For many people, the past 16 months have been like no other... and you can include the British Army in that statement too.
As well as continuing their traditional deployments and peace keeping both here in the UK and abroad, the Army has been heavily involved in supporting the response to this country’s Coronavirus pandemic. Service Personnel have contributed to the successful deployment of testing sites, roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccination programme and have also been heavily involved behind the scenes in terms of supply and logistics. It’s been a monumental effort for which we should all be grateful. Thankfully, as life returns to some sort of normality, the Army’s Engagement Teams can now resume a lot of their excellent community work which, for obvious reasons, has not been possible for the majority of the last year. “In September we will be delivering and supporting a range of engagement activities in Newcastle,” said Lt.Col Andy Black, Head of Engagement North East and Yorkshire. “It’s so important for us to get back out there and meet the communities of the region once again. We need to engage with the public, schools and businesses to not only spread the word about the British Army, but also to inform and inspire those we engage. The North East is a vitally important region for the Army because it is the largest contributor in terms of personnel with around 20 per cent of the Armed Forces coming from the region.” Andy and his team have a busy month coming up. They’ve just returned from the Great Yorkshire Show and now they’ll be taking part in the following:- August 29th-30th they’ll be at the Newcastle MELA which is always a wonderful event. September 1st – there is an Army briefing to employers and gate keepers. 9th -10th Skills Days 11th Fusilier Freedom of City 12th Great North Run 19th Sikh Gurdwara event 16th Military Leader Insights Talk 22nd Armed Forces Covenant Signing 13th – 30th School activities can be booked The aim of these events is to promote the Army and to connect across society. There will be leadership talks to businesses by Brigadier Mike Butterwick CBE, Commander Infantry Training Group. Local employers will be able to hear how the Army looks at ‘Leadership in A Crisis’, including how they had to adapt quickly and respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. It may seem strange, but the lessons learnt by the Army since March 2020 can assist businesses in how they approach and deal with problems and help with future strategy… just like the Army had to do when, for example, redesigning soldier training within a COVID environment, ensuring their business continuity
