| ALOG NEWS |
LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT COMMAND
CREATED FOR MUNITIONS |
The life cycle management command (LCMC) concept
was extended to munitions with the activation of the Joint
Munitions and Lethality (JM&L) LCMC in November. The JM&L
LCMC is the fourth of the Army Materiel Command’s (AMC’s)
LCMCs, joining the Aviation and Missile LCMC, the
Communications-Electronics LCMC, and the TACOM [Tank-automotive
and Armaments Command] LCMC. The creation of the LCMCs is designed
to reduce life-cycle costs and deliver better products to Soldiers
more quickly by improving the relationship among AMC, its major
subordinate commands, and the program executive offices (PEOs).
Headquartered at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, the JM&L
LCMC integrates the Armament Research, Development,
and Engineering Center at Picatinny; the PEO for Ammunition,
also at Picatinny; and the Joint Munitions Command
at
Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois.
ARMY SPEEDS UP BCT
SCHEDULE
The Army announced in December that it will establish two more Active-component
brigade combat teams (BCTs) ahead of schedule in order to increase the number
of combat and combat support units available for combat and homeland-defense
missions.
The 3d Brigade, 1st Armored Division, at Fort Riley, Kansas, will convert
to a heavy BCT in April, 11 months earlier than planned. Its transition team
mission and resources will be assumed by the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division.
The BCT will reflag next September as the 2d Brigade, 1st Infantry Division,
bringing all Fort Riley units under the 1st Infantry Division.
The 3d Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, at Fort Hood, Texas, will convert
to an infantry BCT in April, 17 months ahead of schedule. When facilities
become available, the unit will relocate to Fort Knox, Kentucky. However,
if the unit deploys, it will return from combat to Fort Hood before moving
to Fort Knox.
The conversion to BCTs is in keeping with the Army’s decision to transform
the total force from a Cold War-structured organization to one that is prepared
to operate in conflicts ranging from full-scale combat to stability and reconstruction
operations.
Increasing the number of BCTs also will help reduce stress on the current
force by giving Soldiers a few more months at home than they now have. Currently,
the ratio is 1 year deployed to sometimes less than 1 year at home station.
The Army’s goal for the Active component is 1 year deployed to 2 years
at home station.
Most of the Soldiers affected by the accelerated creation of the two BCTs
will receive permanent change of station orders this summer.
HANDBOOK OFFERS LOGISTICS CAPTAINS INTRODUCTION TO ARTILLERY SUPPORT
The Army Logistics Management College (ALMC) at Fort Lee, Virginia, has
prepared a handbook designed to prepare logistics captains for support positions
in field artillery battalions, particularly in forward support companies.
The handbook, Field Artillery Logistics: Munitions Support,
provides basic information on field artillery tactical doctrine and technical
information on field artillery munitions support.
The information contained in the handbook was gathered from field manuals,
technical publications, and the input of field artillery and logistics subject-matter
experts. The handbook offers an introduction to field artillery—
Missions and operations.
Force structure.
Key personnel and organizations, including
their duties and responsibilities, at the battalion, battery and company,
and platoon and section levels.
Concept of support and tactics, techniques,
and procedures, including unit trains, split trains, ammunitions resupply
planning, and methods of resupply
Munitions types and packaging.
The handbook is being issued to graduates
of the Combined Logistics Captains Career Course (CLC3) at ALMC as part
of a take-away compact disc. It has been posted on the Sustainment Portal,
where it can be accessed using Army Knowledge Online (AKO) identification.
Go to https://vports.atsc.army.mil/home.html and
look under “CG Corner” to
access the handbook.
VETERAN ARMY LOGISTICIAN
EDITOR RETIRES
Janice L. Simmons, a staff writer-editor at Army Logistician since 1995, retired
on 3 January after 34 years of Federal service. During her 12 years at Army Logistician,
Ms. Simmons consistently performed according to the highest standards of Army
journalism. The hallmarks of her work were meticulous attention to detail and
devotion to accuracy. She combined the skills of a painstaking researcher with
the discernment of a master grammarian. Her excellence was recognized at the
Army level when she received the Army Editor of the Year Award in 2003. Her judgment,
advice, and humor will be missed greatly. |
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LEADER DEVELOPMENT PORTFOLIO NOW AVAILABLE TO CIVILIANS
The Army’s on-line system for fostering leader self-development,
the Leader Development Portfolio,
is now open to civilians at and above the GS–11 level.
It already was available to Active Army, Army National
Guard, and Army Reserve Soldiers.
The Leader Development Portfolio is designed to allow each
participant, over the course of his career, to assess himself
as a leader and then obtain candid, confidential feedback
on his progress from peers, subordinates, and senior leaders
of his choice. The resulting information is stored in a
secure digital file that the participant can use to assess
his leader development over time. The system is voluntary,
anonymous, and accessible only to the user.
The Leader Development Portfolio is the centerpiece of
the Army Benchworks initiative. This initiative was created
by the Army Chief of Staff to achieve one of the 15 focus
areas he announced in October 2003—leader self-development.
The idea underlying the creation of the Leader Development
Portfolio is that increasing self-awareness among Army
personnel is the foundation for developing the adaptable
leaders the Army needs. The goal is to build a “bench” of
adaptable and creative leaders.
A participant can use the system by logging on to Army
Knowledge Online (AKO) and following the link to the Leader
Development Portfolio.
For more information, see the Army Benchworks Web site
at www.benchworks.army.mil or email bench.works@us.army.mil.
ARMY LEADERSHIP MANUAL RELEASED
The Army issued its keystone manual on leadership, Field
Manual (FM) 6–22,
Army Leadership: Competent, Confident, and Agile, last October.
FM 6–22 establishes leadership doctrine for all Army personnel, military
and civilian. It describes “the fundamental principles by which Army
leaders act to accomplish their mission and care for their people.” The
manual defines an “Army leader” as—
anyone who by virtue of assumed role or assigned responsibility inspires
and influences people to accomplish organizational goals. Army leaders motivate
people both inside and outside the chain of command to pursue actions, focus
thinking, and shape decisions for the greater good of the organization.
It defines “leadership” as—
the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation
while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization.
The manual uses the formulation “BE-KNOW-DO” to illustrate the key factors involved in leadership. As stated in the manual—
What leaders DO emerges from who they are (BE) and what they KNOW. Leaders are prepared throughout their
lifetimes with respect to BE-KNOW-DO so they will be able to act at a moment’s notice and provide leadership for
whatever challenge they may face. The new manual describes the levels of leadership as follows—
Direct leadership is face-to-face or first-line leadership. It generally
occurs in organizations where subordinates are accustomed to seeing their leaders all the time: teams and
squads; sections and platoons; companies, batteries, troops, battalions, and squadrons. The direct leader’s
span of influence may range from a handful to several hundred people. NCOs are in direct leadership positions
more often than their officer and civilian counterparts. Organizational leaders influence several hundred to several thousand people.
They do this indirectly, generally through more levels of subordinates than do direct leaders. Organizational
leaders generally include military leaders at the brigade through corps levels, military and civilian leaders
at directorate through installation levels, and civilians at the assistant through undersecretary of the
Army levels. Strategic leaders include military and Army civilian leaders at the major
command through Department of Defense (DOD) levels. The Army has roughly 600 authorized military and
civilian positions classified as senior strategic leaders.
The manual identifies eight leader competencies to “provide a clear and consistent
way of conveying expectations for Army leaders”: “leads others,” “extends influence beyond the chain of command,”
“leads by example,” “communicates,” “creates a positive environment,” “prepares self,” “develops leaders,” and
“gets results.”
FM 622 supersedes FM 22100, Army Leadership: Be, Know, Do.
SDDC WESTERN REGIONAL TRAINING WORKSHOP SET FOR JUNE
The Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command
(SDDC) will host the Western Regional Training Workshop
on 4 to 7 June at the Holiday Inn Riverwalk in San Antonio,
Texas. This year’s theme, “On the Horizon
for Transportation,” will showcase trends affecting
the movement of Department of Defense (DOD) commodities
and address current transportation challenges.
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| A Joint
Precision Airdrop System (JPADS) delivers supplies
to troops in Afghanistan after being dropped
from a C–130 Hercules cargo plane. Use
of JPADS, which guides its load to its intended
destination by a means of a Global Positioning
System, allows resupply of Soldiers in remote
areas not accessible
by road. A JPADS component, the JPADS Mission
Planner (JPADS–MP), was first used in Afghanistan
last summer. JPADS–MP is a
laptop computer that hooks into the cockpit of
a cargo plane and sends information, such as
updated weather conditions or new targets, to
the JPADS airborne guidance unit, which guides
the payload to its target. The Air Force developed
JPADS–MP, while the Army developed the
airborne guidance unit. |
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In order to enhance the attendees’ knowledge
of the end-to-end distribution and deployment processes
in the
Defense Transportation System, the workshop will focus
on both distribution and deployment. The workshop
also will
provide a forum in which users of DOD automated systems
can identify current issues and generate possible solutions
to improve current processes.
The workshop is designed for functional-level Active and
Reserve component personnel, DOD civilians, and contractors
who work for DOD. For more information, visit the SDDC
Web site at www.sddc.army.mil. Click on “Upcoming Events” for
updates and registration information. Workshop points of
contacts are Robert Covington at (757) 878–1802 and
Harriet Martinez at (757) 878–8026.
ARMY TO LAUNCH COMPREHENSIVE
SELF-SERVICE PERSONNEL SYSTEM
The Army plans to launch a new secure, self-service Web-based human resources
system that will give Soldiers around-the-clock access to their personnel
data. The Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System (DIMHRS)
is a congressionally mandated program administered by the Department
of Defense. It is scheduled to be on line in early 2008.
Using DIMHRS, Soldiers will be able to update and review key personnel
and family information without having to see a personnel specialist.
The self-service system will allow Soldiers to avoid some of the traditional
written or verbal processes that are time consuming and costly. For
example, DIMHRS will enable Soldiers to initiate requests for assignments,
training, retirement, record updates, awards, family-member travel,
enlistment extensions, and enlisted commissioning programs.
DIMHRS’ self-service capabilities also will allow Soldiers to start, stop,
or modify discretionary allotments and savings bonds; complete employee withholding
and reissue request forms; change personal direct-deposit information; and
change their state-of-legal-residence declarations.
Soldiers will be able to track the progress of their requests from submission to
approval. Electronic signatures, email notifications, and automatic routing are
also available. Other key DIMHRS functions include a view-only screen that
lets Soldiers view personnel and pay items; Certificates of Release or Discharge
from Active Duty (DD 214); group life insurance elections; leave and earnings
statements and wage and tax statements; records of civilian and military education,
awards, contracts, and evaluations; and Department of the Army photos.
For more information, visit the DIMHRS Program Office Web site at www.armydimhrs.army.mil
or the DIMHRS page on Army Knowledge Online at https://www.us.army.mil/suite/page/308853.
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD TESTS NATIONAL MAINTENANCE WORK REQUIREMENTS
Iowa Army National Guard mechanics at the National Maintenance Training
Center (NMTC) at Camp Dodge, Iowa, have teamed with Tank-automotive and Armaments
Command (TACOM) Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) equipment specialists to verify the
accuracy of draft National Maintenance Work Requirements (NMWRs). An NMWR is a set of
standards developed by TACOM LCMC that detail the procedures, sources of repair, tools,
and parts needed to rebuild military equipment and components. Basically a step above a
technical manual, an NMWR provides a step-by-step guide for rebuilding a piece of military
equipment.
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| The
NMTC provides
technical maintenance training to
all Army components. Above, a mechanic consults
the procedures in a draft NMWR; below, a mechanic
works on the engine of a palletized load system. |
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To validate each NMWR, the NMTC mechanics
complete the procedures described in the NMWR—page
by page and line by line—to ensure that all steps
are included and described correctly. At each step, the
mechanics confirm that all words and artwork detailing
the procedures are accurate and easily understood. The
goal of this 3-week process is for each NMWR to be 100-percent
correct when published.
CORRECTIONS
The news story on page 55 of the January–February issue of
Army Logistician incorrectly lists the number of the Soldiers’ Guide
for Field Maintenance Operations. It should be DA Pamphlet 750–3.
The caption of the top photo on page 9 of the January–February
issue incorrectly identifies the aircraft. It is a C–141 Starlifter,
not a C–130 Hercules. |
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