By Ralph Barnett

TO THEIR friends, family and colleagues they are a relatively anonymous collection of ordinary men—everything from bin lorry drivers and hospital estate managers to law graduates and computer technicians—but at the moment they all have one thing in common.

Territorial Army soldiers from across Scotland—many from Tayside and Fife— are representing their country in the annual Cossack Steppe training exercise in Poland.

They are working alongside their regular Polish and Ukrainian army counterparts in a tripartite package of military manoeuvres aimed at honing the combat skills of all three participating nations and strengthening links between the UK and those who, only a few years ago, would have been regarded as potential enemies.

The men of 7 SCOTS—the inheritors of the almost legendary 51st Highland designation in the combined Royal Regiment of Scotland—are sharing ideas, tactics, weapons, food and accommodation with both conscript and regular forces from Poland and the Ukraine on the vast Nova Debar military training area, with representatives from the Lithuanian army present.

With Poland now a full member of NATO and the Ukraine hoping to follow suit—both countries are actively seeking to put their Soviet Union-era Communist pasts behind them and embrace pro-western ideals and political philosophies—Exercise Cossack Steppe (Kosacki Step in the host nation’s language) is seen as a very important element of the Partnership for Peace programme.

Largely due to funding issues, UK involvement in this year’s exercise was very nearly cancelled—7 SCOTS were instead “looking forward” to an annual training camp in the bleak Northumbrian wilderness of Otterburn—but the timely intervention of none other than their Colonel-in-Chief, the Duke of Rothesay, saw them being chosen for the trip to Poland.

With this year being the 100th anniversary of the Territorial Army, Prince Charles showed he was as committed as his grandmother had been to the Scottish infantry by quietly persuading the powers to allow 7 SCOTS to undertake a role normally taken by regular units from the Parachute Regiment.

With all of the regular and TA battalions of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, and their linked University Officer Training Corps units, now sharing a common cap badge with varying hackles to distinguish their individual regimental heritages, it is now all but impossible to differentiate between the full-time and part-time soldiers when they are on exercise or operational duties.

This is a source of some pride to Lieutenant Colonel Dougie Hay, the recently appointed commanding officer of 7 SCOTS, for whom the role is a natural career progression after staff posts which took him to Germany, Bosnia and Iraq.

He said, “After a very busy summer supporting Exercise Pipers Trail we are all really enjoying this opportunity.

“When I took over command of the battalion Exercise Cossack Steppe had been cancelled from a UK perspective and we were looking to go down to Otterburn, which was a far less exciting prospect, to say the least!

“As a Partnership for Peace exercise, this has huge political and strategic importance.

“For Poland, as relatively new members of NATO, it is particularly significant and they are using it as an opportunity to demonstrate their credentials to the alliance and they regard hosting the exercise as a matter of great national esteem.

“The Ukrainians, as participants, and the Lithuanians, in the role of observers, take the exercise equally seriously, as do we.

“The recent events in Georgia have prompted public and media discussion in Poland—whose people have no great love of the Russians—as to where their future lies and the people and the country are now very much looking to the west rather than the east.

“I think it probably goes without saying, given their participation in this exercise, that the Ukraine and Lithuania are similarly minded. The commanding officer of the Polish 25th Air Cavalry squadron who is in overall charge of the multi- national battalion for this exercise is a highly motivated and extremely confident paratrooper who knows where he wants to see his army and his country go.

“He and many of his officers have been through the UK Staff College and they and their men are becoming increasingly westernised in their outlook.

“His unit is a very professional volunteer outfit but, as Poland heads towards abolishing military conscription altogether in the next years or so, he is very interested in finding out more about how we recruit and retain personnel.

“I hope, and believe, that 7 SCOTS are making a contribution to that learning process and will continue to do so in the future.

“It’s not all work, of course, and after our lads enjoyed their 36-hour leave in Krakow—which for many also included visits to the salt mines and the Nazi camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau—we had a Scotland v Poland sports day.

“I am happy to put on record that we won at tug o’ war and grenade throwing but lost at volleyball and in a penalty shoot-out at football resulting in a diplomatic and honourable draw over the four events!

“On a more serious note, this has been a fantastic opportunity to develop the battalion’s core military skills in a very unfamiliar environment with temperatures as high as 34 degrees Celsius.

“This has come at just the right time for 7 SCOTS and I would like to think that the prestige that goes with being chosen to take part in this exercise will create a momentum that can be maintained in terms of our own recruitment and retention.

“The TA is not the cheap drinking club it was not all that long ago and some of my soldiers have done two or three tours in Iraq and elsewhere, resulting in the inevitable operational fatigue that affects all of our armed services now.

“Some of them are happy to give that level of commitment but others, and especially if they work for smaller employers, are less so and that is an issue that must be address.

“With the current One Army ethos there is no real distinction made between TA and regular soldiers and units like 7 SCOTS have to be far more operationally focused and capable than was the case even 10 years ago.

“From my point of view there is no longer clear blue water between the role and capability of TA and reserve forces and the regular army and it is my number one priority, as a regular commanding officer, to produce soldiers for operational deployment.

“That is an ethos which I am determined will pervade throughout this battalion.”