Pride, not mine but in our Royal Marines

[JohnD]

“Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.”   Dr.Johnson The Life of Dr.Johnson, James Boswell, 20/9/1777

So, having been in the Army Cadets at school, which is NOT being a soldier, I have had a lifelong fascination, without any envy at all, with military life.      And I was fascinated by reports that last week a new organisation in the UK Armed forces, Littoral Response Group South had been 'exercising' in the US against the US Marines.    And beaten the pants off them!

Ahem!   Rather, they achieved a significant advantage against excellent opposition, or as Lieutenant Colonel Andy Dow, commander of the British force, said: "Throughout this deployment our focus has been on integrating game-changing capabilities from across the commando force to deliver disproportionate effect in the face of a free-thinking peer adversary."     Which isn't in fact very illuminating, but he also said that, "Our success has proved the new commando force concept is more lethal and sophisticated than ever before and  I am immensely proud of every member of the LRG and their vital contributions"     That's more like it, Andy!   The extent of their success is shown by their control of 65% of the Luxembourg-sized exercise area, having started with 20%, and that they had "disabled" most of the US units!    At this point the Americans asked to end the exercise early!

But what are these LRGs?  This article describes them, for there is also an LRG North, to which my city's ship HMS Lancaster beongs: https://www.iiss.org/blogs/military-balance/2021/06/uk-littoral-response-group    The Author notes in his conclusion that worldwide amphibious forces are struggling to revise their purpose and function.   It looks as if the Royal Navy has found a good formula!     

JOhn