‘Untrained’ soldiers to be put on front line in manpower crisis
ARMY recruits who have yet to complete their training are to be deployed on the front line for the first time in British history because of a deepening manpower crisis, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The shock move – which has been condemned by military experts as a sign of the ‘dire’ state of the Army – means soldiers who have had only basic training without learning more advanced skills could face armed jihadis in a terrorist attack and be placed in other life-threatening situations.
The controversial change, revealed in documents seen by The Mail on Sunday, will add up to 5,000 full-time troops and 1,800 part-time troops to the Army at a time when its numbers have dwindled to the lowest ever in modern history.
Until now only fully trained troops have been thrust into action but huge cuts have forced defence officials into the unprecedented action.
From September, junior soldiers as young as 17 who have only completed Phase One training – a basic introduction to military life – will be called up to respond to national emergencies such as a major terrorist incident.
Recruits must complete Phase One training irrespective of which branch of the Army they wish to join. Only then can they start Phase Two training which teaches them specific skills required by their regiments before they can be deployed to war zones.
In Phase One training, recruits are taught simple soldiering skills such as weapons handling and map reading. In Phase Two, soldiers learn such specialisms as driving a tank and operating a missile system.
The controversial move comes after the Regular Army was cut from more than 100,000 troops to 82,000. The cuts began in 2012, with thousands of soldiers being offered voluntary redundancy and some being sacked.
Last night, former Army commander Colonel Richard Kemp, who led British troops in Afghanistan, said: ‘This is a sign of the dire state of the British Army following the savage cuts by the Government in recent years.
‘In no time I’ve known would sol- diers be expected to be operationally effective after Phase One of training but the Army has little or no choice in the current circumstances. The Government has left the Army so short of soldiers at a time of such instability around the world.’
The Ministry of Defence also wants to boost the figure for the Army’s ‘Trained Strength’ by including Phase One trained troops. The MoD’s bid to skew the statistics has been attacked by Madeleine Moon MP, a Defence Select Committee member. She said: ‘You cannot consider regular or reservist troops who have just completed Phase One training as part of the “Trained Strength”, as this suggests they’ve been fully trained when in fact they’ve only been initiated into military life.’
Last night, the MoD said: ‘To meet the increased utility and productivity requirement, the Army has proposed broadening the definition of trained strength to include Regular and Reserve Army Phase One trained personnel.
‘This will increase the pool of manpower available for a national emergency. Any deployment of Phase One trained personnel would be subject to appropriate supervisory ratios and duty of care regimes.’