The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
within the
Army … They would be under quite considerable stretch. So
medics,
engineers,
a raft of people who were under very significant strain. We knew
that.
“However,
what was the solution? That [Iraq] was then something we then
had
21.
The MOD
provided an Operational Welfare Package (OWP) to deployed
Service
Personnel.
Although tailored to each deployment, it typically included access
to
television
and films, books, the internet, and a weekly telephone
allowance.
22.
This support
was provided “consistent with the operational and
environmental
circumstances
in which they [Service Personnel] are placed, and the availability
of
resources”.
23.
In late
January 2003, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, Chief of the Defence Staff
(CDS),
asked
senior officers to scrutinise the lessons identified during Op
JACANA (a UK
operation
in Afghanistan in 2002), and to report on progress in addressing
lessons
24.
Lt Gen Palmer
responded on 31 January, outlining progress towards
addressing
several of
the lessons that had been identified, including the importance of a
workable
“Welfare
Telephone” system early in an operation.13
The
Permanent Joint Headquarters
(PJHQ) had
made this, along with the delivery of mail, their priority for Op
TELIC. The
ratio of
Welfare Telephones had been increased from one to 50 to one to 30
to meet the
needs of
manoeuvre forces.
25.
From 1 April
2003, all units (Regular and Reserve) from which more than
five
Service
Personnel had deployed received a Family Welfare Support
Enhancement
(FWSE) of
£1 per week per individual deployed.14
The FWSE
was to be used by the
unit to
improve communications between families and deployed Service
Personnel
(for example
by providing internet and telephone facilities) and to support
welfare
activities
for families.
26.
Lt Gen Palmer
advised the Chiefs of Staff on 9 April 2003 that he had reviewed
the
MOD’s
allowance policy “in support of Op TELIC Service Personnel and
their families”,
11 Public
hearing, 16 July 2010, page 18.
12
Minute
DPSO/CDS to MA/CNS, 22 January 2003, ‘Op JACANA Lessons for
TELIC’.
13
MC/DCDS(Pers)
to DPSO/CDS, 31 January 2003, ‘Op JACANA Lessons for Op
TELIC’.
14
Minute HQ
Land Command [junior official] to HQ 2 Div, 25 October 2003,
‘Welfare Provision for
Op TELIC
3 – Chain of Command Instruction’.
6