ARmy Rumour SErvice

We also had a scattering of Regs on Occulus supporting the Sqn if I recall rightly, but all in all, despite a few crazy Dutch officers, it was pretty good example of a TA Signals unit doing a professional job (more or less). The government as has been said before, is unable to see anything unless it is right before them sadly. Since we by our nature do the hard work elsewhere, we will always be in the firing line (no pun intended).

Originally Posted by boney_m

Originally Posted by msr

Originally Posted by the_guru

There is a point that there will be a reductions in RSM and CO slots, and a 1 Star too?

That is going to narrow the pyramid somewhat....

And, I suspect, and increase in Op tours...

Good point - are there any stats for Corps TA involvement in Ops. I know the TA as a whole have provided somewhere between 18 and 19 thousand since 2003, but how many for the Royal Sigs. Maybe its alright now we're out of and there will be plenty of people to go around, which i seriously doubt.

The whole point of the disbandment of the TA Regts is to push through the Formation Signal Regiments (1 for each Brigade) this has been done to support the campaign footing the the British Army has adopted for Op HERRICK. The money saved on the TA will then be utilised to uplift the regular Army to backfill the requirement. Well that is the theory

IMHO it won't work because we can't man what we have got now so extra manning will be interesting. Another point to throw into the mix; is the full manning of all recruiting posts in response to the recession. A Bdes worth of manpower being thrown at this to get people in through the door, trained and out to the units across the board.

So will everyone be out of a job or will we all just merge with other units and re-train as a different cap badge?

Originally Posted by timebandit

The whole point of the disbandment of the TA Regts is to push through the Formation Signal Regiments (1 for each Brigade) this has been done to support the campaign footing the the British Army has adopted for Op HERRICK.

I moved from 11 Sig Bde to 2 Sig Bde several years ago and it was like moving in time 10-15 years. The hardest part about 11 Sig Bde was it was also several years behind civilian practices, I remember sending a RTF file using software we'd used at work 10 years previously in my civilian job.

I guess saying we failed to use the skills of the TA soldiers wisely, we had Network Engineers, programmers, DBA's etc but we employed them in out of date roles. Potentially many of these had skills in advance of the regular element of the corps - that doesn't hold true for many TA soldiers but we exist and don't want to travel to Corsham to a specialist unit.

Supporters for one specific part of the Army to provide all its communications may find themselves out of touch with the present British Governments experience of such matters.
It is quite probable that the approaching demise of the German owned T Mobile may be seen as an opportunity to establish a company with the ability to provide a communication system for the Army and make a profit and as the esteemed Mr. Brown is unable to view the Army in separate context from the UKs commercial establishment, members of the Armed Forces should be prepared to exchange their Personal Role Radios for Nokias. Unless of course they have already done so.

They're just greasing us up for the right royal shafting the regs will get next year.

From the statement read out in the Commons by Bob Ainsworth, Minister of State (Armed Forces), Ministry of Defence; Coventry North East, Labour

"As mentioned in the review, certain elements of 2 (National Communications) Signal Brigade are identified as no longer having a clear operational role. That is partly because they hold capabilities that are no longer current, and partly because their tasks can be achieved elsewhere in defence, not least because of improvements in wider national resilience.

In addition, some TA signals units operate communications equipment that is now obsolete, and those posts will be removed. They include Headquarters 12 Signals Group and 33, 34 and 35 Signals Regiments—it is logical to reallocate those resources to higher defence priorities. That decision has not been taken lightly and we are very aware of the exceptional contribution made by the Royal Signals within the TA. However, we must focus resources where we need them most. Where possible, those affected by the decision will be offered other opportunities in the TA, and we will conduct further work to determine the most effective configuration for the TA Royal Signals. As I said, those decisions were taken separately from the reserves review, but they are entirely consistent with it."

Sounds to me the 'big cheeses' in the Corps have had this on thier mind for a while....... the cull is from within, not from MoD.

Undoubtedly the TA provide valuable support, and do so on many different levels, but the role of some of our TA regiments hark back to the cold war and allied with, quite frankly, archaic equipment are of limited value (our unit is on the verge of binning our last vestiges of Ptarmigan.... thank ferk).

The people that man them however are far more valuable, alot of the TA Sigs I've worked with bring solid comms background skills with them and after investing time and effort in training them as soldiers, it would be a sin to just cast them aside..... I hope they find a place for them.

Get the feeling that our masters have put this off for so long that instead of gradually re-rolling/rejigging the units mentioned for disbandment to a more useful role (independant BOWMAN Regts/Sqns perhaps would have been a good one) it's come down to stark and unpleasant decisions..... this should have been dealt with years ago, not left to the current comd chain who, I have no doubt, find this as unpleasant as the rest of us.

I wonder with the current climate that we find ourselves in that certain TA units couldn't have been integrated as a part of regular units - a bolt on Sqn. Independant as a unit for training etc, keeping thier own Regimental 'foibles' and the like, but available to supplement the Regt/Unit in times of deployment or need (exercises and the like). Personally I like the idea of having a 'pet' TA Sqn..... :D (Shades of 63 Sigs methinks!)

Given the emotional attachment for some for these units, it's something thats needed addressing for some time...... Don't forget us regs got humped regimentally too not so long back !

Originally Posted by bobos

On Oculus, we had 55 Sigs (+Dutch and Canooks) looking after 1300 UK personnel in BLMF. On Herrick, there are 44 Comms (RAF) looking after JIFCIS and 7000 personnel. Their 'Lean Team' went in and cut the jobs down to the bare minimum. Short tours admittedly and much harder work and working conditions. Even a nameless SNCO from 21 said that if they were doing the comms, they would put in a whole squadron.

I don't believe the government know what they are doing, but they hate the forces

What about the (at least) Dutch Bn and the handful of LOT houses all over the area? These were supported by the Signals too.

How many of those 44 Blue Jobs actually leave camp on a weekly basis to ensure comms?

And finally, with the modern equipment is it not getting easier and easier to provide comms for more people with few people? Esp if you don't have to move.

And more to the point does this "lean team" get to fly out and fill the slots that open up from day to day ailments, bouts of D&V or mortar fire? Or do they just jet off to the next location to "downsize"?