BDF should bring back Defence Logistics Command

Richard Moleofe | Friday December 2, 2016 15:49

One of the best things that Lt Gen (ret) Fisher did for BDF was the establishment of the Defence Logistics Command (DLC). There was a lot of hype about the formation of commands at BDF because they opened up vacancies for promotion. It is only the commander and his deputy who did not benefit in this transition because they could not be promoted beyond their current stations in their ranks.

BDF has a very interesting history in as far as logistics are concerned. BDF was established because of an existing security situation that had somewhat caught the political leadership unaware.  The priority was given to providing funds for employing men and the procurement of arms and ammunition. That is what everybody thought was the right approach to establishing a rag tag army like BDF was at the time. No one thought logistics was a priority area.

It was at a later stage that provisions were made to allocate funds to meet logistical needs. A few trucks were procured to augment the existing Bedford trucks that were inherited from the era of the Police Mobile Unit.

The military leadership was finding itself in the British mould, so the only way to go was to purchase British made vehicles. The Germans came to our aid by donating several Mercedes Benz troop carriers. BDF also invested heavily in the purchase of the Land Rover which proved to be very reliable especially in more rural and isolated areas of this country.

The Lesoma Masacre where 15 of our soldiers perished at an ambush set up by the Rhodesian Army was also a scene of the loss of several Land Rovers. The men belonged to a Gaborone based platoon and they were using brand new Land Rovers. The reason why so many perished was for the fact that they had not rolled up the new canvases on the vehicles. So the only point of exit was the rear. BDF holds several military exercises at different levels every year. The focus has always been to exercise the readiness of the fighting troops. In the process, the ability to function effectively in the area of logistics has always taken a back seat.

It is important to understand that for the execution of every operation, there are orders given. These orders serve as a blue print for the execution in order to reach the objective and achieve the mission.  These orders are incomplete unless the issue of logistics is addressed.

But even at platoon level, logistics has always been a tricky subject for BDF. The organisation should not have pulled down the Defence Logistics Command. The organisation was beginning to perfect the art of logistics with the presence of this command.  BDF is an organisation that regards rank very highly. DLC was commanded by a major general and that gave the organisation the necessary clout needed to make it relevant with the greater establishment. Maj Gen Tiroyamodimo will go down in history as the man who was charged with the responsible of setting up DLC.  Regardless of having little background in the area of logistics, Tiroyamodimo excelled in building this command. He was roped in from the Special Forces and infantry formations. He delegated duties to the different officers with extensive training in the area of logistics.

One of the officers who excelled in this area was Maj Solomon who had graduated from an Australian logistics university. It is a pity that BDF never cared to keep him at the end of his study contract. The fellow is now working for the North East District Council and he is not putting his skills to test anymore.

General Tiroyamodimo brought together a collection of units from what was initially known as the Logistics Formation. Within a short time there was total cohesion of the new command. Furthermore, the Command was put to test through several exercises that included Exercise Thokgamo which was a peacekeeping effort in Maun.  Another one to follow was Exercise Matsubutsubu which was straddling the two districts of Kweneng and Kgatleng and finally ending in the Central District. The distances were wide and the DLC was fully streched on all areas and abilities. BDF will need to bring back the DLC. This is a very important command and when taking the fact that our country is landlocked, DLC could come to rescue this landlocked nation one day.  BDF hosted Exercise Blue Okavango in 2015 in the Ngamiland district.

This was a SADC initiative that was aimed at exercising the intra operability of our regional air forces. BDF was shinning at that exercise as they displayed their ability to distribute humanitarian aid within time.

I live on a flight path in Mogoditshane and I enjoyed seeing the large air force logistics planes doing their approaches at SSKIA. The Angolan’s with their Antonovs and Botswana and South Africa with their Hercules C130s.

This last air logistics exercise should have been a wakeup call to the leaders of this nation that we need to equip ourselves more in the area of air transport. It is possible that one day we can have our borders shut by our neighbours. The only way out for us will be through our air routes.

If that day comes, Minister Kgathi will learn in a sorry way that fighter jets cannot serve us in any meaningful way as far as logistics are concerned. I do have a military background even though I am not a believer in military spending. In places where I can bend my stance on military spending, I would wish for BDF to be beefed up in the area of air transport.

If Botswana was investing in air assets that are leaning more towards the provision of logistics, I would not be having sleepless nights over the current military budget. The procurement of more C130s is a good investment because they can be multirole for peacetime and during hostilities.