Britain needs 95,000 reservists – but does the MoD know where they are?

           

 

 

 

Britain is preparing to call former soldiers back to the colours as the Government finally confronts an uncomfortable truth: our Armed Forces may simply be too small for a major war. Up to 95,000 veterans are theoretically available through the Strategic Reserve, and a huge mobilisation exercise is planned for 2027. There’s just one rather serious problem. The MoD may not know where many of them are – and even if it finds them, will they actually come back?

British Army Strategic Reserve Call Up

Armed Forces Minister Louise Sandlher-Jones has announced that ‘some’ British army veterans in the so-called Strategic Reserve will be called back to the colours next year as part of a major exercise to test the UK’s resilience for war.

The exercise will examine the MoD’s to react to a large-scale conflict ‘on a scale that we haven’t seen for a very long time’, she said.

Britain’s Strategic Reserve has an estimated strength of 95,000, although figures very depending on source. The exercise in 2027 will ‘go through measures to call out, to use, and to equip’ procedures to mobilise retired troops at scale should it ever be needed, she added.

The question is, of course, why now? Well, it’s a sign that, at long last, the Government is waking up to the fact that the UK is indeed at greater risk and under increased threat from those states which might seek to do us harm. It’s also an acknowledgement that our regular armed forces are far to weak to do much about it.

The announcement, however, is long on rhetoric but short on detail. There are obvious problems with the idea. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, who led the team behind the writing of last year’s Strategic Defence Review, has stated that officials ‘did not know where most members of the reserve were’ and has called for the Government to ‘round up those who are available and fit and willing’.

His words were echoed by Britain’s Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, who warned that the MoD lacked an ‘effective system of tracking and engaging’ people who had recently left military service.

In other words, the MoD doesn’t have a comprehensive methodology which tells it where all these Strategic Reservists are. Personally, I’d be surprised if it knows where more than half of the 95,000 are, and probably much less.

It also assumed that those who are called forward will actually be willing to serve. If social media is anything to go by, then a significant number won’t, and the main reason given is that they can’t trust the Government to treat veterans properly in the first place so they don’t see why they should serve again. Loyalty has its limits and they just won’t turn up.

Then there are questions over where those who do return will be housed – presumably working from home is an unlikely option – and how they will be clothed, fed, trained and equipped. The current state of the defence budget suggests that these cannot be easily answered. And that’s before we consider the topic of payment. I can’t see many volunteering for zero pay, so where’s that coming from?

I write all of this in the knowledge that I, as a former regular army officer, have a life-long requirement to turn out if called. At my advanced age I can’t see myself getting into a tank again, or fighting in a trench, but I suppose I might have a role in a headquarters somewhere, sitting at a desk and answering telephones and radios. Bad back permitting of course.

It is not my intention to pour cold water on the proposed scheme but merely to point out some of the issues that need to be resolved before it can possibly become a reality.

At least the Government is trying to do something to bolster Britain’s atrophied armed forces, but there is an element of desperation about this latest initiative. ‘Dad’s Army’ has been invoked by many commentators already and there are elements of that.

But the real requirement to bolster up Britain’s armed forces and defences against potential aggressors is more money, and lots of it, but there is a marked reluctance to provide any more of that as we are all well aware.

Without it I fear the calling up of the Strategic Reserve will turn out to be a bit of a damp squib.

Lt Col Stuart Crawford is a political and defence commentator and former army officer. Sign up for his podcasts and newsletters at www.DefenceReview.uk

Lt Col Stuart Crawford is a defence analyst and former army officer. Sign up for his podcasts and newsletters at www.DefenceReview.uk

 

 

Lt Col Stuart Crawford’s latest book Tank Commander (Hardback) is available now

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