British Army Preparation for Operations Major Joe Carnegie R ANGLIAN British Peace Support Team (South Africa)

British Army Preparation for OperationsMajor Joe Carnegie R ANGLIANBritish Peace Support Team (South Africa)

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Format of the Presentation

• British Army model of operational training

• MATTS and CT Levels• Force Operations and Readiness

Mechanism• Operational Support Group and

Operational Training and Advisory Group (OPTAG)

• The Challenges• Questions

British Army Model of Operational Training

• British Army Training run by the Land Warfare Centre (LWC)

• Split into 3 component parts, designed to cover ‘a war’, ‘the war’, ‘the future war’

• However;

–TRAINING IS A COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY

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Mandatory Annual Training Tests (MATTS)

• Every soldier in the British Army is expected to complete his/her MATTS annually

• Series of lectures and tests designed to maintain a base skill set

• Includes fitness, shooting, LOAC, medical etc

• The first ‘building block’ of operational training

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Collective Training Levels

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CT6 Divisional sized formation training

CT5 Brigade sized formation training

CT4 Task organised unit or BG training conducted in a combined arms formation context

CT3 Sub -unit training in a task organised unit or combined arms BG context

CT2 Collective skills training at sub unit level

CT1 Collective skills training at up to troop / platoon level

Force Operations andReadiness Mechanism (FORM) - The Theory

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HR Ops

CT 1&2 CT 3&4 CT 5&6PDT

CT 1&2

30 months

Force Operations andReadiness Mechanism (FORM) - The Practice

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Recuperation PDT Ops

CT 1&2 CT 3&4 CT 5&6PDT

CT 1&2

Force PreparationPDT

30 months

Operational Support Group

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‘Training for and support to current operations’Mission: To provide operational support in order to

contribute to the preparation and support of force elements for the conduct of operations.

Operational Support Group

• Msn Sp Branch– Mission Support Group

• OPTAG– Operational Training and Advisory Group

• SCIAD(L)– Scientific Adviser (Land) Branch– Provision of scientific and analytical advice

• OPLAW– Operational Law Branch– Provision of legal mission support

• Reserves Training and Mobilisation Centre9

• Pre Deployment Training• Train the Trainers• Individual to Sub Unit• Specialist Support to MRX

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Operational Training & Advisory Group

• Cultural Awareness

GENERIC OPTAG CYCLE

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All RanksBrief

Train The

Trainer

CascadeTraining

Confirmatory Training

BestPrepared

OPTAG Visits

Unit PostTraining Report

Recce,CoordConf

Mission Rehearsal

The Challenges

• Identify units early enough for operational duty in order to allow them sufficient preparation time (TIME)

• Integration of reinforcements (ADMINISTRATION / TRAINING)

• Realistic and sufficient training standards (CASH)

• Move with the times (LESSONS)

• Have a model that copes with the unexpected (FLEXIBILITY)

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Key challenge

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How do we balance our need to prepare for Stability Operations…

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…while maintaining our ability to conduct Major Combat Operations at readiness?

Thank You

Questions?