16.3 |
Military fatalities and the bereaved
75.
Shortly after
the JCCC was established, the Army established the
Army
Investigations
and Aftercare Support Cell (AIASC) to improve and extend the
Army’s
support for
families.55
The AIASC
had two main roles:
•
to maintain
close contact with bereaved families on a regular basis for as
long
as they
wanted, including estranged family members. This included
regular
letters on
the progress of Service Police investigations and BOIs;
and
•
on behalf
of the Army’s Senior Co‑ordinator, to oversee the BOI process
and
ensure that
delays were kept to a minimum.
76.
The AIASC had
a number of secondary roles, including developing and
maintaining
a formal,
standardised training package for CNOs and VOs. The AIASC aimed
to
implement
that package by the end of 2005.
77.
JSP 751 stated
that CNOs should “if possible ... have received some training
or
instruction
such as in dealing with bereavement” and that VOs should “if
possible ...
have
received some relevant training or instruction”.56
78.
Lieutenant
General Mark Mans, the Deputy Adjutant General, wrote to
senior
Army commanders
on 25 November 2005, to remind them of the importance
of
selecting appropriate and experienced individuals to be
VOs:
“Although
the majority do an excellent job, from time to time the wrong
person
is
nominated and invariably significant difficulties follow. This
happened again
recently ...
“The
training of both Casualty Notification Officers (CNOs) and VOs is
also most
important
and although JSP [751] says ‘if possible ... should have received
some
training’,
it should be exceptional for them not to have attended some sort
of
79.
Lt Gen Mans
advised that a centralised training package based on an
interactive
CD and
accompanying material should issue in early 2006 and would form the
basis of
all future
training (divisions and brigades currently ran their own training).
Training would
become
mandatory when this package issued.
80.
Lt Gen Mans
told the Inquiry that VOs had:
“... a
fairly comprehensive training programme in order to deal with a
number of
issues ...
and, indeed, as individuals, they need to be looked after as well
because,
55
Paper MOD,
[undated], ‘The Army Investigations and Aftercare Support Cell
(AIASC)’.
56
Paper MOD,
11 July 2005, ‘JSP 751: Joint Casualty and Compassionate
Policy’.
57
Minute Mans
to Comd BFC, 25 November 2005, ‘Selection of Visiting
Officers’.
91