D
o you know how diesel is tested to make sure it hasn't gone off ? Dennis Woods, Paul Mott, Stephen Lloyd and Michael Green all do, after a fantastic visit in September to our affiliated 152 (North Irish) Regiment, Royal Logistics Corps, to witness training at Longmoor Camp in Hampshire. We were hosted by Lt Col Andrew Chambers, Commanding Officer of 152 Regt, who presented a regimental plaque to the fuellers. We were joined by the regiment's Honorary Colonel, Robert Scott OBE (photo).
Major Gary Paterson, Second in Command, hosted us throughout and after a little history gave a detailed talk on the make up of the Regt, which is comprised of reservists, and its present operations, which highlighted what we were to see; the training taking place at Longmoor helped put the regiment at full operational capability. The regiment has a number of new 6 wheel drive Close Support Tankers made by Oshkosh, each able to carry 20,000 litres of diesel, and the visiting Fuellers were lucky to take a ride in these tractor units across a proving ground. We then witnessed a skirmish (battle training), and after lunch we were shown the equipment and techniques used to undertake field testing of fuel by WO2 Craig Pickles, before Staff Sergeant Barry Langley (photo, right) showed us the equipment on the Oshkosh tanker, and on the smaller MAN tankers; we witnessed training where reservists safely transferred fuel between tankers; Dennis commented that some of the safety precautions we saw, such as earthing the vehicle before pumping, are unfortunately not always taken in the civilian sector. We really appreciated the time and professionalism of all in the regiment, and of some visiting officers from the Defence Petroleum Training Squadron who joined us. A Dennis who set the visit, and indeed the affiliation, up (and who had met almost all the officers before), was able to share some useful insights, comparisons and stories from the world of civilian tankers
