NCOs of NATO Response Force 2017

INNSWORTH, United Kingdom – On Tuesday evening before Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps officially took over as the Land Component Command of the NATO Response Force on 11 Jan 17, British Army and several NATO senior non-commissioned officers took an opportunity to honour past service and discuss the year ahead at a conference hosted here.

The ARRC's NCOs of NRF Conference featured enlisted guests from across the UK and NATO force structure, including the British Army Sergeant Major, Glenn Haughton, the British Army Inspectorate Sergeant Major, the sergeant major of 3 UK Division and the command senior enlisted leaders from Joint Forces Command Naples, the German-Netherlands Corps, Multinational Corps-Northeast and Multinational Corps-Southeast.

Briefings centred on the lessons during the past year with a focus on the NRF future, including review of the NATO Very High Readiness Task Force training cycle.

"In 28 years I’ve been in the British army, I have never been to the ARRC,” said Haughton. "I’ve heard a lot about it so today was a real learning experience for me, to find out the size of the ARRC itself and to find out how many nations support it was really interesting.”

In addition to formal briefings, several soldiers spoke to the NCOs about their achievements while stationed at the ARRC, and were formally recognized for accomplishments during the busy 2016 training.

The night ended with a meal prepared by British Army chefs and a few words from Haughton, who took the opportunity to recognize the hard work of not just the soldiers, but also the leadership of the NCOs working within ARRC and NATO.

"I think the whole process has been brilliant for NCO development and education and to have five non-commissioned officers stand up and give their experience of some of the fantastic work they’ve done has been brilliant, and to reward them with an Army Sergeant Major coin was the pinnacle of the day. I really enjoyed it,” said Haughton.

Story by Allied Rapid Reaction Corps Public Affairs Office