Repatriation Unit

The first military force constituted “deliberately” to materialise logistic redeployment of a large military base abroad, the Repatriation Unit was constituted exclusively with Army personnel in Mostar on 10th May 2007. Organised by the Operational Logistics Force based in A Coruña and under the direct orders of the Defence Staff Operations Command, each and every one on the commanding officers and troop that made up the force were selected due to their combined human qualities and their fine professional know-how. 

At the command of Lieutenant Colonel Juan Antonio Pons Alcoy, the Repatriation Unit was made up of 140 servicepeople organised in the following manner: Repatriation Logistics Unit, made up of volunteer soldiers from the 21st Logistics Support Group in Seville and 31st Logistics Support Group in Paterna (Valencia); and as well by the Redeployment Support Unit, made up of volunteers from the Engineers Regiments in Salamanca and Burgos.

Along with them were personnel from the Legal Corps, the Military Intervention Corps, and Service Corps, as well as telecommunications technicians from the Coast Artillery Command (Cádiz), which was in charge of maintaining liaison with the Defence Staff Operations Command and Army Headquarters, both in Madrid.

Direct heirs of Task Force SPFOR XXX, the engineers from Burgos and Salamanca devoted themselves to dismantling and restoring hundreds of modular living containers. The logistics personnel from Seville and Valencia strived to gather up, pack and document the telecommunications equipment and all other equipment -computers, medical equipment, munitions, weapons, spare parts, laundry equipment, etc.-and nearly one hundred vehicles that had allowed over 30,000 Spanish servicepeople to patrol day and night, since November 1992, in order to return peace and harmony to the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The first great challenge that the Repatriation Unit faced was stowing nothing less than 218 modular living containers, 29 cargo containers and 55 vehicles, in addition to 30 “ablution” containers for personnel hygiene. A second and final ship, the “Eclipse”, departed on 20th June from the port of Ploce with the final 400 containers as well as 40 light and heavy vehicles.
The repatriation of personnel was carried out in phases by air from the end of May. A force of 69 servicepeople proceeded to finalise the hand-over of the permanent and non-collapsible infrastructures on the base. On 26th June the last Spanish flag to fly in the “Plaza de España” on Base “Europe” was lowered with full honours, and on 28th June 2007, the final members of the Repatriation Unit departed Mostar and returned to Spain. Spanish Army redeployment in Mostar is within the framework of the progressive reduction of European Union military presence in Bosnia-Herzegovina.