RMC Annual Review 2020-21 digital (1) - Flipbook - Page 4
Introduction
Welcome
Supporting
our own
for 75 years
General Sir Gordon Messenger KCB DSO* OBE DL
Patron
Royal Marines are deployed
on duty around the globe
365 days a year. Though they
form only 4% of UK defence
forces, they provide 47% of
UK Special Forces personnel.
The Corps is currently undergoing
a transformation into the fifth
generation Future Commando Force,
and is a key pillar of the Royal Navy’s
strategy for an ever more unstable
world. This could not have come at
a more significant time, when the
devastating damage to the world
economy wrought by Coronavirus
has triggered more global instability
threatening our trade and security.
As the new Government Defence
Integrated Review rolls out, they
will be permanently forward-based
overseas in two Response Groups
facing the UK’s most significant
overseas threats in the Baltic/High
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North, and the Gulf/Far East. As elite
troops, they are disproportionately
exposed to situations where physical
and mental injury is a very real threat.
Alongside this transformation, several
Royal Marines units were redirected
from their defence tasks to support
the NHS, Emergency Services, local
authorities and Government at
home and abroad in the first wave of
the COVID-19 pandemic. This year,
significant numbers of personnel
have been deployed to assist the
NHS vaccination programme.
“We are committed
to supporting
our own at their
time of need,
reaching every
facet of the
Corps Family.”
RMA – The Royal Marines Charity,
continuing in the footsteps of the Royal
Marines Association founded in 1946,
has provided a vital safety net to Royal
Marines and their families for 75 years
now, a clear demonstration that we are
committed to supporting our own at
their time of need, reaching every facet
of the Corps Family and underpinning
the Military Covenant between our
nation and its Armed Forces.
Celebrating the 75th Year of the RMA
www.rma-trmc.org
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