Armed Forces Bill

Of course commanding officers are no angels. Of course their judgment is faulty. The problem will not arise in peacetime circumstances in barracks such as Deepcut, Tidworth and so on. In those circumstances, I agree that there is time for the Royal Military Police and others to be used to the proper extent. On operations, there is no time. On operations, one is driving hard against an enemy. We are not talking about the overthrow of the Third Reich. We are talking about peacekeeping operations where, one minute, one is face to face with the enemy, at bayonet length from the enemy, and the next minute one is trying to dress his wounds and give out food to his wife. It is in those circumstances that the commanding officer must have that sanction, where he can use his judgment. If he does not, the fundamentals are attacked. On my second point, I ask for the Minister’s earnest consideration. The Army works on the principle of mission command. A commander takes an idea, decides what he wants to do, apportions missions to his subordinates and gives them the necessary resources. Unless the subordinate says that he does not have the necessary resources, the mission is entirely up to the subordinate commander. Part of that, particularly in these circumstances, means that the subordinate commander, in this case a lieutenant-colonel, must have the legal powers to deal with his soldiers in the difficult circumstances posed by places such as Iraq. If the commanding officer cannot deal quickly, effectively and legally with the soldiers under his command, to all intents and purposes a very important strand of tactical doctrine, namely mission command, is taken away from him.