Jones takes over Bulford regiment

By David FalckeLIEUTENANT Colonel Rupert Jones - the son of Falklands War hero Col H Jones - has just assumed command of the Journal's adopted regiment, the 4th Battalion, The Rifles (the Lions of Basra).

Col H died leading his men into battle at Goose Green in 1982 and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for outstanding gallantry. His widow, Sara Jones - Rupert's mother lives - in Wishford.

Rupert Jones, 38, is reluctant to be compared with his well-known father, but knows the public interest in the relationship with "H," will constantly be there.

In an exclusive interview with the Journal this week he said: "I have always said if I wanted to avoid the connection, I should have become a bank manager. I prefer to keep Rupert Jones the Army Officer and Rupert Jones the son separate, but I accept there will always be some overlay. We are all shaped by our parents and the person I am now was shaped by my father while he was alive. He was a larger-than-life character and a fantastic father to have.

"I was always going to join the Army and I don't even remember making the decision to join - it was always going to happen. He never encouraged me."

Rupert Jones went on to outline his plans for the Bulford-based 4 Rifles as they "draw breath" after a six-month tour in Iraq last year, during which they lost five colleagues.

He said he is determined 2008 will be a year of consolidation and, hopefully, fun for the 600 men under his command and added: "The tempo of events in the British Army sometimes makes that a little bit difficult.

"But we are now in a training year and I want to allow people to do some of those things they joined the Army for, get away on adventurous training, catch up on professional courses, see their families and generally enjoy garrison life.

"They need to get some balance back in their lives and do all the things which make a battalion tick.

"I really want to focus on consolidation. It was a brutal tour last year and they did some extraordinary things.

"We are not harping back to the past but we must be cautious: we ask a lot of our young. Some of them are still carrying physical injuries and some may be carrying emotional injuries and it is that we need to be careful about.

"We have lost some significant individuals - men who were leaders of a very high calibre and that is always difficult. But I do have a sense the battalion is now looking forward and the Riflemen are very resilient."

The battalion carries the ethos as being Salisbury's own county regiment and Rupert Jones is very aware of the role the battalion has in Salisbury and Wiltshire. He said: "Salisbury is part of its heritage, it is where it recruits its soldiers and, in geographical terms, this is where we stay. One of the things which I am very keen to do is turn that into reality, how the battalion reacts with the local community, with the local councillors, the police, the Journal and place those relationships on a more permanent footing than it has been hitherto.

Rupert joined the Army in 1990 after reading history at Reading University and was commissioned into the Devon and Dorsetshire Regiment (1 D & D) spending six years at Regimental duty in the Armoured Infantry role in Germany first as a platoon commander prior to taking over as operations officer and then as adjutant.

He was awarded an MBE at the Ministry of Defence for his work on Military Aid to the civilian community and counter terrorism and then attended the Advanced Command and Staff Course. After commanding a rifle company with 1 D & D, he served as Chief of Staff of 12 Mechanised Brigade, which included a tour of duty in Iraq. In 2006 he became Military Assistant to the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Commitments) in the MoD.

"It is a great honour to take command of 4 Rifles," Lt Col Jones said. "It has a fantastic reputation and morale is very high, but I don't see it resting on its laurels.

"It is getting back to doing its normal job of an infantry battalion."