Ask the ASM

WO1 (CASM) Daniel McNeill Each month the Corps ASM answers your most pertinant questions from Twitter.

“Sir, I had the privilege of speaking with His Royal Highness Prince Phillip a few years ago when he visited MoD Lyeham. He was a really affable man and someone clearly passionate about engineering and our Corps. I was just hoping that you could shed some light on who may succeed him as our new Colonel in Chief?” As I write this on 15 Oct 21, we are patiently awaiting confirmation from the Palace about who may succeed His Royal Highness Prince Philip as our Colonel in Chief. HRH held many roles across our Armed Forces and careful consideration is ongoing to ensure that the all of his responsibilities are shared and allocated to the right individual. We know nothing more at the moment other than to state that this is an on-going process. We hope that the Palace may identify a successor soon and this will lead to some opportunities for engagements and visits across the Corps. “Sir, I’m a re-trade from the RLC who came across to the REME in 2018 and became a Technician. I have dyslexia. I’d be interested to know how the REME is going to use modern technology to help its Soldiers learn and find information during training rather than just making them memorise the training objectives for a test. My Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD) affects my memory.” The Army, like our sister services, takes guidance on supporting our Soldiers with SpLDs from JSP 898; Defence Direction and Guidance on Training, Education and Skills. SpLD is not a medical condition and we don’t treat it as such. Our training objectives are not amended at all for those with SpLDs. 8 Training Battalion do support Soldiers however by making sure that they cater for those neuro-diversities that manifest as learning difficulties. As an example, the Battalion is providing recorded exams for some and also providing the facility to have answers dictated. Defence Direction seeks to ensure that SpLD is recognised as being an issue that is principally and proactively managed by you, the individual. As a Tech Elec CEG, I know that the majority of the practical sessions during the military phase of the Tech Elec Basic Course are moving/have moved to open book. This is partly to introduce you to Army Equipment Support Publications early in your career. This should help ensure that when the time comes - you have the tools to find the information you need as opposed to memorising everything. If you think we could do more, it would be really good to get you down to Lyneham to speak with the SpLD Rep. Please pick up the phone and engage with me.

The funeral of His Royal Highness Prince Phillip

“Sir, Any news on Exercise Supreme Glacier this year? I’m absolutely hanging out to get away after a pretty miserable year. Thanks in advance” I am delighted to confirm that the Army Sports Control Board (ASCB) and Army Winter Sports Association (AWSA) have now approved our 2021/22 Winter Sports season after a reassessment of the COVID situation within both the UK and across mainland Europe. Your unit can now commit finances and plan for the exercise with confidence, albeit the AWSA have capped numbers. Ex Supreme Glacier will take place in the Stubaital valley (Austria), albeit over a shorter season than usual running from 13 Nov until the 11 Dec 2021. The REME Winter Sports Championships has also been confirmed and will take place between 6 Feb and 12 Feb 2022. Some good news for you by the sounds of it. I really hope you and the LAD can get away. Remember, there is funding available via my REME Adventurous and Enterprising Activities Fund. Apply via the AT Tab on REME Connect.

“Sir, As a proven leader, how important has sport been in your development?” I short, it has been hugely important. I have never been the best sportsman but those that know me, will be aware that I love my football and I was always hugely honoured to represent the REME Corps Football Team. I was not the best player on the park, not the most technically gifted. I was however (I hope) always a good team player and I learned from the rank of Craftsman how much this was appreciated early on. This helped teach me that the team always comes before the individual and that as a leader, we should always come last. The Army Leadership Code consists of seven leadership behaviours. Leading by example, encouraging thinking, applying reward and discipline, demanding high performance, encouraging confidence in the team, recognising individual strengths and weaknesses and everybody striving towards the same goal. You can apply those tenets to any GOOD team that’s performing well across our ORBAT. Think of every GOOD Captain that you’ve ever had on the sports field/court/ring and I’d like to think these are all traits of his or hers? I hope that goes some way towards indicating the importance that I place upon sport in the Army. As an addendum, you will see that in my final six months as Corps ASM, that I plan to launch something called Project ELIGIUS. This is an RHQ drive to get Young Officers’ and SNCO’s back to being involved in running and managing sports teams. There has been a steady decline in the amount of teams entering our Craftsman Cup Competitions for some time now. We have some units who do not have a Football, Rugby, Cricket or Cross Country Team and I believe we could do a good bit better. More to follow. “Sir, I hope you are well and it was great to meet you when you visited my LAD a few months ago. I was moving some equipment to another barracks last week and I noticed a TAC sign for a Ranger Cadre being run there. Can I ask if you know anything about the new RANGER Regiments and if REME Soldiers will be able to serve with them please? If the Selection is already taking place, I’m gutted I wasn’t aware.” I know that on 31 Aug this year, what we all understood to be the Specialised Infantry Group was re-designated as the Army Special Operations Brigade. The new Ranger Regiments will sit underneath this Brigade. The four new units should be at Initial Operating Capability (IOC) by 1 Dec 2021. In Soldier speak, this means that they should be able to have some capability by then and be equipped, trained and supported towards their new role. CGS said early on that the units ‘will be open to anybody in the Armed Forces’. The Integrated Review is designing what the supporting elements will look like at the moment and this will inform what REME opportunities to serve in supporting LAD’s, or in a general role, will look like. Numbers and structures are yet to be confirmed. You will hear about these in the coming weeks and months. I’ve organised for you to have a chat with the Command Sergeant Major in the interim so please engage.

“Sir, Is it always an Artificer who becomes our Corps Senior Soldier? If so, why? I’m a Recovery Mechanic. We have some phenomenal leaders and if you look at what we did in Iraq and Afghanistan, they’ve done some inspirational things and would seem like the perfect people for any REME Soldier, regardless of trade, to aspire to be and to look up to?” Great question. Firstly, I have witnessed people from across all of our trade groups do exceptional things on operations. The short answer to your question is that any CEG can be appointed as Corps ASM and this has been the case for some time now. To address the nomenclature issue and the premise that many believe it is just the Artificer stream trades, the current Corps Artificer Sergeant Major (CASM) appointment will be changed to the title of Corps Sergeant Major when I hand over to my successor (but please note, we will not go back to Corps RSM). Hopefully, this will drive home from day one of a REME Soldiers career that every man and woman – regardless of CEG – has the opportunity to become our Senior Soldier. The change is also in line with some of the changes that other Corps have made with respect to the title outlined in the Corps/Command SM Terms and Conditions of Service (TACOS). As an aside, were you aware that our Senior REME Reserve Soldier from 2018 until May 2021 was a Recy Mech? Hopefully a decent combat indicator that the Corps doesn’t only appoint VM’s, Techs and Armrs into these roles.