{"id":975,"date":"2021-01-19T15:40:54","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T05:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pbw.id.au\/blog\/?p=975"},"modified":"2021-04-22T15:15:23","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T05:15:23","slug":"breretons-backup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/2021\/01\/breretons-backup\/","title":{"rendered":"Brereton\u2019s Backup"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most interesting, and in many ways the most useful, part of the Brereton report<\/a> is Annex A, the Whetham Report, to Part 3, Strategic, Operational, Organisational and Cultural Issues. It\u2019s written by Dr. David Whetham. Among (many) other things, he\u2019s Director of the King\u2019s Centre for Military Ethics<\/a> at King\u2019s College, London. He was made Assistant Inspector-General of the ADF for the purpose of this very report. Here\u2019s his bio from King\u2019s.<\/p>\n

David Whetham is Professor of Ethics and the Military Profession in the Defence Studies Department of King\u2019s College London. He is the Director of the King\u2019s Centre for Military Ethics and delivers or coordinates the military ethics component of courses for between two and three thousand British and international officers a year at the UK\u2019s Joint Services Command and Staff College. Before joining King\u2019s as a permanent member fo staff in 2003, David worked as a BBC researcher and with the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] in Kosovo, supporting the 2001 and 2002 elections.<\/p>\n

David saw front-line service in the BBC, before finding his purpose in life. Don\u2019t hold that against him, though. He has a Pullman carriage on the gravy train generated by the West\u2019s addiction to police actions all over the place, and the incessant moral posturing that goes with it. For moral posturing, think Tony Blair. If that\u2019s too distant a memory, try ScoMo.<\/p>\n

Military ethics is a boom industry. Have a look, for example, at the \u201ckey people<\/a>\u201d at the Centre. There are 19 of them; just the key people, mind you. King\u2019s seems to have just about cornered the market. Find the active service. There is only one that I can see. Lt. Col. Tom Mcdermott DSO MA, formerly of the British Army, now with the ADF.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of his report, he demonstrates his firm grasp of ethical concepts.<\/p>\n

\u2026the extensive interview transcripts consulted for this report were derived from a process in which the normal rules of evidence do not apply \u2013 for example, hearsay evidence was acceptable<\/i>. This reflects an inquisitorial process, aimed at finding the truth<\/i> rather than necessarily providing evidence to the standard required to secure a criminal conviction (ie, beyond reasonable doubt). \u2026I have also had access to\u2026the extensive anonymised, candid, and lengthy conversations carried out by Dr Samantha Crompvoets\u2026I am satisfied that they represent \u2018multiple authentication points\u2019, providing a sufficient evidential base to be able to draw some reliable conclusions within those caveats. [My emphases.]<\/p>\n

All skepticism aside, read it for some very interesting background on the situation of SASR in both Afghanistan and Australia. The picture that emerges is of a gradual ginding down of SASR over the course of a long and demanding campaign which was increasingly purposeless.<\/p>\n

[T]here was\u2026an acknowledgement that they were \u2018more relaxed\u2019 about\u2026rules which were considered to be just \u2018minor infringements\u2019. For example, there was supposed to be no alcohol, but there was a pub in the base \u2013 the Fat Lady\u2019s Arms \u2013 \u2018somewhere there where we can do certain stuff but we\u2019re not going to get caught and it\u2019s not going to be regarded as misconduct because that\u2019s who we are and that\u2019s what we do<\/i>\u2019. Although unauthorised, the pub managed to get resupplied through the system. A Sergeant with 10 operational tours said, \u2018I have seen alcohol consumed on every operation since 1999 by every rank on every operation since 1999, by every rank and including JTF and unit commanders<\/i>\u2019. While alcohol on deployments was linked to \u2018risky or unacceptable behaviours\u2019, it is \u2018difficult to conclude that almost everyone in the SOCOMD chain of command was not aware of this\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>Alcohol was widely justified as a coping mechanism for stress, grief and high tempo operations and the unit was basically given a pass because it was \u2018special\u2019, reinforcing a perception of entitlement, with the \u2018logic of exceptionalism warranting the application of different rules and behaviours\u2026\u2019.
\n\u2026
\nInsufficient sleep and fatigue leads to poor judgment, lack of self-control, and impaired creativity as well as increasing the likelihood that people will engage in unethical behaviour. A factor that must have increased the challenge of getting any psychological rest was the lack of safe space, even in Camp Russell\u2026Past that four-month mark in a rotation, and you can physically see guys sort of slowly degrading as far as, you know, just alertness and things like that.
\n<\/i>\u2026
\nThere was a perception among some that \u2026 the shift to day operations instead of night in response to pressure from the Afghan government added to the risks for SOCOMD personnel\u2026The disenchantment caused by \u2018catch and release\u2019 also added to that sense of fatigue\u2026<\/p>\n

Read the whole thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most interesting, and in many ways the most useful, part of the Brereton report is Annex A, the Whetham Report, to Part 3, Strategic, Operational, Organisational and Cultural Issues. It\u2019s written by Dr. David Whetham. Among (many) other things, he\u2019s Director of the King\u2019s Centre for Military Ethics at King\u2019s College, London. He was … Continue reading “Brereton\u2019s Backup”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-culture"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8SCfl-fJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1104,"url":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/2023\/05\/a-small-price-for-us-to-pay\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":0},"title":"A Small Price (for us) To Pay","author":"Me","date":"Wed 17th May '23","format":false,"excerpt":"First published at NewCatallaxy blog, 23 December, 2022. 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NATO sources\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GeoPolitics"","block_context":{"text":"GeoPolitics","link":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/category\/geopolitics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1189,"url":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/2024\/01\/more-tangling-of-the-web\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":1},"title":"More Tangling of the Web","author":"Me","date":"Wed 31st Jan '24","format":false,"excerpt":"First published at New Catallaxy blog on 20 September, 2023 Softly, as in an morning sunrise, General Mark Milley let it be known that the infamous Chinese spy balloon, whilst it definitely was a spy ballon, definitely did not phone home with any intelligence information, and definitely had blown off\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newcatallaxy.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NYT-Kostyantynovka-782x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newcatallaxy.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NYT-Kostyantynovka-782x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newcatallaxy.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NYT-Kostyantynovka-782x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newcatallaxy.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NYT-Kostyantynovka-782x1024.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1208,"url":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/2024\/02\/the-gates-of-gaza\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":2},"title":"The Gates of Gaza","author":"Me","date":"Sat 3rd Feb '24","format":false,"excerpt":"(Published at New Catallaxy on 5th February 2024) \u00b9 Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. \u00b2 The Gazites were told, \u201cSamson has come here.\u201d And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gaza"","block_context":{"text":"Gaza","link":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/category\/geopolitics\/gaza\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newcatallaxy.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/NakhalOz-1024x965.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newcatallaxy.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/NakhalOz-1024x965.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newcatallaxy.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/NakhalOz-1024x965.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newcatallaxy.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/NakhalOz-1024x965.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1196,"url":"https:\/\/pbw.id.au\/blog\/2024\/01\/israels-tet-moment\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":3},"title":"Israel’s Tet Moment?","author":"Me","date":"Wed 31st Jan '24","format":false,"excerpt":"First published at NewCatallaxy.blog on 11th October, 2023 Shortly after midnight on January 30-31, 1968, during celebrations of the Lunar New Year (Tet) , NVA and Viet Cong (VC or NLF) forces launched the Tet Offensive in South Vietnam. 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