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Posts Tagged ‘Armed Forces Day’

Armed Forces Day - 27th June 2009

June 27th, 2009 |

Shipping Container Conversions and the Armed Forces may not seem an obvious combination. However, today is Armed Forces Day and there are many events going on this weekend to celebrate the role of the Armed Forces in Britain. By way of our own tribute therefore, we thought we would use this opportunity to note how shipping containers - and shipping container conversions - have their own part to play in helping the Armed Forces do their job.

In the news recently, has been the Afghan Village set up in Thetford to help provide the Army with a ”realistic” training opportunity. The mock village is used to prepare soldiers for likely scenarios (such as suicide bombers) in an authentic setting.

Shipping Containers are ued in the Afghan Village in the MOD training area in Thetford

Shipping Containers were converted by being battened on the outside, then overlaid with wire mesh before being sprayed with cement render to simulate a traditional Afghan village house. Finishing touches were provided in the form of live chickens and sheep with Gurkhas often playing the part of villagers.

Ammunition Store

The Armed Forces have long been open to the opportunties offered by shipping containers. Other conversions have included ammunition stores and armouries. The temperature controlled environment provided by refrigerated shipping containers is ideal for storing explosives and lengthen their shelf life as well as making sure that the explosives are more stable.

The British Army was among the first to exploit shipping containers as accommodation. Having bought a Coastel (a floating complex of shipping containers converted into living units) that was originally commissioned as an hotel on the Barrier Reef to serve as accommodation in the Falklands, it subsequently bought two further supplementary Coastels to more alongside in the Falkland Sound. Subsequently, the Army used Corimechs in the Balkans which are actually 20ft shipping containers converted into site accommodation and ablution blocks as well as site offices.

But let us not forget the traditional uses that these steel containers can be put to. The Armed Forces regularly use iso containers (as the military tend to call shipping containers) for storage and shipping.

ISO Shipping Containers Used by the Armed Forces

Whilst we may not be able to physically give the Armed Forces a standing ovation such as they received on Wimbledon Centre Court today, we hope that this post goes a little way to celebrating all that they do and that this has given you a chance to think about some of the many roles they play and how this overlaps into so many different areas - not least of which is shipping containers.

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Posted in Shipping Container Conversions, Shipping Container News |

Tags: 20ft shipping containers, Armed Forces Day, iso containers, refrigerated shipping containers, Shipping Container Conversions, Shipping Containers, site accommodation, site offices |

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