British Army Preparation for Operations Major Joe Carnegie R ANGLIAN British Peace Support Team (South Africa)

2 Format of the Presentation British Army model of operational training MATTS and CT Levels Force Operations and Readiness Mechanism Operational Support Group and Operational Training and Advisory Group (OPTAG) The Challenges Questions

British Army Model of Operational Training British Army Training run by the Land Warfare Centre (LWC) Split into 3 component parts, designed to cover ‘a war’, ‘the war’, ‘the future war’ However; –TRAINING IS A COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY 3

Mandatory Annual Training Tests (MATTS) Every soldier in the British Army is expected to complete his/her MATTS annually Series of lectures and tests designed to maintain a base skill set Includes fitness, shooting, LOAC, medical etc The first ‘building block’ of operational training 4

Collective Training Levels 5 CT6Divisional sized formation training CT5Brigade sized formation training CT4 Task organised unit or BG training conducted in a combined arms formation context CT3 Sub-unit training in a task organised unit or combined arms BG context CT2Collective skills training at subunit level CT1Collective skills training at up to troop / platoon level

Force Operations and Readiness Mechanism (FORM) - The Theory 6 HROps CT 1&2 CT 3&4 CT 5&6 PDT CT 1&2 30 months

Force Operations and Readiness Mechanism (FORM) - The Practice 7 Recuperation PDTOps CT 1&2 CT 3&4 CT 5&6 PDT CT 1&2 Force Preparation PDT 30 months

Operational Support Group 8 ‘Training for and support to current operations’ Mission: To provide operational support in order to contribute to the preparation and support of force elements for the conduct of operations.

Operational Support Group Msn Sp Branch –Mission Support Group OPTAG –Operational Training and Advisory Group SCIAD(L) –Scientific Adviser (Land) Branch –Provision of scientific and analytical advice OPLAW –Operational Law Branch –Provision of legal mission support Reserves Training and Mobilisation Centre 9

Pre Deployment Training Train the Trainers Individual to Sub Unit Specialist Support to MRX 10 Operational Training & Advisory Group Cultural Awareness

GENERIC OPTAG CYCLE 11 All Ranks Brief Train The Trainer Cascade Training Confirmatory Training Best Prepared OPTAG Visits Unit Post Training Report Recce, Coord Conf Mission Rehearsal

The Challenges Identify units early enough for operational duty in order to allow them sufficient preparation time (TIME) Integration of reinforcements (ADMINISTRATION / TRAINING) Realistic and sufficient training standards (CASH) Move with the times (LESSONS) Have a model that copes with the unexpected (FLEXIBILITY) 12

Key challenge 13 How do we balance our need to prepare for Stability Operations…

14 …while maintaining our ability to conduct Major Combat Operations at readiness?

Thank You Questions?