An Cosantóir

14 The Defence Forces Approach to Force Protection and Business Continuity during Covid-19 Since the outbreak of the pandemic last March, the DF have taken a twin-track approach to Covid-19. Simply described, this approach consisted of an 'up & out' track and an 'in & down' track. The first track was led by Brig Gen Brian Cleary , then Commander of the Joint Task Force (JTF) for 'Operation Fortitude', which was launched to support the national effort against COVID-19, in other words all our outputs. The second track was led by me as Assistant Chief of Staff (ACOS), in my role as DF Risk Manager. This track focused on force protection and business continuity, and was managed by the Joint Operational Planning Group (JOPG) on 'Living with COVID-19', which I chair. This article focuses on that second track – 'Protecting the Force'. In many ways, protecting the force through Covid poses many of the same challenges as night operations - it's hard to locate the 'enemy', command and control is more difficult and if things go wrong, they can go very wrong, very quickly. That's why we use three good rules of thumb for night ops: you need to develop a clear plan, communicate that plan down to the lowest level (and repeat!), and you must ensure strong leadership and command presence on the ground. These three rules of thumb guided our approach to protecting our centre of gravity - the health, safety and wellbeing of our personnel. Develop a Clear Plan Communicate that Plan Our plan was developed under three headings, the first and most pressing of which was Health, Safety and Wellbeing. We needed to enforce national guidelines but go further, establishing countermeasures relevant to and required by a military force. The necessary details were captured in a series of Covid response directives and guidance documents, issued by me as DF Risk Manager. For example, one document covered PPE, decontamination and cleaning procedures. Great credit is due to our subject matter experts who led the development of these documents, for example in the areas of Health & Safety (H&S), medical policy and service delivery, Engineering, Ordnance etc., who reflected the wealth of talent, education and experience across all ranks of the Defence Forces. The second area where we needed a clear plan was on how we could Train and Educate in a Covid Environment. While we did significantly reduce non-essential training, we did have to continue to train inductees, prepare for overseas and conduct priority training such as in medical service delivery. To this end a detailed Training Instruction was issued by the Director of Training & Education and regularly updated (Version 4 is being finalised as I write). Our medical personnel once gain did Trojan work in support of that training plan, for example providing both the necessary medical training and occupational medicals. The third component of our plan was our Business Continuity Plan. This ensured compliance with national and Public Service guidelines, and covered such areas as leave, hot desking and remote working. This was done by means of a formal General Routine Order, issued by Deputy Chief of Staff (Support). DJ1 made sure to update the text each time national guidelines evolved, and we're now on our 5th iteration of this GRO. The second rule of thumb was to communicate that plan, over and over, down to the lowest level. We did this in three ways, the first of which was Through the Chain of Command. Strategic Planning Branch issued regular General Staff directions and planning updates to all stations. Again, great credit is due to all the members of the JOPG who prepared PROTECTING THE FORCE PROTECTING THE FORCE COS Visit to musician contact tracing By ACOS Brigadier General Adrian Ó MURCHÚ Photos provided by the office of the ACOS 1 2 Brig Gen Cleary has recently been appointed as GOC 1st Brigade. JOPG members included the Risk Managers (i.e. deputies) of each formation and branch, along with relevant subject matter experts. The JOPG was organised into four syndicates (HR, Operations, Training and JTF) and met roughly every fortnight and ahead of each national transition. 1 2

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