The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Leuchars troops standing ready to join Covid-19 fight
Dragoons prepare to spring into action as rumours of Fife field hospital are quashed
Troops from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards at Leuchars are among 20,000 Army personnel on standby across the UK to help with tackling the coronavirus outbreak if requested by government.
Requests for military help in Scotland come from the Scottish Government through a well-used method known as MACA – Military Aid to the Civil Authorities.
A small number of Army personnel have been engaged in assisting with planning, liaison and advisory roles for the SEC NHS hospital facility in Glasgow.
RAF personnel are providing support to the Scottish Ambulance Service, should they require additional airlift capacity. It is also understood some local Army Reserve personnel have been mobilised this week to await potential deployment.
However, beyond that no requests have so far been made for troops to do anything other than be ready to help if required, The Courier has learned.
“Some specialists from the Army Reserves have volunteered to help,” an Army source said.
“For example, 154 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps in Dunfermline have sent 11 supply specialists to assist at a depot in Yorkshire.
“Others might be used for specialist jobs, but again, only if the Scottish Government requires.”
The source quashed rumours on social media that a coronavirus field hospital is being established on the military base at Leuchars. They were fuelled locally on Tuesday when a plane – described by one witness as an air transport – was seen circling the base before landing.
“No field hospital is being built anywhere in Scotland,” the source said, adding that Leuchars was still an operational airfield and is often used for RAF operations.
“Military is advising on building the SEC NHS hospital facility but nowhere else, and that facility isn’t a field hospital.
“A field hospital is a military unit and that one will be staffed and run by NHS Scotland.
“Almost all Army personnel in Scottish medical units are NHS staff and building a field hospital would take them away from their day jobs, at a time when they are critical to their day jobs, so that would be pointless.”
Glasgow’s SEC will be transformed into a temporary hospital for coronavirus patients.