Army reserves do not feel valued by full-time soldiers, defence secretary admits

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There are currently 22,530 trained army reservists, up 10.4 per cent from December 2014 but still far short of the 30,000 reservists the government has promised by 2018.
Mr Fallon added that as both groups of soldiers mix more frequently, he is hopeful that the cultural issues can be ironed out.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “Changing attitudes is not an overnight process; however we have made it very clear that the Reserves are an integral part of the UK Armed Forces. As Regulars and Reservists increasingly work alongside each other, more and more will come to acknowledge the skills and benefits that each can bring and gain from the relationship.”

Mr Fallon admits in the letter that retention of reservists is a “complex issue” despite figures showing that the majority of people in the part-time force are satisfied and proud of their vocation.
But, he adds, extra training, foreign trips and awareness about what the reserve forces do would improve the number of recruits who choose to stay.
The defence secretary wrote: “Cultural issues are another factor that can affect retention and the white paper acknowledges that there would be a challenge for regular personnel to recognise and value the contribution of reservists and for reservists to feel valued by their regular counterparts.
“This remains an issue but I do not see it as insurmountable. For instance, although only 30 per cent of reservists have said they feel valued by regulars, it is encouraging to see that almost two thirds of regulars who have worked alongside reserves rate them as professional and almost as many rate their contribution as valuable.”
However despite expressing a desire to bring both forces closer together in order to combat the “cultural issues” he refers to, Mr Fallon refuses to merge the Acts of both forces.

Clive Lewis, the Labour MP who went to Afghanistan as a reservist in 2009, experienced teasing and supportive full-time officers.
He said: “When I was doing my training, especially the infantry, we were called STABS [s**t TA b******s] by the guys who were training us.
“Some would look down on us as amateur and part-time and who didn’t know their arse from their elbow but then in other parts of my career there were those who looked on us with admiration because we took the time to do this on our own time and to learn the skills and abilities in a volunteer capacity.
“Among many reservists there is a desire to be the best, to push yourself the extra mile to be fitter and have more knowledge because you know you have something to prove.
“I’m not surprised by this letter but I’ve experienced both sides, there was definitely an issue with it in my time but clearly if the government is going to increase the role of reservists in the army …then they’re going to need to look at the issue of esteem amongst reservists.”

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/579309/s/4ceaf757/sc/7/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cnews0Cuknews0Cdefence0C1210A23240CArmy0Ereserves0Edo0Enot0Efeel0Evalued0Eby0Efull0Etime0Esoldiers0Edefence0Esecretary0Eadmits0Bhtml/story01.htm