The Royal Armoured Corps have been providing drivers for the various mine protected patrol vehicles in Afghanistan for some time but are pushing for a wider and more formalised role, being responsible for operating all Army/Royal Marines armoured vehicles to include Challenger, Warrior, Warthog, Viking, Mastiff and others.
Operation Entirety has also seen 4 mechanised and Armoured Infantry Battalions re roled to to light role units, putting their Warriors and Bulldogs into storage to allow them to deploy to Afghanistan.
A cynic might say it is an attempt to stave off being hammered in the forthcoming SDR but they have the experience and skill sets necessary for operating increasingly complex vehicles thus freeing up scarce manpower for other tasks, infantry soldiers being infantry soldiers and drivers being drivers.
The availability of drivers for the raft of UOR vehicles has been a very real operational and safety issue in Afghanistan so although a sensible approach for Afghanistan, does this have a long term future?
