News Release issued by
the COI News Distribution Service on 03 September 2009
The Royal Navy and
Royal Marines have formed a new Royal Marine Unit called Hasler
Company specifically to help aid the recovery, rehabilitation and
re-integration of Marines needing focussed and individual attention.
Hasler Company is dedicated to the specific and complex needs of
seriously injured and ill Royal Marines who require specially
tailored programmes in order to provide additional bespoke
support. It is based in HMS Drake, HM Naval Base Devonport,
Plymouth, and will be officially opened on Monday 7 September 2009
by the Commander of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines, Brigadier
Gordon Messenger.
Other VIP’s in attendance include Commodore Mansergh RN (Director
of Naval Personnel), Commodore Ian Jess RN (Naval Base Commander,
Devonport), Captain Charlie King RN (Captain Devonport Naval Base
and Colonel Ellis (Team Leader, Naval Personnel Team (Royal
Marines) along with the Commanding Officers from each Royal
Marines Commando Unit and key Royal Navy and Royal Marine medical personnel.
The addition of this new Royal Marine unit builds on the growing
reputation of HMS Drake as a centre of excellence for military
therapeutic services – along with the South West Regional
Rehabilitation Unit (RRU) which has been further endorsed recently
by Government ministers. HMS Drake is also home to the Khumbu
Challenge 09 – a mountaineering expedition taking place this
autumn for various troops recovering from war or accidents.
The new company is designed to assist the existing local recovery
troops embedded within each Royal Marine Commando unit such as 40
Commando, 42 Commando and 45 Commando, by taking on the more
complex and traumatic cases as they are better placed to give the
dedicated and specific attention such cases demand. Whilst not
divorcing the man entirely from his previous unit, the transfer of
executive responsibility to Hasler Company does allow the
frontline units to maintain the necessary focus on the operations
being undertaken and the demanding preparation work they require.
It also gives the casualty a new and real sense of belonging, a
key person in a new bespoke company alongside like-minded people
who will help and support each other, a concept that has been
proven to give greater results, mentally and physically.
It will provide executive management and administration of the
Royal Marines needing various specialised services provided by
other organisations, such as the RRU, DMRC Headley Court and
others. The aim is to assist them on their ‘recovery pathway’ and
ultimately return them to operational life or prepare them for a
new and equally productive life outside the service.
The Officer Commanding Hasler Company is Major Pete Curtis RM and
he says that H-Company has three main principles. “These are the 3
R’s – Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reintegration. My staff and I
will co-ordinate and manage each Marines individually designed
‘journey back to business’. This will initially help them recover
from their injuries or illness whilst giving him access to the
UK’s best medical staff and facilities; then we will assist their
rehabilitation, along with the specialist help of the RRU and
Headley Court etc; and finally support them as they are
reintegrated either back into a full time Service environment or
into the wider civilian community. Either way, Hasler Company,
along with Service and civilian charitable help, will help them
make the transition successfully and then continue to offer help
as required.”
Having worked with casualties and their families at 40 Commando
during Op Herrick 7 and then as the Corps Casualty Officer for the
Commando Brigade’s very recent tour of Afghanistan, where he was
responsible for the entire Royal Marines casualty and fatality
Notification process, Major Curtis is well placed to use such
experiences in his new role.
Major Curtis continues: “I am very honoured to have been
appointed to set up and command Hasler Company and thus have the
responsibility of delivering the dedicated and bespoke care our
injured and ill Marines require. Every one of them will have his
own needs, often complex and challenging, but I am confident that
the expertise displayed by all the staff here at HMS Drake,
notably within the RRU, the Medical Centre, the Welfare Dept etc.,
all of which I have direct access to, plus the outstanding
available on-site facilities will combine successfully and enable
me to manage each man’s ‘journey’ in the best way possible in
order to help him, and that’s the most important thing in all of
this – helping the Marine that needs it, in the way that he’ll
benefit the most.’’
Major Curtis is supported by his Company Sergeant Major, Warrant
Officer 2 Laird Webster RM. He too has been especially chosen for
his new role following his last post where he spent 2 years
working as the Naval Command Liaison Officer within Selly Oak
Hospital, Birmingham, the hospital to which all Tri-Service
Operational casualties are flown.
The new Company has been named ‘Hasler’ in honour of Lieutenant
Colonel Herbert George 'Blondie' Hasler DSO OBE
(1914-1987), who was a distinguished Royal Marines Officer during
WW2 and one of the 'Cockleshell Heroes'. He had
led the operation (Operation Frankton) and, along with Marine Bill
Sparks, was one of the two that successfully escaped and survived.
He has been chosen as he achieved great things during his time in
the Corps but in addition to this, having later been invalided
from the Service, he achieved other significant things in his
civilian life, notably within the world of sailing where he
invented and designed pioneering steering equipment plus he
instigated and undertook the first Observer Single-handed
Transatlantic Race (OSTAR) from Plymouth to New York, in his yacht
‘Jester’, competing against 4 other entrants including Sir Francis
Chichester in his ‘Gypsy Moth III’.
In fact he is arguably more recognised around the globe for his
work within the sailing world as a civilian than his Marines
career. The intention is that Colonel Hasler will stand as a fine
example to the men within Hasler Company, that while they may be
worried and disheartened by the possibility of life outside the
Marines, it is still possible to set new goals and, using their
in-built Commando spirit and determination, achieve them very
successfully.
Notes to Editors
You are invited to send representatives to attend a preview of
the new company this afternoon (Thursday) in the Naval Base and to
witness the ceremonial opening on Monday (September 7).
Further details from Guy Boswell, Royal Navy press office 01752
554 558, or 07789 500 413.
Contacts:
Geri Mahoney Moore
geri.mahoney-moore113@defence.gsi.gov.uk