Profile of Commodore Lett - Commander of the British Forces South Atlantic

Written for the March 19, 2021, issue of Penguin News under the title: CBF Commodore Lett seeks ‘one community’"

Commodore Jonathan Lett became Commander of the British Forces for the South Atlantic Islands on November 20, 2020, having previously served five tours in the South Atlantic on vessels including the HMS Westminster and HMS Lancaster, and has been Commanding Officer on both the HMS Clyde and HMS Montrose.

For this Penguin News Profile we spoke to Commodore Lett about his hopes for his tenure as CBFSAI, and his past before volunteering himself for the role.

Commodore Lett was born and raised in Southeast London and told Penguin News that his family had no major military background. “My family were always pretty close to the River Thames, so that's about as maritime as it gets. Quite a lot of history of either working around the docks, or in or on the River Thames.”

Speaking about what inspired him to go down the path of working in the military Commodore Lett cited a wish to travel: “That was one of the things that definitely attracted me to the Navy. The opportunity to travel the world and visit different places. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I wanted to get away from home. Home was great, but just that opportunity to travel and get around the world.”

Commodore Lett also theorised that seeing the events of the Falklands War in 1982 may have had an influence on him. “In 1982, I was 12, and so that was probably quite an influential age for me, seeing what was happening in the world at that point. That probably is one of those factors that push me towards the Navy, so the two things probably came together.”

Speaking about his life in education, Commodore Lett said that his career has been “punctuated at various points rather than do all that education upfront.”

Commodore Lett when appointed as Commander of the British Forces

“I knew quite early on, probably around age 14, that I was opting for the Navy. At that point I was just really focused on getting to the Navy and to get travelling, University didn't really appeal to me.”

I joined the Navy on a full career at age 18, which was 32 years that I was signing up for, but then of course you end up three or four years into your naval career and they said, ‘How do you fancy going getting a degree now?’ So about four years in they sent me to do a BA, and then eventually you end up getting your MA. So, education has been a theme throughout.”

“It’s been a superb mix from my perspective,” Commodore Lett continued, “Get some life experience then come back to education, then more life experience, then education again.”

Before coming to the Islands to be CBFSAI, Commodore Lett was in the US working as the UK Ministry of Defence Liaison Officer for the US Southern Command. He described the experience as 'a great opportunity to engage with our US allies and to look at the region… and see what’s what and get a really good understanding geopolitically but at that strategic level as well.'

“I was there during Hurricane Irma and hurricane Maria, in fact, I was sheltering in the headquarters during Hurricane Irma when it came through Miami, which was an experience in itself.”

While previous tours have come to the Falklands, Commodore Lett has said he wants to get 'more perspective from the land.'

“For example I’ve seen Fox Bay from the Sea, but I’ve never been ashore in Fox Bay. I’ve been to Sea Lion, I’ve been to Pebble, and I’ve actually stayed at Pebble and stayed at Port Howard, but I need to get out there more and either go by vehicle or go by helo [helicopter] and visit some of those more outlying locations around the islands. That's the unique thing about this job, often the reason I didn't get ashore was because I was in command. It’s very easy to send your troops ashore but because of the possibility that you might need to get back to sea often you find yourself staying on board whilst others go ashore.”

Commodore Lett during a visit to Stanley between 1994 and 1995

On his motivation in the role Commodore Lett said: “It's my fifth time here, but it's interesting because this is the only time I actually volunteered to come back, every other time was just programming or assigning and I ended up being really privileged to come. I wanted this job because I think it's an amazing location, it is a beautiful place in all its varying climates, varying weather; all of those things. I love history, I love nature. I love getting outdoors. So, there's no better place.”

Asked about his hopes now that he’s on land in the Falklands and how he aims to make his mark he said: “I think we’re in a fascinating period in the development of the islands. There’s a number of significant anniversaries coming up during my tenure; the bicentenary of Napoleon's death in May this year. We've got the centenary of Shackleton's death coming up in January of 22. We've got the Platinum Jubilee coming up in 22 and then of course the 40th anniversary of the conflict. You know, the last time I was down here it was interesting. It was the 30th anniversary. Here I am back for the 40th anniversary.”

Speaking about the value of keeping the Stanley and MPC communities linked Commodore Lett described a hope for a spirit of 'one community' in the islands. "All of our people, which is everyone from the military to the families and everyone in between; the contractors and the civilians are a part of 'one community,' and that's the way I view it.

“It's about the taking part isn't it…? There are opportunities every week, every month, and it's just about throwing ourselves into them really.

“We’ve got two centres of population but I say to my people, look, it's a road it's not a wall. We've got an amazing link between the two locations and [the MPA] road improves every single day.”

Commodore Lett continued, “You look at the moment, there is no better example of how we act as one community in the way we've dealt with COVID-19, the way we tackle the cases, the vaccination programme. What a great example of working together!”

Commodore Lett said that while at sea, 'it keeps you pretty busy' but during downtime, and time on land, he enjoys, 'the ability to go to the beach and be alone on the beach and get away from everything,'W and is passionate about history and getting the chance to go and visit museums – and that at the time of the interview he was preparing a number of entries into the horticultural show.

Nicholas Roberts