Thread by @LogisticThinker

🧵 🗡️

There’s an elephant in the room in the Royal Navy, and it’s the UK’s Commando Force.

Pulled from pillar to post, lacking clear vision and direction, very senior officers trying to take chunks out of them and then using them for things they’re now not designed for 1/18

Here’s a thread on what the realistic options might be for the commandos if we are to 1. Retain them. 2. Make best use of them for Defence. 3. Preserve their unique capabilities, history and esprit de corps. 2/18

To start with, you all need to stop referring to them as 3 Commando Brigade.

Sorry to say, but they are no longer a brigade. The Future Commando Force concept, which has been poorly implemented, poorly supported, underfunded and flooded with gimmicks and photo ops 3/18

…has heavily eroded the capabilities that would be required to consider the commandos a deployable brigade. It is also no longer capable of deploying a battlegroup onto land. So we should just stop referring to it as such. 4/18

I fully understand where FCF came from. A valid concept designed pre-Pitting, pre-Russian invasion and in light of a very successful SFSG and the Army trying to get into the Tier 2 SOF game (a different thread required for this one). The idea was to protect the future of 5/18

…the commandos and find a niche role that would see them persistently deployed operationally doing cool stuff all over the globe. Makes sense. Do a load of SF-light type jobs that are exciting, well within the commando remit and great for retention and recruitment etc 6/18

Unfortunately, not only were they let down by squabbling internal parties but also sideswiped by Pitting (“we need a 1000 troops at short notice”) and the Russian invasion - mass is back. Neither of these suit small teams of determined troops without SF type permissions and 7/18

…the capabilities required to make them truly employable. The most important of these capabilities is, of course, ships and a method of getting ship-to-shore. This is one of the places where the whole thing comes unstuck. 8/18

So what should we do with them?

Option 1.

Do nothing. Pretend it’s all ok, we’ll eventually find the money for the ships, & the crews for those ships, & the helicopters & we’ll buy loads of all of the cool gizzits we’ve bought one of for photo ops and bring them into core. 9/18

…and we’ll send them off round the world, permanently deployed, rotating company groups as planned praying that Defence stumps up the cool permissions and that lots of crisis-type opportunities present themselves in the littoral and we can sail there quicker than 10/18

…16X can fly.

It’s an option. I think it’s a bad one. Many will disagree because they’re very invested in making it work.

11/18

Option 2.

Recognise that the situation has changed and that 3 Commando Brigade is desperately needed by Defence right now as a crucial component of our conventional deterrence.

The UK is becoming more and more focused on NATO’s northern flank - trade routes, JEF allies… 12/18

…JFC North etc - it would be really really useful right now if we had a 2 x battlegroup brigade that could deploy by sea or air & who were experts in all things ‘north’ - arctic & mountain warfare. The UK’s armed forces are meant to be ‘NATO by design’ - this is the role. 13/18

This would still allow commando forces to play their role on crunchy STTTs, NEOs and afloat where required. But having the all arms commando brigade in reserve for the northern flank would be ideal.

This would require many people to u-turn their thinking. Unlikely? 14/18

Option 3.

The Royal Navy gets out of the commando game. As much as possible is given to the SF and 2 more SFSG units are created with some all arms capability. The Army takes back most of its artillery, engr and log PIDs and adds them to the Ranger grouping where … 15/18

…they’re desperately needed. This puts the commandos back in the NCND game where they probably belong. Many of the benefits of FCF would be realised apart from permanently floating around on ships that aren’t fit for purpose. Which is a terrible idea anyway. 16/18

The trouble with this option is that it would require the Navy to give up most of the PIDs and that would stop the navy switching commando PIDs for sailor PIDs. A valid option though. 17/18

I’m not sure what the answer is. I think option 2 is most credible but probably least likely. Most likely they’ll just be forced to plod along. A real shame. But at least the photos are full of cool kit. Ally. 18/18.