From bomb disposal specialists to cooks: the Army Logistics School trains specialist personnel for many different areas of the armed forces – from driving to shooting to eating.
They deal with explosives and homemade bombs. But they also come into play when robots and “normal personnel” fail: manual disarmers – as the elite force of explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) is called – lay their bare hands on explosives themselves. These exceptional individuals learn which cable they need to pinch and when, and what the latest technical refinements for detonators look like, under strict secrecy at the Army Logistics School in Vienna, Austria. For Militär Aktuell, one of the gates was opened as an exception – albeit under the strict condition that the camera in this area remains holstered.
No problem. The trainees sit there in containers in uniforms from various armies, bent over “bombs”. Not a word is spoken, concentration is in the air. There is also the smell of burnt plastic when the soldering iron is used. ECMAN (European Centre for Manual Neutralization) is the name of the multinational training project, in which the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy are also involved. “We enjoy an international reputation,” says Brigadier Stefan Lampl, recalling astonished soldiers from the USA. Lampl has been commander of the Army Logistics School since April 2020 and is what you would call an “open-minded” officer. He spent a total of eight years of his career abroad, including as a chemical weapons inspector in Iraq in 1994. His original specialization in NBC defence is “to blame” for this. Things are much more civilian when Lampl teaches military logistics and humanitarian logistics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. This is entirely in line with the motto at the Army Logistics School. “We use civilian know-how and add military expertise to it,” Lampl summarizes. His school trains those specialists in the armed forces whose jobs involve vehicles, weapons, catering, business services, communications and IT. These include driving instructors, weapons masters and mechanics, as well as ammunition experts and cooks. The clientele is correspondingly diverse: from budding professional and militia soldiers to (civilian) apprentices and experienced old hands. Around 3,500 civilian employees and uniformed personnel attend the 350 or so courses each year. Despite the coronavirus shutdown, Lampl is proud that almost none of the courses have had to be canceled, thanks to e-learning.
The diversity of the Army Logistics School can be seen around every corner in the “headquarters” in the Vega-Payer-Weyprecht barracks in Vienna-Penzing. Some of the buildings, which were built at the beginning of the 20th century as part of the imperial cavalry barracks, are in a desolate state. Other former stables have been chicly renovated and house the finest technical equipment. Take the large hall, for example, where the weapons station training course for prospective weapons masters is taking place on this late summer’s day. Over the course of four weeks, the experienced soldiers get to know every screwdriver on the cannon of the Ulan infantry fighting vehicle and the Pandur Evolution armored personnel carrier. On other dates, everything revolves around the Leopard main battle tank or the M109 self-propelled howitzer. “We not only provide training, but also test new weapons, vehicles and equipment as well as further development,” explains Lampl.
A good example of this awaits us in the next converted former horse stable: we walk past the “Welding training workshop” into the “Weapons technology”. There, staff sergeant Patrick Wittmann (see interview) takes apart a modern sniper rifle (Barrett brand). This is because the technical expertise for this rifle from the USA (operational firing range 1,500 meters, 24x magnification), which is used by the Hunting Command and some fighter battalions, is built up, updated and passed on at the Army Logistics School. The same applies to all infantry weapons of the Austrian Armed Forces – from the flare pistol to the super-heavy machine gun. Plexiglas walls between the school desks are evidence that the “new normal” has been in place here for months. Rifles from the First World War are stored in the armory next door, along with a Desert Eagle (Magnum handgun) and a Dragunov sniper rifle. Not a secret passion for collecting, but “illustrative objects so that you can get to know different systems”, says Lampl. https://militaeraktuell.at/militaer-aktuell-3-2020-ist-ab-sofort-erhaeltlich/
You get to know utensils such as the large whisk in the “test kitchen”. The apprentices are making the pancakes for the curd cheese and apple lasagne. What takes place here at a leisurely pace, step by step, under the watchful eye of the instructor, has to be done more routinely in the other building, where the central kitchen for Vienna has a capacity of up to 5,000 meals. Here too, the Army Logistics School provides the expertise behind the catering logistics, even outside of barracks operations. “Our container kitchen can cater for up to 700 people. It is used during exercises for the EU Battlegroup and Airpower, for example,” explains Vice Lieutenant Franz Preier, chief instructor NCO and field chef. The army has around 3,500 recipes in its repertoire. However, most of the dishes on the table are “tried and tested”, although ingredients have to be adjusted time and again due to food intolerances. However, this is no problem for the specialists at the Army Logistics School. Lampl concludes: “Due to technological change, knowledge in the field of military logistics changes roughly every four years.” This means that accumulated know-how must be constantly updated.
The history of the Army Logistics School
The Army Logistics School (HLogS) is subordinate to the Armed Forces Base Command (KdoSKB) and consists of four institutes: Supply, Economic Service, Technical Service and Motor Vehicles. The majority is housed in the Vega-Payer-Weyprecht barracks in Vienna, while the motor vehicle institute is located in Zwölfaxing and the ammunition technology department in Großmittel. The HlogS, with its 240 employees, sees itself as a training facility for military logistics and trains army personnel in the areas of supply, economic services and catering as well as vehicle, weapons, communications and IT technology. In addition, tests are carried out on new equipment (with the exception of aviation and medical equipment). Each year, around 3,500 people, including both civilian and uniformed personnel, complete the 350 or so courses. In addition, there are apprentices and graduates of the “Werkmeisterschule”. Close links are maintained with civilian agencies – for example within the framework of the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technology Academy together with TÜV. Many training courses, and of course HLogS itself, are certified and can therefore also be transferred to the civilian sector. Future topics at HLogS: 3D printing, human-machine interaction, artificial intelligence, unmanned systems and networked mobility.
Here you can find a short interview with Staff Sergeant Patrick Wittman, a non-commissioned officer for weapons technology at the Army Logistics School and here to our other troop visits.
