This in from Andrew Turner’s office. In their own words. Ed
Andrew Turner has spoken of his disappointment following the announcement yesterday that the Government intends to relocate the Island’s Territorial Army (TA) members to mainland units.
However he has said he will work to ensure that facilities on the Island will continue to be available for the 200 or so members of the Cadet Forces.
Reorganisation of reserve forces
The announcement was made in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon following an extensive review of the TA and a planned full-scale reorganisation of the reserve forces which support the regular army.
Mr Turner commented:
“The Minister says we have only 13 members of the TA based here – there are other Island residents in the TA but they choose to travel to the mainland to train and serve in other units. I will of course be consulting with those affected to hear their views and to help them respond formally to this announcement. However, there is also a bigger picture which I am asking the Minister to take into account.
“We have over 200 young people on the Island serving in the army, navy, air and combined cadet forces; many of them use the TA facilities, Drill Hall and Jersey Camp, to train. If they are taken away, due to the small numbers of Island TA members, it will be a real blow to those young people, especially as, due to the cost and difficulty of crossing the Solent, they have no realistic opportunity of being able to access other facilities.
“I have therefore asked for a meeting with the Minister together with a group of those involved to discuss this in more detail.”
Image: Starr Charlton under CC BY 2.0
