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The new Commander of the Armed Forces of Malta, Brigadier Carmel Vassallo, speaks about the army’s new challenges and working with a debilitating budget
With the end of World War II, Malta’s military role diminished to irrelevance, forcing the army to take an unassuming role amongst the other country’s institutions.
True to this is the extremely tight budget and heavy staff shortages affecting the Armed Forces of Malta. Nevertheless, the AFM evolved over the years from the famous labour corps occupied with building roads and digging trenches for a new telephone system, to a search and rescue service and an army gearing itself to flank foreign soldiers in humanitarian missions abroad, to mention only two of its varied assignments.
“Our army is a strange creature,” the AFM’s new Commander, Brig. Carmel Vassallo, humbly says. “We have one command which groups elements of land forces in the First Regiment, maritime and air squadron and a small anti-aircraft battery for low-level threats in the Second Regiment, and a regiment supporting the other two. We have a little bit of everything.”
The 49-year-old commander has spent more than 27 years in the army, seeing it evolve in response to different needs over the years. Clearly proud of the army he heads since the retirement of Brig. Rupert Montanaro at the end of last February, the new commander however betrays an unmistakable, down-to-earth view of the role of the military.
“I wish to make an appeal to army officers: I sincerely never imagined that one day I would be occupying the highest rank,” he says. “This is our highest rank; abroad you find three, four, five-star generals. In our case you become Brigadier, a one-star general, and I’m proud about it. I wouldn’t say my path was always rosy, there were many difficulties, but today, as a 49-year-old and one of the older soldiers in the army, I would say that difficult periods strengthen your character. They bring out the best military qualities which an army officer should have.”
Brig. Vassallo started his career with the Pioneer Corps and kept climbing gradually the military chain of command, from infantryman to helicopter pilot, from Officer Commanding of what is today called the Air Squadron to Staff Officer in charge of operations and training, studying at the Italian War College and the British Royal College of Defence Studies, and setting up the search and rescue service together with other officers.
But despite his brilliant career, Brig. Vassallo knows well enough the limitations of the AFM he is now in charge of. It is an army with no standard rifle although it should have one by July; it has to wait for years to get new shipments of ammunition; it depends on foreign governments’ gifts and funding to get new equipment. China has just supplied it with a warehouse of rifles, the US supplied it with a Coastguard patrol boat and another one is on the way, and Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri is building a new offshore patrol boat for the AFM which would be capable of covering a much longer range than that covered so far, financed by the Italian Financial Protocol.
Still, the maritime squadron has been reported to be in a precarious state, with not even enough funding to fuel some of its patrol boats.
“The situation is not very good but we’re improving it,” Brig. Vassallo admits. “Now we’re finally starting the second phase of the maritime squadron upgrading of berthing facilities, which is extremely important. The place where we moor our vessels is largely inadequate and the project is really a compromise – we would have liked to have a bigger base but it would have been too expensive. I hope we’ll have enough funds to cover this capital expenditure.”
The best two helicopters used in search and rescue operations belong to the Italian Military Mission – which thankfully will not close down, contrary to rumours last year.
To the question of whether he has enough funds to run the armed forces, Brig. Vassallo replies with a straight “no”.
“The answer is quite predictable,” he adds, “but we’re addressing the problem. I find our ministry (the Office of the Prime Minister) to be very understanding. Whether we get the same level of understanding from the finance ministry is another question. The finance ministry has a wider range of priorities, of course. So no, I can’t say we have a good budget but we’re doing our utmost to give our service. Our ministry appreciates our efforts and stands by us in our bid for more finances.”
The AFM’s tight budget meant that it had to buy new pistols and submachine guns with the money made from the sale of old military equipment.
“It didn’t cost the finance ministry a cent,” Brig. Vassallo says.
Now, despite all these restrictions, the AFM is gearing up to meet the new challenges when Malta joins the European Union – particularly its participation in the union’s Rapid Reaction Force.
“The EU for us means not only more responsibilities but it also requires a change in our mentality. From now on, a helicopter pilot, a patrol boat master, will not only be serving Malta’s interests but also the EU’s. Our borders are also the EU’s borders.”
The AFM opened applications last August for volunteers among its staff to take part in the EU humanitarian assistance and rescue operations abroad. Brig. Vassallo said that a political decision was taken to keep such participation on a voluntary basis although technically soldiers could be sent upon his orders.
“In all we had 200 applications, which is very good when you consider that is more than 10 per cent of the armed forces. We’re all volunteers in the army, but given that this was something new there was the political wish to make it a voluntary decision for volunteers. As Commander I still have the authority to send any AFM member abroad – not only those who volunteered. When one joins the AFM he signs the so-called ‘universal service’, which means the Prime Minister can order him to work wherever he’s needed. In the case of the Rapid Reaction Force, we wanted the soldiers to participate on a voluntary basis. But it is clear to every AFM member that whatever is needed to be done has to be done. It is normal that we order where one is posted, but I think it’s a good idea to get AFM members to contribute abroad on a voluntary basis.”
The AFM is now recruiting people to establish a full complement for the C Special Duties Company from which soldiers will be assigned to the EU Rapid Reaction Force unit. Brig. Vassallo says the army set “very tough, demanding entry criteria” because apart from physically fit soldiers, the job required people of high endurance and character.
“People you can rely on for missions lasting four, six months, away from their country, sent at a relatively short notice,” he explains. “We didn’t want to recruit a lot of people and then having to sack them later. We set a difficult course. We started off with 39 recruits and now we have 21.”
I ask him whether the Maltese army and government would be kept informed about logistics and decisions of other EU forces affecting Maltese soldiers, in the wake of shocking revelations about the use of depleted uranium in the Balkans by US forces which effectively led to the death and suffering of many soldiers from other armies because of cancer, particularly the Italians. Does he have any assurances this wouldn’t happen to Maltese soldiers?
“Nobody can give us assurances,” he replies worryingly. “One day doctors say drinking water is good for our health, and then they tell us that calcium could make it unsafe. But we are preparing our soldiers so that they are well-protected.”
The AFM should be able to provide 35 soldiers for missions abroad at any one time, which proportionally puts Malta at par with the Portuguese army in terms of staff contribution. Five officers will be posted at the Italian headquarters, where the Maltese platoon would be incorporated in an Italian battalion of 600 to 700 soldiers. Still, AFM soldiers will only answer to orders from the Maltese government, Brig. Vassallo said.
“Our soldiers respond to AFM. We could easily face a situation whereby an accident forces us to reconsider whether we should resume a particular mission or abort it, and we have that irrevocable right to decide. We’ll have direct control of the Maltese platoon.”
The commander adds that while training has been progressing as planned together with the Italian forces, “when it comes to equipment we’re lagging behind although things have started to move… again it’s a question of finances”.
The AFM commander’s appointment also happens to come in the wake of a controversy involving the army chaplain, who was sacked following an inflamed interview he had given to It-Torca making serious allegations about corruption, injustice, unfair promotions and low morale in the army, among other claims.
Doesn’t Brig. Vassallo believe the chaplain’s claims should be investigated?
“He mentioned a lot of things which I was not responsible for, but I still want to answer your question. I believe that we could have avoided the controversy, because unfortunately it led us nowhere, nobody really benefited from it. Does that mean I want to hide problems? No, I want to tackle all the problematic areas and find solutions. Moreover, we have a system where every AFM member has the right to file a complaint to his superiors, and pursue it up to the Commander. If the complainant is still dissatisfied with the Commander’s decision he can still refer his case to the Ombudsman.”
Which is exactly what happened in the case of promotions. In 2001, Ombudsman Joe Sammut received 70 complaints related to the infamous mass promotions granted to 379 officers, prompting him to state that “the AFM is in a hell of a mess”. The Ombudsman has for long been calling on the AFM to grant promotions based on merit as soon as vacancies arise.
“True,” Brig. Vassallo replies, “but that is not an astronomical figure when you consider that many of them were solved. There were a few which remained unsolved and that’s where the whole issue erupted. The same with the chaplain – he used to do a lot of work in the army, even work which was beyond his call of duty. I think he just lost his patience and I wouldn’t like to go through that again. It was a mistake and nothing came out of it, just a new chaplain. It’s a pity and I’m very disappointed.”
The Ombudsman was very critical of Brig. Vassallo’s predecessor for the way he awarded mass promotions, producing too many complaints. Will he be taking the Ombudsman’s suggestions?
“Yes I want to arrange this situation, it’s one of the first issues I want to address. But before doing that we have to review our staff establishment. We’re supposed to be working with a staff complement of around 2,150 but in reality we only have 1,600, so we’re heavily understaffed. With the present financial situation it’s impossible to reach the full complement, so I’d rather have a staff review, introduce more efficiency, analyse the trade qualifications of our people and relate them to different ranks according to the army’s particular needs. Once we conclude that and get our plans approved by OPM – I see this happening in a matter of months – then we will be able to give promotions and training. The next promotions exercise will probably be similar to that of three years ago, because with at least three years having passed you’re bound to give promotions in bulk again, but after that we have to make sure we start implementing what the Ombudsman rightly suggested. We haven’t managed so far but we should be able to do it. If we give up we won’t manage for sure.”
To his credit, Brig. Vassallo has just solved a deadlock by finalising an agreement with Malta International Airport for the payment of security services offered by the AFM at the airport terminal, almost a year since the airport management stopped paying the government.
Since 1999, MIA used to pay Lm800,000 yearly to the government for the AFM’s security services around the airport’s perimeter, on the apron and inside the terminal. However the management refused to sign a new contract last April when the 1999 agreement expired, arguing that the army was bound to provide for national security anyway.
“We finalised the contract and we should be signing it shortly,” Brig. Vassallo says, adding that the agreement will be backdated to April last year. “We will be basically giving the same service but at a slightly higher fee, in line with increased costs. Both sides are happy with the terms laid out in the contract so it’s a matter of signing it in a matter of weeks. We’re almost there.”
And he has also finalised a new agreement with the Italian government, giving a new role to the Italian Military Mission in Malta through enhanced co-operation in EU-led operations, in dealing with illegal immigration at sea and in fighting terrorism.
Now that’s a good start for the new commander.
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