{"id":54605,"date":"2015-03-03T10:06:16","date_gmt":"2015-03-03T10:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=fb726d22b15b3bf997b127e1e2af7e34"},"modified":"2015-03-03T10:06:16","modified_gmt":"2015-03-03T10:06:16","slug":"speech-ngo-military-contact-group-conference-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=54605","title":{"rendered":"Speech: NGO Military Contact Group conference 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m delighted to be here<\/p>\n

And first\u2026let me thank\u2026 the Red Cross, the Foreign Office and the NGO Military Contact Group for organising this conference today <\/p>\n

On a light-hearted note, the programme kindly says I\u2019m down as the keynote speaker <\/p>\n

\u2026but I\u2019m then followed by an expert<\/p>\n

\u2026you quickly learn in this business that humility is a fundamental part of the job!<\/p>\n

For those who don\u2019t know\u2026what my job does involve\u2026is responsibility for operations in the armed forces<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a unique privilege <\/p>\n

One that has afforded me the rare opportunity to see our brave servicemen and women in action in theatres right across the globe<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s emphasised something I knew in theory but only really grasped in practice when I became an infantryman in the Territorial Army <\/p>\n

\u2026during the height of the Cold War<\/p>\n

That while the primary purpose of our armed forces is to keep you and our country safe<\/p>\n

\u2026we do much else besides<\/p>\n

Operational versatility: at home<\/h2>\n

For instance\u2026over the last few years\u2026we have displayed considerable versatility in providing assistance to our own domestic civilian authorities when it\u2019s been required <\/p>\n

In 2012 in Operation Olympics \u2026with the world watching on\u2026our armed forces helped secure\u2026 at short notice\u2026a great and glorious Olympic Games\u2026making sure people left those marvellous arenas with smiles on their faces<\/p>\n

In 2014 in Operation Pitchpole \u2026they rescued people and possessions in flooded areas of England\u2026 helping provide vital reassurance\u2026not just to those affected but to the wider public watching on TV at home<\/p>\n

Recalling these events I remember one rather sodden Saturday morning\u2026helping to build a sand-bag wall\u2026alongside army reservists from 7th battalion the Rifles\u2026to protect an electricity substation in the outskirts of Reading<\/p>\n

It was raining and we got soaked<\/p>\n

\u2026for that morning at least I was\u2026 unquestionably\u2026 a wet Tory!<\/p>\n

And \u2026in the last few months in Operation Prismed\u2026our armed forces have stepped up once more\u2026driving ambulances during a period of industrial action<\/p>\n

\u2026showing again that \u2026in a time of difficulty\u2026 our military are there to help <\/p>\n

Operational versatility: abroad<\/h2>\n

But our armed forces have not just provided resilience on the domestic front\u2026they have continued to show their mettle abroad as well<\/p>\n

As part of Operation Recsyr \u2026escorting chemical substances and weapons out of Syria for safe destruction
\n\u2026and in Operation Patwin \u2026 sending HMS Daring and HMS Illustrious to the Philippines in the wake of the devastating Typhoon Haiyan
\n\u2026helping\u2026literally thousands\u2026of people who had lost almost everything<\/p>\n

The proud crew of HMS Illustrious were subsequently celebrated at the \u201cMillies\u201d, The Sun Military Awards in December last year [2014]. I was there on the night to see it.<\/p>\n

One of the crew members who was interviewed for the award ceremony explained that\u2026when the ship\u2019s Commanding Officer realised what was happening\u2026the risk to life and limb<\/p>\n

\u2026he accelerated his 20,000 ton warship up to 27 knots<\/p>\n

\u2026which is a speed more familiar to a frigate than an aircraft carrier. <\/p>\n

According to said crewman in the interview \u2026\u201cthe boss drove it like he stole it\u201d!<\/p>\n

Yet another illustration of the Royal Navy\u2019s readiness to help people in dire need<\/p>\n

Gritrock<\/h2>\n

Over the last 6 months<\/p>\n

\u2026 we have deployed more than 900 armed forces personnel<\/p>\n

\u2026.support ship RFA Argus\u2026 providing a Role 2 medical facility<\/p>\n

\u2026 as well as aviation support from her 3 Merlin helicopters<\/p>\n

Within a matter of weeks<\/p>\n

\u2026our medics have trained 4,000 Sierra Leonean volunteer health-care workers<\/p>\n

\u2026our logisticians have helped set up command and control centres across the country<\/p>\n

\u2026and our engineers have overseen the construction of 6 Ebola Treatment Centres or\u2026in effect\u2026 mini-hospitals <\/p>\n

\u2026including the pioneering Kerry Town Treatment centre<\/p>\n

\u2026where we are still running a specialist medical facility\u2026for international healthcare workers\u2026 alongside Save the Children <\/p>\n

\u2026and we have treated a number of Ebola sufferers successfully at that facility <\/p>\n

This is now\u2026.from MOD<\/abbr>\u2019s point of view\u2026 our largest overseas deployment<\/p>\n

And\u2026in terms of the fight against Ebola\u2026 second only in magnitude to that of the United States <\/p>\n

Visiting Sierra Leone<\/h2>\n

My line manager\u2026the Secretary of State\u2026returned from Sierra Leone just the other week <\/p>\n

And prior to Christmas I visited and saw for myself the Kerry Town Treatment Unit<\/p>\n

There I had the great privilege to meet the men and women of 22 Field Hospital<\/p>\n

\u2026or the \u201cother 22\u201d as some in the military now refer to them <\/p>\n

I saw for myself \u2026 the control and monitoring centre\u2026 the decontamination unit<\/p>\n

\u2026 I remember in particular<\/p>\n

\u2026talking to a brave 19 year old nurse<\/p>\n

\u2026who had recently emerged from the \u201cred zone\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026putting herself in harms way to protect others<\/p>\n

\u2026and I must confess to thinking<\/p>\n

\u2026that I\u2019ve never been prouder to be British<\/p>\n

\u2026 or indeed to be the Minister for our armed forces <\/p>\n

\u2026it was genuinely something I\u2019ll never forget my whole life<\/p>\n

3 lessons from Sierra Leone<\/h2>\n

Remaining active<\/h3>\n

I believe there are 3 important lessons from our experience in Sierra Leone that will determine our approach to these types of humanitarian issue in future<\/p>\n

And I\u2019d like to share them with this conference today<\/p>\n

First, that defence will have to remain active on the global stage<\/p>\n

Not just because it\u2019s the right thing to do
\n\u2026but because in a 21st century world
\n\u2026of expansionist states\u2026 terrorist death cults\u2026piracy on the high seas\u2026 weapons proliferation\u2026and deadly epidemics<\/p>\n

\u2026.we cannot take an isolationist approach<\/p>\n

Just as Ebola does not respect borders we have to be prepared to participate in other timely international responses<\/p>\n

The Duke of Wellington once said in the 19th century that \u201che who fails to plan to meet the enemy abroad will one day meet the enemy at home\u201d<\/p>\n

And\u2026in a 21st century context\u2026we deployed personnel to West Africa <\/p>\n

\u2026not just to help the Sierra Leoneans, right though that was <\/p>\n

\u2026but to seek also to prevent a terrible disease <\/p>\n

\u2026from spreading to our own countrymen here at home <\/p>\n

For the record the British government has spent more than a third of a billion pounds in fighting Ebola<\/p>\n

And for all the debate about international aid \u2026for all the controversy which has been generated\u2026I would submit that even the most narrow-minded person \u2026would have to accept that this money has been money well spent<\/p>\n

Ready for anything<\/h3>\n

This brings me to my next point<\/p>\n

That \u2026in an age of uncertainty and unpredictability
\n\u2026the United Kingdom must remain ready for anything<\/p>\n

As we transition from the conflict in Afghanistan\u2026and a Lance Corporal has just been awarded a VC for his brave actions in that conflict\u2026.as we rebalance our armed forces or return to contingency as we tend to say in the MOD<\/abbr>\u2026there will be implications not just for our military and defence roles <\/p>\n

\u2026but for international engagement and wider humanitarian aid as well<\/p>\n

We\u2019re keen to ensure we can keep responding to trouble down the track<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of the reasons why we\u2019re transforming our Reserves and Regulars into a flexible future force<\/p>\n

\u2026and why we\u2019re continuing to invest in the most advanced military equipment<\/p>\n

\u2026which though procured primarily for a military purpose <\/p>\n

\u2026also has a clear utility in a humanitarian context as well <\/p>\n

For instance\u2026our 65,000 ton aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales\u2026.the largest warships ever to be built in Britain <\/p>\n

\u2026both of which\u2026 I\u2019m proud to say\u2026will now be entering service<\/p>\n

Look at what Illustrious did in Patwin, these carriers are 3 times as big!<\/p>\n

Like our world class Type 45 destroyers<\/p>\n

Like our highly versatile C-17 transports, which brought people back from Sierra Leone \u2026supplemented by the new A400M aircraft<\/p>\n

And like our Mark 6 Chinook Helicopters\u2026giving us one of the largest Chinook helicopter fleets in the world outside of the US\u2026. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speech by Mark Francois, Minister of State for the Armed Forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}