New boss of Portsmouth army reserve unit says fresh training will make squad a fiercer fighting force

Major Andy Carre has outlined his plans for the future of C Company, 4th Battalion of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (4 PWRR) – Britain’s newest reserve unit.

The 48-year-old officer – who spent 15 years in the regular army in both the former Royal Hampshire Regiment and 1 PWRR – has his sights set on a major recruitment drive.

He hopes to at least double the Cosham-based company’s strength from almost 50 to closer to 100 trained soldiers by 2020.

And he said the quality of training for the soldiers of C Company will be improved to make them an even fiercer fighting force.

Married dad-of-three Maj Carre, said: ‘The training is going to be of a higher standard than ever before.

‘We are reorganising our capabilities and developing what’s called a “patrols concept” within the army reserves.

‘What it means, practically, is training soldiering skills to a higher level – so better navigation, better first aid skills, better tactical awareness, more confidence with the use of communications, able to work in a combined arms environment, working with helicopters, calling in Apache fires, working with tanks and using artillery target identification to fire onto a position.’

Later this year reservists will be taking on major urban operation training, using helicopters to fly into position.

And there will be an amped up focus on preparing troops from C Company to be ready for operational deployments, if they choose to, by working ‘more intimately’ with their regular counterparts.

However, Iraq veteran Maj Carre, who travels from his family home on Guernsey to oversee training weekends and events, said: ‘There is this balancing act of what we can and can’t do. What we don’t deliver is fast-roping out of helicopters and jumping through embassy windows.

‘What we deliver is the normal infantry training that we do in such a compressed way because of the time we have.’

C Company, based at the Army Reserve Centre, in Tudor Crescent, was set up in September 2017 with only a handful of soldiers,

Now its ranks have swelled to 41 soldiers and five officers.

But Maj Carre is eager to build the company up to a strength of between 100 and 120 soldiers, split between three platoons.

And to achieve this, the infantry officer said he will be pushing his team out across the Portsmouth area to attract people to join.

In particular, he is eager to recruit more women into the unit following the move by the government to allow females into front line infantry units.

Maj Carre said: ‘We’re recruiting and absolutely take on all-comers.

‘There’s the benchmark you have to reach. I don’t care if you parachute from Mars, just get to the line.

‘Our standards won’t drop just because of who you are and where you come from - there’s one standard for everybody.’

C Company trains at its base every Wednesday evening. For details more details, call 07988 964401 or email [email protected]