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A Medical Emergency Response Team treating a casualty.
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ATT ARMS crest

ATT ARMS

Attached Arms

Recruit training and the specialists everybody else depends on.

Current standing

Posted strength

38

Established billets

48

Open billets

0

Fully manned. Applications still open for the reserve list.

The role

What this sub-unit is for

Attached Arms is the wing that makes the rest of the brigade work: the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick, which runs every recruit through their first course; the specialist sections — Pathfinders, snipers, engineers and Military Intelligence — cross-attached from their parent units when an operation needs them; and 4 PARA, the reserve company members post to when life gets busy.

Specialists are attached out from here. Medics work from the company aid posts, the Joint Terminal Attack Controller works to the Apache, signallers hold the platoon and packet nets, and the mortar section provides indirect fire from the rear.

This is also the wing that carries the standards. Instructors here decide when a recruit is ready to be posted to a rifle section, and they are the reason a 2 PARA section can assume anyone joining it already knows the contact drill.

Kit and platforms

Medical
CAT tourniquetChest sealIV kitStretcher
Fires
L16 81mm mortarLaser designatorVector rangefinder
Signals
AN/PRC-117FAN/PRC-152Rebroadcast station

On the night

What you actually do

Ahead of the main force

Pathfinders confirm the objective before the brigade commits to it, snipers hold overwatch, engineers clear the obstacles in the way, and Military Intelligence works the picture the command team plans around.

Medical

Combat Medical Technicians attached to sections, a company aid post holding casualties, and the MERT lifting the serious ones out by air.

Fires and control

JTAC working close air support onto targets for the Apache; the mortar section putting indirect fire onto an objective before the assault goes in.

Training

ITC Catterick runs the Combat Infantryman's Course and the specialist cadres on training nights, so operations stay operations.

The specialists

Every section, in its own right

Attached Arms is really several small specialist sections rather than one big one. Each holds its own posts and its own people, cross-attached from wherever they are primarily posted.

Military Intelligence

16MI · 9 2 · 16 Military Intelligence Company

Cross-attached intelligence specialists working the picture behind an operation — order of battle, likely enemy disposition, and the read the command team plans around. By convention also posted as a secondary in G2 — Intelligence under Staff Shops.

Royal Army Medical Service

MED · 9 6 · 16 Medical Regiment

RAMS medics, cross-attached from the company aid posts they're primarily posted to. Combat Medical Technicians hold casualties at the aid post — airway, IV, triage — and feed the Medical Emergency Response Team when someone needs lifting out by air.

JTACs

RAF Regiment Tactical Air Control Party — qualified to control close air support and put fast air or the Apache onto a target from the ground, working directly to the aircrew on the JTAC net. Cross-attached from RAFR TACP under Joint Aviation Command, where the primary posting sits.

Engineers

23PER · 9 8 · 23 Parachute Engineer Regiment

Combat engineers, cross-attached from their parent units. Breaching, demolitions and the obstacles that make or break the approach to an objective.

Snipers

SNIPER · 9 9 · Sniper Platoon

Sniper-qualified personnel, cross-attached from their parent units. Holding overwatch ahead of and above the main force — confirming the target, taking the shot the section can't, and reading the ground for whoever moves through it next.

Pathfinders

PF · Mayhem Zero · Pathfinder Platoon HQ

Pathfinder-qualified personnel, cross-attached from their parent units for reconnaissance ahead of the main force — first onto the objective, confirming what's actually there before the rest of the brigade commits to it.

Infantry Training Centre

ITC · Bruneval Platoon · Infantry Training Centre

ITC Catterick — where every infantry recruit is held while they work through their first course. Recruits keep their parent unit as their primary posting and sit here as an attachment, so the training establishment can hold them without anyone losing their place in a section.

RAF Recruit Training

RAF HLT · RAF RECRUIT TRAINING · RAF Halton

RAF Halton — the same arrangement as ITC, for anyone joining the brigade through an air trade rather than the infantry. Air recruits are attached here for their initial training before posting on to a squadron.

Reserves

4 PARA (R) · 7 0 · 4th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (Reserve)

4th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment — the brigade's reserve company. Where members post when a primary section slot doesn't fit their availability, without losing their place in the brigade.

Air Reserves

600 SQN · Reserves · No. 600 Squadron RAuxAF

No. 600 Squadron RAuxAF — the air equivalent of 4 PARA. Aircrew who can't commit to a front-line squadron seat every week keep their currency and their place in the brigade here.

In the field

View media →

ATT ARMS, on operations

Training pathway

Training programme →

Courses, in the order you take them

Every course below is run in-house on a training night and produces a qualification record on your file. Nothing here costs you anything but the evening.

01

Combat Life Saver

Everyone gets this. Bleeding control and casualty handling.

02

Combat Medical Technician

The section medic. Airway, IV, casualty triage.

03

Infantry Platoon Radio Operator

Platoon signaller. Nets, rebroadcast, reporting.

04

Joint Terminal Attack Controller

Controlling close air support. Selective and demanding.

05

81mm Mortar Cadre

Indirect fire, fire missions and mortar line drills.

06

Defence Train the Trainer

Instructing at ITC Catterick.

Open billets

Where we are short

Every billet is filled

ATT ARMS is at establishment. Applications are still read and accepted — new arrivals go onto the reserve list and are posted as billets open, which they do most months.

Apply anyway

Structure

ATT ARMS in full

Join ATT ARMS

Ask for this sub-unit on your application

Medics, signallers, mortar crews and JTACs — and instructors. Most of these are cadres you take after joining a rifle section rather than an entry route, but if you already know you want to be the section medic, say so on the application.

Apply to join See the full ORBAT

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