Rhino Heart sees largest deployment of British Army reservists since the Cold War
Exercise Rhino Heart, the largest deployment of reserve British soldiers since the Cold War, has seen 650 part-time soldiers from the UK, US and Germany work together.
Led by the UK's 19th Light Brigade, the operation at Sennelager, Germany, highlights the essential role of civilians in modern military efforts.
Participants from various professions, including a man who makes cornflakes, balance their regular jobs with intensive military training.
For many ordinary civilians, who have to their military training around their day jobs and families, the logistics of a big multinational exercise are far more challenging than for full-time soldiers.
"There's always the challenges because I would say to my troops, family first, then profession, then the reserves, and that means this to prioritise it over and above the reserve requirement," said Major David Gates from 4th Battalion The Royal Yorkshire Regiment.
The massive exercise is led by the UK’s only fully reservist brigade – the 19th Light Brigade.
Detailed planning was evident as the Light Brigade prepared for an attack by using natural objects such as stones, moss and acorns to make a 3D map of the ground so they could run through their tactics.
The exercise tested the reservists' ability to mobilise quickly and work alongside other Nato forces.
Captain Laurence Roche said his role as a reservist was to "give reassurance to the regulars that we're here to have their back", emphasising the support provided by reservists in augmenting regular forces.
"If push comes to shove you've got to serve a purpose and step up – it's what we all do it for," agreed Private Will Powell of 4 Yorks.
The mass deployment involved a road move of Jackals from York as well as coachloads of soldiers from Northern Ireland, Scotland and the northeast of England travelling across Europe to Sennelager.
"The whole point of this exercise is that it's about getting here," said Captain Roche of 19th Light Brigade.
"The deployment from the UK to northern Germany is almost more important than whatever we do here, and we really want to just show that we can do this."
Sennelager is an old British Army base in Germany that was reborn as a defence hub - just a few months before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Rhino Heart 24 brought together half of 19 Light Brigade, comprising five out of the 10 units, alongside additional reserve units from across the British Army, forming a specialised reserve force.
Next year's Exercise Rhino Heart 25 is already in the planning stages, aiming to assemble the remaining five units.
This initiative demonstrates the brigade's capacity to mobilise an entire force of trained reservists to support Nato regular forces if the need arises.
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