A ‘fiercely conscientious and utterly selfless’ British Army officer from Llangors has been recognised with an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List for her contribution during the drawdown of British military kit and equipment from Afghanistan with her 150-strong squadron.

Major Lucy Anderson, 27 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps (RLC), as Officer Commanding 8 Fuel and General Transport Squadron RLC during Op Herrick in 2013-14, oversaw more than £20m of equipment deployed back to the UK, while saving hundreds of thousands of pounds and smashing deadlines by months.

The 39-year-old officer who is currently based at Army Headquarters, Andover said: “It was very unexpected but a lovely surprise and a real honour. I found-out from my Brigadier; I was very surprised when he asked me if I read the Telegraph and perhaps I should buy a copy of the Telegraph on New Year’s Day.”

Maj Anderson, who has completed previous operational tours of Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, says her family is very proud of her: “My family were all chuffed to bits. I didn’t tell them about the award, I let them find out by reading it in the newspaper or hearing it from friends. I thought it would be a nice surprise.”

Equipment sent back by the reverse support chain squadron included ten years’ worth of batteries. “From AA batteries to much larger batteries we had 3 million to pack,” said Maj Anderson. “They had to be packed in a special way because they’re classed as a dangerous product. We redeployed a huge amount of equipment.

“We were running a war-like scrapyard out there; we processed over 5,000 tonnes of scrap; we ran the bio wash-down which was basically a giant military car wash, so all the vehicles and main large equipment that was out there had to be washed so it was the right standard to come back through customs. In our time we washed over 1,500 vehicles and main equipment. On a monthly basis I was adding up the statistics.”

Maj Anderson’s unit was on the penultimate tour and was able to speed up the process so the last unit deployed didn’t have a massive six-month ground-rush at the end. They were able to collapse some of the large storage sheds five months ahead of schedule.

Not all of the kit would make it back to the UK. If it wasn’t cost effective then it would be sold on; equipment like tables, chairs, civilian vehicles and tented accommodation. “My biggest personal achievement out there was organising selling some of that kit straight out of the forward operating bases (fobs),” said Maj Anderson. “The cost of bringing the kit back to Camp Bastion was a lot, and we were able to organise selling the kit direct from the fobs, saving £250k.”

Within six months of returning to the UK, sports-loving Major Anderson, who plays Polo for her regiment, turned the squadron back around to High Readiness for any contingency operations. “The best part of my job is job satisfaction; having a direct effect on other people and being able to help and improve them and seeing that personal development in soldiers,” she said.

Her citation states: "Fiercely conscientious and utterly selfless, she blazed an impressive trail as Officer Commanding of a large logistic sub unit that was at the heart of the Theatre Drawdown operations in Afghanistan. Superb in command, her soldiers followed her anywhere and she kept working in support of them. She has been the driving force behind the Officers’ Mess and the miraculous regeneration of her Squadron to High Readiness within six months of its return from Afghanistan.”

This year 123 UK service personnel have been granted state honours by Her Majesty the Queen in the New Year Honours List. The MBE was instigated by King George V on June 4 1917.