The Wisdom of a Reserve Army - The Coming of the Second Echelon

Chronicles from a Democratised Army; Tales of My Service, My Choice on the Volga Front.

Our Brother Officer returns with another report on the fighting of the 2030s. He has penned this stylised and unclassified account so that some of the messages can reach the people of our own time.

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General Smith stood staring West back across the home bank of the Volga. Despite the relentless eastward push of Army Group Volga [AGV], NATO’s largest formation in the Russian hinterland, the lines of supply were becoming perilously thin. Increased partisan and drone attacks between the connecting echelons had started to gradually weaken the combat power of The King’s Own Europa Infantry as their supplies were picked off en route to the front. Men were now collectively sharing individual ration packs. Ammunition was cycled between troops on sentry positions. Most worryingly for Gen Smith the reinforcements from the Army Reserve had yet to arrive. The strength of his regiment was barely 65% of its pre-war compliment. AGV HQ had notified him that his reinforcements from the Army Reserve Reinforcement Group were due soon but that was over a month ago. The ability of his units to hold the line was starting to increasingly bend. It would not be long until it broke.

Thus Gen Smith viewed the terrain back to the East over the river that could offer the withdrawal routes for the ‘Koropas’ (the informal term used by other units when mentioning the King’s Own Europa Infantry). He surveyed the routes considering the threats; cover from view, fires, ISR assets, and planned accordingly his options. The King’s Own were now perilously short of experienced combat leaders who could conduct, if necessary, a fighting withdrawal. Major Roland now the Battalion Second in Command, handed Gen Smith a note and turned back to the map board quietly briefing the officers present. Roland, only a Lt four months ago had earned a third bar to his MC from Sevastopol during the doomed assault on the Perikop Isthmus. Gen Smith had recommended him for a Conspicuous Gallantry Cross; however the medals office having considered the citation noted that Roland’s father originally commissioned as a Sapper and was thus descended from the ‘wrong sort’ to be granted a CGC.

The radio of Kingsman Harris’, the commanders’ signaler, crackled and pierced through the still silent dewy morning, ‘Hello B19A, this is 0, fetch Sunray over’. Smith turned around and took the receiver from Harris’ offering hand.

‘0, Sunray speaking send over’.

‘B19A, you are to flick to SLIDO, for immediate SITREP from Reserve echelon in Berlin over’.

‘19A Roger out’.

Gen Smith, turned to Kingsman Dell, the commanders laptop operator. ‘Delly; fire up SLIDO there for me please’. Smith sipped his black coffee barely reacting to the scalding heat of the tar-like sludge in his jack flask. Immediately the Q&A page heavy with text stared back at him. It was full of comments from the soldiers of his Reserve echelon. They had been mobilised from the UK mounting centre to Berlin three days ago as part of the eventual move to support AGV. The Reservists were sat in a large hotel conference room in Berlin attending the Army Group Volga Reserve Conference, a weekend forum to discuss matters of importance to the Reservists within AGV. Dell, easily the most effective laptop operator in Army Group Volga, effortlessly synced the SLIDO deck into the MS Teams call, and handed Gen Smith the headset.

‘Good morning Warfighters, I’ll cut right to it, I need all of you to get on the transport now which is heading East. Grab whatever ammunition and stores you can. We are in a precarious position at the front and I am rapidly losing resilience….’. Instantly a hand icon shot up on MS Teams and a mic unmuted ‘Hi General, Tom Carter-Tait here, AH Reserve Risk, Specialist Skills Specialist Section, working in the Cyber Squad, it’s a great point you raise General, and I’ve been saying for yonks we need to generate a conversation around this very topic of resilience. The fact is the Army Reserve is just brilliant at providing resilience because shock, guess what, we do it in our day jobs you know? The subject of mobilising reservists is just one we haven’t gotten right for some time. There’s lots of work to be done’.

Gen Smith interjected sternly ‘look, whoever that was that interrupted me, my men and I haven’t time for a pow-wow. We need all of you on the transport. You are the reinforcements for Army Group Volga. I have to get you to the front immediately’. The group was silent. The event co-ord spoke up ‘hi General we have a question from the audience’. General Smith dared not show his frustration to the two Kingsman before him who were occupying their time throwing an orange wrapped in sniper tape between each other in some primitive yet transfixing game. ‘General, hi, Simon Boswell, SO4 Audits Reserve at Army Group Rear. My question is related to working patterns. A lot of reservists are put off by work life balance in Army Group Volga. Often working from home is better for them however time and again reservists are at the bottom of the queue for MODNET laptops. We really need to generate a conversation about IT assets for reserve personnel. I’m not saying we need to take the IT assets from regulars but at the same time maybe we should be having the conversation about taking the assets off regulars. It’s definitely one we need to get right General.’

Gen Smith stayed silent. Internally he was wracking his brain back to his time as an Adjutant years ago. He was trying to remember the piece of policy that could approve whether he was allowed discipline a reservist. The policy, like his memory of it, was hazy. The silence was punctuated by a booming voice.

‘Hi General; hope you can hear me Strength 5 over? Mark Eastfield here. I work in Defence Unit for Contribution to Outputs, Doo-Koo as you may have heard it. My question is more of a comment really but I have to ask it, I mean does the Army know we are here? Do they know the talent and skill available within the Army Reserve and what it can offer? We are waiting for the army to say “okay pack your bags, we need you to go.”’ Gen Smith unmuted his mic to inform the speaker and the wider audience that he indeed needed the participants to pack their bags and go but before he could the event co-ord interjected. ‘Great point Mark but remember we have the Battlefield Study tomorrow, so we need all attendees available for that. We meet at the hotel lobby tomorrow at 11am, should be enough time to sweat off tonight’s beers’ he laughed.

By now the voices were indistinguishable to General Smith. Another one spoke of the need ‘to generate a conversation about work patterns. Many of us have civilian employment and have to fit this in around our day-to-day jobs’. Kingsman Harris softly spoke into his gently fizzing can of Monster ‘must be nice’. One of the Reservists unmuted her mic ‘I’ve told lots of people here that I am part of a unit that wants to deploy. Currently I regularly work from home because it suits me. Will the Army consider that it could offer Reserve personnel like me some RSDs¹ remotely working in support of the Volga front?’

Another mic unmuted supporting this interjection ‘excellent point Tanya, and it’s one I think the Regulars fail to understand. We can’t be expected to do the same level of work as the regulars and that’s okay. But it’s a conversation we should be having. What can the Army do to provide our reservists the experience of being at the front without necessarily the commitment, because our people are fantastic, and they can really offer some incredible skills to the Army but only if the Army asks us.’

Supporting that another reservist interjected to mention the government’s lack of a success with its recent NHS Reserve initiative whereby people who were accountants or mechanics could work as doctors and nurses part time had been quietly shelved following inconclusive results. Dismissing that another officer noted that healthcare differed from the profession of arms as ‘only one of them was actually a matter of life or death’. As the online voices rustled into an incoherent din of people encouraging one another to have a conversation Smith exploded. At this point all pretence of civility was gone in his voice. His exasperated body language in front of Harris and Dell had long betrayed his stoic manner. ‘Look I cannot be clearer! Trains are leaving from Berlin tonight to make the long shuttle to the Volga front. All of you are to draw stores, ensure you leave your wills and NoK details with the G1 staff and get on the transport. I need warfighters on the Volga front immediately.’

The forum co-ord spoke up “Hi General, Steven Bowlder here event Co-ord. I know from my civvie job that any attempts to mobilise employees without requisite transport loading trains is actually against the law. It’s an area we really need to open the conversation with the government on.” Gen Smith’s stare could have pierced the pixelated screen “Steven, what are you telling me?” Bowlder continued “General, it’s a great question and one we really need to dig deep on, perhaps one for the bar this evening if you care to join us? These reservists can’t just be mobilised to go anywhere. But it’s a great point and one we should be having a conversation about”. The call unexpectedly cut out. Kingsman Dell cursed ‘damn, these Russian EW pirates are getting better’.

Smith sighed; perhaps he’d have to wait another few weeks for reinforcements. He would submit this risk on the Army Group Volga risk register, attaching the form to the group mailbox. The Deputy Commander had sent a request for a Quarterly Performance Risk Review submission. The faultlessly dependable Roland sensed his commanders frustration as Smith wearily spoke to his Second in Command. ‘Roland, double the sentry shifts and add yourselves and myself to the stag list. You and I will take the 0300hrs watch.’ Roland nodded politely ‘so no joy with the Reserve echelons Sir?’ ‘No. No joy as of yet, but the conversation is ongoing.’

1. Reserve Service Day, the mechanism by which British Army Reservists are mobilised and remunerated for their service.