On 15-28 September 2005, around 1,500 Territorial Army soldiers will be taking part in this year’s largest Army Logistic Training Exercise.

The soldiers, all members of the Specialist Units of the Royal Logistic Corps Territorial Army (RLC TA), will arrive in Grantham throughout the week to draw up their kit and equipment, before deploying on Saturday 17 September for the two-week exercise: Exercise Log Focus.

Training is at the heart of TA life and Exercise Log Focus, which has taken a year to plan, aims to provide an opportunity for the RLC TA to test their wide-range of skills. Soldiers will be involved in many different aspects of logistics, including road and rail transport, catering, postal services, building and operating a bulk fuel installation, engineering and construction tasks, movement control, the operation of field showers and laundry facilities.

A mixed fleet of 150 military vehicles including DROPS vehicles (Demountable Rack Offloading and Pick Up Systems), Landrovers and Harley Davidson motor cycles will be involved in the exercise, which will see the soldiers transport thousands of tonnes of simulated palletized store across the East Midlands, East Anglia, Oxfordshire and Hampshire.

The main areas to be used in the exercise include Thetford, Bicester, Abingdon, Grantham and Sculthorpe.

Recruiting Officer Captain Danny Dugan said: “Keeping the Army supplied and on the move is the job of the Royal Logistic Corps. It is important therefore that the TA test their skills in order to be able to deliver an efficient, organised and timely service when and if called upon.

Many of our soldiers have served tours of Iraq and Afghanistan and it is training exercises like this that ensure our soldiers are well trained and ready to deploy on future operations.”

He continued: “The people around the training areas used can expect to see increased military vehicle movement at various times as our TA deploy into the field.”

“We do not anticipate any serious disruption to traffic but we would ask people to be patient if they do find themselves slightly delayed over the next two weeks as soldiers travel to and from the training area. A movement control squadron will be co-ordinating the troops.”

TA Regiments taking part in the Exercise include the Scottish Transport Regiment (V) based in Glasgow, 150 Transport Regiment (V) based in Hull, 157 Transport Regiment (V) based in Cardiff, 124 Petroleum Squadron based in London and eight specialist units based in Grantham.