During July/August 2024 2Lt Banks of 106RA travelled to Tallin in Estonia as part of the Young Reserve Officer Workshop hosted by the Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers. The aim of the organisation is to promote interoperability between NATO nations by exposing junior reserve officers to other NATO nations and different ways of working. The workshop lasted 6 days and saw talks and inputs from commanders across the NATO spectrum. This included inputs on cyber warfare, lessons learnt from Ukraine and the law of armed conflict.
2Lt Banks and the other attendees were encouraged to socialise and interact as much as possible. This started with icebreaker introductions from each of the nations’ representatives about their home country and military. There was also a large parade of all of the NATO nations at the central war memorial in Tallin. The talks and mixing with a diverse group of individuals, proved invaluable for 2Lt Banks, and served to greatly improve the knowledge and awareness of all those who attended, helping faster and more dynamic integration with those nations on future operations and exercises.
But the workshop was not just classroom based. Attendees were also able to visit the military base at Tapa where 5 Rifles were based as part of OP CABRIT. They were able to provide a fascinating insight into what a conflict in the Baltic states might entail and NATO’s preparedness for such an eventuality. Attendees were also able to get hands-on with various machines and weapon systems utilised by NATO nations including the British, French and Estonians. In all, a fascinating and invaluable workshop that helped to expose junior reserve officers from across all three branches of the military to a variety of NATO nations and helped to lay the groundwork for future interoperability.
