Soldier – August 2019

‘We don’t know what’s next’

40 AUGUST 2019 http://www.soldiermagazine.co.uk

Maj Manning-Degobertiere and

her team were certainly challenged

in those departments during their

angry mob scenario.

The protestors had trapped a

British Embassy offi cial inside a

house and their task was to extract

the diplomat as peacefully as

possible under the circumstances.

The instructors repeated their

mantra out loud, over and over

again, as the atmosphere began

to heat up – “balance the risk

to life with risk to mission and

reputation,” they screamed.

But all three of those

requirements were on the line

when, after being roughly shoved

to the ground, one of the team fi red

a (blank) round, “shooting” a rioter

in the leg.

The crowd went ballistic and in

the subsequent chaos the outfi t

failed to notice one of its own being

separated and jostled away by the

protestors. If this was for real, the

Serviceman’s life would have been

in serious jeopardy.

“Afterwards, we were told by the

instructors that we had gone in too

hard and that maybe we should

have taken a Condor moment, to

pause and work out the best thing

to do next,” explains Maj Manning-

Degobertiere.

“We should also have had our

skills and drills better sorted so

any upscaling in posture was quick

and eff ective and we wouldn’t have

lost people or control.”

A simulated vehicle ambush

proved to be an eye-opener too –

the feedback from the instructors

was that the cars weren't used

well enough as cover by the team

during the fi refi ght.

But all of this brought home

some extremely valuable lessons,

and they will form the foundation

for more advanced drills that will

be taught later in the package by

the Royal Military Police's highly-

rated close protection specialists.

The third and last stage of the

training process sees the personnel

put to the test in a simulated real-

time crisis in a foreign country

• this batch was due to travel to

Morocco to complete the package.

“It's a brilliant experience;

you go to a foreign country, do

recces and reports and then you're

validated for operating in high-

threat environments," says Cpl

Christian Cliff ord (R Signals), who

completed this demanding training

module last year.

“Working in small teams, in

a country where you don’t have

much presence, is very diff erent to

what we’re used to.

“Obviously, in Afghanistan you

had loads of Army around you,

but when we deploy in this role

there might be just four of us in the

whole country.

“Some of our guys went on Op

Ruman in the Caribbean in 2017

and we’ve had colleagues travel to

various places all around the world

• this is defi nitely one of the best
  things you can do.”
  That sentiment seems to be
  echoed by everyone taking part in
  the course.
  The operational liaison and
  reconnaissance teams may form a
  small part of the defence picture


• there are only around 60 staff
  eligible for the role at any one time


• but they are certainly kept busy,
  visiting 40 diff erent countries.
  “Ultimately, it's great to be at the
  heart of a crisis when it happens,”
  says Maj Manning-Degobertiere.
  “We are the ones who provide
  critical information to the MoD at
  the most crucial times – what an
  exciting and responsible position
  to be in.” ■

The training programme

Opportunities to join operational liaison and

reconnaissance teams are typically for junior NCOs and

above – all the signallers are drawn from 30 Signal

Regiment. The make-up of each team is fl exible but it

usually includes:

1 x SO1 team leader (offi cer)

4 x planners (offi cers, senior NCOs, WO2s)

1 x intelligence analyst (junior NCO)

2 x Signallers (private to senior NCO)

Team talk

What is Joint

Force Headquarters?

Part of Standing Joint Force Headquarters, it is

UK defence’s extremely high readiness crisis

response HQ, deploying to incidents across

the globe alongside other government bodies

such as the Foreign and Commonwealth

Offi ce. It is responsible for operational

liaison and reconnaissance teams.

Brig John Ridge, Commander Joint Force Operations,

Joint Force Headquarters, on the demands of being an

operational reconnaissance and liaison team member...

Week 1

Team medic, classroom-based learning and range work

Week 2

Dynamic scenarios

Week 3

High-threat training with RMP close protection specialists

Week 4

Real-time overseas exercise

All the scenarios on this training package are based

on real situations our staff have faced in the past and

every situation is unique. We had teams on Op Ruman

in the Caribbean helping hurricane relief eff orts, South

Korea during the Winter Olympics, Sri Lanka after

the recent bombings, and Indonesia

following the earthquake. You

don’t know what’s coming next.

Everyone has volunteered for

their posting, you can’t get

directed here, which is a

good thing because it can

be a long and restricting

two years when

you’re held at high

readiness for the

whole tour.

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