Thread by @WillJMeddings

Been wondering about how the UK LRRG sustains itself over 1,500km and three weeks of patrolling?

Wonder no more.

For @ThinkDefence, @TheRLCThinkers,
A thread on LRRG sustainment.

This thread has too many heroes. But two stand out – the BGLO (Maj W) and the A1 Echelon Commander (Capt S).

One organises it, the other carries and distributes it. Nothing can happen without these two.

A1 Echelon can be up to 25 vehicles, if you include its protection. It’s a big beast. But the dozen-or-so SVs can carry all the supplies you need, including spares.

Lets have a look at each:

Water.
We’ve used different amounts. In May-Jul - the hottest period - we worked on 14 litres/day. As we acclimatised, worked smarter and became more practised, it dropped to 9. That’s to wash, drink and brew the coffee.

By the end? Some were only using 4.

Food.
The UN get their rations from the same supplier as the @BritishArmy, so no surprises with the packaging. But they only hold three menus. Three.

So mixing in some UK rations gives some variety. 250 rations, for three weeks. Over 5,000 ration packs.

Fuel.
The LRRG has two UST fuel trucks. They’ve been excellent off road. Each one can nearly refuel the whole taskgroup once over. Some vehicles are more thirsty than others.

How long that fuel last for depends on how far you drive and over what terrain.

Ammunition.
I won't talk about our holdings, but A1 Ech carries a resupply of every nature we use: from 81mm mortar HE and illum, through 40mm GMG and down to 5.56mm.

Interesting fact: ammunition becomes unusable after a period of time...

... But for the first time in years the British Army is having to think about ‘trundle life’.

How usable is ammunition after a 1,500km off-road journey? That’s why the LRRG includes expert Ammunition Technical Officers to assess ammunition condition.

Med.
As well as the Unit Aid Post – a Role 1 facility for primary healthcare – the LRRG carries a Role 1+ 'Ground Manoeuvre Surgical Group'.

Consultant surgeons and anaesthetists, an ITU nurse, radiologist, pharmacist, and biomedical scientist. It’s an impressive team…

The biggest challenge has been keeping fresh blood cool for three weeks at a time. WO2 M has been at the heart of solving this challenge.

Other tech allows the team video call specialists in the UK to instant SME advice – something we’ve used a couple of times.

Equipment Sustainment.
You can’t drive over a thousand kilometres without needing repair work. Every evening there’s some serious work going on. Level 1 repairs (user repairs) happen all the time. We track them to gain the data, but they don’t even make the CO’s radar.

Often Level 2 (REME-led repairs) don’t either, and those take place daily as well. Here are some of my favourites:

The extreme terrain has damaged several HMTV wheel stations. A couple of times we’ve run out of spares. By removing the station from a 6-wheel coyote we got a Jackal back on the road and the Coyote continued on 5 wheels.

On one occasion, the team took apart two damaged wheel stations from two separate vehicles to reconstitute one working one, getting a Jackal back on the road while a Coyote 5-wheeled the remaining 400km.

When the SV(R)s were suffering in the dust, the REME completely stripped down the air systems to get them back to full power – 250km from home.

And a complete engine lift to replace internal parts.

By the last patrol the EME had rationalised the spares pack so that we held spares for around 95% of the failures we experienced over a three-week patrol

How about resupply? Supplies can be prelocated at MINUSMA bases in the region, given enough time to organise it.

Or, like the last rotation, maybe air resupply?

The LRRG can either travel and resupply itself as it goes, or hub-and-spoke out of a central location. The latter allows a central ES hub for some of the larger jobs to be done in the field.

However it does it, the combined efforts of the BGLO, A1 Echelon commander and their whole team make it happen.

I've been hugely grateful for the determination, professionalism and hard work of such a superb group of soldiers.

If you want to learn more about the work of the LRRG then check out this thread on Operation MAKARA 2B, the LRRG's third long-range patrol as part of @UN_MINUSMA.

And still to come: Op MAKARA 3...