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Territorial Army Rebalancing

I am fully conscious of that work and witnessed during the early stages of Telic 1—just after the war fighting had ceased—the role playing by TA personnel in the reopening of Umm Qasr. I also witnessed it in Afghanistan. Water engineers who were being deployed for a different purpose suddenly realised that they had specific expertise, so some remained to work on Department for International Development and non-governmental organisation projects and made a valuable contribution. Of course, if people have a specific skill but joined the TA to serve in a different role, we cannot instruct them to use that civilian skill. They are not in the TA to use such skills, although additional benefits can be gained from them. If people serve in an infantry role in a difficult environment, they must attend to their prime duties. We are sensitive to the matter, which, as my hon. Friend highlights, is important.