Does the 3 Commando Brigade name change diminish its history? You have your say
Following the announcement that 3 Commando Brigade – an elite unit that has existed since the Second World War – had been re-named the UK Commando Force, a BFBS Forces News audience poll asked whether military traditions and identities should be preserved.
Of roughly 6,200 respondents, 65% said that it should.
According to the Royal Navy, the name change reflects a new era for the Royal Marines and the Royal Navy and Army Commandos, driven by new tactics and ways of operating, which are paving the way for a bold modernisation.
Meanwhile, Commandant General Royal Marines, First Sea Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins remarked that it "better represents who they are now: highly versatile, technologically advanced strike teams, specialised for a huge array of tasks and perfectly adapted to the nature of 21st-Century warfare."
You had your say
The poll, which featured on the BFBS Forces News YouTube Channel, received thousands of votes and hundreds of comments.
One respondent argued that the terminology is important not only from a historical perspective, but also because it can obscure "inconvenient truths".
"The term brigade has a specific meaning which describes a minimum number of major units along with a range of service support elements that enable it to function with a degree of measurable capability," they said.
"Calling it just a force enables the number of major units and support elements to be cut while denying that the reduction is significant. Changing the formation's title to force is nothing more than a verbal and descriptive sleight of hand."
They added that to pretend otherwise is an "insult to the public's intelligence."
Echoing similar sentiments, another said the "name change is [a] window dressing to hide the reduction of personnel".
Meanwhile, one commenter took a different view, arguing that it is "dogmatically sticking to tradition that holds the British military and public services back from modernising and keeping pace with competitors."
They added: "I'm all for tradition but not for tradition's sake."
While 13% of the audience argued that names do not affect operational effectiveness, 23% believed they have some impact, but capabilities mattered more.
Among the former, one respondent said: "I don't think names generate operational effectiveness, so don't waste your ink on changing them", while another similarly remarked: "It really doesn't matter, just do whatever uses the least amount of funding and move on."
Some users also dismissed the name change as nothing but symbolic.
"The legacy of 3 Commando Brigade wasn't built by a name," one respondent said. "It was built by the Marines who served under it; heritage lives through them."
Of course, it is not just Royal Marines who operated under the formerly named 3 Commando Brigade, nor will it be the case under the UK Commando Force.
In that sense, the name change is as much a unification as it is a modernisation.
Everything and nothing
Speaking to BFBS Forces News, Former Commandant General Royal Marines Major General Buster Howes CB OBE argues that the invasion of Ukraine has changed the way we should think about warfare.
More specifically, he suggested that brigade-level formations are incredibly vulnerable to drone attacks.
In part, the recent name change may signal a possible response to this fast-emerging threat.
"This agility of small groups of men to have disproportionate effect by drawing on technology in a clever and responsive way, while still marshalling immense resilience, self-discipline, adaptability and skill, is a particular quality of the corps," he said.
"The corps is shifting from the idea of a brigade to one of this highly adaptable, specialised organisation, which can gain access."
Agreeing with the name change, Maj Gen (Ret'd) Howes posed an existential question.
"What's in the name? Well, everything and nothing," he said. "You dispense with 80 years of history quite carefully."
"It carries a lot of freight, 3 Commando Brigade, but the important bit is commando. It's appropriate, and it also confers the idea of it now being a national strategic asset, [the] UK Commando Force."
Adding that it enhances both "profile and security", he pointed to the Strategic Defence Review and noted that political branding remains important, as "everybody is scrapping over resources".
"I think this is a shrewd move," he added.
With additional reporting by Joe Hearn
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