Colonel Bob Stewart - We ask too much from our TA soldiers

[Batgirl]

by Colonel Bob Stewart

Barely a day goes by without another story of our beleaguered Army hitting the headlines. As the number of dead increases, so too do the stories of nonexistent aftercare and lack of respect for the fallen. We are spending a lot of time worrying about our troops, and rightly so. But what of our reservists - those young men and women who are part-time soldiers and part-time civilians? Our troops are struggling, but the Territorial Army's soldiers find themselves in a similarly parlous situation. Under today's incredible operational pressure - short of men and short of money - the Army needs the TA more than at any time since the Korean war.

Over the past 20 years, there has been a revolution in the way part-time soldiers are used by the Ministry of Defence. When our Army was primarily concerned with deterring the Soviet Union, the TA was simply a reserve that could be mobilised quickly if war in Europe threatened. No Regulars expected to see TA soldiers serving in places such as Ulster.

With the end of the Cold War, a peace dividend was enacted. The Regular and Territorial armies were reduced to fit the lesser ''Threat''. It is ironic, then, that in the past 15 years fighting commitments have grown hugely.

Right now 13,000 service personnel are facing sustained operational pressure - demonstrated vividly by the number of casualties in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Our relatively small Regular Army is stretched to its limit and so, inevitably, has turned to its Reserve forces for urgent help. Most of the 38 infantry battalions are under-strength by, on average, 50 men. Given that each battalion should have just over 500 soldiers, this represents an undermanning to the tune of 10 per cent.

The quickest and most economic way to make up such differences is to call on the Territorials. Reservists make up four per cent and seven per cent of the total manpower deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan respectively. The MoD plans to mobilise 1,200 reservists a year for the foreseeable future. All but a handful will be sent in harm's way.

I recently toured Britain and Basra talking to TA soldiers and was seriously impressed by their passion and commitment. As an ex-Regular, I was proud of them. Not one complained about being mobilised, whether he volunteered or not. All were very happy to have served their country, even if some would not want to do so again - at least in the immediate future.

The MoD's proposal to cut TA funding by £5 million over two years seems strange - even if these cuts are not meant to affect operational ability; £5 million is a drop in the ocean of defence spending - but its effects on cash-strapped TA units will be significant. Training days have already been pared to the bone but the TA needs an additional 10 days' training per soldier a year to maintain operational standards. All the soldiers told me that not being allowed to train properly was a huge ''turn-off''.

The TA is about 7,000 under its established strength of around 38,000. But, for understandable reasons such as recent mobilisation or short-term medical problems, there may be considerably fewer than 18,000 available and fit personnel to reinforce the Regulars. Then a lot of these - senior officers and non-commissioned officers - are not needed. The Army wants junior ranks, not more senior leaders, to fill gaps in its order of battle. This causes problems of cohesion for TA units whose juniors go to war while the seniors stay at home.

A relatively small pool of junior officers and soldiers - perhaps as few as 10,000 - is being extensively quarried. But, TA soldiers feel poorly served by comparison with their Regular counterparts, whose families are kept informed by regimental families' organisations. Large numbers of TA centres across the country have been closed - exacerbating the problem. And it was only after serious pressure that the Government agreed that wounded reservists would be entitled to specialist aftercare like the Regulars.

Reservists need to have a full-time, central welfare structure. This too would cost little to establish. Our Army needs the TA, almost like never before. But there is a danger that the Territorials will be worn to shreds by over-use and dependence on relatively few people. What happens then? The frightening thing is, we are very close to finding out.

Colonel Bob Stewart investigates the TA in 'The Insider: Army on the Cheap', to be shown on Channel 4 at 7.30pm tomorrow

Telegraph