It’s 02:30hrs and -3°C as a dusting of snow is whisked around the Hungarian Army engineers’ barracks in the town of Szentes close to the border with Romania. A voice barks, ‘They’re three miles out’ and with that, there is a burst of activity as troops scurry about to grab scarves, gloves, an extra layer or anything else that will keep the biting cold at bay for the next couple of hours or so.
Private Prashan Ghale of 9 Battalion Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineer's marshals a truck as it arrives at Szentes Barracks in Hungary during ex Steadfast Dart.
Trucks belonging to 102 Operational Sustainment Brigade arrive at Szentes Barracks in Hungary during ex Steadfast Dart.
Tankers belonging to 102 Operational Sustainment Brigade await inspection at Szentes Barracks during Ex Steadfast Dart.
These were the women and men of 104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade racing to their positions to ensure their logistics colleagues from 102 Operational Sustainment Brigade successfully traverse the 2,300km road trip through five European countries to take part in Exercise Steadfast Dart located across the nearby border in Romania.
Exercise Steadfast Dart will be NATO’s largest and by far most visible set of military manoeuvres taking place in 2025. It will see the first deployment of the alliance’s recently formed Allied Reaction Force (ARF). This new force launched only last July and combines air, sea, land, cyber and space capabilities designed and structured to act swiftly and deploy rapidly to deliver strategic deterrence to help safeguard European security.
"The 104 Brigade Theatre Enabling Group has delivered a Ground Line of Communication across Europe, proving the Very High Readiness mobility of NATO’s Allied Reaction Force capability. This transit through five host nations has successfully demonstrated the unity of NATO; stronger together."
Exercise Steadfast Dart is what is termed a Deploy Ex, and as the name might suggest, it is all about exercising and demonstrating deploying large numbers of troops and equipment over distance at speed.
Through 1 (UK) Divisional Headquarters, the United Kingdom commands the land component of the ARF and as such provides the lion’s share of troops for Steadfast Dart. The UK’s teeth arms, comprising of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and 4 Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland made their way to Romania by air and sea; their vehicles and equipment unloading at the Greek port of Alexandroupolis and driving up through Bulgaria.
An army can neither reassure nor deter if it does not have the bombs, bread, bullets, or boots to keep it going. It is the responsibility of the logistics troops to provide and keep supplying all that is required. You could say that it’s the 'logistical tail that puts the bite into the teeth arms'. In this case, that logistical tail stretched way back some 2,300km to the port of Emden in northern Germany.
On achieving this mammoth undertaking, the Commander of The Royal Logistic Corps’ 104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade, Brigadier Simon Smith said,
“The 104 Brigade Theatre Enabling Group has delivered a Ground Line of Communication across Europe, proving the Very High Readiness mobility of NATO’s Allied Reaction Force capability. This transit through five host nations has successfully demonstrated the unity of NATO; stronger together.”
102 Operational Sustainment Brigade was the provider for the battlegroups whilst exercising in Romania and it was 104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade whose role it was to get them there.
So what really sustains the drivers and their buddies through those hours and hours on the road? The answer is, apparently, country music according to Captain Zakariah Ajjane who commanded the first packet of 20 vehicles that snaked its way behind the blue flashing lights of their Hungarian Military Police escort in.
“We keep ourselves going by finding out everything about the person sitting beside you and listening to country music – it’s become really popular,” Captain Ajjane
It was a long, cold night for the troops of 104 Brigade as they welcomed in over 70 vehicles ranging from modest Land Rovers to the mighty Oshkosh close support bulk fuel tankers. As each arrived the drivers were given a verbal cab-side brief and then marshalled to their holding area to await an inspection by the vehicle mechanics and any necessary maintenance taken care of. The crews were then led to their accommodation for some well-earned rest ahead of the following day’s last leg into Romania.
In summing up the essential parts played by both 102 and 104 Brigades in Ex Steadfast Dart, we can leave it to a philosopher who once said: ‘Life is a journey, not a destination.’
