Army trainees to aid police after terror attacks
Trainee soldiers could be called on to help protect Britain during a major terror incident, under new troop plans for national emergencies. Ministers have signed off a plan allowing the Army, in the event of a crisis, to use regular and reservist soldiers yet to finish their full training.
TRAINEE soldiers could be called on to help protect Britain during a major terror incident, under new troop plans for national emergencies.
Ministers have signed off a plan allowing the Army, in the event of a crisis, to use regular and reservist soldiers yet to finish their full training.
The new rules, to take effect from September 1, will free up around 6,000 Army trainees to help in civil emergencies such as multiple terror attacks or widespread flooding.
Army chiefs have made the change amid growing calls by ministers that soldiers be put on standby to back up thinly stretched ranks of armed police officers in the event of major terrorist attacks.
Security chiefs last year drew up a plan called Op Temperer for soldiers to back up police in the event of a large terror attack, by taking on duties guarding buildings, manning cordons and searching remote or rural areas.
The changes, expected to be announced today by Gen Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the General Staff, will allow commanders to use soldiers who have finished only their first phase of training. All regular soldiers carry out the basic 14-week course covering fitness, marksmanship, first aid and communications, before doing further in-depth training for their specific jobs.
Charles Heyman, editor of Armed
Forces of the United Kingdom, said cuts in the regular strength of the Army had forced generals to look at how better to use what soldiers they had left.
He said: “There’s no reason why they can’t do simple jobs like guarding, or helping people in floods. What I wouldn’t want [is for] people who have only completed phase-one training to take part in specialised counter-terrorism operations.
“During conscription, people went to Korea or landed in Normandy with eight weeks’ training.”
‘We wouldn’t seek to deploy [trainees] into those roles where there’s a direct risk of hostility’
Sources said trainees could be armed and posted to guard military installations and outer cordons, to free up regular, fully trained soldiers for more demanding work during a terrorist emergency. During flooding they could be used for labour, such as filling sandbags or moving supplies.
A senior Army source said: “They are already well trained and disciplined soldiers, so in extremis, we should have contingency plans where we can use them. We wouldn’t seek to deploy them into those roles where there’s a direct risk of hostility, or in a counter-terrorist-type threat directly, but we could if we needed to.”