16 minute read
Trade Talks: Vehicle Mechanics
Trade Talks
Vehicle Mechanics Over its 78-year history, the Corps of Royal Mechanical and Electrical Engineers has seen multiple changes to the trades that make it up. Today, the Corps consists of eight trades who serve across the whole of the British Army and every REME Soldier becomes an apprentice in their trade of choice. This month, Vehicle Mechanics give us an insight into how their trade is constantly developing to provide the best opportunities for their tradespeople and the Corps.
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A Mastiff 3 Protected Patrol Vehicle in Afghanistan
AJAX – the future armoured fighting vehicle for the British Army
Foreword CEG Trade Champion: WO1 (ASM) Stu Milson
The REME Vehicle Mechanic (VM), is arguably one of the most exciting and diverse Career Employment Groups (CEG) within the Corps (other Trade Champions may disagree). You will find yourself working on an abundance of different equipment in all areas and theatres of operations, whilst taking full command of platforms and situations, all the while maintaining required output and delivery.
The diversity of the role will see you dealing with the developments in equipment as it comes into service; ranging from technological advancements that require our tradesmen to lead the way with engineering excellence, to adapt to the new systems on board (PM, AJAX), to ageing equipment potentially first brought into
A Scimitar Tank
A Foxhound patrol vehicle in Afghanistan
service several decades ago. The REME VM is expected to understand, maintain, repair, manufacture and inspect; all of which see this trade group having to continuously evolve and apply fundamental engineering principles. Quite simply, the REME VM has a responsibility of always keeping the punch in the Army’s fist!
With continual engineering advancement, we must ensure that you, as tradesmen, are suitably qualified and experienced; the Corps is continually striving forward in delivering the relevant top spec courses, enabling compliance worldwide to legislation daily. But equally, ensuring that the REME VM is clearly recognised as the most respectable and professional engineer, through both qualifications and recognition that can be mapped over to industry.
This has seen the introduction of the Engineering Professional Recognition Award (EPRA) with institutes of Engineering such as IMechE. These organisations only recognise engineers who have
demonstrated that they are top in their fields. The REME VM, on completion of the Class 1 course along with NVQ Lv3 and previous four years field force experience, absolutely fulfils the requirements for Eng Tech. The EPRA is accessible for all those eligible within the criteria detailed in ABN 101/18 and the AI linked within the ABN. I strongly encourage all Class 1 VMs to drive towards becoming professionally recognised, whilst also confirming their eligibility for EPRA. There seems to be a misconception that this has ceased. This is not the case and is planned to continue until 2023 at present. EPRA sees those accredited with Eng Tech and, fitting the criteria, financially rewarded with a £3000 single payment. “Quite simply, the REME VM has a responsibility of always keeping the punch in the Army’s fist! ”
The Corps encourages you to have this recognition within the civilian arena; as members of the institute you illustrate your standing as professional engineers. This enables you to engage and compete within the industry, explore the advancements of engineering and provides you with a portfolio to demonstrate your professional development etc. This is vital to the advancement of both the Corps and its tradesmen, mapping over your Field Army engineering experience into the civilian arena. You will quickly see that it illustrates just what outstanding tradesmen we are within the Corps (with a very biased hat on) as Vehicle Mechanics.
Work is also going on to make a case for a Financial Retention Incentive (FRI) to aid retention of VMs. At the time of typing this, I do not have the full details. However, VMs should be aware that this is very much on the horizon – subject to funding being agreed. This is likely to be targeted at tradesmen with 4-6 years’ service.
It has been identified that we must stimulate the VM CEG - you are all extremely talented and demand responsibility akin to your counterparts in the civilian engineering sphere. You don’t want to sit in classrooms endlessly; you want to get out to the field force and apply your trade. We are listening and be assured we are working hard to completely overhaul the training pipeline as we speak. This will see you promote with progression in the trade. As you promote you will carry more responsibility and continue to develop into the future VMs of the Corps.
I am an extremely passionate VM and engineer; REME has furnished me with opportunities, deployments, qualifications and experience that I could find nowhere else. My passion alone makes me extremely proud to become the VM Trade Champion. For this reason, I hope to publish a CEG questionnaire in the coming months and would appreciate as much feedback as possible, which as the Trade Champion, along with your Head of Trade Lt Col Williams (CO 6 Battalion REME), will enable us as a collective to understand your needs and move forward with making our CEG more desirable to yourselves and competitive within the engineering sphere.
Hopefully the following trade talks from your counterparts illustrate the opportunities available. I ask that you read these and consider which areas have been beneficial as well as creating stretch and growth, but also that you identify areas which you believe require further development and or improvement, to assist us in the continual development of your trade.
LCpl George Blackburn
Vehicle Originally, I went to the careers office
Mechanic adamant that I wanted to join as an Infanteer in my local Regiment.
Unit: 2 PARA My choice was cemented, and my mind was made up before I went to do
Job role: my selection. Before leaving, to attend my two-day
Class 2 VM selection course in Glencourse, I remember a member of my family saying to me ‘Don’t bother coming home if you have signed up with the Infantry’.
After passing all the tests at selection and scoring high overall, it became apparent that I had the potential to excel in a trade orientated role. As I only had the Infantry in my sights, I had no idea about any other job role or cap badge within the British Army, going into my final interview blind as to which direction I would take.
After a lengthy discussion about various job roles within the British Army, becoming a Vehicle Mechanic was recommended and the rest is history.
After I completed my Phase 2 training and subsequently posted to 2 PARA, I was ecstatic. After hearing about the pace of life at 2 PARA LAD and expecting the physical training to be arduous, I was ready for the challenge that lay ahead. Unfortunately, there was a bigger emphasis on trade, rather than physically developing myself.
With exercises and ‘spannering’ in abundance, I quickly learnt on the tools to gain my Class 3-2 in no time at all. I have had some incredible opportunities to go on various major exercises, not only within the UK, but places around the world, namely Kenya, America and the Falklands. “My trade has given me the opportunity to further develop myself… ”
Furthermore, within the first few months of my posting I was deployed on Ex SWIFT RESPONSE. This was a Battalion-led exercise in Germany. I was deployed as the driver of the LAD Fitter Truck and was also one of the main Vehicle Mechanics in A2 Ech, which I quickly adapted to and gained copious amounts of experience from.
Most recently, I have deployed on Op TORAL 9 with 2 PARA, which has been the pinnacle of my career. This gave me great satisfaction and also gave a feeling of redemption for the past three years of an obscenely fast paced lifestyle, in which opportunity to conduct physical training and sport was almost none existent.
My trade has given me the opportunity to further develop myself by gaining an extremely useful qualification, NVQ Level 3 in Engineering Maintenance.
My main piece of advice to give to anyone who wants to join REME as a Vehicle Mechanic, is to only join if you have a real interest in repairing and maintaining vehicles. Ensure you are doing the right thing by gaining experience at a civilian garage to ensure you are cut out for the job, as it can be very demanding at some units.
What are your future goals in REME?
My future goals in REME will be to get involved in any form of adventurous training and also partake in annual Winter Sports. I want to have the possibility to represent REME and the British Army competitively.
LCpl Heather Lennie
Why did you choose to
Trade: Vehicle Mechanic become a Vehicle Mechanic? I’ve always been curious about understanding how things works and
Unit: 39 how to fix them, so this drew me towards being a Vehicle Mechanic.
Engineer Regiment I enjoy the consistent learning associated with being a VM. I also enjoy progressing my understanding of Job role: Class the military’s fleet and through that acquiring more efficient methods of 2 VM with 48 working.
Working with experienced tradesmen and learning on the tools with them has helped me develop and improve in my trade. It has been invaluable, having people to turn to and query any issue which has helped my knowledge grow quickly. This is something we all do daily, and I am noticing more and more people asking me for advice. Learning from other tradesmen helped me achieve my Class 2 quickly. I was supported very well by one of the JNCOs in Colchester when doing my Class 3 to 2 presentation; with his help and my knowledge gained on the tools, I confidently delivered it to the Workshop OC, ASM and WSM with surprise special guests, Regimental CO, RSM and Adjt, which showed the REME Workshop in a good light. I surprised myself, having previously been very nervous about public speaking. Completing my NVQ Level 3 has been a great opportunity afforded to me, which will open many doors after my military service. “I’ve always been curious about understanding how things works ”
Being a Vehicle Mechanic has improved my problem-solving and made me more effective at working as a team to overcome any faults/issues. Being on the shop floor with personnel of different experience allows me to complete tasks I never knew I was capable of, which gives me a great sense of accomplishment and allows me to always grow in confidence every day.
Having recently promoted, I have also used this promotion as an opportunity to develop Craftsmen entering the Regiment from training and help grow their skills as tradesmen and Soldiers. Learning to balance my workflow allows for time away to play sport, which is a great reward.
Time management can prove to be a difficult task within this trade. Vehicles are a vital component to the Regiment’s capability, so tasks must be completed in the allotted time to allow for operational effectiveness. This can lead to sometimes feeling that there are not enough hours in the day! There is no ‘easy fix’ to any task as challenges always occur with parts and components. Lastly, Vehicle Mechanics always seem to bring work home with them; the constant colouration of my hands from daily work is always a task to keep clean. Even with all the challenges mentioned, being a REME Soldier is incredibly rewarding and enjoyable, no two days are the same, but you will constantly learn and grow into the trade.
What are your future goals in REME?
Having not long left 7 RHA in Colchester and arriving here at 39 Engineer Regiment in Kinloss, I am looking forward to getting to know the place, settle in and adjust to the new climate! I hope to complete my Class 2 to 1 Booklet and apply soon for a place on my Class 1 Upgrading Course. I am really enjoying developing and helping the junior Craftsmen. I am very much looking forward to the new Corps Rugby and Football season, once it gets restarted in the ‘new normal’ whenever that may be.
LCpl Jamie Williams
Mechanic When I first wanted to join the Armed Forces, I had done a lot of searching
Unit: 14 about the various job roles available,
Signal what I would be required to do and what they had to offer. I have always
Regiment been a mechanically minded person; (Electronic from a young age I was taking things apart to see how they worked and
Warfare) LAD tinkering with my bikes and mini motos. When I got older, I started
Job role: building pit bikes with a friend and
Class 2 VM working on Motocross bikes and found I had a love for working with engines. This made me want to be a Vehicle Mechanic, as I saw it as an opportunity to do something I enjoyed and gain further knowledge.
After I joined my first unit, I had an opportunity to deploy to BATUS as temporary staff working on Power Packs. I found this to be a good opportunity to gain trade knowledge on different platforms. I was able to do some work in the different workshops there and quickly gained Class 2. Being temporary staff, we had a lot of good opportunities to get away and explore various places.
After returning from BATUS, I was told I was deploying to Oman on Ex SAIF SAREEA 3. After learning more about what we would be doing out there I was eager to get there and start work. Whilst in Oman I was first tasked as part of a Fitter Section providing support to the safety fleet of Landrovers for the exercise. This was hard graft but also a great experience as we had a lot of work. With the safety fleet being vital, it was often fast paced under the constraints of time. On completion of the Exercise phase I was employed with the Workshop, responsible for the rehab of all the vehicles returning from Ex SAIF SAREEA 3, ensuring they were all fully fit prior to their
return to the UK, thus making them available for future taskings on their arrival.
Last year I had the opportunity to travel to France to take part in the D-Day 75th Anniversary Parade. While there, I was initially helping to set everything up for the parade, but on the day of the parade each Soldier was asked to greet a D-Day veteran as they entered the marquee, subsequently hosting them for the day. I found this to be an amazing experience - to spend the day with the Veterans who took part in a monumental piece of military history, hearing their stories of what it was like and the things they faced, was beyond eye opening. I felt very lucky to have had that opportunity to meet them in this area and honoured to be in the same service as them. It’s something that I will always remember. “…already given me so many opportunities at this still relatively early stage.”
My main advice would be if working with vehicles is something they would enjoy doing then go for it. There will be a lot of opportunities to gain some great knowledge and have some outstanding experiences both at trade and as a Soldier.
What are your future goals in REME?
My future goals in REME are to try and get on as many courses as possible that could benefit myself and my trade knowledge. I am extremely keen to deploy on operations or major exercises. Beyond that I wish to promote within the Corps that has already given me so many opportunities at this still relatively early stage.
LCpl Williams with D Day Veteran, Raymond Lewis
Cpl Cayleigh Hopkins
Class 1 I chose to become a Vehicle Mechanic
Unit: 16 because the idea of fixing various pieces of equipment from tracked Medical Regiment LAD vehicles to wheeled really appealed to me. Coming from a background with no previous experience in this field and
REME learning the trade from scratch has been a brilliant experience.
Job role: What have been your trade
Production JNCO highlights or key experiences to date? One of my trade highlights has been serving within 16 Air Assault Brigade. This has allowed me to fully utilise the trade knowledge I have gained in REME, whether it be in barracks managing AMTF fleet availability or whilst deployed on large multi-national exercises such as Ex SWIFT RESPONSE.
Additionally, I have recently been a member of the LAD awarded the second best REME First Line unit as well as personally placing third in the best JNCO category at the Engineering Awards 2020.
There are many opportunities that the trade has provided me with so far. Completing NVQ Level 3 in Engineering Maintenance is a big one, as this is without a doubt a qualification that will serve me well in the future. Other opportunities include deploying on major exercises in Canada, working on many different types of equipment and completing a winter repair there. In my previous posting at 13 AA Sp Regt, I deployed to Kenya on an Askari Storm and a Swift Response exercise to Germany.
Away from trade I have been lucky enough to be able to take part in Skiing and Adventurous Training.
My advice to anyone thinking about joining REME as a Vehicle Mechanic is not to worry about not having any skills or previous experience within the field. As I mentioned earlier, I had no previous experience when I first joined but REME has provided me with the right tools to become a first-class tradesman.
What are your future goals in REME?
Currently, my number one priority is to be successfully selected for Artificer Training. I would like to follow this career path because of the excellent education it provides and, once fully trained I would like to command my own ESO in a unit such as 16 Medical Regiment LAD.
Looking towards the future I would like to reach the appointment of ASM with a view to a commission via the LE route.
