Success for the largest multi-national exercise held in Lithuania this year is largely influenced by the logistics division, a responsibility of the Vytenis General Support Logistics Battalion from the Lithuanian Armed Forces Logistic Command. Ensuring the delivery of logistic provisions to an exercise of this magnitude and scope is a genuinely challenging task.
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Troops from the Vytenis Battalion's Field Camp Company arrived at the exercise area in early mid-May, installing three tent villages, wiring the camps for electricity, installing sanitary facilities, and deploying water purification unit. The troops completed a vast number of other critical tasks essential to the success of Amber Hope 2011.
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"The Field Camp Company has never been responsible for providing for such a large contingent of troops," said commander of the Field Camp Company, Captain Marijus Tamošaiti. "Despite that fact we are not intimidated because we have been training for this moment through various levels of exercise with increasing numbers of soldiers to be provided for."
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In total, 280 ten-man tents, 20 multi-purpose inflatable tents, and four hangars were erected in the Pabradės Training Area. The Field Camp Company was assisted by a platoon of 15 troops from the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas Headquarters Battalion. Personnel from the 1st multi-national battalion and exercise staff will populate the first tent village to generate tasks during AH 11, the second tent village will be inhabited by personnel from the 2nd multi-national battalion, and the third tent village with soldiers from the Quick Reaction Force.
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According to Tamošaitis, personnel from the Field Camp Company have been installing field camps biannually since the second half of 2007 for more than 250 troops training for the multi-national mission in Afghanistan. "In the largest military exercise held in Lithuania last year, Strong Shield, the Company provided all the field camp service for more than 800 personnel." said Tamošaitis.
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The Finnish contingent participating in Amber Hope 2011 will live in their own tents which they brought from Finland in seven naval containers with a variety of other military equipment. Finnish personnel came to the exercise area ahead of time and installed their camp themselves, while Lithuanian logistics personnel transported their containers to the camp with SISU trucks designed for such tasks. Personnel from the Lithuanian Field Camp Company only needed to provide the Finnish contingent with electrical power to complement the rest of the equipment they brought from home. Contingents from other countries brought only their personal military equipment and weapons to the Exercise.
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A significant difference from the last exercise held four years ago is that participants of Amber Hope 2011 will be fed from field kitchen with meals cooked by kitchen staff from throughout Lithuania.
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"An impressive amount of food was ordered for the exercise." said Dalė Dovidauskienė, the chief specialist of the Material Resources Department of the Logistic Command of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, and food services supervisor for the Exercise. "For example, around eight tons of meat products, 1.3 tons of rice and 1,400 thousand litres of juice were purchased. These numbers reflect just a portion of the food planned for the exercise - apart from hundreds of loaves of white and brown bread, hundreds of kilograms of vegetables and other food items."
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The demand for drinking water during the exercise will also be significant and requires a 100 ton water reservoir and water purification unit that was installed in one of the camps. Participants of the exercise will be able to quench their thirst not only through bottled water bought for the exercise, but also with water from the Žemyna River purified by equipment from the Lithuanian Armed Forces. According to logistics personnel from the Lithuanian Armed Forces, the water is completely purified with the help of modern technology and the filtration process produces water of an exceptionally high cleanliness level, but not distillate water. The water purification equipment from the logistics personnel is capable of cleaning even the most extremely muddy water.
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The Field Camp Company is the only such company with exacting specifications in the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Its task is ensuring logistic support for a more than 1,500 troops and service personnel in the Lithuanian operational area and beyond.
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The Company is equipped with all the necessary capabilities for installing and maintaining a stationary and mobile field camp infrastructure to accommodate troops, provide hot meals three times per day and with purified drinking water, ensuring the presence of sanitary facilities, supplying electrical power and fuel, and installing leisure and recreational zones.
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For more information on Exercise Amber Hope 2011, visit:
http://kariuomene.kam.lt/en/ah2011.html
www.facebook.com/GintarineViltis
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Note for media:
Media representatives who intend to observe the Exercise at Pabradės Training Area and interview Exercise leadership are to register at cell phone - 00370 640 45 380 or e-mail -·neimontas@gmail.com (Capt Mindaugas Neimontas, Head of Media Operations Section for the Exercise.)
