Nine members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) provided specialist support to Exercise GRAPPLE, a digital tabletop Home Defence exercise held in the South West that employed fictional live radio and television injects to explore the consequences of a coordinated series of hybrid attacks against the United Kingdom. Set against escalating international tension, the scenario culminated in a hostile strike on UK territory.
Multi‑agency syndicates role‑played local authorities and partner organisations, reporting into the Strategic Co‑ordinating Group (SCG). The exercise examined critical themes including:
- Mobilisation and Civil Aid to Military Mobilisation
- Transition to war and emergency powers
- Infrastructure impacts across utilities, airspace, and transport
- Financial and banking disruption
- Spontaneous volunteering and multi‑agency decision‑making
Exercise GRAPPLE is one of the first non‑Central Government Home Defence exercises in decades to simulate this level of strategic pressure and hybrid threat complexity.
The FANY team received outstanding feedback from organisers:
“Every member of the team is an absolute credit to FANY; they performed with skill and professionalism. The involvement of FANY filled a critical gap in capability and was delivered with excellence. I received so many compliments about your kind participation… Thank you for participating and contributing so much to this event.”
Nicholas Gould, Event Organiser
