The Increment

[hawky94]

Hey guys! As some of you know, I'm writing a novel, and as another part of that, I've come up with the following idea:

My latest involves four British Special Forces operatives being drafted in by the Security Services to work on an operation to track down four operatives of an Active Service Unit of the IRA planning to assassinate heads of the British Armed Forces.

They're working in tandem with Protection Command, specifically SO1, or Specialist Protection that operates from the Close Protection Unit, Royal Military Police. The Increment is purely a rumour and there has never been any acknowledgement by the British Government - its operations are supposedly overseen by the Security Services.

My four operatives are recruited into The Increment, what I'm looking for is something to make it more 'dark and mysterious', something to make it a deniable op, perhaps these IRA men have outside help? Not quite sure what else? Perhaps the operation is taking place off of the UK Mainland?

Thanks, hawky94

 

[My2Cents]

They're working in tandem with Protection Command, specifically SO1, or Specialist Protection that operates from the Close Protection Unit, Royal Military Police. The Increment is purely a rumour and there has never been any acknowledgement by the British Government - its operations are supposedly overseen by the Security Services.

My four operatives are recruited into The Increment, what I'm looking for is something to make it more 'dark and mysterious', something to make it a deniable op, perhaps these IRA men have outside help? Not quite sure what else? Perhaps the operation is taking place off of the UK Mainland?

Just to clarify:

• The Increment is the official/unofficial designation for a special unit in the Close Protection Unit? Or is it the official/unofficial designation for the IRA splinter group?
• Which branch of the British Special Forces are these people recruited from, and why? What are their capabilities, and why are they needed?
• How long have those operatives trained and worked together? You cannot just throw people together and expect them to work effectively.

 

[hawky94]

Just to clarify:

• The Increment is the official/unofficial designation for a special unit in the Close Protection Unit? Or is it the official/unofficial designation for the IRA splinter group?
• Which branch of the British Special Forces are these people recruited from, and why? What are their capabilities, and why are they needed?
• How long have those operatives trained and worked together? You cannot just throw people together and expect them to work effectively.

The Increment is a rumoured group of British Special Forces operatives that supposedly work exclusively for the Security Services conducting covert operations for Her Majesty's Government. These individuals are mainly recruited from the Special Air Service (SAS), Special Boat Service (SBS), Special Forces Support Group (SFSG), Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) and the Intelligence Corps. There are also elements of 7th and 47th Squadron RAF which supposedly provides close-air-support for Increment Operations.

Increment operatives are 'the cream of the crop' of the United Kingdom Special Forces, these particular operatives are needed (as they will later find out, but they don't know yet) when the operation goes South, and switches from surveillance and arresting the IRA members, to taking them out.

A quick Google Search will help you find out more about The Increment.

Three of these operatives have trained and worked together for about two years on various operations. The remaining one is a member of SFSG and the 'FNG' among the group. He's a bit of an old dog at 36, it is however later revealed that this man oversaw the torture of prisoners at Castlereagh, one of the men that he saw tortured was his own brother.

Hope this helped. Thanks, hawky.

 

[My2Cents]

Three of these operatives have trained and worked together for about two years on various operations. The remaining one is a member of SFSG and the 'FNG' among the group. He's a bit of an old dog at 36, it is however later revealed that this man oversaw the torture of prisoners at Castlereagh, one of the men that he saw tortured was his own brother.

I think he may have to be older, depending on what year you set this in. I am not sure that they would want someone with his talents, and with much less field craft than the others. It is a question of mental attitudes and disappline.

If you want to make something like this really dark, add office politics and a political twist. For the IRA to carry out the assassination they need an intelligence source on the inside, so make it someone (party ‘A’) above them but just out of the chain of command, who for motives of personal ambition, either to eliminate a rival, open a position, or make them look good by stopping it. Except ‘A’ is nowhere near as good as a manipulator as he thinks he is and the person (party ‘B’) higher up that ‘A’ was trying to effect got wind of the plan and was setting it up to backfire. And then someone still higher up (party ‘C’) got suspicious / worried and instead of allowing everything to stay ‘in house’ the ‘Increment’ got called. Now ‘A’ is trying to make everything disappear, especially the IRA Action Group before they can be captured and interrogated (he had originally made arrangements for them to be killed trying to escape). ‘B’ realizes that this won’t end quietly on its own, and some of it may trace back to him, but without the Action Group there will not be enough evidence. And ‘C’ is worrying about what happens if it all goes public, unless, of course, the Action Group quietly disappears. Each of these individuals is trying to manipulate ‘The Increment’ and each other by controlling information flows and orders. All the parties want the Action Group dead to limit exposure, but none can expressly give the order without arousing suspicion, so they are all, independently, trying to set up the ‘The Increment’ to do the job. ‘The Increment’ should spend most of the story in a state in increasing confusion of conflicting orders, missing information, and leaks.

Meanwhile the Action Group still thinks the plan is a go.

How to resolve it in the end? That’s your job. Have fun. :hul

see Gambit Pileup - Television Tropes & Idioms for ideas.