It’s time to talk about moral injury and the Army.

Because if it’s not fixed, I think it might fundamentally alter:

- who stays and who goes,
- how the Army is led
- who the Army attracts.

What I’m saying is - it might shift the character of the Army & service.

A thread. Let’s start with a definition

Moral injury is distressing psychological, behavioral, social, impact in the aftermath of exposure to events.

It’s different to PTSD - which is based on trauma, processing and recalling memory, and/or the disturbance of the present by the past.

Been asked by a few for analysis.
Here’s my take from Strategic to Tactical on the current crisis.

Caveat: I’m no longer serving so all this is from #OSINT

🧵 Strategically this operation is doomed.
The rhetoric Putin deployed is unravelling at home and with his friends.

The longer the conflict takes the less solidarity there will be from the East and BRIC.

Despite “fortress Russia” economy China will not like long term disruption.

In July 2020 I was disciplined by my 1* and 2* boss for challenging a 3* letter on the issue of racism.

In my 12 line email I urged us to move beyond activity, activism, process and hubris and immerse ourselves in the everyday where mistakes occur.

A 🧵on Op Teamwork eve. First it’s a profoundly good thing we have problem recognition.

The Army finds it hard to act proactively on these issues, often needing an external crisis (oversight) or internal crisis (confidence/discontent) to move.

That’s the first thing to fix (return to this later)

So I hope I still keep the name Pagey.

“Rob” always makes me cringe a bit

But they used to call me….. 🧵

“Officer Cadet Page” (Uni 1998ish) They used to call me (2)

“Mr Page” (RMAS 2001)

Here are some thoughts on #MentalHealthAwareness

I’m going to focus on:

1. Context of our people
2. What we can all do
3. Tips for leaders
4. Convergence with alcohol
5. Neurodiversity
6. The most precious thing: hope.

Let’s thread Context.
We tend to focus on location, family etc

It’s also good to understand factors from growing up, family, poverty,

exposure to trauma/grief/violence/drug/alcohol misuse,

education completion/setting/needs.

Normalise getting into that detail and what to draw from it.

#Podcast Recommends from the commute:

1. “Gangster” The Story of Paul Massey.

Not only the rise a fall of Salford’s Mr Big but it also maps the highs and low of Salford and Manchester.

From the 1960s to today. Excellent investigation/oral history

bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0… #Podcast recommends from the commute.

2. Brixton: Flames on the Frontline
This happened in my lifetime but I’ve only known one side of the story.

This fantastic series puts together perspectives from several communities to give a wider perspective. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…

Ok here we go the Defence Command Paper and the Army.

Here’s my own take which obviously doesn’t reflect policy or party lines etc.

Not sure how long this will be - but let’s go! The IR (if you bleach out the politics and other bits) is a fantastic piece of work. It paints a bold vision of how to harness levers of National Power to deliver policy and strategic outcomes. Building on the work of fusion doctrine and breaks down barriers between Ministries.

Here are the top recommendations from the @CIPD report on how to support colleagues around the issues of increased drug and alcohol use through lockdown and the pandemic.

cipd.co.uk/knowledge/cult… 1. We currently have a zero tolerance policy on drugs and we’ve made big strides in modernising our approach to alcohol - but we can’t be complacent @4Alpha1 is here to help with signposting and support.

One of my soldiers is leaving #ATDU this week on promotion. We talked a lot on mental health and #BlackLivesMatter

He is of a mixed race background and he made the following observations which are worth noting. (THREAD) He grew up in an area of depravation in the 1980s. His mother and father suffered horrific racism from both black and white communities for the choice they made for love.

He attended school and “wasn’t black enough for those lads - and not white enough for the others”.

Today I was fortunate enough to sit on a board at APC Glasgow and thought I’d offer some views to recent twitter convos on the subject. 1. Board Composition. 1 x LE Colonel, 1 x WO1, 1 x non-RAC Major, 1 x Regtl CO 1 x E1 CO (that’s me) 2 x observers (Capt DE and Capt LE - RCMO). So what? This was a lot more diverse than I expected and made for a good mix of experience, experiences, perspectives and challenge!

‘Moderation’. What does that mean to you? How do you define it? Are you comfortable with how much, how often and the state you get in when you drink? If you’re curious why not read on. I’ll relate where I started from. #AlcoholAwarenessWeek #MentalHealthAwareness I’m going to cover this in ‘5 Ages of Man’. That’s because I look back and think some of this is tied up in quite a toxic version of ‘masculinity’. It’s important to note that like many issues for me this was pre-mortem to the Army.

What do you think people see; when they look at you?
Look...
You see our shiny boots and medal bars
I see survivors guilt and battle scars.
It helps to be with twenty soldiers with camaraderie
You see it as pageant; I feel that insecurity. Where I’m from, everyone wants to makes it work
But nobody ever lets people escape the work
It ain’t about who makes it best; but more about who stayed around.
Behind the scenes, they say God gave us eyes to see.

Tonight I’m at @RUSI_org attending Reflections on #DDay The Battle for Normandy. I’ll try and LT as much as I can! First up Sir Antony Beevor. Setting the scene. First major strategic factor was failure of Hitler to destroy the Red Army in 1941 and declaration of war on the US. Story of 1942 is overstretch of Germany and Japan.

Day Two of #DeterrenceConf kicking off with my previous 3* Peter Watkins. Talking cyber, space and deterrence including @blagden_david Starting with cyber, highlighting how understanding of technicalities of cyber still remain in a small community. Probably need to grow understanding of the capability and it’s limitations.

Afternoon panel: #DeterrenceConf What is current strategy? US NDS says long term threat is RUS and CHI seek to mould the world in their favour at the expense of the rules based order. CHI scoping and pacing power, RUS acute problem with nuclear weapons and a gang of rogues.

How to adapt deterrence to novel weapons, disruptive technologies and strategic challenges - including rebuilding our nuclear and conventional deterrence. Run through of changes to the NATO conventional response and deterrence structure - including new domains (cyber) - new nature of Art 5 cyber clause. Biggest reinforcement of collective deterrence in a generation.

THREAD. A response to yet another old and bold blustering about the new generation and new Army. telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/0… When I answer the telephone - like most human beings - I say ‘Hello’. I don’t expect my soldiers to answer every call they ever receive with ‘Sir’ or ‘Ma’am’. To place this expectation on soldiers is frankly Victorian.

A “low integrity culture” where rules are bent.
“tend to discount negative feedback and are overly confident in their judgment.”
“tend to reward loyalty over expertise in appointing deputies, ensuring that they are less likely to get truthful information”cnn.com/2018/11/05/suc… A cracking article that builds on a rich vein of research from 2000 onwards. The Church moved with the times from the dogma of Papal infallibility - but do Senior leaders admit fault? Has humility slipped as a leadership trait we value? Have leaders insulated themselves as above?