GSSR - Questions

[Lardass]

Hello All,

Hoping you can hlpe with a few questions I've got regarding the GSSR.
I'm hopinh to join soon and this seems a bit more up my street than watching radar screens or logisitics..etc

I know it is involved in Ship Protection - does that mean glorified security men, or is it more tactical than that?

What else do they do?

I understand there are GSSR's deployed in Afghanistan at the mo, the country is landlocked so what is their role? Are they involved in the fighting?

Also is there any opportunities to do an all arms course - I know in the Reg RN you can do an all arms commando course if you're in some of the other trades, is there an equivalent in the RNR?

Cheers

 

[Lardass]

Thanks guys that has been really helpfule ?!

 

[Shakey]

Woah, easy tiger! Patience is a virtue! :wink:

There has been some unease in the GSSR branch recently. It's a fairly new branch and their previous branch mainly centred on seamanship.

Now they are assigned with Ship Protection. Some feel this has made them no more than glorified security guards.

Teams are being formed at the moment and if all goes well then their training will be expanded to include General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG) and Miniguns (which is like a big f**k off gatling gun). If that all goes to plan then they will be trained to undertake unopposed boardings of ships.

I do not know if GSSRs are in Afghanistan and what their role might be.

As for doing an All Arms Course, the general answer is 'no', as there is no requirement for anyone in the RNR to undertake such training. However there has been some discussion on this very topic on the RMR forum on this site a few months ago if you want to check there.

 

[FlagWagger]

There has been some unease in the GSSR branch recently. It's a fairly new branch and their previous branch mainly centred on seamanship.

Now they are assigned with Ship Protection. Some feel this has made them no more than glorified security guards.

And the source of the unease is that many in GSSR are from branches other than pure seaman, such as Comms, Minewarfare and Medics. The original concept for GSSR included roles such as providing Comms support and supporting MW tasking elements, however, the Gunnery element currently holds the ascendent and any tasking other than Force Protection seems to be dismissed out of hand.

 

[Lardass]

Right, Ok. Thanks for that guys - am I correct in thinking you are still trained in Comms, Mine Warfare..etc or is the beef just that they are not being put into practice on operations?

What sort of things are GSSR actually doing on operations, is it just patrolling the desk of a ship? Is it patrolling docks, nipping about on motorboats?

Also that's a bugger about the All Arms thing. I'm going to check that strand out you mentioned in the RMR forum.

 

[trehorn]

The general impression is that we patrol anywhere we're told. GSSR's are in or going to Afganistan under the "intellegent mobilisation" heading. basically those who would like to go and recieve the"benefits" of being called up could put their name forward.

obviously there is no water in afganistan so there arent any ships. the RNR are gaurding military establishments while the army/marines etc go off to fight. though from what you see on the telly it seems like they may be quite busy.

I hope to hell they change the rules of engagement from those taught on the 518/547. "do not shoot until its too late" would be a little harsh over there.

There are deployments coming up on ships in nice sunny places. must be careful what we say on here but we fly out, babysit a ship for a couple of weeks and fly back. We do very little comms in GSSR. "THIS IS A RADIO, DONT BREAK IT" kind of thing. we were originally told that GSSR would be responsible for tactical comms but that has proved to be untrue.

Basically seamanship and guns.

 

[WarMonger]

GSSR is a very new branch and concept...the easiest way of explaining it is that there are many aspects to GSSR as stated and aspects that we would like to involve ourselves in, but that at the moment we are very much in a "trial phase" whereby the 2SL and fleet are looking at what we can acheive and how well we acheive it....as they become more confident in our abilities and our value I think the list of tasks and variations as to what we are tasked to acheive will increase dramatically and become more varied...!!

 

[FlagWagger]

GSSR is a very new branch and concept...the easiest way of explaining it is that there are many aspects to GSSR as stated and aspects that we would like to involve ourselves in, but that at the moment we are very much in a "trial phase" whereby the 2SL and fleet are looking at what we can acheive and how well we acheive it....as they become more confident in our abilities and our value I think the list of tasks and variations as to what we are tasked to acheive will increase dramatically and become more varied...!!

Unfortuantely, the other skills that the founding GSSR personnel brough to the table are extremely perishable. Without regular practice and training, the skills gradually disappear.

I'd guess that today, the RNR could not supply the RN with competent tactical comms operators at the AB1 level. Yes, there's a number of old-and-bold SRs. While Fleet is decidign on the future direction of GSSR, our ABs are being focussed onto SPO alone. By the time Fleet decide what they want the RNR GSSR to do, the RNR will no longer be able to support or train to these wider requirements.

 

[WarMonger]

FW you are right of course.!

My concern is that SPO teams are designed to be self sufficient on the basis we do not have officers etc and when joining a ship You may not necessarily have direct representation through an RN officer at senior level..a classic example is whilst deployed on an RFA earlier this year for SPO our reporting route was through the RFA officer in charge of security.....without the ability and knowledge in Comms especially for communicating with the outside world could leave the teams quite isolated...on a fortnight manageable...on a proper deployment potentially disastrous..!!!

The same goes for people management skills, divisional work, and the ability to keep a group of people on the ball whilst miles from civilisation!

 

[Prochnow]

I think the thing you’ll wanna ask yourself is “Do I want to go to sea?†If yes, GSSR is for you. Yes, we guard ships. Mostly RFAs and STUFTs however, some of our unit are off to do SPO on a ship when it visits Japan, Russia, Vietnam, and Singapore in the near future. Other units have been to the Falkland recently. Hue Heffner has requested a SPO team to guard his yacht next year in the Bahamas. So, the opportunity for travel seems to be picking up. More so, as people in high places here about the RNR SPO teams.

As for Afghanistan, I hear it was suggested GSSR being used to guard gateposts. However, since we’re not trained as infantry (i.e. trusted to fire the weapon on automatic) it was decided we’d be more likely to shoot our own side, each other, figments of our imagination.

 

[Shakey]

. Hue Heffner has requested a SPO team to guard his yacht next year in the Bahamas.

RNR mercenaries? What's all that about?

Oh yeah, firing competently and effectively on fully auto isn't difficult either!

 

[beer_bosun]

Also is there any opportunities to do an all arms course - I know in the Reg RN you can do an all arms commando course if you're in some of the other trades, is there an equivalent in the RNR?
Cheers

Potentially, I know of a few people in my unit that are currently training for the all arms course. Phizz sessions over at RMR London and the like.