Guest Editorial

Colonel Dave Harris – Colonel REME Reserves REME – A Whole Force?

During November, I tend to reflect on the sacrifice of others and remember our fallen or injured comrades. As part of that act of remembrance, I find myself reading military history, often surprised to realise the different types of people that have given everything to the service of their country, whether military or civilian. This tells me that it’s not just us in the military that will stand up and serve our nation.

Due to this, I’ve decided to base this article on the Whole Force, but firstly, what do I mean by this?

Well back in 2011, the UK Government (UKG) commissioned an independent Defence Reform Review chaired by Lord Levene where, among others, he recommended the development across defence of a Whole Force Concept (WFC), consisting of Regulars, Reserves, Civil Servants and contractors, which would then create a more cost effective and balanced work force from which to deliver defence outputs.

This concept or force construct model is nothing new, looking back in history, we can see that part time soldiers, civilians and contractors have supported the British Army throughout many of its operations, examples include the Peninsula war in the early 1800s and the Crimean war later in 1853. Similarly, UK industry supported the war effort during World Wars 1 and 2, alongside Regulars, Reserves and civilians. More recently, a Whole Force was also represented on Ops TELIC & HERRICK.

So why raise the WFC now?

When the UKG delivered its latest Strategic Defence and

Security Review (SDSR) in 2021, commonly known as the Integrated Review (IR), the MOD responded with Defence in a Competitive Age (DCA), reaffirming its intent to transform defence’s workforce, this time through a Whole Force Approach (WFA). The British Army’s response in turn to DCA is Future Soldier, where it states its intention to operate as a more integrated Whole Force, aiming to do this by transforming the Army Reserve (AR) and by resetting its relationship with industry, through the Land Industry Strategy. A Whole Force by Design, it will integrate the AR into Regular structures, operating as one force and aiming to foster collaboration with industries leading in cutting edge technologies and delivering our platforms of the future. This could also potentially include the provision of subject matter experts through the further development of the Sponsored Reserve (SR), whereby selected industry partners provide capability on a contractual basis. Examples within our Corps already include the Power Pack repair SR platoon provided by Babcock DSG.

So how can we in the REME ensure that the WFA within Future Soldier is a success?

As with any transformational process, there will be critical factors that influence how quickly or effectively change can occur, for the REME, I believe these to be; leadership, organisational culture and employee engagement.

Leadership is key and forms the foundation from which the other two factors can be addressed. As a result of Future Soldier, we now have a clear direction and strategy for that change,

supported by values-based leadership at every level of command (LCpls and above). From a Corps perspective, the REME Strategy, championed by the Corps Council provides us with an ideal structure from which to set our own direction for WFA, in lock step with the rest of the Army.

In terms of organisational culture, I would argue that the Army already has a very flexible and innovative culture, especially when deployed on operations. However, change can take a long time if the culture itself is not conducive to the acceptance of different employment types, i.e. supporting inclusivity. That same culture may perceive professionalism as a direct link to the level of commitment that an individual shows, for example, from a Regular perspective, how can a Reservist be committed and therefore professional if they are not in the military fulltime? Future Soldier aims to address elements of this by closely integrating the AR into force structures and developing the Reservist as a more assured and predictable capability. The REME already has established pairing between Regular and Reserve units, easing that integration.

We clearly all have our part to play in developing positive cultural behaviours by actively promoting integration, this could involve encouraging your workshop civilian staff to join in at Friday coffee or reaching out to a contractor ahead of a major rehabilitation programme to help personalise the working relationship, or simply Regular and Reserve messes inviting their paired counterparts to social functions.

Once we have set the culture, we then need to continually engage with our people, keeping them updated on progress and successes to date or on areas where things haven’t gone so well, in an honest and open manner. We already have a head start in this area. The MOD, surveys its workforce annually through various Continuous

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Attitude Surveys (CAS), providing us with a valuable insight as to what our people think, feel and importantly, their levels of engagement. This has captured all Regular, Reservist and civilian (less contractors for now) employment types. For the engineering leaders amongst you, I recommend that you download these reports via the gov.uk website, as these will help you understand how your people think and notably, how they perceive their leaders. From a military capability development viewpoint, it’s all about the people and the team. Looking back at my original question, ‘REME – A Whole Force?’, I believe that as a Corps, we are much further down the track of true integration than some cap badges, but perhaps not as far as others. So more to do. Given the likely complexity of equipment that we will be required to repair and maintain for the British Army of the future, a REME WFA should be viewed as a force multiplier, with force mix decisions based on capability and levels of required readiness. Our REME Strategy provides us with the vehicle to deliver on this and as we stare down the outcomes of Future Soldier, it seems right to reflect on what our Master General stated when the IR was announced earlier this year, “change always creates some uncertainty but as a Corps we are well placed and motivated as individuals, units and as an institution to help design, and then deliver, this change to ensure REME continues to keep the punch in the Army’s fist”.

Only the bold will embrace change, so I urge you all to work with me and grab the Whole Force nettle to deliver even greater ES 8 Parachute Field Company REME alongside the FOXHOUND Project Team from General Dynamic capability to our Army.

working to find a more efficient method of adding the public order modifications to the vehicle. Arte et Marte!