

Carter also said that figures shared by

Derek Twigg, a Labour MP, which

showed a tenfold increase in the num-

ber of girls under 18 in the armed forces

reporting cases of rape and sexual

assault to the military police were

“truly shocking”.

An army spokesman said: “Bullying,

harassment and abuse have no place in

the army and will not be tolerated.”

Larisa Brown Defence Editor

Female instructor ‘punched teenage recruits’

John Reynolds

Time to go An image of Sergeant Neil Flanagan before a parachute jump was a winner in the RAF’s 2021 photo competition

6 A regimental sergeant major has

been suspended over allegations that

he made unwanted approaches to col-

leagues’ wives, causing a fight to break

out during a military dinner in Powys.

Warrant Officer Mike Ransley, of the

elite Infantry Battle School, has been

relieved of responsibilities during the

investigation. Sources told the Daily

Mail that a “considerable amount” of

alcohol had been drunk at the dinner.

dation College in Harrogate, North

Yorkshire, denies eight charges of

battery involving five junior soldiers

and said her actions were “banter” that

led to “bonding”.

Junior soldiers undergo training at

the college for three terms of six weeks.

Signaller Hannah Harwood, who gave

evidence via video link, said Hey had

Corporal Hey

denies eight

charges of battery

Quentin Letts

One last bombardment

of Whitehall blather

B

lame politicians for the

Afghanistan retreat. That

was the gist of General

Sir Nick Carter’s farewell

appearance before the

Commons defence committee.

Carter, who is retiring as chief of

the defence staff, was asked if

Afghanistan had been a defeat.

“Too early to say,” he murmured

comfortably. “Would you call it a

victory?” exploded a scornful

Mark Francois (C, Rayleigh &

what was going to happen under the

new Kabul regime because 60 per

cent of the Afghan population had

been born since 2001. Those people

might be accustomed to western

freedoms. How would the Taliban

Mark II deal with that problem?

Most of the MPs were friendly.

Richard Drax (C, South Dorset) and

Stuart Anderson (C, Wolverhampton

South West) had served with Carter

in the army. Tobias Ellwood, the

committee chairman, was a fellow

Green Jacket (regimental motto

celer et audax, which is odd, because

Tobias has never been altogether

swift on the uptake). But Gunner

Francois bristled. There was

something about Carter that

got the gunner’s goat. Maybe

it was the way he mentioned

how Francois had been a

defence minister “all those

years ago”. Maybe it was his

posh habit of suppressing

some indigestion as he

spoke — too rich a

savoury at the club

before attending this hearing?

Maybe it was his exposition of the

anthropology of the Durrani tribal

system or his buttery mention of

“fused situational awareness”.

Whatever, Francois jumped on

him and was soon shouting about

procurement cock-ups and our old

MoD friend General Ineptitude

and how shocking it was that a

bunch of up-country turbaned

chaps with Kalashnikovs had seen

off the greatest military machine

in the world. “Are you jokin’?”

spluttered Francois at one point.

It is all very well being an expert

in martial theory and spider’s web

threat diagrams and fused

situational awareness but this

was the age-old knuckle-art of

class warfare. Carter, a

Wykehamist, was not much

good at it. Francois, who is not

a Wykehamist, left him

looking a bit pop-eyed.

But never mind. As

a former chief,

Carter will now go

to the Lords. No

class war there.

Just an infestation

of Lib Dems.

nature of the challenge,” he purred.

We heard about hypertronics, “the

people domain”, the “conceptual

component of fighting power”,

common skills frameworks and of

lateral entry, which always sounds

faintly pornographic to me.

“Escalation is no longer a single

ladder but a spider’s web of multiple

domains,” averred the general.

Francois blinked a bit at that.

One thing: as Carter produced this

stuff he kept fiddling with his face,

putting fingers to his chin and cheek

and leaning on his desk. A fidget

and a slouch. One expects a general

to have a straighter spine and to

keep his hands at his side except

when doing something decisive, like

shooting his batman.

Soldierly briskness was not

entirely absent. More than once he

spoke of “malleting” terrorists. Out

it popped, just like that: malleting!

The US had gone into Afghanistan

with the intention of “malleting

Osama bin Laden and getting rid of

al-Qaeda”. Carter added: “We were

never defeated on the battlefield in

Afghanistan. What unravelled was

on the political level.”

It was “too early” to be sure of

Wickford), coming at him with

bayonet fixed. “I didn’t say that,”

replied Carter, eyes moving sideways

a little.

Carter’s service dress was

bedecked with decorations. In a

45-year army career, he served in

Northern Ireland, Afghanistan and

Iraq. He has the GCB, CBE and DSO

and only operational discretion has

stopped us reporting that he also

holds the MSC (the Management

Speak Cross) after several daring

missions in the Whitehall jungle.

Carter’s abilities with Pashto are on

a par with his fluency in executive

jargon. You don’t make chief of

defence staff unless you speaka da

lingo of officialdom.

“There is absolute clarity on the

Political Sketch

General Sir Nick Carter,

62, is retiring as chief

of the defence staff