10 Special report
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Camp Bastion is reckoned to be the biggest British overseas military camp built since the second world war.
Coming home I
Getting one military vehicle back from the heart of Helmand Province in Afghanistan to the UK is more complicated that it would seem but the end result more than justifies the means and typifies military logistics at its most collaborative. Liza Helps reports from Camp Bastion.
t all starts when a vehicle is no longer required in theatre and it is up to the Unit that uses it to get it to a standard acceptable for redeployment back to the UK. And that’s where it starts to get complicated. Each vehicle and major piece of equipment (VAME)
has a limited time to be brought up to theatre exit standard (TXS) through the Theatre Equipment Return System (TERS). This will involve a three stage cleaning and service and repair programme and the completion of a 27-page document detailing the tests and completed repair work. “We have got to prove Proof Of Good Order (POGO)
for every VAME,” says Pete Beaumont of the Defence Support Group (DSG) in Camp Bastion. The DSG is made up of ex-military and civilian engineers whose job it is to provide the Ministry of Defence (MoD) the technical know-how in the delivery of assembly, maintenance, repair, overhaul, upgrade and support services for the bulk of Britain’s armoured vehicle fleets, as well as other vehicles and small arms used by the military.
We have got to prove Proof of Good Order for every vehicle and major piece of equipment.
Basically it’s the DSG’s job to do all the work that
cannot be done by the Units themselves. The British Army traditionally categorises the maintenance and repair of its equipment in four levels. Level 1 covers servicing and day-to-day preparation. Level 2 covers maintenance by replacement, adjustment or minor repair including fault diagnosis and minor authorised modifications, within specified times, using generally provisioned resources. Level 3 covers maintenance in greater depth such as repair, partial reconditioning and modification requiring special skills or special equipment. Finally, Level 4 covers full reconditioning, major conversions or base overhauls and is commonly referred to as depth repair. Historically, the Army delivered level 1 and 2 forward
repair while civilian workshops delivered level 3 and 4 depth repair. However in recent years the lines have been crossed a bit due to increased operational demands and now of course due to redeployment. The DSG has had a base in Camp Bastion since 2009 operating the Equipment Sustainability System
August 2014 logisticsmanager
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