British Military Current Events

[The Bread Guy]

I guess "military ceremony" has a better ring than "burning the piano at the Mess on a Fri night" 

Hey, hey, hey, no problem - it WAS supervised by firefighters, right? 

 

[Good2Golf]

Whoops. 

I guess "military ceremony" has a better ring than "burning the piano at the Mess on a Fri night" 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/family-piano-given-to-raf-base-burnt-in-military-ceremony-by-mistake-drl508t3c?fbclid=IwAR2HMA3DGFCQYwa6wMXKmm5p2r7lnHRmetB_QFwfNv_R2_gfcnxtXqYG8_M

Hmmmmmmm......

Two realistic options:

1) They didn’t know anything about the piano burning tradition by Commonwealth (and some other) air forces, haphazardly/inadvertently donating the piano into a ‘danger zone’, or

2) They knew of the tradition and should have placed clear conditions on their donation, such that it shouldn’t be considered fair game for the tradition. 

The following question is are these people the type who follow-up post-donation to check up on their donated material?

:2c:

Regards
G2G

 

[Blackadder1916]

Whoops. 

I guess "military ceremony" has a better ring than "burning the piano at the Mess on a Fri night" 

While it's easy to take the piss, it is actually a traditional ceremony in RAF officers messes.  From 2015.

https://www.forces.net/services/raf/raf-honours-fallen-comrade-traditional-piano-burning

RAF Honours Fallen Comrade With Traditional Piano Burning
The Puma crash pilots who passed away in Afghanistan have been remembered with treasured tradition at RAF Benson.A familiar send-off for...

4th November 2015 at 9:48am

Piano Burned For Flt Lt Alan Scott

The Puma crash pilots who passed away in Afghanistan have been remembered with treasured tradition at RAF Benson.

A familiar send-off for those in the Royal Air Force, the long-standing custom of piano burning is surrounded in myth and story-telling, but traces its roots to the period between the First and Second World Wars. Originally, pianos were set alight by pilots to avoid taking lessons aimed at improving finesse and civility.

But why were piano lessons enforced in the first place?

This story starts, according to former member of the RAF Kevin Emmerson, who first shared news of Flt Lt Alan Scott's ceremony and was a colleague of his at Benson, "Because so many pilots died during World War I, the RAF was forced to select its pilots from the general population, instead of the preferred upper class." He continued,

"The RAF believed that piano lessons would not only increase the pilots' level of culture, but also improve their dexterity,"

The tradition is said to have originated at RAF Leuchars, where the only piano at the base burned down in a terrible accident. The RAF could not afford a replacement piano and lessons were ultimately cancelled. Local pilots inspired by their animosity towards piano lessons and keen to avoid any more, spread the word like wildfire. Soon the tradition caught on and more RAF bases began burning pianos to avoid lessons. Even after the lessons ceased, the tradition remained.

"This act became a sign of triumph, defiance and celebration. "

The U.S Air Force has adopted the tradition. Pictured is a piano burning ceremony at Langley Air Force Base, 19 August 2011.

Kevin went on to explain that "A beer for each dead colleague was placed on the top of the upright piano. The piano was then burned, along with the issued contents of the officer's clothing locker. His fellow officers then drank on the bar bill of their fallen colleague and the bill was subsequently written-off by the mess. It is still followed by today's Royal Air Force and has been adopted by other Air Forces around the World.

Of course, it was still pretty stupid to destroy this particular piano.  There probably won't be a line-up to replace it gratis with a quality musical instrument, though there may be a whack of clapped-out up-rights being volunteered for such functions.

Wonder how the loss of this non-public property will be accounted for on the books or if this particular function will be specifically noted on the Trustee's Report to the UK Charity Commission. http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends14/0001130614_AC_20180531_E_C.PDF

 

[Old Sweat]

In 1967 in Fort Prince of Wales in Germany, the officers of 1 RCHA, 1 SSM Bty and 69 USA Msl Det burned a condemned piano in the parking lot of the officers' mess. The only reason any of us could come up with was that it seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

[Blackadder1916]

But at least that mess didn't suffer the fate of an Army mess in 2016.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/26/dueling-army-officers-set-fire-to-mess-with-flares-during-father/

Duelling Army officers set fire to mess with flares during fathers and sons dinner

By Ben Farmer, defence correspondent  26 JULY 2016 • 4:18PM

Two young Army officers set fire to a mess during a boozy dinner after they attempted to settle a disagreement by shooting flares at each other.

A room and corridor in the officers’ mess at Allenby Barracks in Bovington, Dorset, were gutted by fire after the incident at a “fathers and sons” dinner to celebrate the end of a training course.

Flares were fired after the unnamed officers decided to settle an argument by taking a kayak into the swimming pool outside and firing at each other on Friday night, Forces News reported.

The Army confirmed there had been a fire and said it was the subject of investigation.

The incident happened during a dinner to celebrate the end of a three-month course for young tank troop commanders of the Royal Armoured Corps officers who had recently graduated from Sandhurst.

One of the flares, which were not military issue, was fired through a top floor window in a seven-storey block and managed to set a room alight.

When personnel tried to put out the fire, sources said the base’s fire hoses had been shut off due to fears over Legionnaires' disease following an outbreak on the base in January.

The whole block was left empty for the weekend until the fire alarms could be reset.

Army sources suggested the incident was being viewed as “high jinx rather than criminal damage”.

One former officer told the Telegraph: “They wouldn’t be the first to fire flares at each other at the ‘Bovvy Hilton’. This sort of thing used to happen all the time in my day.”

An Army spokesman said: “We can confirm a fire occurred on Friday evening at Bovington Camp, Dorset Fire & Rescue attended the fire. There was some damage but no one was injured, while an investigation is taking place it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

 

[mariomike]

One former officer told the Telegraph: “They wouldn’t be the first to fire flares at each other at the ‘Bovvy Hilton’. This sort of thing used to happen all the time in my day.”

Don't try this at home! 

 

[Blackadder1916]

. . .  it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Heard (and said) that a few times before in connection to mess activities.

 

[The Bread Guy]

If true, ouch ....

An Army major's alleged affair has been exposed after rivals from another regiment apparently spray-painted details on a road near a military base.

Claims that married father-of-two Major Alan Ponde, who is second-in-command of the King's Royal Hussars (KRH), had a relationship with a civilian woman appeared in white capital letters along a 50ft stretch near Bovington Camp in Dorset last weekend.

Army chiefs alerted the local council but the graffiti was photographed and widely shared on social media before workers could scrub it off the tarmac.

Police are now hunting the author with suspicion falling on the rival Royal Tank Regiment because the message was signed 'Luv RTR'.

The graffiti also refers to Major Ponde's phone being left in an Officers' Mess shared by the two regiments.

The daubs about the alleged affair, which could break strict military conduct rules, read: 'Karma is a bitch, Ponde.

Major Alan Ponde KRH 2IC [second-in-command] is having an affair ... TY [Thank You] for leaving your phone in the Mess. I have all the texts and the video you made unknon [sic] to [the woman at the centre of the claims].'

The 44-year-old officer has been married for 16 years and has two teenage children. In 2015, he accompanied KRH troops on parade with Princess Anne, the regiment's Colonel-in-Chief.

He could face disciplinary action over any affair because the Service Test, against which conduct is measured, states any behaviour that 'undermines morale, good order, discipline, trust or unit cohesion' can be subject to sanction ...

 

[mariomike]

Major Alan Ponde KRH 2IC [second-in-command] is having an affair ... TY [Thank You] for leaving your phone in the Mess. I have all the texts and the video you made unknon [sic] to [the woman at the centre of the claims].'

So much for what goes on in the mess, stays in the mess.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Major Alan Ponde KRH 2IC [second-in-command] is having an affair ... TY [Thank You] for leaving your phone in the Mess. I have all the texts and the video you made unknon [sic] to [the woman at the centre of the claims].'

So much for what goes on in the mess, stays in the mess.

The Cherry Pickers.... my first thought? 'At least it's a woman for a change'

 

[daftandbarmy]

Clearly a Christmas PR stunt

SAS operators rescue British orphans from ISIS in Syria

A Special Air Service (SAS) team rescued three orphans born to parents fighting for the Islamic State (ISIS).

The parents of the three children had been killed during a Coalition airstrike earlier this year. The rescue operation took place sometime during the last two months. The SAS element was accompanied by a few Foreign Office personnel.

According to the British Foreign Office, more such rescues will take place in the coming weeks and months.

Since 2015, when an SAS Sabre Squadron was first deployed in Iraq to assist the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, the British Army’s Tier One unit has suffered one fatality: In March 2018, Sergeant Matt Tonroe and Delta Force Master Sergeant John Dunbar were killed during a raid against an ISIS high-value target (HVT) in Manbij, Syria, in March of 2018. (SOFREP previously published the exclusive story behind the deaths of the two operators.) The SAS has also suffered a number of wounded operators in action during its fight against the Jihadist terrorists.

The three children rescued have been received by foster parents back in the United Kingdom. Their identities remain, and for a good reason, hidden.

https://sofrep.com/news/sas-operators-rescue-british-orphans-from-isis-in-syria/?fbclid=IwAR1N8UVbiadDD80_YV0zusEpK942LrjLM3AbTtJew09Aj_ECnK7eBRuXOnQ

 

[MarkOttawa]

Oh oh--Dominic Cummings on the loose and on the prowl:

UK government to launch ‘radical assessment’ of Britain’s place in the world

The British government has promised an integrated security, defense and foreign policy review which it says will be the most “radical reassessment” of the country's place in the world since the end of the Cold War.

Funding Brexit and the National Health Service got top billing as the new Conservative government laid out its policies and legislative proposals for the coming parliamentary session in the Queens Speech Dec. 19, but defense figured in its plans as well.

In briefing notes provided by the government, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would lead a security, defense and foreign policy reset this year covering international policy ranging from defense to diplomacy and development.

The commitment to hold the review was signaled by Johnson ahead of last week’s general election when he promised a “huge technological upgrade of security forces to keep Britain safe and strengthen NATO.”

But the briefing notes contained more than a hint that the government intends to implement some fundamental changes to costs and the way the department does business.

“The MoD will continue to invest in making radical reforms to modernize the way Defense does business, enable next-generation military capabilities, and sustainably reduce its cost base in the long term,” read the briefing notes.

Johnson may be leading the review but it’s his senior advisor Dominic Cummings, one of the principal architects of the general election victory, who is expected to actually drive the assessment.

Cummings has an uncompromisingly tough view of the MoD’s performance, particularly on the question of money-wasting procurement.

The potential impact he may have is causing great concern across the department.

One industry executive, who asked not to be named, said Cummings arriving at the MoD was a bit like having Vlad the Impaler paying a visit [emphasis added].

Defense consultant Howard Wheeldon, of Wheeldon Strategic Advisory, said if Cummings is asked to lead the review process, “my advice would be that he remembers that every newcomer to defense procurement starts on an assumption that it must be possible to save money and do better than the past incumbents that have presided over years of cuts.

“Oliver Letwin thought that when he led the disastrous 2010 strategic defence and security review from the Cabinet Office. But the reality is very different,” said Wheeldon.

In a speech to the Royal United Services Institute on Dec. 6 the chief of the defence staff, Gen. Sir Nick Carter, had his own advice about a review. He said it needs to be upfront about the state of the UK military and pointed to the government having previously taken risks with readiness and resilience in order to pursue efficiency gains.

Wheeldon said the government’s priority in defence should “above all else be to ensure not only that defense is properly funded but also that the importance of strong defense means that it is placed much higher up the government agenda.”

Britain’s creaking defense budget has again hit the headlines with reports Dec. 19 that a critical shortfall in funding could impact deployments and other commitments next year.

According to a Financial Times report, the Ministry of Defence sees the increasingly fraught debate over the future of Britain’s military take a new twist with a £1 billion budget shortfall in the offing in the next financial year.

The newspaper says military chiefs held a crisis meeting recently to consider funding constraints which could ground aircraft and restrict deployments of support ships.

Recent leaks have seen the media report a mounting list of potential cuts to the military resulting from shortfalls to funding.

Mothballing or leasing out one of Britain’s two new aircraft carriers and reducing the size of the British Army are among the targets that have been in the crosshairs of officials looking to balance the budget, say reports – moves denied strongly by the MoD [emphasis added, many saying services leaking againt other ones].



The defense budget financial year 2020/21 is set at £41.3 billion, or $53 billion.

Officials at the MoD have been conducting their annual budget cycle discussions to balance spending and requirements for the coming year starting in April.

The department recently secured an additional £1.9 billion in funding from the Chancellor for next year, but that was short of requirements.

A spokesman for the MoD said the department does not comment on speculation but pointed out the “MoD manages the biggest defense budget in Western Europe and, like any large organization, regularly conducts prudent financial planning exercises.”

Talk of budget overspend will hardly come as a surprise.

The National Audit Office, the Governments financial watchdog, has been reporting for some time that the MoD’s rolling, ten-year equipment plan is unaffordable by several billion Pounds [emphasis added]...
https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/12/19/uk-government-to-launch-radical-assessment-of-britains-place-in-the-world/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[daftandbarmy]

Oh oh--Dominic Cummings on the loose and on the prowl:

Mark
Ottawa

Step 1: Escape quickly from any standing joint military force with the French.

Just sayin'

 

[daftandbarmy]

91-Year-Old Royal Marines Veteran Completes Final Dartmoor Challenge

Peter White has taken part in the 30-mile Commando test since 1978.

The 30-Miler is regarded as the toughest test of every Royal Marine's career.

"It’s physically hard and takes guts to do it," said Colour Sergeant White.

"It’s something you never forget."

During the test, Royal Marines need to carry 40lbs of equipment and rifle and cover a stretch of 30 miles from Okehampton, in the North, to Shaugh Prior, in the South.

Rain or sunshine, the test needs to go on and the distance covered in under eight hours for recruits and under seven for young officers.

Colour Sergeant White joined the Royal Marines when he was just 17, in 1945.

He served during the Second World War with the Home Guard in Gloucester.

He completed his Commando training in North Wales and then served in 44, 45 and 40 Commandos during his career, seeing active service in numerous countries, including Korea, Palestine and Borneo.

After serving around the world, he started working on Dartmoor at Merrivale Range and then in Headquarters South West Training Areas.

https://www.forces.net/news/royal-marines/91-year-old-royal-marine-completes-final-dartmoor-challenge?fbclid=IwAR3YifiB4Qfu5GtXLy7aykIZfUOsA3YJ_2eMafgOzou9akAqaFCb6KgkvQo

 

[MarkOttawa]

Looks like defence secretary is getting his marching orders from a very hungry Dominic Cummings (mor https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v41/n18/christopher-clark/short-cuts) on the prowl:

Ben Wallace: Armed forces 'must cut cloth to match ambition'

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said the military will have to "cut its cloth to meet its ambitions".

He told the BBC's Political Thinking with Nick Robinson's podcast there was a shortfall of funding in the Ministry of Defence's budget.

And he confirmed that he had had a meeting with Boris Johnson's adviser Dominic Cummings about improving the way the MoD spends its money.

The MoD was given £2.2bn, a rise of 2.6%, in September's spending review.

Mr Wallace's comments come after the Financial Times reported armed forces chiefs had had an "urgent meeting" to discuss a budget shortfall - a meeting which Mr Wallace described as "routine".

In February, the Public Accounts Committee, the House of Commons' spending watchdog, reported that the MoD faced a £7bn black hole in its 10-year-plan to equip the armed forces.

    MoD 'facing £7bn funding black hole'

Asked about reports that Mr Cummings wants to overhaul defence procurement, Mr Wallace said the adviser was full of "amazing ideas where he has spotted loads of improvement in infrastructure and technology procurement".

The Ministry of Defence is a graveyard of broken promises of financial prudence and solvency.

While the truth is many procurement projects are completed on time and within budget, some of the most expensive and high-profile cases do not.

That can be as much the fault of politicians as the military. When yearly balance sheets do not add up decisions are often delayed.

For example, delays to the construction of the Royal Navy's two new aircraft carriers added £1bn to their final cost.

Dominic Cummings will not be the first person who's come from "outside" to shake things up in the MoD. The former Financial Times journalist Bernard Gray was brought into the department in the late 1990s to do much the same.

There have been some individual success stories. But by and large the complex bureaucracy, the inter-service rivalries, the over-reliance on large defence corporations and the constant political meddling make it hard to deliver on bold promises of a revolution in procurement.

"He has spotted how that, as our technology horizon changes, how we procure has to happen differently and I am incredibly supportive of what he is talking about," he said.

Mr Wallace added: "The best thing I can do for the men and women of the armed forces is to make sure that we cut our cloth to match our ambition... manage expectations and say to the [services] chiefs that your appetite has to match your stomach.

"By doing so we build our credibility with the Treasury and Number 10 to say: 'Look, we have sorted out our house, when you give us some more money we will deliver on what we're trying to do and there will be no tricks.'"

Mr Wallace also said leaks from within the MoD had not helped its reputation across Whitehall.

"We have to be trusted if we are to persuade the Treasury to fund us for long-term projects," he said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-50864917

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Plus one excerpt, on procurement (and here?), from a major piece at Thin Pinstriped Line on British military's funding morass:

The Nightmare Before Christmas? Thoughts on the Defence Funding Shortfall.
...
This attitude is perhaps further encouraged by the culture of short termism that permeates so much of the procurement world. The combination of vilifying civil servants so much for years that ensured huge swathes of the DE&S workforce walked at the earliest possible opportunity through redundancy programmes, coupled with a military career structure that feels like it actively penalises anyone who dares make procurement a career stream means the pool of experience to actually manage and deliver these projects is perhaps more limited than is helpful.

This is compounded by short term challenges such as the constant churn of staff in the armed forces, who on arrival feel the need to secure OJAR success by taking action which may not necessarily always be in the best interest of the project. Similarly the Civil Service is not encouraged to hold firm in one job – the scrapping of spine point progression pay to save money (e.g. each year you remain in the same grade, you earn more to reflect your experience) has been a disaster. While it may have saved money, it disincentivised people from staying in one job, instead forcing them to move regularly to get promotion in order to earn more money.

Consequently for years now there has been a challenging vacuum in the procurement world which needs to be properly addressed. The best outcome is accepting that good procurement experts cost money, a lot of money, and paying DE&S staff rates that make it feasible to move to, and live in, Bristol. This will work out cheaper in the long run than relying on contractors, many of whom are merely ex DE&S or military staff employed in an identical job for far more cost.

Similarly, military staff need far more time in the procurement world – creating a staff officer stream that permits promotion and not career fouling, and which lets people specialise as experts in procurement while still being able to be military too is critical here. Doing the odd two year tour at different parts of your career doesn’t make you a procurement expert, at best it makes you a talented amateur. When you’re in the business of buying nuclear submarines and fighter jets, you need experts and not amateurs...
https://thinpinstripedline.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-nightmare-before-christmas-thoughts.html

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Kirkhill]

Further to Mark's last:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/20/armed-forces-chiefs-given-one-priority-fix-mod-can-ask-money/

Armed Forces Chiefs each given one priority to fix before MoD can ask for more money, says Defence secretary

The First Sea Lord has been told “get what you’ve got, working,” a reference to the engine problems suffered by the Royal Navy’s Type-45 Destroyers.

The Defence Secretary said he would be “laughed out of the building” by the Treasury if he sought extra money for more ships without fixing the existing problems in the fleet.

An MoD spokesman said HMS Dauntless will be the first vessel through a “propulsion improvement programme” which is due to start in early 2020.

The head of the army, General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, has been told to improve recruitment, after recent figures showed only around 74,000 soldiers were “fully trade trained” from a requirement of 82,000.

“What’s the point of new infantry armoured vehicles,” the Defence Secretary asked, “if there’s no-one to go in the back of them?”.

Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston, the head of the Royal Air Force, has been told to fix the system for training new fighter pilots.

Referring to a “glut of about 250 trainee pilots” Ben Wallace said it is currently taking around seven years to train new pilots, instead of the expected three years. “By that time half of them say ‘I’m off to fly for Ryanair’,” he said.

An MoD spokesman said: "We have sufficient numbers of aircrew to meet our current front line operational commitments.

"The Military Flying Training System is the biggest transformation of UK military aircrew training in a generation. Although we acknowledge there have been some challenges, the transition to the new system is now well underway and a steady improvement in aircrew throughput is being seen in all areas."

And this from The Spectator:

Even the self-proclaimed ‘dementedly focused’ Cummings recognises that remodelling the government machine is an Odyssean task; his 2014 blog is explicit about how the system reacts to protect itself. The supposed words of a Department for Education official to Michael Gove’s team, which Cummings quotes in his article, are a case in point: ‘You’re a mutant virus, I’m the immune system and its my job to expel you from the organism.’

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/will-boriss-whitehall-overhaul-work/

 

[MarkOttawa]

British military facing big cash crunch in new SDSR, should be making some hard decisions--Thin Pinstriped Line makes some alternative radical proposals to cut one's coat to suit one's cloth--and CAF in future?

1) But NATO?

Time to Scrap The Thin Red Line? The SDSR and aspiration for land operations...
https://thinpinstripedline.blogspot.com/2020/01/time-to-scrap-thin-red-line-sdsr-and.html

2) NATO as focus here, but what about North Atlantic ASW?

Is it time to scrap HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH? Why the RN should consider scrapping the Carrier force.
https://thinpinstripedline.blogspot.com/2020/01/is-it-time-to-scrap-hms-queen-elizabeth.html

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Kirkhill]

UK is in the middle of a discussion with the EU over trade.  The EU now decides it wants to leverage security and defence, something they didn't want the Brits to do over the past three years.

The UK is now negotiating with the US on trade at the same time as it is negotiating with the EU to put pressure on the EU to give in on market access.  The UK is also threatening to confound the EU on security and defense. 

At the same time the UK wants to make sure that the US deal doesn't result in chlorinated chicken, hormonal beef and American owned hospitals in the UK.  So it needs leverage against the US.

So we have a three-way battle shaping up with the UK threatening the US with joining the EU defense structure and adopting Huawei communications to gain the best trade deal and threatening the EU with rejecting common standards and creating a US oriented "nest of pirates" with a dozen freeports 100 km from Dublin (2.5 hours), 40 km from Calais (1 hour), 200 km from Rotterdam and Antwerp (5 hours), 400 km from Bergen (10 hours)  and 600 km from Hamburg (15 hours).

So, at this stage of the game, I would suggest that salt be purchased by the barrel and we all sit back with a decent bottle until this time next year.

:cheers:

 

[daftandbarmy]

UK is in the middle of a discussion with the EU over trade.  The EU now decides it wants to leverage security and defence, something they didn't want the Brits to do over the past three years.

The UK is now negotiating with the US on trade at the same time as it is negotiating with the EU to put pressure on the EU to give in on market access.  The UK is also threatening to confound the EU on security and defense. 

At the same time the UK wants to make sure that the US deal doesn't result in chlorinated chicken, hormonal beef and American owned hospitals in the UK.  So it needs leverage against the US.

So we have a three-way battle shaping up with the UK threatening the US with joining the EU defense structure and adopting Huawei communications to gain the best trade deal and threatening the EU with rejecting common standards and creating a US oriented "nest of pirates" with a dozen freeports 100 km from Dublin (2.5 hours), 40 km from Calais (1 hour), 200 km from Rotterdam and Antwerp (5 hours), 400 km from Bergen (10 hours)  and 600 km from Hamburg (15 hours).

So, at this stage of the game, I would suggest that salt be purchased by the barrel and we all sit back with a decent bottle until this time next year.

:cheers:

'The English never draw a line without blurring it.' Winston Churchill

This should serve them well in the coming months...