Thin Pinstriped Line

The Royal Air Force has recently sent its aerobatic display team, popularly known as the Red Arrows to North America for their summer display season. This tour will see the team operating at over 20 air displays and nearly 100 ground events, with 12 Hawks and an A400M aircraft operating from Halifax on the East Coast across to San Francisco on the West ( full information here ). This tour is the latest example of the superb ‘soft power’ generated by the team, yet some commentators see the Reds not as an invaluable tool for British influence, but an easy target ripe for cutting in a time of tight budgets. Is this a fair view though, and has the time of the air display team had its day? Bigger than the Big Apple?- Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright  The value of the Red Arrows is that they provide a globally recognisable and iconic brand that is associated with the UK. Much like most other nations maintain some form of air display team, they provide a visi...

Figures released by the MOD show that the Armed Forces continue to reduce in size year on year, with the total number of new recruits being less than those leaving. Official MOD statistics   show that between 1 Jul 2018 and 1 Jul 2019 a total of 13,250 people joined the Armed Forces, while 14,880 left. The reaction in many quarters was to blame Capita for recruitment chaos, and to attack campaigns such as the ‘Snowflake’ recruiting campaign launched in January 2019 to significant interest, and criticism. The prevailing view seems to be that Capita as recruiters have failed, and if this is fixed, then the problem goes away. The statistics though suggest that it may not be as clear cut as this – its clear that in fact recruiting figures are considerably up this year, with a 13.4% increase in applicants joining over the last 12 months. This seems to support the view that the ‘Snowflake’ campaign has been a significant success in generating new recruits. Similarly, w...

For most people August is a quiet season, time for a rest and relaxation ahead of the autumn. Long lazy days on leave spent on the beach, or shopping for Christmas in the various department stores ‘Christmas Shops’ that are opening up about now. For the Royal Navy, while August may be a time to enable people to get a break, it is also a period when the force remains active and busy across the globe. Events in the last few days have helped demonstrate, once again, the breadth and reach of the UK’s maritime forces. Last Friday HMS WESTMINSTER returned home to Portsmouth after 5 months deployed in the Baltic supporting OP BALTIC PROTECTOR and working alongside NATO forces to reassure friends and allies in this region. The ship was busy right up until the last few days of her deployment escorting a Chinese destroyer in the Channel, before ceremonially exercising the Freedom of the City of London, and demonstrating to the British Army how real drill is carried out properly by para...

Just before April the 1 st this year, an MOD briefing document was doing the rounds claiming the RAF was going to abolish the long held ban on beards, and permitting service personnel to grow them if they felt it was appropriate. Despite a positive response, the article turned out to have been an April Fool. It was with some trepidation today that people reacted to the news in the Sun  newspaper that the ban would be lifted soon. Quite a few people wondered if this was a delayed April Fool, or was it potentially actually going to happen for real? It looks like this time it is official, and that RAF service personnel will be able to grow a bear for the first time. Already the social media world is up in arms, with many retired veterans, and others whose service medals accrued include all of the Call of Duty Campaigns proclaiming outrage at the idea that the descendants of Trenchard could possibly have facial hair. Frankly its all a bit ‘snowflake’ like from people who cl...

The British Army has announced that, under an internal restructuring, it will be standing up a new Divisional HQ to be responsible for the units that deliver combat support to the armed forces. This new HQ, to be known as ‘6 Division’ will replace the previous ‘Force Troops Command’. Is this a significant announcement though, or is it merely a case of a reshuffling of badges and titles with little significant real change? In practical terms this move is about reflecting the very different ways that the British Army is expected to operate now and affirming that the nature of operations has changed. The new Order of Battle sees the Army built around three Divisional HQs – 1, 3 and 6, each headed by a 2*. 1 Division heads up the lighter response forces that handle firefighting and defence engagement around the world. The force is intended to train, augment and operate alongside a variety of nations, but is not intended to deploy as an armoured division. It would be realistic to s...