14 Special report


It is a sychro- nisation battle, if we get rid of one vehicle type we can get rid of all associated parts...


Lt Col Richard Gibb, who heads up the 200-strong


Theatre Equipment Support Group (Th ES Group) that ensures every vehicle and large piece of equipment is properly maintained before being moved back to Britain, says: “Second level preparation is done by us. Basically it’s an in depth service and MOT to bring vehicle up to Theatre Exit Standard (TXS) prior to being sent back. It is much better for us to do it here as it can be done quickly and is better value for money for the tax payer. “The facilities here are second to none and we have a


captive audience [of mechanics] spare so we do as much as we can here.”


Focused And certainly everyone is extremely focused. In one month from 16th October 2013 to 17th November 2013 the Th ES Group cleared 137 platforms and saw the redeployment of £15.5 million worth of spare parts no longer needed in theatre; for as well as continuing to maintain and upgrade vehicles in Afghanistan for troops on the ground and outside the wire as well as preparing vehicles and equipment for return to the UK, the Th ES Group has to also manage its own redeployment. Major Christian Ackroyd of REME, who is in charge


of the organisational processes for the Th ES Group says wryly: “It is a synchronisation battle if we get rid of one vehicle type we can get rid of all associated parts but in general we have to match inflow with capacity of outflow to take it.” Warrant Office (WO1) Richie Bunn who is part of the


Stores Troop looking after the supply pipeline at the spares warehouse at the ERHF notes that he has still


Operations The real extreme trucker


Trucking out in Afghanistan is a massive learning curve in terms of skills. According to Lt Colonel Mike


Caldicott, Commander of 2 Close Support Logistics Regiment: “You have got someone who is used to working to a very tight schedule and has necessarily proved themselves utterly reliable because the stakes of failure are so high – lives literally depend on the successful accomplishment of their task. “Someone who is tremendously


resilient and wherever an obstacle to delivery for want of better term presents itself they will actively seek ways to surmount that obstacle and progress. They will always lean forward – the military trucker will always lean forward to try and deliver. They will never look for a reason to stop or look for a reason not to deliver. “They are very focused on equipment


husbandry because if they break down it's not a case of sitting at the side of the road with a cup of coffee waiting for a recovery truck: they are in really harms’ way and the last thing they want is people to come to them. They need to get back in the road and get moving thus they are acutely focused on the care of their equipment. “They are also, in terms of technical


skills used to having to drive defensively amid a local national population with tremendously variable driving skills and habits and so they are very, very, alert bicycles and mopeds weaving in and out, children trying to climb on their vehicles, children throwing stones at their vehicles, cars weaving in and out driving the wrong way down the road – that is not abnormal that is normal. The Hammersmith road is tame by comparison to the highway through Gereshk and through Lashkar Gah.” Those are the two major towns in


Central Helmand both significant market towns and Lashkar Gah is the provincial capital. It is absolutely thriving these days. “They have to be hugely professional


and they have to be physically fit so they don't get ill very often; a soldier very rarely takes a day off for sickness. It’s a case of fitness of body fitness of mind. “That's what you get if employ


somebody that has been trucking in Central Helmand with the Royal Logistics Corps.” (And it’s not just the drivers: at a


management level, planning and delivering a complex task like this would be considered on a par with planning and delivering a complex task in industry.)


got a sizeable quantity of spare parts. “And that’s not going down at present stock will go


up initially because of the influx of vehicles needing to be redeployed as transition kicks in but we are redeploying what equipment and spare parts we can.” We are looking at streamlining the procedures to


reduce manpower and real estate. Everything is the under microscope to see how best to improve efficiency. We are relying more and more on the air bridge and it has never been as good as it is now.” WO1 Bunn has an array of warehouse management


systems such as LOGIS that allow him to track and trace every stock keeping unit (SKU) – all 10,000 of them. “The Store Troop has a constant day to day account holding brief and monitors stats on daily basis.” Once the vehicle has been brought up to TXS it then


goes through a thorough bio wash with chemicals to kill off various bugs and undesirable bacteria as demanded by the Department of Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Each vehicle will be accompanied by a mountain of paperwork and its POGO Passport as required by HM Revenue & Customs. At this stage it is ready to go home and it is passed through to Major Anderson’s team who see it to the air bridge.


Little Heathrow This is where the Joint Movement Unit (JMU) takes over. The JMU is responsible for preparing loading and unloading of all freight and passengers onto and off British transport aircraft at Bastion Airfield (known as little Heathrow – in 2009 the airfield was the fifth busiest UK-operated airfield in the world and with the increase in flights due to redeployment many consider it has gone up in the rankings). Squadron Leader Tom Walker OC JMU says: “The


type of goods put forward dictates what we can do with it and routes home. Protected mobility, equipment and good considered Attractive to Criminals and Terrorist Organisations (ACTO) and battle damaged vehicles all go home via the air bridge. Some such as the Lynx Helicopter fly straight home


August 2014 logisticsmanager


www.logisticsmanager.com


The Hamersmith road is tame by comparison to the highway through Gereshk and through Lashkar Gah.


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