The Cold War: Should Wales deploy the army against the snow?

German soldiers on the Eastern Front, 1941: but soldiers can play a more positive role in snowy conditions

WHEN the snow in China was really bad last week, the Government ordered 300,000 people onto the streets of Beijing to clear the problem away. Command economies can do that sort of thing, but here in democratic Britain the challenge of dealing with natural disasters is very different. And of course while there may be a capability available there has to be a will to use it.

On Monday, the Army was working with the local authorities in both the south and north of England in response to the severe weather. It is interesting to question whether or not such a request for assistance would be made by a council in Wales. Historically there has always been reluctance in Wales to turn to the military for any assistance irrespective of the challenges faced, but support to the civil community is a reasonable task that the all three services are well equipped to deliver.

In legal terms a military unit commander is obliged to respond to a request from a local authority under the terms of providing military support to the civil authorities. This is different to the deployment of troops for such roles as fire fighting which is aid to the civil power, and requires legislation to implement. Support to civil authorities is therefore only a local activity as there doesn’t seem to be any mechanism for deploying the military through a single governmental edict in times of crisis or natural disaster. So for those worried about the use of the military in support of the Government this notion of local action is an effective check to the influence, or interference, by Government.

The support that can be made available can be wide ranging as well as specialist. Top of the list will of course be manpower, units of soldiers tend to come in teams of up to 100 or so and are used to working in adverse conditions and for dealing with challenging circumstances. They can also work around the clock. They operate in an environment that is well equipped, with a range of vehicles suitable for difficult conditions and with communication systems that are not reliant on network infrastructure like mobile phone networks to make them work. They can therefore get to places that others might not get to and most importantly can ensure communications in the worst of conditions so that additional resources can be requested if necessary.

A request for assistance to transport supplies to remote areas would therefore be a reasonable expectation and one authority in England is arranging for the Army to deliver “meals on wheels” in Land Rovers to those in need who have become somewhat cut-off by the weather. Of course there is more to this than just delivering food, it is also ensuring that some of those needy are still alive, a spin-off benefit of the meals on wheels service.

But there are also specialist services that could be of value in tackling extreme weather conditions. Over snow vehicles are a great asset and while many will have been deployed to Afghanistan, not for their over snow capability but for their short term utility while better vehicles were procured, some will still be available to deliver men and supplies to areas cut-off by heavy snowfall. During the winter of 1982 I was leading a convoy of over-snow tracked vehicles around isolated parts of Wiltshire; it was great for the community but it was also good preparation for upcoming training in Northern Norway.

Diggers, ploughs and JCB’s are also all part of the heavy equipment vehicle inventory that could be of use in dealing with snow and ice and of course they all come with built in recovery services if things don’t go quite to plan.

Many of our armed forces are trained to operate in the Arctic, and it is even conceivable that support could be made by ski borne troops to areas not accessible by vehicles of any sort. Carrying heavy loads while travelling on skis is all part and parcel of life as a Marine, with such deliveries also possible 24 hours a day.

Of course in some circumstances access may only be possible by air. The Navy, Army and Royal Air Force all have helicopters that are a great asset in adverse conditions, as they can get to just about anywhere and with relative ease. We are all used to seeing reports of rescues from mountains, but they can also collect and transport people to hospital when needed and can even be manned by military medical personnel. Whilst tales of isolated farms having food delivered by helicopter abound, but to date this has seldom been done as a coordinated response to a formal request for support.

In extreme conditions there is a concern that we may face the extreme challenge of gas supply restrictions, and that is a real fear as our national supplies are low, then the ability of all military units to set up field kitchens could be a boon to communities with no fuel for cooking. Planning for such contingencies should be on the list of things to do at the Council offices.

So when the snow comes, today, tomorrow or even next year there is much that can be done by the military to ease the pain that it brings. To do so will require a willingness for authorities to engage and make the request. For many this is an unpalatable act; antipathy to the military is prevalent in many areas, yet whenever the requests have been made there has seldom been disappointment with the results.

The process for this to happen is for a request from the council, probably the emergency planning teams, to the local military commanders. That could be to a unit in the county or even to the Army Headquarters for Wales, in Brecon. Response of course will not be instant and that is why pre-planning is so important. The Armed Forces are not supermen who can fly to our rescue at a moment’s notice so the earlier the planning starts the better for all concerned.

The big question, though, is – Will our councils use the limited military resources available in Wales? Historically the response would probably have been “no” but there are many good reasons for doing so when it is so apparent that we are facing challenges beyond the expectations of many local authorities.