Commando 80

One Person Joins, but the Whole Family Serves

Every family needs some extra help from time to time, but the unique pressures faced by the loved ones of all those who serve in the Royal Navy, which exist in almost no other profession, demands a coordinated and comprehensive response.

The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity works in conjunction with a whole host of military and civilian charity partners to address the issues faced by Royal Navy families throughout pre-deployment, deployment, adaptation to an altered family unit, and post-deployment family reintegration, to ensure that they have the support on the ground they need and deserve

To download our Family Support Guide, please scan here with your Smart Phone or to speak to a member of our friendly team, please call 023 9387 1520

MARKING

THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY

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SECTION

Welcome

In this 80th anniversary year of the Royal Marines taking on the Commando role, and 40th anniversary year of the Falklands War, we remember with honour the heavy price paid in former conflicts by Royal Marines to secure the freedoms British citizens enjoy worldwide.

At a time of unprecedented threats to our global community, to our security and our economy which depends so much on maritime trade, there has never been a greater need for a strong Royal Navy to defend our nation’s interests near and far.

The Royal Marines are their leading element. They have now embarked on permanent forward basing in the high North and East of Suez, meaning they now operate a greater footprint than during the Afghanistan campaign.

As the UK’s best trained regular troops, they provide 47% of UK Special Forces despite only forming 4% of our whole defence forces, meaning they will always be at the sharp end.

The consequence of this is increased exposure to death and injury, with increased stresses on family life. This is where RMA – The Royal Marines Charity steps in. Created by the Corps, operating within the Corps and for the Corps, it is uniquely placed to provide the best support to the efficiency of the Corps, and to provide the quickest and most effective support to Corps Family members in need.

Thank you for your support to the Corps and Charity — as the wording on the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge reminds us, ‘United We Conquer’.

“…uniquely placed to provide the best support to the efficiency and well being of the Corps.”

General Sir Gordon Messenger KCB DSO* OBE DL Patron, RMA – The Royal Marines Charity

We are committed to supporting the Armed Forces, Reservists and Veterans

From high speed rail networks to nuclear plants, international airports to harbours, school campuses to Defence and security work – we deliver exciting projects that vary greatly in size, scope and scale. We’re proud to say that many of the talented people who make these projects happen are from the Armed Forces community. We currently have over 120 veterans and 50 reservists adding their talent to the mix.

We respect what matters to you and are here to support you – whether it’s help adjusting to ‘civvy street’, freeing you up to do reservist training and enabling you to deploy on operations, or providing opportunities for cadet leaders and military spouses.

To find out what new opportunities await you with Atkins visit: careers.snclavalin.com/aerospace-defence-security-technology or email ArmedForces@atkinsglobal.com

You can also join our talent community here: careers.snclavalin.com/join-our-talent-community

Introduction

It is a source of moral cohesion that binds serving and veteran marines together, providing reassurance and succour that translates our creed — ‘Once a Marine, Always a Marine’ — from mere words into a firm promise to those asked to prevail in the most challenging operational contexts, often at risk to their own lives.

But whilst supporting success on operations remains the focus, no one is immune from the impacts of a military career. These pressures are not limited to those in uniform, and the support provided to families, who are also part of our Corps, is equally important. Whether serving in the general service, the Royal Marines Reserve or the Royal Marines Band Service, everyone is touched at some point by the Charity’s work.

Delivery throughout the pandemic period, when charitable income was squeezed by lockdown measures at the same time as demand for support was rising, demonstrates perfectly that the Charity will be there for the Corps when we need it most, irrespective of its own uniquely challenging circumstances. We must never take this for granted, and I am delighted to see increased cohesion between serving and Veteran Marines reflected in the RMA’s growing membership — something that can only make us stronger as a Corps Family, and something I will continue to encourage. To everyone who is a member of the RMA or supports the Charity, on behalf of Royal Marines everywhere, thank you.

“…the Charity will be there for the Corps.”

Lieutenant General Rob Magowan CB CBE President, RMA – The Royal Marines Charity

A Short History of the Royal Marines

Military journalist and writer Ali Kefford provides a short history of the Royal Marines’ long and distinguished story from their first musket-carrying forebears in the First Dutch War over 350 years ago to today’s highly-trained elite forces combining renowned courage and bravery with the latest in agile military technology.

Royal Marines Association

Today’s Royal Marines patrol in Cyre Precision combat clothing, equipped with night goggles and a C8 Colt Carbine Rifle or SA80. It’s a far cry from the khaki battledress and newlyminted green beret of World War II, when the very first Commandos began yomping the 18 miles from Achnacarry up Ben Nevis and back again in a day.

And they’re unrecognisable when compared to the Marines going into their initial battle over 350 years ago, wearing yellow coats with red facings, sashes and stockings, and clutching a flintlock musket. Yet Commandos never forget their distinguished lineage; a sliver of that first uniform still survives to this day, with yellow forming one band of the Corps Colours.

Forerunners

The distant forerunner of today’s elite forces was formed at the outbreak of the Second Dutch War, when a regiment of 1,200 men was recruited to serve the ‘Navy Royal and Admiralty’. Named after the Lord High Admiral, who at the time was King Charles II’s brother James, The Duke of York and Albany’s Maritime Regiment of Foot was founded on October 28, 1664. As they were originally recruited from the Trained Bands of London, the Royal Marines are today one of the few regiments entitled to march through the City with Colours flying, drums beating and bayonets fixed.

Use of the iconic word ‘Marines’ is now commonplace, but its first mention was in 1672 in a letter penned by regiment member Captain Sylas Taylor following the Battle of Solebay.

Gibraltar

When the War of the Spanish Succession broke out in 1702, six Marine regiments were raised, most of which fought alongside 400 Dutch Marines to successfully seize Gibraltar.

The fortress on the Mediterranean rock had survived 11 previous attempts to capture it but succumbed to the bombardment and attack, forcing the

Spanish Governor Diego de Salinas to reluctantly surrender. The only battle honour on the Royal Marines’ Colours is the one garnered for their triumph at Gibraltar, which they went on to successfully defend in the face of repeated Franco-Spanish assaults, until the siege ended in the New Year of 1705.

A commentator at the time observed how “the garrison did more than could be humanly expected and the Royal Marines gained immortal honour”.

Permanent Force

In 1755, 5,000 Marines were recruited to form three Divisions based at Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth.

The historical practice of disbanding them between wars ended and they became a permanent fixture in the country’s military.

By 1758 numbers had been increased to a total of 14,845 in 100 companies and, three years later, the diminutive, grenadier cap-wearing Marines played a decisive role in the capture of Belle Isle, an island off the Brittany coast, as part of the Seven Years War. The French even sniffily conceded that ‘les petits grenadiers’ had been the enemy’s most impressive component.

It is believed that the laurel leaf which forms part of today’s Corps insignia was awarded to honour their sheer grit that day.

“The only battle honour on the Royal Marines’ Colours is the one garnered for their triumph at Gibraltar.”

Sketch of Gibraltar by an officer of Admiral Rooke’s fleet on August 1, 1704.

18th Century

Marines were present at a plethora of key moments in Britain’s 18th century history.

The opening shots of the American War of Independence were fired by a Marine battalion in Lexington on April 19, 1775.

They stood beside Captain Cook when he landed at Botany Bay in HMS Endeavour in April 1770.

And when the first British convicts were transported to Sydney Cove eight years later, they were accompanied by 21 officers and 192 men. Their commanding officer Major Robert Ross became the first Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales and then of Norfolk Island. Widely loathed, he eventually flounced home after failing to win a duel in December 1791.

At the height of the war with France at the end of the 18th century, Marine numbers reached 23,000 and they fought ferociously from frigates and sloops. The combination of this and their loyalty during the great naval mutinies of Spithead and the Nore in 1797 resulted in King George III directing on April 29, 1802 that the Corps should in future be known as the ‘Royal Marines’.

New scarlet uniforms with blue facings were immediately ordered so that they could be worn in time to celebrate the King’s birthday on June 4. The men proudly paraded through Plymouth wearing them and a grand ball was thrown in their honour.

First Lord of the Admiralty Lord St Vincent wrote: “In obtaining for them the distinction of ‘Royal’ I but inefficiently did my duty.

“I never knew an appeal made to them for honour, courage or loyalty, that they did not more than realise my highest expectations.

“If ever the hour of real danger should come to England, they will be found the country’s sheet anchor.”

Trafalgar

October 21, 1805 is a date branded on the memory of every member of the Royal Navy as it saw Nelson trounce the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar, off Spain. Over one tenth of the Corps were serving in the Admiral’s fleet at the time, fighting on deck and in the mastheads of his warships.

Royal Marine Second Lieutenant Roteley described the scene on HMS Victory as being “like a hailstorm of

bullets passing over our heads on the poop, where we had 40 Marines with small arms.”

In the early afternoon Victory locked masts with the French ship Redoutable and Nelson was fatally shot. Royal Marine Sergeant James Secker caught the felled admiral and he and two seamen carried him below to die.

Despite this, Trafalgar remains the Royal Navy’s greatest triumph.

In 1827 King George IV decreed that the 110 battle honours the Royal Marines had amassed by then should be simply represented by a globe in their insignia, surrounded by the laurel wreath adopted in honour of the victory at the Battle of Belle Isle.

Crimea and the first VCs

During the Crimean War, sparked by Britain and France coming to the assistance of the beleaguered Ottoman Empire, the Royal Marines proved once again that they were utterly devoid of fear. November 1854 saw 300 troops under Captain Hopkins take part in the Battle of Inkerman. A party led by Sergeant Richards and Corporal John Prettyjohns successfully cleared some caves of snipers, only to realise they were running short of ammunition as they spotted more enemy sneaking up the hill towards them.

“In the early afternoon Victory locked masts with the French ship Redoutable and Nelson was fatally shot. Royal Marine Sergeant James Secker caught the felled admiral and he and two seamen carried him below to die.”

‘The Death of Nelson’ 1859-64, by Daniel Maclise

Sergeant Turner observed how “Prettyjohns, a strong West Countryman, said: ‘Look alive, my hearties, and collect all the stones handy, and pile them on the ridge in front of you.

‘When I grip the front man, you let go the biggest stones upon those fellows behind.”

‘As soon as the first man stood on the level, Prettyjohns gripped him and threw him over upon the men following, and a shower of stones from the others knocked the leaders over.

‘Away they went, tumbling one over the other, down the incline…’”

For this, Corporal Prettyjohns was awarded the Victoria Cross, the newlyintroduced highest honour for gallantry.

Two further Crimean Victoria Crosses followed.

Bombadier Thomas Wilkinson, 23, received his for replacing damaged defences in Sevastopol by adding cumbersome sandbags to advanced batteries whilst in a hail of bullets on June 7, 1855.

The Royal Marine Artillery’s Lieutenant George Dowell showed similar selfless valour.

The 24-year-old watched in horror as an explosion tore through a British cutter during fighting at the Fort of Viborg on July 13. With the help of three volunteers, he not only rescued the rocket boat’s crew but then towed her under Russian guns to safety.

All three men received their awards from Queen Victoria in Hyde Park in 1857.

That same year an Order in Council designated the infantry a ‘Light Corps’. Thus, the two Corps became the Royal Marines Light Infantry, known as ‘Red Marines’ because of their scarlet tunics, and the Royal Marines Artillery, known as the ‘Blue Marines’.

The Boxer Rebellion

At the end of May 1900, Boxers began threatening foreign diplomatic staff based in a compound next to the Imperial City walls in Peking, China. Britain and America both despatched an influx of Marines, but days after their arrival the German minister was murdered by his Chinese escort and the compound became under siege.

For the next 55 days, the Chinese lurked at its perimeter, burning buildings and taking pot shots. The 120-strong British and US fought fiercely side-byside, laying the foundations for a strong bond which has existed between the two forces ever since.

On June 24, Captain Lewis Halliday RMLI was shot while leading a section of 20 men against Boxer intruders. Despite being badly wounded, he engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand fighting, eventually successfully driving them off.

Halliday was awarded the Victoria Cross for his courage that day, whilst a CGM and five DCMs were also awarded to Royal Marine non-commissioned officers.

Captain Halliday RMLI VC

“Despite being badly wounded, he engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand fighting, eventually successfully driving them off.”

Members of the Royal Marines Legation Guard at Peking (now Beijing), China, photographed with foreign diplomats and civilians who were besieged in the British Legation in the summer of 1900. Photo courtesy of the Royal Marines Museum, Portsmouth.

World War I

During World War I, the Royal Marines not only played an important role in the Somme and at Passchendaele, but also saw significant action on Gallipoli once Turkey had entered the war on the side of the Central Powers.

In order to protect naval ships bombarding the Dardanelles Strait, Marines were landed on the southernmost tip of the peninsula.

The Chatham and Portsmouth Battalions landed at Anzac beach, where they were joined two days later by the Deal and Nelson Battalions.

During the tough fighting that ensued Lance Corporal Walter Parker earned a Victoria Cross for an act of astounding bravery.

The 33-year-old volunteered to join a ten-strong party tasked with delivering supplies to stranded personnel. When they were attacked, he stayed on open ground treating the injured then, ignoring an order to return to the British trenches, sprinted 400 yards through open ground littered with bodies of the fallen while under concentrated fire.

Lt Alcock watched him race towards them: “There is no doubt whatsoever that Lance Corporal Parker knew, as soon as he started, that he was taking the greatest of risks possible, and that his one idea was to succour the wounded in the isolated trench.”

Parker was shot twice but spent the next three days treating the wounded, before being shot twice more guiding the men to safety.

Some 5,800 Royal Marines were present for Battle of Jutland, which took place on May 31, 1916, mostly manning turrets in the capital ships during the major naval engagement of the entire war.

Battlecruiser HMS Lion was the flagship of Admiral Beatty and, when an 11-inch shell hit ‘Q’ turret, it blew open the roof and killed most of the gun’s crew.

Major Francis Harvey RMLI was badly injured when both his legs were blown off by the blast but spent the last few seconds of his life giving the order to flood the magazine to ensure the fire did not spread, ignite the tons of cordite below and blow up the entire warship.

His selfless actions may well have saved over 1,000 lives.

Winston Churchill later commented: “In the long, rough, glorious history of the Royal Marines there is no name and no deed which in its character and consequences ranks above this”.

Only one Victoria Cross was awarded to a Marine on the Western Front, to Major Frederick Lumsden RMA for action while commanding an Army battalion in France in 1917.

He led four artillery teams and a party of infantry to retrieve six captured guns dug-in 300 yards in front of their position.

Lumsden went back and forth under relentless rifle, machine gun and shrapnel fire, impressing all who watched “by force of example and inspiring energy”.

He was killed on June 4, 1918, aged 45, at Blairville, Northern France, whilst in command of 14th Brigade RMA, after recently adding a third bar to his DSOs. He was appointed a CB in the King’s Birthday Honours for 1918 and was one of only seven British officers to be awarded the DSO four times during World War I.

Winston Churchill

“In the long, rough, glorious history of the Royal Marines there is no name and no deed which in its character and consequences ranks above this.”

Damage to Q turret of HMS Lion after the Battle of Jutland. Front armour plate has been removed.

Zeebrugge Raid

A final action of note during World War One was the audacious raid on Zeebrugge April 23, 1918.

Aimed at preventing U-boats based on the Bruges canals from putting to sea, the 4th Battalion Royal Marines trained for the mission at Deal for a fortnight before sailing on the moonlit night of April 22 in HMS Vindictive

Vice Admiral Roger Keyes signalled ‘St George for England’, to which Vindictive’s captain replied: ‘May we give the dragon’s tail a damned good twist!’

The plan was to block the canal entrances with three obsolete cruisers, while Vindictive and two requisitioned Liverpool ferry boats delivered their storming parties.

Smoke was used to disguise their approach but, when the wind swept it away, the assault had to be carried out whilst feeling the full force of the enemy’s wrath.

The German guns particularly homed in on the foretop positions on Vindictive, where Marines were manning the guns.

Sergeant Norman Finch RMA was among them and, despite all around him being killed or wounded – and being shot himself - he relentlessly carried on firing his Lewis gun.

Ashore Captain Edward Bamford RMLI, a recipient of a DSO in HMS Chester at the Battle of Jutland, led Portsmouth Company along the mole “displaying the greatest initiative in the command of his company and a complete disregard of danger”.

He successfully took the German strong point before assaulting the battery.

Two Victoria Crosses were awarded to the 4th Battalion following this action, which yielded heavy casualties.

Balloted for, they went to Bamford and Finch and, as a mark of respect, it was decreed that no future Royal Marine battalion would ever be numbered 4th again.

Left: HMS Vindictive’s damage after the Zeebrugge raid.

Above: The blocking ships at the mouth of the canal, HMS Thetis furthest from the camera, the Mole in the background.

Captain Edward Bamford, VC, DSO

“...displaying the greatest initiative in the command of his company and a complete disregard of danger.”

Sergeant Norman Finch VC, RMA

“Despite all around him being killed or wounded – and being shot himselfhe relentlessly carried on firing his Lewis gun.”

World War II

The outbreak of World War II saw the Royal Marines swiftly generate a raft of capabilities and by the end of 1939 they had already seen action at sea, including at the Battle of the River Plate in the South Atlantic on December 13.

When Japan joined the war in December 1941, among their first naval attacks were the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse

A large proportion of the crews survived and any Marines joined forces with the 2nd Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders to fight together in the final stages before the fall of Singapore.

Those forced to surrender there spent the remainder of the war as Japanese prisoners-of-war and 40 Royal Marines perished as a result of the inhuman treatment they endured working on the infamous Burma ‘railway of death’.

Over the centuries the Marines had deftly repeatedly recalibrated in the face of evolving warfare.

But it was now, during the maelstrom of another world war, that the Corps experienced a gear change which kickstarted their shift to the force they are today.

Commandos and the Green Beret

Wily Winston Churchill ordered the establishment of shock raiding forces within days of the fall of France, with General Sir John Dill and his military assistant Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke charged with fleshing out the idea.

They drew on a concept developed by Christiaan De Wet, Commander General the Free State Army during the Boer War to create an agile force

of highly-trained, well-equipped men capable of rocketing into a battle space and swiftly creating sufficient shock and awe to leave a foe reeling.

Soon the Commandos were born, with the Army forming its first unit in the summer of 1940.

There then followed the significant realisation that using sea soldiers for these missions would be a natural fit, given that they’d been honing the required skills of landing from warships for centuries.

“Over the centuries the Marines had deftly repeatedly recalibrated in the face of evolving warfare.”

Members of the Special Boat Section at the Osborne View Hotel, Hillhead, Hampshire, 1943

The Corps we know today began to emerge, with the first Royal Marines Commandos unit formed on February 14, 1942.

One of their initial significant raids took place at Dieppe on August 19, 1942. The Corps fought with great bravery and tenacity, albeit through no fault of those ordered on the Raid, it was a military disaster. The Raid lacked any well-defined overall strategic objective of great potential value. Dieppe was a very well-defended Channel Port and over half the overall attacking force was killed, wounded and/or captured.

Fittingly, though, the courage of the Commandos who fought at Dieppe continues to be remembered with the modern Marine Number Two dress uniform named after the operation’s leader, Scottish aristocrat Lord Lovat. Early training was conducted at Achnacarry, in the Scottish Highlands. It remains the visceral spiritual home of today’s Commandos.

Also prized is their Green Beret, first worn in October 1942.

No 1 Commando wore a flash on their arm depicting a green salamander going through fire, so the decision was taken to choose between the colours green, red and yellow. Green was deemed by far the most appropriate and was swiftly signed off by the Under-Secretary of State for War.

The blandly named Royal Marine Boom Patrol Detachment based at Eastney, Southsea, was a cover for a group of men who executed covert operations which required astounding levels of bravery.

Cockleshell Heroes

A forerunner of the Special Boat Service, its commanding officer was Acting Major Herbert “Blondie” Hasler.

On December 7, 1942 he launched a raid using hand-picked men on the Nazi-held port of Bordeaux, which went on to become the post-war hit film ‘The Cockleshell Heroes’.

Ten Royal Marines set out from submarine HMS Tuna to paddle 70 miles up the Gironde Estuary in two-man canvas kayaks. Operation Frankton required stealth and, with the constant threat of discovery, the coolest of heads.

Only two canoes made it to Bordeaux but the limpet mines they laid on enemy merchant ships exploded and badly damaged six of them. Hasler and kayak partner Marine Bill Sparks eventually made it home.

Sparks’ father was told that his son was missing-in-action so was naturally slackjawed in shock when he pitched up on the doorstep.

Of the eight others, six were immediately executed on capture by the Nazis for being Special Forces, while two perished from hypothermia after their kayak capsized.

The losses were devastating but not in vain; the men had decisively proved just what Commandos were capable of.

Soon the Royal Marines had secured numbers 40 to 48 (RM) Commando.

Both 40 & 42 Commandos took part in the allied landings in Sicily on July 10, 1943 and the assault on Salerno on September 9.

It was also in 1943 that commander of the Special Service Brigade Lieutenant Colonel Bob Laycock decided that the evolving trend from lightning raids to longer stints in the theatre of war was significant.

Then the requirement for sufficient units for Operation Overlord led to Vice Admiral Lord Mountbatten suggesting that the Royal Marines should take on the entire Commando role.

When his ruminations became reality, the Army was incandescent.

Major General Sir Robert Laycock, Chief of Combined Operations, talking to Marine Commandos during an inspection shortly before D-Day

Burning British tank landing vessel and damaged tank, Dieppe, August 1942

D-Day

Laycock was proved right and it was Operation Overlord – the ambitious amphibious invasion of Europe – which saw the highly-trained Commandos make the leap from shock troops to a talented battlefield force.

Over 17,500 took part in the landings, with 41, 45, 47 and 48 involved in the initial assault on June 6, 1944.

46 Commando walked ashore on D+1, while 47 Commando marched ten miles beyond Allied lines to capture Port-enBessin following a fierce fire fight.

Crucially, all five Commandos then took part in subsequent operations through France, Belgium and Holland.

43 Commando was on the Italian mainland on April 3, 1945, when Corporal Tom Hunter led a determined assault on an enemy position near Lake Comacchio.

In order to protect the troops advancing behind him, the 21-year-old grabbed a Bren gun and charged alone across 200 yards of open ground, attracting enemy fire from nearby houses and a canal bank.

Changing magazines as he ran, he cleared the houses, with six Germans surrendering to him and others fleeing.

Hunter then lay in open ground atop a pile of rubble and continued firing until his comrades reached safety, before being killed instantly with a shot to his head.

He was posthumously awarded the Corps’ only World War II Victoria Cross.

During 1st Special Service Brigade’s drive across Europe, 45 Commando was involved in a bitter battle in freezing weather at Montforterbeek on January 23, 1945.

Medical orderly Lance Corporal Henry Harden RAMC was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for repeatedly returning to injured troops while under a concentrated torrent of enemy bullets in an attempt to rescue them until he was, himself, mortally injured.

Some 3,983 Royal Marines out of a total of 74,000 who served during World War II valiantly gave their lives for their country.

Once peace was declared, the Corps’ numbers were reduced to 13,000.

They exclusively assumed the Commando role and specialised in amphibious warfare, while the Special Boat Company became an all-Royal Marines unit.

Royal Marines Commandos attached to 3rd Division move inland from Sword Beach on the Normandy coast, June 6, 1944.

“Over 17,500 took part in the landings, with 41, 45, 47 and 48 involved in the initial assault on June 6, 1944.”

Post World War II

King George VI, who had succeeded to the title of Colonel-in-Chief on ascending the throne in 1937, had changed his title to Captain General.

To mark this, he dined with more than 300 Royal Marines Officers at the Savoy Hotel in London on December 21, 1949.

In May 1950, 3 Commando Brigade, HQ, 40, 42 and 45 Commando commenced a tour of duty in the long drawn-out Malayan Emergency, just at the time when violence was reaching its peak.

Chinese Communists based deep in the jungle were infiltrating Chinese and Malay villages, with their reign of terror involving arson and murder.

3 Commando Brigade conducted antiinsurgency warfare in support of the civil administration and police for two years.

During fierce jungle fighting, they killed 171 terrorists, captured more than 50, and garnered 40 gallantry awards.

On their return to Malta in May 1952, the unit received their first Colours from HRH The Duke of Edinburgh on Floriana Parade Ground, in Valetta.

Prince Philip, who was appointed Captain General of the Royal Marines the following year, said: “These Colours are a recognition of the devotion of the wartime Royal Marines Commandos and of the courage and bearing of the Brigade in all the trouble spots of the world since the war.”

The Duke of Edinburgh’s words were apt, indeed; the Royal Marines’ military globe-trotting during post-war years involved both testing combat and a steady trickle of casualties.

They played their part in Korea, Cyprus, Northern Ireland and Suez, where 40 and 42 Commando stormed the beaches of Port Said under cover of heavy naval bombardment on November 6, 1956, while the Fleet Air Arm strafed Egyptian positions.

While the Defence White Paper of 1957 announced swingeing cuts in expenditure and manpower, it also saw the birth of the Commando Ship concept with the designation of HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion as amphibious specialists.

During the 1960s, the Commando role further matured during seven years in Aden and, when Army mutinies in the newly independent East African nations broke out, 45 Commando was airlifted ashore from light fleet carrier HMS Centaur, leaving the dissident military reeling from the swift precision of their helicopter operations.

Marines also spent nearly four years in Borneo after the Brunei revolt erupted on December 8, 1962. When the British Resident in Limbang, his wife and a dozen other hostages were seized by rebels, L Company 42 Commando, under Captain Jeremy Moore, launched a raid from Z craft on the river at dawn on December 12.

Darting through machine-gun fire, they swiftly despatched the rebels and –miraculously – rescued all the hostages alive.

Northern Ireland

Between 1969 and 2004, Commandos carried out more than 40 Northern Ireland tours and were involved in Operation Motorman, when 22,000 British troops successfully cleared the ‘no-go’ areas of West Belfast and Londonderry.

This saturation of the Catholic districts of both cities forced the terrorists to relinquish control and allowed the security forces to move into a new phase of the campaign.

But the troubles spilled over onto the mainland too.

In 1981 Commandant General Royal Marines, Lieutenant General Sir Steuart Pringle sustained serious injuries when his car was blown up by a terrorist bomb outside his London home.

Then, on September 22, 1989, 11 musicians were murdered by a bomb planted at the Royal Marines School of Music at Deal.

It was a brutal, appalling act of terrorism.

The Operations Room of 40 Royal Marines Commando for Operation Motorman.

“These Colours are a recognition of the devotion of the wartime Royal Marines Commandos and of the courage and bearing of the Brigade in all the trouble spots of the world since the war.”

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

Royal Marines Association

The New Millennial Wars

The Millennial Year underlined the agile role the Commandos play in British defence, with 78 per cent of them on operations, exercises or deployments in 30 different countries at one point.

Then, as the new century unfolded, much of the world suddenly found itself at war with terrorism following the devastating attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.

Soon Royal Marines on Exercise Saif Sareea 2 in Oman were redeployed and inserted into Kabul while the SBS, amongst many other operations, helped rescue a CIA agent from an Afghan prison revolt.

The Falklands Conflict

Before Argentina annexed the Falkland Islands in April 1982, the very existence of the Corps was under threat as the government weighed up implementing savage defence savings on the entire Royal Navy.

Retaking them, however, involved military action in which the Senior Service naturally excelled and the world watched in awe as the Commandos meticulously executed an amphibious assault, a 56-mile, boggy march across East Falkland and a tough final battle in foul weather on a challenging terrain.

Over 7,500 Commandos took part in the campaign in warships, as landing craft crews, fighting on the ground and as helicopter pilots.

The Argentine end-game took place in the mountains above the capital Port Stanley and 42 Commando retook Mount Harriet on the night of June 11 following a daring encircling movement to catch the enemy at the rear.

It proved a fierce showdown which lit up the dark with flares and tracer fire, and six Marines were awarded gallantry medals as a result.

45 Commando, meanwhile, completed a tricky flank attack, before thrusting along a narrow ridge to the twin peaks of the Two Sisters.

The troops were exhausted the next morning but they’d achieved all that had been asked of them.

While the First Gulf War was predominantly an Army and RAF operation, about ten per cent of the Corps were involved, and showed how they could quickly recalibrate between an aggressive fighting force and one adept at compassionate peacekeeping.

The Corps spearheaded the start of coalition forces’ military action in Iraq on March 20, 2003 when 40 Commando led a helicopter assault on the Al Faw Peninsula.

The first regular forces to land in Iraq, they swooped in with US Navy Seals to capture oil facilities before Saddam Hussein’s troops could blow them up.

42 Commando were airlifted in just north of 40 Commando’s position then entered Umm Qasr, before leading the ‘break-in’ battle to Basra.

40 Commando successfully fought a 20-hour battle against an Iraqi battalion before also entering Basra.

The Corps’ actions culminated in the capture of Saddam Hussein’s Palace there.

In 2005, the NATO allies decided to expand the remit of ISAF to cover the whole of Afghanistan and the province of Helmand was allocated to the United Kingdom.

Royal Navy Westland Sea King takes off after transporting J Company, 42 Commando, Royal Marines from Port San Carlos to Darwin, May 28, 1982.

“... the Royal Marines’ skills as both combatants and peacekeepers made them a key operational asset during the brutal operations which followed over the next decade.”

Here, again, the Royal Marines’ skills as both combatants and peacekeepers made them a key operational asset during the brutal operations which followed over the next decade.

By Operation HERRICK 5, the decision was taken that 40 Commando should remain in Britain and take its turn in Afghanistan as a sub-unit of an Army Brigade in order to keep a Royal Marines’ unit in the UK for contingency tasks and their cherished amphibious skills alive.

New equipment gave the Commando Battle Group a significant fillip and the combination of Viking armoured vehicles, Javelin anti-tank missiles, as well as close support from Army Apache attack helicopters and Harrier jets – some flown by Royal Marines – meant they possessed a weighty punch.

As always, there were a plethora of examples of heart-thumping valour.

Lance Corporal Matthew Croucher RMR was serving with 40 Commando when he threw himself onto a Taliban tripwire grenade just before it detonated.

His rucksack taking the bulk of the blast, he merely suffered a nosebleed and perforated ear drums.

Not only did Croucher save the life of a nearby seriously injured comrade who had sustained a chest wound, he then treated him until assistance arrived.

He was awarded the George Cross for his actions on February 9, 2008.

Marine Mark Williams, too, displayed the very finest traditions of the Corps on May 26, 2011.

Inexperienced and aged just 22-yearsold, he raced into open ground in an insurgent killing area to rescue Lance Corporal Harvey, dragged him over 30 metres behind a compound wall, delivered life-saving care then returned to the fray with such vehemence and accuracy that the enemy retreated.

Against a backdrop of the unyielding ebb and flow of demands on the Commandos since World War II, the Royal Navy’s Special Forces, formally renamed the Special Boat Service in 1987, has been secretly deploying their stealth and skill wherever needed.

Be it spending three weeks hunkered down in the Falklands covertly hoovering up intelligence before the 1982 war or freeing 11 British soldiers kidnapped by Sierra Leone militia in 2000, they are always at the Chief of Defence Staff’s beck and call.

Despite their relatively small numbers, around half of all British Special Forces is comprised of Royal Navy Marines, with some serving in the SAS.

Successive generations of Commando forefathers since 1664 would undoubtedly approve of the men who make up today’s Corps, and recognise their spirit, resilience and valour.

The Future Commando Force Marines now possess the very latest technology, ships, helicopters and weaponry.

They also still have the coveted green beret, proof that they’re amongst the one per cent of applicants to have survived the world’s toughest Commando course at CTCRM Lympstone, Devon.

TodayReceiving the ‘green lid’ on successfully completing it also signals their entry into a lifelong club and a fiercely protective brotherhood.

Commandos are cognisant that theirs is a proud steel thread of military excellence sewn right through the tapestry of British military action over the centuries.

Ferocious and unrelenting in battle.

‘Per Mare, Per Terram’.

Lance Corporal Matthew Croucher with his backpack, torn by the grenade

The most decorated Royal Marine of current times

WO1(RSM) Matthew Tomlinson CGC MC RM is unique among modern Royal Marines for having been awarded two major gallantry awards.

He received the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for actions in Iraq while on secondment as a landing craft specialist with the United States Marine Corps.

When his Small Unit Riverine Craft came under fire, Tomlinson created the element of surprise by advancing and attacking, engaging the enemy in close quarter fighting whilst his men encircled the enemy. After again providing covering fire he called in air support to strike.

Since leaving the Marines in 2017, Matt has started working as a Paramedic Assistant.

Tomlinson’s Military Cross was awarded after he ran to rescue Marines from a burning VIKING vehicle which had been blown up by an IED in Afghanistan.

He successfully brought the injured to safety though gunner Marine Jason Mackie was already dead when he found him.

Tomlinson finally left the Corps in 2017.

Matt with his family at Buckingham Palace receiving the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross

The Victoria Cross

The following Royal Marines have been awarded the highest British military honour for gallantry.

Corporal John Prettyjohns RM

The Battle of Inkerman, November 5th, 1854

Led a section which successfully flushed out Russian snipers from caves and then pelted the enemy with stones.

Bombadier Thomas Wilkinson RMA The Siege of Sevastopol, June 7th, 1855

Repaired forward battery defences with sandbags while under heavy enemy fire.

Lieutenant George Dowell RMA Viborg, Baltic Sea, July 13th 1855

Rescued the crew of a stricken cutter and towed her to safety while under intense fire.

Captain Lewis Halliday RMLI The Siege of Peking, June 24th 1900

Led the way into some burning buildings under heavy fire, killing four enemy whilst injured himself.

Lance Corporal Walter Parker RMLI Gallipoli, April 30th 1915

Sprinted 400 yards under heavy fire to reach wounded personnel then treated them for three days alone.

Major Francis Harvey RMLI (Posthumous)

The Battle of Jutland, May 31st 1916

In the final seconds of his life he ordered a turret on HMS Lion to be flooded, preventing it from exploding.

Major Frederick Lumsden DSO RMA France, April 3rd 1917

Led a party to recover six enemy guns while under heavy gun and shrapnel fire.

Captain Edward Bamford DSO RMLI The Raid on Zeebrugge, April 23rd 1918

Showed a total disregard for danger while leading his company during an amphibious landing (by ballot).

Sergeant Norman Finch RMA

The Raid on Zeebrugge, April 23rd 1918

Despite being severely wounded he maintained covering fire from the foretop of HMS Vindictive (by ballot).

Corporal Thomas Hunter RM (Posthumous)

The Battle of Comacchio, April 3rd 1945

Charged across 200 yards of open ground to draw fire forcing enemy to surrender to him or flee.

FORMER ROYAL MARINE RECALLS BATTLE OF TWO SISTERS

Royal Marine Rupert van der Horst served as 2IC 45 Commando during the Falklands Conflict. Now a caseworker for SSAFA’s Wiltshire Branch, he recounts his experiences of landing in San Carlos Bay, and yomping across west Falkland in to battle at Two Sisters Mountain.

When news of the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands Islands broke, I was amongst the British Forces to be mobilised with 45 Commando soon heading south on board RFA Stromness, a Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel.

It took forever to get down there because they were still negotiating and the fleet got bigger and bigger.

Finally, we got into our landing craft outside San Carlos Water on landing nets we had made from ropes. It was dark, we were carrying a lot; some people 100 pounds, 120 pounds or more...

We suddenly saw firing - I think the SAS raiding Fanning Head. And we turned into San Carlos Water and, eventually, 45 Commando landed on the western side of Ajax Bay. We got out and deployed from there.

I stayed pretty close to the water near the old refrigeration plant, and we dug in, got ready, expected to be immediately fired on, bombed and all that. Nothing happened until later…

I remember Argentine A-4 Skyhawk planes coming over my right shoulder, diving down towards our anchored ships and everyone on the ships firing at them.

I watched ships being hit, burning and eventually exploding – and the crew of HMS Antelope being picked up by this brilliant Royal Marines’ Colour Sergeant in one of the four LCMs, the boats we’d landed in.

When you go to war and you’re an officer, you’re very, very busy so you don’t actually have all that much time to think... ‘Oh I’m frightened,’ or, ‘Oh, I’m not frightened,’ or anything like that. So we dug in and shared a few jokes because Royal Marines do that.

FALKLANDS CONFLICT 40 YEARS ON

Royal Marines move off Mount Harriet during the mountain battles, June 11 1982.

It was 45 Commando who were called the Yompers and walked the whole way... 56 miles from San Carlos Bay to Port Stanley, carrying everything we needed for battle because there weren’t any helicopters.

The Marines with machine guns and that sort of thing had appalling loads and even as Second-inCommand I had to carry mortar bombs. A lot of the men having put their packs on them when they were sitting down couldn’t actually get up.

We then set off towards Port Stanley knowing that it would take a very long time. It started raining. It was very tussocky... they had these things called rock runs which were like rivers, but they’re rocks. We did have to cross one or two rivers so we got wet feet pretty quickly...

It was Teal Inlet and Bluff Cove Peak where the Commanding Officer asked me to recce the route that the Commando would take to its forming up position for our attack on Two Sisters Mountain and I went off in an over-snow vehicle BV202 with a driver and two signalmen and sought out a route which wasn’t bad at all.

I just watched the attack start at night and you held your breath wondering when the Argentines were going to notice and fire back. In the end they did and I remember this criss-crossing 50-cal machine gun ammunition coming in and crossing between the assaulting troops and me.

I just watched the attack start at night and you held your breath…

What I had to do was lead some over-snow vehicles full of ammunition so that on reorganisation the Commando could quickly rearm itself.

I had to deal with casualties. It was dark. I put some sort of light on my back... so that the driver of the

we dug in and shared a few jokes because Royal Marines do that.

leading over-snow vehicle could follow me. We walked into the machine gun fire and these antiaircraft shells and I was extremely busy finding the route between the rocks where three over-snow vehicles could go.

I was met by the RSM of the Commando, who in war is strictly responsible for ammunition. He showed me where it had to be taken and we started unloading it.

I could see the Marines who’d taken part in the assault looking absolutely exhausted. The scene was lit up by shellfire and machinegun fire - a French 155gun, medium artillery, firing at us. I don’t know if it was one or two.

I then had to think about casualties, which were quite a lot. Over the whole operation, the Commando had fourteen killed, but four here. So, I had to decide, what are we going to do with these guys?

Well eventually a Scout pilot at night - and with shells coming over -took them to the hospital which had been set up back in the old refrigeration plant run by Surgeon Commander Rick Jolly.

I led the BV202s back down the mountain. By that time, we had picked up a few Argentine ration packs, and sat down and had breakfast...

We each had a tin of steak and I think a tiny bottle of whisky, which was, of course, naturally very well-received, and... they had cigarettes... finding these cigarettes, was, you know... life was superb at that moment. Need to talk?

So

Rupert van der Horst following the successful attack on the Argentinian positions at the Two Sisters.

Congratulations From the Norwegian School of Winter Warfare and NATO Centre of Excellence for Cold Weather Operations

The UK Royal Marines and the Norwegian Armed Forces have a long and proud history of working together. Indeed, from Medieval times to the present day there has been a special bond between us, reflecting that, whilst separated by the North-Sea, our culture, thinking and operational understanding are very similar.

In honour of the 80th Anniversary of the Royal Marines assuming the Commando-tab, the Norwegian School of Winter Warfare and the NATO Centre of Excellence for Cold Weather Operations offer their congratulations and record their appreciation of our close relationship and cooperation.

Since 1942, the Norwegian Armed Forces and the Royal Marines have trained together, liaised with each other and shared best practice.

Whether it has been on the plains of Great Britain, the Norwegian mountains or even when re-

.

enacting significant historical operations on the Norwegian Hardangervidda to destroy the Vemork heavy-water plant, our two nations have seen the benefits of working together.

Both during and after the Cold War we have seen the importance of naval infantry forces for our mutual defence – hence the importance of the Royal Marines to Norway.

The Norwegian School of Winter Warfare has run courses since 1927 for international and allied students, including Royal Marines, during which they experience the Norwegian winter and the challenges of operating in this environment.

The Royal Marines are irrefutably one of our closest partners with the experience and expertise that they themselves bring to our courses highly appreciated.

Of course, it is of utmost importance that Norway’s allies possess cold weather capabilities

and that Norwegian forces are inter-operable with those of our closest allies.

Today, we are fortunate to have one UK RM (ML) embedded within our team here at Elverum in Norway – and his professionalism and dedication is testimony to the great and valuable cooperation between our respective forces.

The Arctic environment and challenging topography must be mastered, especially given the recent changes in the geo-political and strategic situation which brings this aspect of modern warfare more sharply in to focus.

We look forward to continuing our great cooperation, whether it be in Norway or Great Britain, and fullheartedly congratulate the Royal Marines Commandos on their 80th Anniversary.

“ Since 1942, the Norwegian Armed Forces and the Royal Marines have trained together, liaised with each other and shared best practice.”

The Royal Marines Ethos

The precise application of will, and a sense of humour - Richard Spencer CBE shines a light on the extraordinary ethos of the Royal Marines.

“Ethos refers simply to what a group does and how it does it. The ethos of the Royal Marines refers to their role and the way they achieve it. Since the Second World War, the Royal Marines have developed a three-fold role. They are a commando force specialising in amphibious, mountain and cold weather warfare. This difficult role requires certain characteristics which are developed in training; unity, adaptability, humility, standards, fortitude and a sense of humour. It is by means of these qualities that the Royal Marines are able to fulfil their role successfully. The ethos of the Royal Marines might be summarised as the precise application of will.”

Professor Anthony King

In 2003, military specialist Professor Anthony King was commissioned to write a report on the Royal Marines ethos, and at the time there was significant debate on whether such a study was necessary, with many arguing that we should ‘not let light in on the magic’.

However, within the context of the end of the Cold War, the changing world order and the growing threat of international terrorism, it was felt that a digest of what sets the Royal Marines apart from other elements of the United Kingdom’s Armed Services was essential to enable the Corps to not only survive, but to thrive.

Ethos refers to the collective goals which unite humans into recognisable groups and the way those groups together decide how to achieve their goals. Without such an ethos, we revert to being individuals that are therefore denied the synergy and collective strength derived from being a member of a team or organisation or, in the case of the Royal Marines, a Corps. And yet ethos often seems intangible within a group because it is innate.

That feeling that the Corps’ ethos is innate belies the gestation that every Royal Marine undergoes, whether they be General Service, Special Service, Band Service or Reserve Service. All Royal Marines are forged on the anvil that is the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines, where they are imbued in the unique role of the Royal Marines and the specialist skills required in our people to successfully deliver that role in the harshest conditions that are the accepted domain in which they are expected to operate.

The role assigned to the Royal Marines requires the selection of a rare breed of individual from society, the honing of their personal skills and the

development of their professional skills, and the development of a mindset that has in the past been described as the ‘unimpeachable will to succeed’. This combination of physical, moral and conceptual skills is then sharpened throughout a Royal Marines’ service, and indeed can then be harnessed successfully on return to Civvy Street.

In 2003, Professor King suggested that the building blocks of the Royal Marines ethos were: the unity of purpose and effort; an adaptability in approach to any challenge; unimpeachable personal and professional standards; a fortitude of spirit to ensure that Royal Marines could not only survive but thrive in the most demanding of physical and moral circumstances - all underpinned by a humility and an indomitable sense of humour.

In the 1980s, a former Commandant General Royal Marines, Lt Gen Sir Henry Beverley KCB OBE, summarised the qualities of a Royal Marine as being “the combination of professional excellence, modesty, wit and a pleasant social demeanour”

‘Time and tide wait for no man’ and some things have changed since Professor King wrote his seminal report in 2003. As the role of the Royal Marines continues to evolve (see below), the nature of the individuals recruited has also needed to change somewhat. The training they undertake continues to be refreshed to ensure that it is matched to both the role and how the Royal Marines are organised and equipped to deliver that role.

Whilst the ‘precise application of will’ remains wholly relevant, today a greater emphasis is placed on the Commando Mindset, which is defined as being ‘the first to understand, the first to adapt and respond; and the first to overcome’.

In an ever-changing and ever more complex operating environment, this mindset is essential to operational success, and built on a flexible individual and team approach. It should be noted that the use of the word ‘commando’ does not seek to disenfranchise the RM Band Service, whose flexibility of approach was amply demonstrated during the COVID pandemic.

Underpinning this Commando Mindset are the traditional elements that make up the Commando Spirit, namely Courage (both physical and moral), Determination, Unselfishness and Cheerfulness. This Commando Spirit is enabled by the Commando Values of Excellence, Integrity, Self-discipline and Humility.

‘The first to understand, the first to adapt and respond; and the first to overcome’.

Royal Marines Association

Current Operational Focus

The current force structure appears to depict little change in how the Royal Marines operate, as almost all Royal Marines’ units remain within 3 Commando Brigade. However, the days of the Brigade having three commando units, each with four rifle companies have now gone. Today, almost all Royal Marines’ units have a unique and specialist mission, resulting in different manning, training, equipping and deployment models.

In 2020, the UK Government announced its Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy. This document described the government’s vision for the UK’s role in the world over the next decade.

As part of that review, the government funded a programme to refine the output of the Royal Marines under a programme called ‘Commando Forces for the 20s’. This programme changed the way in which the Royal Marines conduct their operations, with a focus on:

Persistent deployments into various theatres of operation to enable continuous engagement with our partners and against adversaries.

The two primary operational theatres will be in Europe (northern and southern flanks) and East of Suez, each managed by a Littoral Response Group based on a

commando unit. 45 Commando will have the lead for Littoral Response Group North, whilst 40 Commando will have the lead for Littoral Response Group South. Both units will have companies routinely based forward in amphibious shipping.

Each Littoral Response Group will be enabled by elements of 30 Commando (Information Exploitation) Group, 47 Commando Raiding Group Commando Logistic Regiment and may be supported by elements of 24 Commando Royal Engineers and 29 Commando Royal Artillery.

Greater dispersal of forces to enable operational advantage and enhance survivability in an ever more lethal tactical environment, with a greater focus on deception at the tactical and operational levels.

Enhanced capability to find and strike the opponent at great reach and organised at a lower level than in the past.

Increased range of maritime manoeuvre to de-risk ship to shore movement.

The two Littoral Response Groups can be combined to form a Littoral Strike Group and in turn the Littoral Strike Group can be combined with a carrier Strike Group to form an Expeditionary Strike Group.

In parallel with the persistent Littoral Response Group operations, specialist units from 3 Commando Brigade will conduct operations in UK and globally in support of UK’s interests.

42 Commando conducts global maritime security operations in support of the Royal Navy and Defence. This covers Ship’s Force Protection Teams, teams to conduct Maritime Interdiction Operations capable of conducting the full spectrum of boardings, Short Term Training Teams in support of high-threat capacity building with partners around the world, and Maritime Sniper Teams.

In 2022, teams from 42 Commando have captured over £144M worth of illegal narcotics globally. In addition, 42 Commando provide the UK’s Joint Personnel Recovery capability in support of aircraft from the Carrier Strike Group.

“Today, almost all Royal Marines’ units have a unique and specialist mission, resulting in different manning, training, equipping and deployment models.”

Since 1992, when the Department of the Commandant General Royal Marines was closed, the Royal Marines have been managed directly by Navy Command Headquarters in Portsmouth.

The command of the various elements of the Royal Marines has moved over time, with HQ Training Reserve & Special Forces (RM Eastney) being incorporated into Headquarter Royal Marines in 1991, whilst operational command of commando forces at 2-Star level transferred from HQ Commando Forces to Commander UK Amphibious Forces between 1993 and 2001 (with a brief interregnum).

The Commandant General Royal Marines commanded the various outputs of the Corps from 2001-2021 whilst being dual-appointed as Commander UK Amphibious Forces. Since 2021, the appointment of the Commandant General Royal Marines has been tied to the senior serving Royal Marines officer as a secondary duty.

As a consequence of the changes outlined above, the current force structure lacks the command unity of previous eras. However, this is deemed appropriate given the current tasks that the Corps is required to fulfil.

Current Force Structure Future Commando Force

The Future Commando Force (FCF) is an in-progress modernisation programme and model of the future role and operations of the Royal Marines.

The FCF essentially retasks 40 Commando and 45 Commando with implementing the infantry component of two Littoral Response Groups (LRGs), though other units from 3 Commando Brigade are also included in the composition of LRGs, as well as changing the role and operations of the Royal Marines and the equipment and tactics they use.

The FCF concept was created before 2019, when the first exercises and experiments with the FCF began. It was then reinforced in the ‘Defence in a Competitive Age’ command paper, which followed the Integrated Review.

It describes the Royal Marines as a forward-deployed maritime special operations/special operations capable force which will work with greater agility and autonomy, and in smaller teams that specialise in raids within littoral zones, and operations within grey zones and other special operations to relieve and complement United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF). The emphasis on the littoral role of the Royal Marines strongly links the FCF to the Littoral Strike concept, which is being developed and implemented by the LRGs. The FCF is also strongly linked to the ‘Autonomous Advanced Force’ concept by its emphasis on leveraging new technologies to augment commandos on operations. A series of exercises from 2019 to present have been key to developing the FCF, chiefly with experimentation.

The titular head of the Royal Marines, appointed by the monarch, is known as Captain General Royal Marines. HRH The Prince Philip held the post for many years until 2017, when it passed to his grandson, Prince Harry for a short period and then, on October 28 2022, the Corps’ birthday, His Majesty King Charles III became the new Captain General.

The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity (RNRMC) exists to support every sailor and marine and their families - for life if need be. Its abiding operational ethos is based on the concept of community and family, which is clearly illustrated in the manner and means of its approach to providing help and assistance to serving and veteran Royal Marines and their families.

The Royal Marine family is, itself, a strong, closely-knit community reflecting the particularly challenging nature of the Royal Marines role in both peace and war – whether intercepting drug traffickers in the Caribbean or in the Falklands Campaign and, more recently, in Iraq and Afghanistan, playing a major role in large-scale conflict.

According to RNRMC Chief Executive Adrian Bell, the Royal Marines’ family clearly demonstrates “the great positive

SUPPORTING ROYAL MARINES FOR LIFE IF NEED BE

impact that a self-help ethos in itself can have on a military community and, moreover, how this can help maximise the value of support from organisations such as RMA-the Royal Marines Charity and RNRMC”.

The support programmes available for Royal Marines are similar to those for all naval personnel, veterans and their families, and include help with transitioning, addressing immediate mental and other health needs, relationship-related issues, support for carers and ensuring aging veterans are cared for with dignity.

The processes involved can vary, ranging from the provision of direct RNRMC grant awards to individuals and care projects to referrals, perhaps with some funding attached, to specialist charities, such as the Forces Employment Charity.

Moreover, in some cases it also acts as a distributor of funding from other sources such as the Armed Forces Covenant Trust.

The following examples provide an insight into its life-changing support for Royal Marines.

100 Year Old WW2 Hero Enjoys Quality Care

Alexander Cormack, known as “Sandy” was born in Ardrie and celebrated his 100th birthday in January 2022. He had a remarkable military career as a Royal Marines Commando in World War Two.

He arrived in northern France about a week after the D-Day invasion and modestly states he doesn’t have any “great, daring stories”. He just “ran with the rest of them”.

Sandy has vivid memories of his unit working their way up the coast to liberate civilians.

He was awarded the Légion d’Honneur for services in Normandy, and had the opportunity to shake Queen Elizabeth’s hand at a 60th Anniversary of D-Day commemoration.

In civilian life, Sandy worked as a butcher and regularly visited schools to give talks and educate future generations about the hardship he experienced in the frontline.

Due to health issues, Sandy moved into Pearson House at The Erskine Home, Bishopton, near Glasgow earlier this year – a military care home part-funded by the RNRMC and Greenwich Hospital.

And he has thrown himself wholeheartedly into life at Erskine with its many daily activities and caring staff.

By working together with partners, the RNRMC are able to ensure that veterans like Sandy, who have given so much in their service of the country, receive high quality care and are able to live their final years in dignity and comfort.

RNRMC’s VISION

“A world in which our sailors, marines, and their families are valued and supported, for life.”

“Sandy has vivid memories of his unit working their way up the coast to liberate civilians.”

Charity collaboration helps veteran back into work

His thoughts turned to the military charities, and he contacted RNRMC’s on its Support Line.

Tony was put in touch with the RFEA Ex-Forces Programme (from October 2022 Forces Employment Charity ExForces Programme), part-funded by the RNRMC.

RNRMC HONOURED TO SUPPORT COMMANDO 80

Royal Marines veteran Tony Bruce spent five years as a Royal Marine, serving in Sierra Leone, Northern Ireland and Iraq. On transitioning in 2004 he worked for a company supplying surveillance equipment to the MOD.

Once he adjusted to the cultural differences, his working life in civvy street was steady. However, this all changed in 2020 when Tony found himself suddenly out of work early in the pandemic.

Eventually, he decided to re-train as an electrician, but discovered he did not meet the eligibility criteria for Government-funded schemes.

RFEA helped Tony build a strong application for support from the Royal British Legion (RBL), which resulted in £1000 of funding towards the course. With the course costing around £3500 Tony still had to find the balance.

With more RBL help, additional naval charities were contacted and the remainder of the costs were met by  RMA - The Royal Marines Charity and the Royal Naval Benevolent Trust.

In early 2021, Tony finally undertook an intensive three-week training course and gained his necessary qualifications.

Since then, he has been working with his father as a domestic electrician. The course has also opened doors into the entertainment industry where he has found work on television and film sets.

The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity (RNRMC) is honoured to be amongst those organisations which have supported RMA – The Royal Marines Charity’s Commando 80 campaign throughout 2022 commemorating the Royal Marines assuming the Commando role 80 years ago at the height of the Second World War.

The Royal Marines’ community is amongst the closest in the Armed Forces and RNRMC is proud to support that community working with our partner charity RMA -The Royal Marines Charity – and other organisations to support serving Royal Marines, veterans and their families.

The Commando 80 Challenge from 1st September to 30th October featured at its core Royal Marines running a series of marathons from the Royal Marines Commando Training Centre in Exeter to the Royal Marines Memorial at Spean Bridge in Scotland, where the first commandos were trained back in 1942.

RNRMC pays tribute to everyone involved in this great Challenge, which not only raised valuable funds to help support the Royal Marine family following two Covid-hit years of depleted fund-raising, but constituted a powerful demonstration of the Royal Marines’ strength, resilience, stamina and skills - and the closeness and commitment of the many community members that surround them.

RMA – The Royal Marines Charity  recently received two grants worth a total of £141,000 to help support a number of upcoming programmes designed to help improve the wellbeing, resilience and promote good mental health to those Royal Marine veterans who served in Afghanistan and other recent conflicts, and their families.

The money was disseminated by RNRMC on behalf of the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust’s  Afghanistan Veterans’ Fund at the request of The Office for Veterans Affairs.

It will be used to fund respite breaks and reunions in 2023, following the success in 2022 of two similar trips to Chamonix run by a double amputee Afghan veteran for other Afghan veterans. These proved to be exceptionally effective in assisting the attendees’ mental and physical wellbeing and continued recovery.

Bell RNRMC CEO

Adrian

Wherever You Serve, We Serve.

Holt’s has been serving the British Armed Forces for over 200 years, originally established in 1809. Over time Holt’s has expanded its business providing banking facilities to the Armed Forces and their families – both Regulars and Reserves, and financial services expertise to Royal Navy Ships and Bases, British Army Regiments and Royal Air Force Stations.

To make life simpler, Wherever you serve, We serve; Holt’s offers direct access to your Relationship Manager for expert help and advice as well as having access to online and mobile banking services. We participate in the Forces Help to Buy Scheme, offer a Mortgage Advisor service and financial health checks at a time of your convenience to help you manage your finances throughout your diverse career.

Holt’s is proud of its long association and connection with the British Military, with dedicated teams supporting all Ranks. We serve over 25,000 military personnel across the world, providing a service that understands the needs of junior ranks to the most senior officers and veterans.

From helping junior ranks open their first current and savings account, to providing a specialist overdraft geared towards your terminal grant for senior non-commissioned officers and officers at the end of their military career, Holt’s provides a specific and personalised service which is adaptable to meet the ever changing circumstances of military life.

Holt’s prides itself on understanding the complexities of serving in the military, the financial pressures this places on families; such as the flexibility to rent out your home whilst away on postings, the need to fit banking around diverse working patterns and how having a barracks and BFPO address can put individuals at a disadvantage when it comes to applying for credit.

The RBS Group, including Holt’s Military Banking signed the Armed Forces Covenant in 2015 and were awarded the Ministry of Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award in 2016 for the work completed in supporting the wider Armed Forces community.

The RBS Group, including Holt’s Military Banking signed the Armed Forces Covenant in 2015 and were awarded the Ministry of Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award in 2016 for the work completed in supporting the wider Armed Forces community and Gold Award in 2021 for outstanding support provided to the Armed Forces.

Wherever You Serve, We Serve – For further information or more detailed enquiries please contact us on 01252 765622 or visit the Holt’s Website for more information on www.holtsmilitarybanking.co.uk

Hanging up the green beret for a new career in financial services

prompted me to think this could be a good career move for me and would enable me to stay linked to the service that had been such a big part of my life.

Trinity is run by veterans, aligns its business values with those of the military and has expanded its services to cater for the needs of the Veteran community.

After a career spanning just short of 36 years, including multiple service deployments around the world, former Royal Marine Rick King landed in the world of financial services with specialist military broker Trinity Insurance Services.

The end of a long career, especially one started straight out of school, is daunting for anyone, but especially so after growing up in the Marines family.

As any service leaver knows, once the ID card is handed back in and the main gate slammed behind you, you can feel isolated. However, I drew on my transferable military skills and applied these to a new civilian career.

I was given an opportunity with Trinity Insurance Services, a specialist military broker that has served the Armed Forces Community for over 22 years, and still work there today. It was during a meeting about my own protection needs that

As part of this business expansion, it recently conducted a research project on financial wellbeing within the military confirming, as Trinity suspected, many Service leavers felt they were ill-prepared for civilian life from a financial standpoint. Indeed, almost 70% of respondents said they didn’t know where to go for information or support on financial aspects of civilian life.

This gelled with my own experience. As an officer I was ‘too busy’ to attend these noncompulsory briefings from financial companies, but I now regard helping to educate people on the importance of financial planning to be an important part of my role when advising on protection appropriate to their circumstances.

I do feel lucky to have had a seamless move from the Marines to a rewarding career that allows me to draw on my service background. That said, it did take some adjustment navigating around an ever-changing financial services regulatory framework, and sometimes facing a mixed response from service personnel at all levels.

Financial planning or protection are not the most exciting of topics to talk about or, indeed, ones that people like to think about, but they are of fundamental importance to setting up a healthy financial future when you are no longer in the services, ensuring you have the protection you need for yourself, anyone that relies on you

Armed Forces at Tesco

Bringing together former and current members of the armed forces, and their families. Ensuring they are supported with transition from military life, their families have the advice and support they need and helping colleagues who are reservists.

Our priorities

• Support service leavers

• Providing access to Tesco as an example of what service leavers can expect from a civilian employer

• Supporting former military colleagues with transition from military life • Supporting colleagues with family in the Armed Forces

• Supporting colleagues who are Reservists

Careers

Colleague Networks

When Jack Cohen de-mobbed from the Royal Flying Corps in 1918 and founded the fore-runner of Tesco, little did he think that one day it would become one of the top employers of military Veterans in the United Kingdom.

At around 20,000 and counting, Tesco is an immensely proactive recruiter of ex-Service personnel. The reasons are simple – their transferable skills are many and varied, like the jobs available in the UK’s largest supermarket chain, from in-store to corporate management, logistics to technology – and developing new ways to make life better for customers, colleagues and communities. And the list goes on..

But it’s not just the professional skills that ex-Service personnel bring to Tesco – it’s their “let’s get things done” way of approaching challenges, allied with a workplace ethic combining discipline, efficiency and teamwork

Back in 2014 Tesco became the first supermarket to sign the Armed Forces Covenant formalising its long-lived commitments to a Forcesfriendly culture alongside a list of specific promises, including seeking out Veterans already employed by the company to engender a sense of community, supporting spouses and partners of serving personnel to get jobs at Tesco stores in areas of large Armed Forces communities and promoting service in the military reserves to Tesco colleagues.

Over the years Tesco has more than fulfilled these and, indeed, other commitments to the Armed Forces Community - and in 2016 and again in 2020 - was immensely proud to receive the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award.

June 2022 witnessed the first fully-celebrated national Armed Forces Day since the Covid pandemic – and Tesco was

honoured to lend its support as lead sponsor throughout the country, but especially in Scarborough which had waited three years to be national host town.

said, at Tesco Armed Forces Day is every day…

That

“At around 20,000 and counting, Tesco is an immensely proactive recruiter of ex-Service personnel.”

Check Out Tesco

In July 2022 former Royal Marine Gareth McBain joined Tesco as a Senior Technical Programme Manager on the leading UK supermarket retailer’s journey to new frontiers of technology to help ensure it remains strategically focused and competitive in challenging market conditions. Here Gareth tells his post-transition story, and shares his enthusiasm that the Armed Forces is just the place to help source Tesco’s staff of the future.

I was destined for the military at an early age – from the day I got my first RAF cadet uniform to finally joining the Royal Marines in 2000.

The RoyaI Marines wasn’t my first choice. In fact, that I packed my bag for RAF Cranwell to become an aviator and returned as a Marine was as much a shock to my parents as it was me!

Roll forward through multiple deployments, including tours of Iraq and Afghanistan, to the day I found myself in front of a medical board pondering the next course of my life…

My transition was probably as regular as many others leaving the forces. I was frustrated and looking for the right opportunity. Like many trying to decide what to do and how to get there seemed a huge task. Getting the right career path was key.

It is some 15 years since I left the military and arriving at Tesco in July 2022 as a Senior Technical Programme Manager is the pinnacle of my post-Service career to date.

It’s the career step I needed to make further progress. I’d previously worked in project management roles at a number of fantastic companies, but felt coming to Tesco would be potentially a big step in the right direction.

My transferable skills have enabled me to really tap into the people management and organisational aspects of my role and I’m loving the prospect of what the future holds.

Also, I have reached out to Tesco’s Armed Forces Network to better understand the capability the company has to support those leaving the military. I set up such a network myself for a previous employer and know their value as a supportive place to which former Service personnel can turn, especially when they’ve just joined a company.

Careers

I was right. Having been here for only a few months it’s clear that Tesco is a place that propagates a professional environment in which a skilled, passionate workforce can thrive. I’m really looking forward to the future, and the new family I have joined.

Technology in Tesco is pushing new frontiers and the Armed Forces is just the place to source staff to help build its future. I’m extremely excited about what the future holds for me, both personally and professionally, including the fantastic opportunity to recruit the right resources to help Tesco on its strategic journey.

Resources that come already skilled, professional, eloquent, punctual, … you know the list…. it’s you!” The Service Leaver or Veteran.

Check out www.tesco-careers.com

“Technology in Tesco is pushing new frontiers and the Armed Forces is just the place to source staff to help build its future.”

The Royal Marines Commando 80 Challenge 2022

The Central Office team at RMA - The Royal Marines Charity, describes the remarkable achievements of Royal Marines and members the Royal Marines Family who, inspired by the spirit of the Commando 80 Anniversary, pushed themselves to the limits of human endeavour to raise much-needed funds for the RMA and its valuable work.

RMA – The Royal Marines Charity is uniquely placed to understand, respond and react to the needs of Royal Marines and their families, helping them to overcome their own challenges, including life-changing injury, life-limiting illness and mental ill-health sustained on operations all over the globe.

The pandemic had a profound impact on fundraising and on the lives of our Corps Family and there has remained increased demand due to the challenging times still being faced.

This is why we continue to campaign and raise funds and cannot do it without your help and support.

The monumental level to which the Royal Marines Family and its supporters have gone to provide this has been magnified beyond measure during 2022. This has been driven in large part by the outstanding challenge designed to celebrate yet another significant landmark in the extraordinary life of the Corps – the 80th Anniversary of the Royal Marines taking on the Commando role.

During the Second World War in 1942, the first Royal Marines’ volunteers assembled at a barracks in Deal and became the Royal Marines Commandos. Thirty-six ranks and two officers were the first formed group of Royal Marines to complete the Commando course

So, just as it did for the 350th Birthday of the Royal Marines and the 1664 Challenge in 2014, the Corps wanted to do something to commemorate this proud moment.

An extraordinary challenge was needed; one that could also complement Falklands40 with many undertaking fundraising challenges during the earlier part of 2022 to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Falklands Conflict (Falklands40 raised over £89,000, smashing the initial target!).

The decision? The launch of the ‘Royal Marines Commando 80 Challenge’ - the third and final major challenge to be created and organised by Lt Col Gary Green OBE RM before he retired from active service.

Thousands of donors generously supported the large number of truly inspirational people who took on an amazingly wide variety of wild and awesome feats of endurance, from record-breaking open water swims, marathons and canoeing endeavours to multiple mountain climbs, long-distance cycling and daring wing-walking Per Mare Per Terram and Per Aerum (by air!).

Huge thanks must go to sponsors Patron Capital and Prime Health, with support from Forces Mutual – and to every single person who raised at least £25 for the Corps Family, each of whom received a sought-after limited-edition Royal Marines Commando 80 coin.

RM Commando 80 became an instant motivator, with 176 teams and individuals pledging to become part of this special moment in time as well as commit to raising funds for RMA – The Royal Marines Charity.

Royal Marines Association

The Running Marine

60 Marathons In 60 Days

One of the most phenomenal RM Commando 80 challenges took place between 1st September and 30th October 2022, with Lance Corporal Luke Grainger from Chivenor, Devon (now known as ‘The Running Marine’) successfully completing the epic challenge of running 60 Marathons In 60 Days.

He started at the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines at Lympstone (near Exeter, Devon) and, 1,582 gruelling miles later, finished at the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge in Scotland. This is the ancestral home of the Royal Marines where, 80 years’ ago during the Second World War, the newly formed Royal Marines Commandos travelled to train on the rough terrain at nearby Achnacarry Castle.

Along the way, over 1,000 Royal Marines and Army Commandos drawn from all Commando and Reserve Units between Cornwall and the Highlands of Scotland took part by accompanying him on each of the 60 individual marathon distances he completed.

As the marathon miles rolled by, Luke doggedly pushed himself to the limit and this remarkable Royal Marine became the ‘continuity runner’ linking many of the individual unit marathons being run across the UK.

Uphill and down dale, he kept running on with a smile and, despite not having been a dedicated athlete beforehand, looked as fresh as ever when he ended his penultimate marathon by running on to the pitch in front of 67,000 people at Murrayfield during half-time at the Scotland v Australia Rugby Union Test game on Saturday 29th October.

His achievement was all the more remarkable by an admission that he was not an “ultra-runner”.

“I’d never done any sort of ultra-running before”, he said, “having only ever completed three marathons prior to the start...”

But there were more surprises to come. He completed his final marathon the next day, which ended with a five kilometre speed march to Spean Bridge for the annual Service of Remembrance attended by many hundreds of Royal Marines and Royal Marines Veterans.

Moreover, just two days after His Majesty King Charles III became the new Captain General Royal Marines, Luke was overwhelmed to receive a gift and personal letter from The King to commemorate his extraordinary achievement – and this was followed up later by a congratulatory Royal tweet!

“I’d never done any sort of ultrarunning before”, he said, “having only ever completed three marathons prior to the start...”

Royal Marines Commando

Milestones

1st marathon 1st September

30th marathon in 30 days 30th September

800 miles (ie Cdo 80.0)

1st October 1,000 miles 9th October

50th marathon 20th October, Edinburgh, supported by RMR Scotland

1,500 miles (Corps Birthday) 28th October, the date the Royal Marines were formed in 1664

“It was an exhausting journey, but to reach the finish at Spean Bridge was the proudest moment of my life. I couldn’t have done it without the amazing support and encouragement of all the Army and Royal Marine units along the way. I have met and run alongside a range of ranks from Marines to Colonels, 90% of whom I had never met before. And the support from the public was second to none. I’ve spoken with people from all walks of life, in many different parts of the country. There have been highs, lows, sunshine and thunderstorms but I am so relieved that I never gave up.”

Completion of 60th marathon 30th October, coincided with the Royal Marines Commandos’ annual Commemorative Service at Spean Bridge. The Spean Bridge Memorial is close to where the first Royal Marines Commandos trained on the rough terrain at Achnacarry

Meet Lance Corporal Luke Grainger….

Lance Corporal Luke Grainger is originally from Stourbridge in the West Midlands and now lives in Holsworthy, Devon.

He joined the Royal Marines in 2018 and, after gaining his Green Beret at the Commando Training Centre at Lympstone, he went on to serve with M Company, 42 Cdo RM at Bickleigh Barracks on the edge of Dartmoor.

He is currently based at RMB Chivenor near Barnstaple with The Commando Logistics Regiment, where he is an Information Manager with the Landing Force Support Squadron.

Lance Corporal Luke Grainger: “the proudest moment of my life……”

Royal Marines Association

RM Commando 80

Throughout the entire period of RM Commando 80, Royal Marines and their supporters organised and took part in many other endeavours, using the opportunity to generously raise funds for RMA – The Royal Marines Charity. True to form, these other personal and team RM Commando 80 challenges tested the stamina, strength and skills of those taking part to the absolute limit. Here are just a few ...

Iron Regain Team

There was the amazing RM Commando 80 Iron Regain team who completed an epic Iron Man distance triathlon unsupported.

Brilliant organisational skills saw each of the eight participants swim 2.1 miles in the open sea, cycle 112 miles and run 26.2 miles over some of the most difficult terrain for such an event.

To date, RM Commando 80 Challenge has raised in excess of £150,000 (inc gift aid), with donations still being gratefully received.

Per Mare Per Terram (‘By Sea, By Land’)

Despite a number of early setbacks, serving RM Captain Chris Abrams (‘Tank’), together with Cpl Ben Morris, embarked on the ambitious RM Commando 80 Ocean Wave Challenge, completing two of the three planned sections of an epic unsupported sea kayak paddle.

During the summer, they successfully circumnavigated the Isle of Wight [distance - 63.4 miles/102.5 km: average speed 3.6 mph: (moving) time - 19 hours 36 mins]; and, despite the unworkable conditions outside Poole Harbour and westbound down the coast, nevertheless covered the scheduled mileage they’d planned to paddle along the south coast from Poole to Royal Marines Commando Training Centre, Lympstone, by covering it in the relative calm of the harbour.

There, they achieved an overall average moving speed over ground of 3.75 mph over 90.83 miles, despite everything the weather still threw at them.

The third, and arguably most difficult section, was a planned crossing of the St Georges Channel (the Irish Sea section) from Ireland to Wales – something they now plan to complete in 2023.

Captain Chris Abrams comments:

“The RMA serves not only those like us who are serving members of the Royal Marines, but those within the wider past and present RM family. There are countless examples of them stepping up to support its people in their time of need; some well publicised, some not so. It’s this tireless work that goes on in the background, that inspires me the most and I have been humbled to have seen this first-hand on multiple occasions.”

By Land, Sea & Air

During the year, Team Commando 80 ladies – all those taking part with personal links to the Royal Marinesworked their way through a tough itinerary of ‘By land, sea and air’ challenges.

Between them, they ticked off a “freezing” group dip in the sea in January, completed eight sky dives and 11 wing walks, and hiked 80km, the equivalent of an ultra-distance yomp across arduous, hilly terrain in Devon between two special MemorialsSlapton Sands (where the D-Day landings were rehearsed and where many lives were sadly lost) and Pegasus Bridge (where the Pegasus Bridge practices were held).

Triumphant ‘swansong’ for Lt Col Gary Green OBE RM

Static Row & Swim

A team from M Coy 42 Cdo successfully completed a Static Row and a Swim at Plymouth Hoe and Lido, giving themselves eight hours to complete an 80km swim and a 164km row - finishing in 7hrs and 37 mins.

RMA – The Royal Marines Charity owes an absolutely enormous debt of gratitude to Lt Col Gary Green OBE RM, for whom RM Commando 80 was his triumphant ‘swansong’.

It was the third and final major challenge to be created and organised by him as, after 43 years’ service, he has since retired from the Corps and from active service.

The previous challenges, that together raised over £650,000 for RMA – The Royal Marines Charity, were:

2014: 1664 Challenge where six Royal Marines skied, sailed, cycled, canoed and ran 4,000 miles over a six month period during the 350th anniversary of the Royal Marines.

2017: 1664 Global Challenge – 100 challenges around the globe in 100 days.  The continuity event was two Royal Marines running 1,664 miles in 100 days.  The event finished on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace at the final solo appearance of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.

Together with all those who have already benefitted and who, in future years, will become beneficiaries of the money raised from three of the most ambitious fundraising challenges undertaken on our behalf in recent years, Lt Col Green’s legacy-thinking, indomitable spirit and enthusiasm for ‘big box thinking’ remains an inspiration to us all.

Lt Col Gary Green congratulates two runners from the 1664 Global Challenge in August 2017

Lt Col Gary Green with LCpl Luke Grainger ‘The Running Marine’ at The Commando Memorial in Scotland, Oct 2022.

PERSONAL

Trinity survey highlights Veterans’ financial wellbeing deficit

each year not knowing which way to turn for help and advice – and in danger of suffering major damage to their financial wellbeing which may be difficult to repair.

It reveals that almost 75 per cent of those returning to civvy street - many of whom without any previous briefings whatsoever on personal financial matters whilst in the Armed Forces – had no idea about how and where to access assistance.

When specialist military insurance broker Trinity Insurance Services set out to survey Veterans’ views on their financial understanding upon entering civvy life it wasn’t expecting great results, but nothing quite as bad as the financial wellbeing deficit it found. Trinity Insurance, Chief Operating Officer, Alan Richmond, explains.

Never in recent memory has it been so necessary for people to have at least a working knowledge of the benefits and possible pitfalls of the financial products they use to secure their homes, property and, indeed, their lives - or to safely borrow, save or invest….

Yet a major new Survey (*) just released by Trinity Insurance Services, which serves the insurance needs of Britain’s military community, demonstrates that thousands of military personnel are leaving the UK Armed Forces

Whilst at Trinity our lived experience of helping serving personnel, Veterans and their families had previously suggested the Armed Forces were not providing anything near the level of financial briefings needed, we were nevertheless taken aback by our Survey’s core-findings:

• Only 32% of respondents knew where to go for information and support on financial matters on leaving their service;

• 50% of respondents said they didn’t receive financial briefings during their service;

• Almost 90% said briefings on financial topics throughout their careers in order to prepare for transitioning would have been useful;

• Almost half of respondents felt very strongly that financial wellbeing/understanding contributes to their mental health;

The UK Government’s Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan 2022-2024 outlines the steps it sees as key for delivering a step-change in support for Veterans and their families. It focusses on health and wellbeing, but falls short of acknowledging how vital financial wellbeing is to both physical and mental health – and consequently what to do about it.

We at Trinity want to do our bit to make the Veterans’ Strategy a success and feel that, with our specialist experience and years of expertise, we are well placed to help champion financial wellbeing across the Armed Forces community - and will be sharing the results of our Survey far and wide.

Meanwhile, as a specialist military broker run and largely staffed by Armed Forces Veterans or those closely connected, we’re here to listen and help.

www.TalktoTrinity.com

“Almost half of respondents felt very strongly that financial wellbeing/ understanding contributes to their mental health.”

The RMA has joined forces with fyio, a new life management app with a military heritage. Our chief executive, Jonathan Ball, welcomes the partnership and believes fyio’s simplicity, accessibility, and security make it especially relevant for the Royal Marines family.

“The RMA is pleased to be the first organisation in the world to establish a partnership with this innovative application. We saw in fyio a stand-out new life and document management solution, focused on solving a real-life problem, providing a compass to guide people through the complexities of modern life.”

“We like fyio because it’s so simple to use, it’s secure and will incorporate document and personal ID verification and off-line document access functions. We especially like its unique sharing function, which means a sensitive document can be shared instantly and safely by a trusted family member or friend from one side of the world to the other entirely within the fyio ecosystem.”

“As part of our mission to provide proactive and preventative care, we like to be sector leading. I believe fyio is not only life-enhancing but potentially life-saving.”

fyio’s own mission, to make people ‘paperwork happy’, is not one to be underestimated. Aside from the anxiety and time cost caused by disorganised paperwork, the financial cost is punishing: earlier this year MoneyWeek reported that in the UK alone £50 billion is currently unclaimed due to lost and forgotten paperwork. In unprecedented times of pandemic, war, fire, flood, and the current cost-of-living crisis, it has never been more important to make sure everything is backed up and in one place.

fyio has committed to providing lifetime free access to all members of the RMA and their families.

“In fyio, I believe we are delivering something that is not only life-enhancing but potentially life-saving.” Jonathan Ball

RMA

The Royal Marines Charity

South Africa

£8,650 disbursed to ten beneficiaries. Included a £2,150 grant towards compassionate

Cameroon

£2,500 to a beneficiary for compassionate travel. Zimbabwe

£1,000 to a beneficiary after two tours in Afghanistan. Grant towards medical costs and psychological treatment for physical and mental injuries.

Portugal

£3,000 towards a new prosthetic leg for former RM suffering with a pulmonary embolism in his lung and DVT in his right leg.

France

£3,950 disbursed to three beneficiaries. Included grants towards urgent dental treatment, heating costs for widow of former RM, and funeral costs for former RM who was his wife’s carer for ten years before she sadly succumbed to cancer.

Spain

£1,650 to two beneficiaries. Included grants for therapy to cope with poor mental health; and to assist former RM whose small market stall business struggled during the pandemic.

Finland

£1,000 towards general needs of medically discharged former RM whose tourism business was impacted by COVID-19.

Slovakia

£500 grant to pay rent arrears of former RM who lost his job during the pandemic.

Thailand

£500 given to former RM living in Thailand who had to leave for his own safety. Grant provided towards quarantine hotel costs.

Australia

£370 given to wife of former RM who died suddenly. Grant provided for white goods as she began to rebuild her life without her husband.

Royal Marines Association

Winter Deployment

Five years ago, the Royal Marines Club — a branch of RMA — introduced a ‘Winter Deployment’ for our wounded and injured Royal Marines and their families by offering a respite break.

Royal Marines Association

After three previous successful outings to Norway, we were forced to cancel this much-awaited annual trip in 2020 because of strict Covid regulations impacting overseas travel

In December 2021, uncertainty around the situation remained a concern and, so as not to miss yet another year, the RM Club and the Charity decided to take those families selected to Fort William in Scotland for six days of relaxation and winter-themed fun.

Those leading the trip were the first to arrive at the Ben Nevis Hotel in Fort William. They checked everything to make sure everything they had planned to do was all still possible.

“It was a long trip to the Highlands for many of the families so day one was very much low key to allow everyone to recover — however everyone had the opportunity to visit either the Glenfinnan viaduct (of Harry Potter fame) for a walk and leg-stretch, or go to Fort William for a look around the town.

The week then began with ten-pin bowling, and the option of walking and mountain biking, and a group evening meal was organised each night.

On Tuesday we took the group on an exclusive tour of Loch Ness where the families were very well hosted by the crew. We may have even seen the Loch Ness Monster but it turned out that it was Ray Mead (RM Club Ops Guru) who was just looking over the side of the boat!

We then went on to pay our respects at the Spean Bridge Memorial where we were treated to some ‘proper’ Scottish winter weather.

Thursday saw us all head off to Glencoe for a morning’s sledging. Everyone got right into the spirit of things and after the sledging, a mass snowball fight broke out where there were no winners... just survivors!

On Friday, we started to say our farewells and make our way home. We were brilliantly hosted by Andrew Liddle and his team at the Ben Nevis Hotel. Huge thanks go also to all the instructors who gave up their time — you’re a superb bunch of people and the trip wouldn’t have been the same without you. We hope very much to head back to Norway in December 2022 but, as a plan B, Fort William came up trumps for all involved.”

We were escorted there by two police motorbikes courtesy of former RM officer and now senior police officer, Conrad Trickett… thanks Conrad, the boys were brilliant.

Wednesday was another busy day with a visit to the local distillery and a Christmas dinner in the evening. We paid our respects to absent friends and were delighted to be joined by members of the Highland branch who made the trip from Inverness to join us. A great night was had by all and there were some sore heads on display next day!

“A fantastic time was had by all — friendships were made and renewed.”

Worldwide grants

South Africa

£8,650 disbursed to ten beneficiaries. Included a £2,150 grant towards compassionate travel for a Royal Marine recruit who was discharged after sustaining a serious injury.

Cameroon

£2,500 to a beneficiary for compassionate travel.

Zimbabwe

£1,000 to a beneficiary after two tours in Afghanistan. Grant towards medical costs and psychological treatment for physical and mental injuries.

Portugal

£3,000 towards a new prosthetic leg for former RM suffering with a pulmonary embolism in his lung and DVT in his right leg.

France

£3,950 disbursed to three beneficiaries. Included grants towards urgent dental treatment, heating costs for widow of former RM, and funeral costs for former RM who was his wife’s carer for ten years before she sadly succumbed to cancer.

Spain

£1,650 to two beneficiaries. Included grants for therapy to cope with poor mental health; and to assist former RM whose small market stall business struggled during the pandemic.

Finland

£1,000 towards general needs of medically discharged former RM whose tourism business was impacted by COVID-19.

Slovakia

£500 grant to pay rent arrears of former RM who lost his job during the pandemic.

Thailand

£500 given to former RM living in Thailand who had to leave for his own safety. Grant provided towards quarantine hotel costs.

Australia

£370 given to wife of former RM who died suddenly. Grant provided for white goods as she began to rebuild her life without her husband.

The EQ Commando is delighted to support The RMA and Per Mare Per Terram.

‘I specialise In developing emotionally intelligent leaders who engage, influence and inspire their people.’

Creating high-performance teams with extraordinary levels of trust, connection and participation.

Connect up to find out more seantheeqcommando/ EQ2LeadUK eq2lead

www.eq2lead.uk M: +44 (0) 7964 725 688 UK, USA, Singapore, Sydney

There’s so much more to SSAFA

We are SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity. We have been a trusted source of support for the Armed Forces family since 1885. We help those currently serving, veterans and their families in their time of need with welfare and wellbeing assistance. With your help, we will continue to meet the demand for support and enable the entire Forces family to thrive.

LEARN MORE NOW about our support for serving personnel ssafa.org.uk

Registered as a charity in England and Wales Number 210760 in Scotland Number SC038056 and in Republic of Ireland Number 20202001. Established 1885.