Logistics Brigade units, busy dismantling ‘Armored Head’

A Pizarro is mounted onto one of the low loaders (Photo: BRILOG)

The low loaders ready to hit the road (Photo: BRILOG)

Several Leopard 2E tanks aboard the train (Photo: BRILOG)

Three units from the Logistics Brigade (known as BRILOG) were busy assisting the 12th Armoured Brigade ‘Guadarrama’ on 1 and 2 June: the 1st Transport Group (Madrid), the 3rd/21 Transport Group (Granada) and the 3rd/41 Transport Group (Huesca). They provided personnel, resources and equipment to help the Brigade get back to its base in Madrid after exercise ‘Armored Head’, which took place at the training centre ‘San Gregorio’ from 16 to 31 May. In addition, the Railway Company of the 12th Pontoneers and Engineering Specialties Regiment (Zaragoza) took care of transporting part of the equipment by train.

Logistics is hard work and should be appreciated as such. The deployment or RSOM (Reception, Staging & Onward Movement) of resources and their subsequent redeployment or Reverse RSOM is a significant task often overlooked because it goes smoothly thanks to the intense work of the logistics units. Nonetheless, it is crucial to the different Army units so they can carry out military exercises.

On this occasion 14 Leopard 2E tanks, 4 Pizarro mechanised vehicles and several VEMPAR and TOA heavy vehicles were loaded onto a train to be transported back to the ‘El Goloso’ base, in Madrid. This undertaking requires pinpoint accuracy due to the size of the tanks and vehicles, which should not protrude beyond the train platform to avoid invading the opposite track – and trains transporting this kind of load must always yield the right of way to others in any case. If the measurement is not exact, the men and women of the Railway Company must unload the tank or vehicle and start over. The units from the Logistics Brigade also loaded onto trucks 14 other tanks and several artillery pieces.

This logistics operation, dubbed ‘Giant March’, was the first time the aforementioned units worked together, and was controlled from and coordinated by a Movement Control Centre established by the 1st Transport Group. More than 200 soldiers from BRILOG took part, including commanding officers and troops.

To sum up, the BRILOG units supported ‘Armored Head’ with over 100 vehicles of different types: the 1st Transport Group (Madrid), with 21 light vehicles, 27 semi-trailer trucks, 26 VEMPARS with trailer, 18 buses and 4 Eurocargoes (6-ton Nissans); the 3rd/21 Transport Group, with 2 light vehicles, 11 VEMPARs with trailer and 3 buses; and the 3rd/41 Transport Group, with 2 light vehicles, 10 VEMPARs with trailer and 3 buses. They transported 31 Leopard 2E tanks, 21 Pizarros, 105 TOAs, 3 sapper vehicles and 5 self-propelled mortars, as well as nearly 900 soldiers.