One of the most profound votes that any MP can take is to commit our armed forces to conflict. This is made more difficult if the MP, like me, has no practical experience of the military. So it is incredibly important that we get that experience and we can do so through the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme.
By committing to a minimum number of days, MPs get a chance to see exactly how our service personnel live and operate. I am now in my second year of the AFPS and have recently got back from Cyprus, where I was looking at the bases we have on the island.
Our Cyprus bases are one of four strategic military bases we have around the world – the others being The Falklands, Gibraltar and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
The Cyrus base is a unique legal entity in that it is a Sovereign Base Area, administered by the MoD as opposed to the Foreign Office. It has three significant roles. The first is as a strategic and intelligence base. It is just a few hundred miles from Damascus and Israel and lies close to many areas of conflict in the Middle East. Not only can we listen in on the area, we can also deploy troops quickly to problem areas and supply them from the locality. This regional presence also ensures we have regional influence.
Secondly, we use Cyprus as a training area and air bridge for Afghanistan. We have 100 square miles that includes air bases as well as ranges and training areas. But we also have recreational areas for ‘decompression’ of returning soldiers. A soldier coming off patrol in Afghanistan, after handing in his weapons and having a bath, could be back with his family within 24 hours. That leads to potential problems at home as it is incredibly difficult to emotionally move from being under fire from an insurgent in Kabul to babysitting a young family. Two or three days of rest in Cyprus helps.
Finally, we help the UN keep the north of the island from the south. The buffer zone is the area left over after the Turkish invasion of 1974 and is still patrolled by our “blue-beret’d” troops.
These overseas bases are incredibly important and it is only after visiting them that their full importance is understood, and that we as MPs understand those who serve in them.