Helpfull Stacker, quite right, however the point being made is that they also do guard duties and all sorts of niff naff and triv. I see TSW guys on a daily basis and know how hard they work.
Timex - The piece you quoted has nothing to do with TSW. I gave the example as 'deployed logistics base' or DSG as its known in the RAF and it appears the point has sailed well over your head.
The point is the Army has redundancy built into it because so many people are required to do the tasks that in the light blue world we have one person doing.
The Army have Plant Ops for driving forklifts - A Supplier can do this.
The Army have Supply Controllers to handle demands and issues - That same Supplier can also do that.
The Army has Pet Ops for issuing POL - There's that one Supplier on det again.
The Army has Supply Specialists for doing R&D duties - Guess what, that 1 Supplier can do that too.
So already you can see that for every 4 RLC storemen deployed to theatre we may have one RAF Supplier doing the same job for us. Of course many Suppliers (and other trades) also have LGV licences so that another bit of multi-trading by us whereas the Army would have one 'specialist' for that function.
As for,
I see TSW guys on a daily basis and know how hard they work
I'm not quite sure how relevant that is. If you see them on a daily basis then I assume you are at Stafford which I'm sure you realise is not where the majority of TSW work is performed, hence their 'lodger' status.
I can assure you that although I am no longer on TSW I know from experience that when deployed away unlike the other lodger units at Stafford (2MT, 5001Sqn, MCSU) TSW very rarely fulfil a MOB function with all the 'luxuries' that go with it, showers, fresh cooked food, air conditioned tents etc. More often than not they are deployed in small dets very near the FEBA, operating FARP's with no 1st line security other than that they provide themselves. As I'm sure some of the SH crews will confirm, they wouldn't really want to stop the night at most of the delightful spots they pick up fuel from.