Navy ditches Violent Entry and Final Thrust in exercise rebrand
The Royal Navy has ditched “unprofessional” exercise names such as Violent Entry and Direct Action after fears that they were putting people off joining.
Direct Action, a course used to train more than 1,000 Royal Marines a year, has been renamed Dragon Warrior. It is among a number of other Commando Training Centre programmes which have undergone a rebrand.
Base capture test Violent Entry will now be called Green Salamander, and an exercise named Final Thrust will now be known as Commando Forge.
It had been suggested that the previous names were juvenile and unprofessional, and were preventing the force from attracting top talent. The new names are understood to be better aligned with conventions used by allies.
A former instructor at the base in Lympstone, Devon, told The Sun: “The woke police have nailed us and it’s ridiculous.
“We’re preparing young men and women to go to war and what we do is violent and aggressive. It’s amazing that military people have the time to worry about stupid issues like this.”
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A Free Speech Union spokesman told the newspaper it is “typical of the woke double-think that has infected our Armed Forces”.
A Royal Navy spokesman said: “The Commando Force is a modern and professional employer. All aspects of training exercises are regularly adapted and updated, including to align with standard-naming protocols.”
Diversity push causes concern
In February, The Telegraph revealed that the Armed Forces’ spending on diversity and inclusion personnel had doubled to almost £2 million over the past five years. According to data disclosed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) under Freedom of Information laws, the total salaries of employees working full-time on diversity soared from £900,000 in 2019 to £1.98 million in 2023.
A leaked report, entitled The British Army’s Race Action Plan and commissioned by the MoD, was described as “wicked” in an open letter to Grant Shapps, the then defence secretary, from 12 former senior military officers.
The proposals form part of a broader MoD diversity push, which has caused concern among former defence chiefs.
More than £7 million has been spent on the salaries of diversity and inclusion personnel since 2019, excluding national insurance and pension costs.
It came after Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton was last year forced to apologise for an RAF diversity drive that discriminated against white men.
Other government departments have been attempting to crack down on diversity and inclusion activities in recent years over fears that taxpayer money is being wasted.
The latest development comes as Sir Keir Starmer is set to open the door to an increase in the size of Britain’s Armed Forces after announcing a review of the nation’s readiness to fight future wars.
It is understood that this includes troop numbers, which were cut to their smallest size since the Napoleonic era under the former government.
