The funding of Host Nation Support in Exercise ‘Trident Juncture’

An exercise as large as Trident Juncture 2015 demands a significant effort of budget planning. Spain, which as host nation is committed to providing support to others, started work on that planning back in October 2014 based on the information provided by the Defence Staff.

The first aspect to be considered was the procurement of services from Spanish companies to provide food, fuel and chemical toilets and transport the vehicles, materiel and personnel taking part in the exercise.

Next came the issue of tax, because Spanish legislation provides for tax exemptions to multinational entities but it has been necessary to apply for them for the participating forces. That meant the ad hoc processing of dossiers in collaboration with the Spanish Tax Agency bodies charged with dealing with taxes (VAT, special taxes on fuel and import duties).

On the other hand, according to the NATO Standardisation Agreement (STANAG), participating countries have established a support and compensation procedure. This will allow Spain to recover the monies spent in the reimbursement conferences which will be held at the end of the exercise.

Who is behind all this work? A Financial Section specifically set up within the Functional Staff of the Host Nation Support Command (EMF HNSC), stationed at the cantonment of “Atocha” (A Coruña). It is made up of personnel from the Economic Affairs Office of the Operational Logistic Force and personnel commissioned from the Quartermaster Office of Economic Affairs West (Valladolidad), the Logistic Brigade HQ (which is very involved in the exercise), the 2nd Cavalry Brigade “Castillejos” (Zaragoza) and the Mountain Troops HQ (Jaca, Huesca).

Refuelling of a German vehicle (Photo: R. Cerezo/41st AALOC)