THE DRLC THREAD

[Herrumph]

We failed defence by not addressing the skills gap and shortage of HT Operators many years ago . . . .

This subject has acquired its own thread . . .

http://www.arrse.co.uk/Forums/viewtopic/t=145941.html

Fair point - don't want to bother DRLC with this sort of trivia, not when people still aren't wearing TRFs and his staff have an Formation Day to plan.

Edited to add: will someone move all this EOD crap to the other thread?

[CH512O]

TRF's!! and for that fact any other badge we have to wear out in Theatre!! Bane of my life!!!!!

[Herrumph]

Ahhh - CH5120, you are the clothing storeman on Herrick!

I claim my £10 and free badges for life

[CH512O]

Ahhh - CH5120, you are the clothing storeman on Herrick!

I claim my £10 and free badges for life

I wish, and then i wouldnt have to justify why my lads in FOB's need new boots sent out to them every now and then.
"Boots in clothing stores are for decoration only!"

[BPS666]

Ahhh - CH5120, you are the clothing storeman on Herrick!

I claim my £10 and free badges for life

I wish, and then i wouldnt have to justify why my lads in FOB's need new boots sent out to them every now and then.
"Boots in clothing stores are for decoration only!"

Given the news that I have just heard you won't have to worry about boots for your boys cos we aren't even gonna be required in theatre much longer my old son! Some highly paid person* somewhere thinks it's better economics to pay a fucking contractor 3 x the wages a pte gets for a shit service wrapped up in a contract that I wouldn't wipe my big ugly arse on.

*for highly paid person please read 'fucking moron'!

[Bullet_fixer_BDH]

Given the news that I have just heard you won't have to worry about boots for your boys cos we aren't even gonna be required in theatre much longer my old son! Some highly paid person* somewhere thinks it's better economics to pay a fucking contractor 3 x the wages a pte gets for a shit service wrapped up in a contract that I wouldn't wipe my big ugly arse on.

*for highly paid person please read 'fucking moron'!

Defence is 'running hot', harmony guidelines are being smashed all over the place, and someone is reducing your Regt's operational commitments to HERRICK, and not putting more of your soldiers in harms way - and you're upset because?

CONLOG & CONDO have been an accepted operational concept for several years now. Every death is a tragedy for someone's family, but I have wiped back enough tears at Wooten Bassett to feel guiltless about paying a contactor to take the risks instead.

[paragorge]

Defence is 'running hot', harmony guidelines are being smashed all over the place, and someone is reducing your Regt's operational commitments to HERRICK, and not putting more of your soldiers in harms way - and you're upset because?

CONLOG & CONDO have been an accepted operational concept for several years now. Every death is a tragedy for someone's family, but I have wiped back enough tears at Wooten Bassett to feel guiltless about paying a contactor to take the risks instead.

I agree 100% with the above, CONDO / CONLOG and withdrawal are best options. Everyone in power wants the glory of Commanding a Regt / Sqn etc etc. but watching a BG lose double the men in 5 months that the RLC has ever lost has convinced this callsign that its just not worth it no matter how you slice it up and sell it.

[BPS666]

Bullet Fixer/ paragorge

Whilst I apreciate your POV and whole heartidly agree with the valid points that you raise. I have to temper this with the fact that the harmony guidelines in my particular CEG equate to 1 tour every 3-4 years (if not less). In the meantime the lads aren't getting the valuable experience that Herrick provides. They very rarely get the chance to operate the equipment they are trained to use and most have never deployed operationally and some have never been on an exercise longer than 10 days.

This is not investing in future capability.

Coupled with an ever looming SDR & MCP's and the unknown prospect of the RLC FLR, as a trade we are feeling rather vulnerable.

As a tax payer I am disgusted that someone somewhere see's fit to pay ridiculous amounts of money to ex soldiers who on the whole were f**cking crap when they were in, whilst keeping good soldiers in barracks twiddling their thumbs and wondering if they will ever get their chance - anyone happen to know the cpaitation rate for High band full screw to sit and guard a fu**ing desk?

I sympathise with those who have felt the loss more keenly than the rest of us, but it does not take away either my own or my lads desire and want, to get out there and provide the best fu*king service we can. Obviously I don't speak for all, but on the whole the consensus is that there is a job to be done etc. If you've ever worked the smellier fraternity of the Corps you'll know that we just love getting down and dirty. I will never see the sense in paying a contractor to do a job that the lads are itching to do and that's all there is to it.

Fortunately, My CEG are very unlikely to come into contact with terry and his toys, so whilst I sympathise I cannot speak from personal experience. Saying that though we had 3 wounded by the opposition last year which equates to about 3% of the trade as a whole and about 15% - 20% of the trade in theatre.

Perhaps the solution is to throw money at those trades and capbadges who are sustaining higher hits on the harmony guidelines and casualties and contractorising there? Who knows ?

[strima]

I have been where the smelly one's are now and it's not a pretty place. Fortunately we had a turn around and yet they're still trying to civilianise Herrick, some people just can't see sense.

[Benjamin1876]

As an Aussie who served RACT I cant understand the gist of this thread that appears to be bitching about promotion. Does the British Army still promote after "time in rank" instead of who is the best for the job. Even the police service in this country stopped doing that promotion by time in rank many years ago, the system of who is best for the job always seemed to me to be the best way to go, I served with soldiers who had 30years service, and were still private soldiers, but can always remember one in the 50s who was made Lcpl and always used to say "Yeh, and I came up through the ranks to get to this high position" but of course he was the NCO in charge of cleaning the shit houses and laundries, painting bricks, cutting grass etc, so I guess he needed that exalted rank to do the job, but I am dissapointed when I see that blokes have to wait so long to get promotion 0 your Corps Director obviously needs some help and training in Man Management or just plain old Management.

[jerro-on-tour]

CONDO / CONLOG is the future of military logistics. Maybe not in the form we see today, but in some form.

The SDR, as other reviews have, will know doubt look at the Sponsored Reserve contract that Fasttrack (KBR) have for the HETs, and recommend that is used in other trades.

We need to become professional logisticians (not the current lip service) and understand that the protectionist view that is everywhere in the RLC is failing, and embarrassing.

We are not the infantry so why do so many people in the RLC want to be? It can be argued that we should be logisticians first, soldiers second. Currently we are neither.

We may not like it but there are many civilian companies who can do our job better then we can, and at a lower long term cost. We need to change this; embrace elements of it and move forward together, so that those on the front line get the best possible support, which is the priority.

Contracts are only going to be as good as they are written and managed; as PAYD has shown. We can only look at our selves if these fail, and ask why we didnt see where the obvious mistakes and problems would be. Where are the KPIs and 'get out' clauses?

We need to accept where the RLC is heading. The SDR will be brutal, we will become 'lean'. There is no money left in the pot to carry on the way we have been, too much wasted money at every level.

If we do not pull our heads out of the sand we will be punished. We need to accept that the RLC will change, stop wining and offer realistic solutions. If we do not we well may find that the 'bean counters' see no reason not to get KBR doing all our logistics roles with the infantry doing force protection.

We should also remember from a governmental point of view, more contractors = more employed. We need UK companies to get in on this.

[Bullet_fixer_BDH]

... the fact that the harmony guidelines in my particular CEG equate to 1 tour every 3-4 years (if not less). In the meantime the lads aren't getting the valuable experience that Herrick provides. They very rarely get the chance to operate the equipment they are trained to use and most have never deployed operationally and some have never been on an exercise longer than 10 days.

Sounds to me like your trade is overmanned, and not relevant to the contemporary operating environment. DRLC would do best to re-role a couple of your Sqns to ones that were more useful, and use his manpower cap to generate additional capability within the overworked trades.

This isn't a personal dig (don't flash), but it really is all hands to the pump now, and if a trade isn't doing their share, then they should be cut.

[BPS666]

... the fact that the harmony guidelines in my particular CEG equate to 1 tour every 3-4 years (if not less). In the meantime the lads aren't getting the valuable experience that Herrick provides. They very rarely get the chance to operate the equipment they are trained to use and most have never deployed operationally and some have never been on an exercise longer than 10 days.

Sounds to me like your trade is overmanned, and not relevant to the contemporary operating environment. DRLC would do best to re-role a couple of your Sqns to ones that were more useful, and use his manpower cap to generate additional capability within the overworked trades.

This isn't a personal dig (don't flash), but it really is all hands to the pump now, and if a trade isn't doing their share, then they should be cut.

Not flashing, however you have hit my point squarely on the head. The boys want to go on tour and 'do their bit'. Someone somewhere thinks it's a better idea to employ a civilian (ex trade) on double if not triple what the squaddie gets whilst keeping the squaddy in barracks. The tax payer isn't getting value for money and the squaddy isn't getting his hands on the pump (figuratively or physically).

RLC FLR/ SDR will probably put the trade in a very vulnerable position, but as per normal no-one is thinking beyond Afghanistan. Can we guarantee never having to do 'theatre entry' can we guarantee 'HNS'? can we guarantee that we will only ever fight in a 'non linear battlespace'? Once you dispose of something it's exceptionally difficult to get it back. The AT's are probably experiencing this at the moment. The VS's are struggling. Log Specs do not equal the sum of their parts. It's blatant shortsightedness and a trip to spec savers will not solve the ills of this corps.

The cynic in me tells me that the hierarchy really do not have a clue when it comes to materiel and in particular the individuals and teams that make it happen

[Moon_Monkey_Spunk]

... the fact that the harmony guidelines in my particular CEG equate to 1 tour every 3-4 years (if not less). In the meantime the lads aren't getting the valuable experience that Herrick provides. They very rarely get the chance to operate the equipment they are trained to use and most have never deployed operationally and some have never been on an exercise longer than 10 days.

Sounds to me like your trade is overmanned, and not relevant to the contemporary operating environment. DRLC would do best to re-role a couple of your Sqns to ones that were more useful, and use his manpower cap to generate additional capability within the overworked trades.

This isn't a personal dig (don't flash), but it really is all hands to the pump now, and if a trade isn't doing their share, then they should be cut.

Not flashing, however you have hit my point squarely on the head. The boys want to go on tour and 'do their bit'. Someone somewhere thinks it's a better idea to employ a civilian (ex trade) on double if not triple what the squaddie gets whilst keeping the squaddy in barracks. The tax payer isn't getting value for money and the squaddy isn't getting his hands on the pump (figuratively or physically).

RLC FLR/ SDR will probably put the trade in a very vulnerable position, but as per normal no-one is thinking beyond Afghanistan. Can we guarantee never having to do 'theatre entry' can we guarantee 'HNS'? can we guarantee that we will only ever fight in a 'non linear battlespace'? Once you dispose of something it's exceptionally difficult to get it back. The AT's are probably experiencing this at the moment. The VS's are struggling. Log Specs do not equal the sum of their parts. It's blatant shortsightedness and a trip to spec savers will not solve the ills of this corps.

The cynic in me tells me that the hierarchy really do not have a clue when it comes to materiel and in particular the individuals and teams that make it happen

1 tour every 3/4 years?? WTF! I fear a certain Op Kitchener coming your way!

[General Melchett]

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6125347/


http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6308203/


Wonderful things by wonderful people.