Defence experts urge re-think over combat use of reservists

They say only one in 20 Territorial Army soldiers is adequately trained to serve on the front line.

They went public with their concerns yesterday, in a joint statement signed by Peter Caddick-Adams, TA officer and defence analyst; retired colonels David Benest, Tim Collins and Richard Kemp; Commander John Muxworthy, an ex-Navy man who founded the UK National Defence Association; and military historian Andrew Roberts.

They said: “The British Army will soon be smaller than at any time since the late 19th century.

“The Government’s intention is for Britain to rely increasingly on the Territorial Army. Indeed, the reserve forces are to be expanded and investment made in order to raise the skill levels and capabilities of reservists. We welcome this commitment.

“However, any further widening of the role of the TA should not be at the expense of the regulars, and cannot be seen as a substitute for an adequately resourced regular Army.

“Front-line operations require a level of fitness, experience, and training to regular Army standards, that cannot readily be matched by part-time soldiers. Barely 1,500 personnel (five percent of the total TA) have sufficient training to be deployed in the way the Government envisages.”

An MoD spokesman said: “Reservists have demonstrated their professionalism, dedication and courage, in the most testing of circumstances. Changes to the Army will bring UK forces into line with comparable countries who operate with a higher proportion of Reserves.

“The Government will proceed with a £1.5bn investment over the next 10 years to enhance the capability of the reserves, £400m of which will be spent during this Parliament. The Government will work with employers and legislate if necessary to ensure that the reserves are more readily useable on operations.”

Former Defence Secretary Liam Fox, who stepped down in October after allegations he had allowed a friend too much access to the MoD and its contacts, announced last summer that Army numbers would be cut from 100,000 to 82,000 by 2015 but the TA would go up from 14,000 to 36,000.

He said at the time: “It is a major challenge but countries like Australia, Canada, the United States, operate on a routine basis with a higher proportion of Reserves. They have Reserves who are more deployable because they are genuinely better funded, better equipped, better trained.

“And I think we are going to have a number of challenges to the culture of how we go about defence in the years ahead, not least the fact that we’re going to be in areas like cyberspace in terms of security, which is a very different challenge from the physical challenges of the past.”

But Barnsley Central Labour MP Dan Jarvis, who was a Parachute Regiment officer until elected in March last year, said the comparisons with Australia and Canada were not appropriate and the US used its reservists differently.

He said the MoD was gambling that more people would be willing to volunteer for war instead of work – “but the reality is existing reservists understandably feel they have done their bit and it’s going to be a real challenge to persuade them to go again, or other people to go instead”.

He added: “I don’t think there is a plan to meet that challenge. The Defence & Security Review started with the need to meet Treasury demands rather than an analysis of Britain’s role in the world.”