All Army war reserves (AWR) and pre-positioned stocks are managed by the Army Materiel Command (AMC), Alexandria, Virginia, with the Army Industrial Operations Command (IOC), Rock Island, Illinois, serving as AMC's management agent. Placing all five geographic sets of AWR under central management in October 1994, implemented one of the lessons learned from Operation Desert Storm.
Previously, war reserve materiel was managed by theater commanders in chief. That allowed little flexibility in transferring stocks from one theater to another. In the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) central region, the Combat Equipment Group Europe (CEGE) was responsible for maintaining and storing what we used to call "pre-positioning of materiel configured to unit sets," or POMCUS. Rather than store 1,000 of this and 100 of that in a warehouse, as is common practice in depot storage, CEGE stored in one location all the equipment that a unit, such as an artillery battery, would need.
That storage method made it easy for units from the United States to deploy to Europe and then draw their equipment. POMCUS was a key feature of the Reforger (return of forces to Germany) exercises. What was formerly war reserves and POMCUS stocks are now combined into AWR stocks.
As U.S. forces in Europe drew down, CEGE reduced its stockage to four brigade sets of materiel. It also reduced the number of storage locations for AWR materiel. In NATO's central region, six combat equipment companies (CEC's) now maintain and store the materiel. Two sites were closed in fiscal year (FY) '93, three in FY '94, and seven in FY '95. Two of the four combat equipment battalions were also inactivated.
The remaining CEC's are at four sites in the Netherlands-Brunssum, Coevorden, Eygelshoven, and Vriezenveen-with the other two at Bettenbourg, Luxembourg, and Zutendaal, Belgium. The Dutch sites are under the Netherlands Pre-positioned Organizational Materiel Sets, a subcommand of the National Command of the Royal Netherlands Army; and storage and maintenance functions are performed "on contract" with the U.S. Army at those sites. The organization is managed by the management team at Coevorden; and its workers are Dutch civil servants. The U.S. commander at each site acts as a contracting officer's representative.
CEGE is also responsible for U.S. equipment stored at a NATO facility in Bardufoss, Norway. Bardufoss, 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle, stores enough equipment for four battalions-one each from Canada, Germany, Norway, and the United States. The U.S. equipment is for use by the 1/214 Field Artillery Battalion, Georgia Army National Guard. While CEGE personnel assist the unit, no U.S. personnel are assigned there. Finally, CEGE stores Air Force equipment on a reimbursable basis at Sanem, Luxembourg, a subfacility of Bettenbourg.
CEGE is expected to move its headquarters from Mannheim, Germany, to the Netherlands. This is in line with the consolidation of AWR stocks in the three Low Countries. Worldwide, the AWR stocks are managed by the IOC's Deputy Chief of Staff for War Reserves.
The five geographic sets of AWR are located and managed as follows-
AWR-1 are stocks in the continental United States, stored in depots and managed by AMC's commodity commands. The IOC is responsible for the ammunition in AWR-1 and stores and maintains various other items of AWR-1-stocks for the other commodity commands. Operational project stocks at Sierra Army Depot, for example, are part of AWR-1 and consist of water purification equipment, petroleum distribution equipment, and the ready-to-go Force Provider tent city.
AWR-2 are the European stocks that fall under CEGE, as I discussed earlier. Last October, Leghorn Army Depot Activity in Italy became part of CEGE and maintains accountability for materiel stored in Israel. CEGE currently has assigned about 100 military, 50 civilians, 600 local nationals, and 1,150 contract employees. Total AWR-2 funding is approximately $100 million.
AWR-3 will contain two brigades-worth of materiel eventually that will be stored aboard 16 ships. The IOC already has assumed responsibility for AWR-3. The pre-positioned ships are loaded at the Strategic Logistics Mobility Base, Charleston, South Carolina; and Hythe Army Depot Activity, England, maintains the Army watercraft that are part of the AWR-3 equipment. The watercraft are used to open ports, provide logistics-over-the-shore, and serve as lighterage. At any given time, about half the AWR-3 watercraft are riding aboard a heavy-lift, pre-positioned ship in the Indian Ocean. Hythe sent employees to help download watercraft during recent operations in Kenya, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia.
AWR-4 is in Japan and Korea to support the Pacific theater. The major maintenance and storage facilities for AWR-4 are at the Materiel Support Center-Korea at Camp Carroll and at Sagami Army Depot, Japan. The management cell for AWR-4 is in Korea and administers, plans, and executes the AWR-4 program.
AWR-5 is located in Southwest Asia, and consists of two brigade-sets of material-one stored in Kuwait and the other stored in Qatarare. Plans call for storing a third brigade set in the region eventually. The IOC is scheduled to assume control of AWR-5 by 30 April 1996.
The mission may grow even more. Since the purpose of war reserves is to have materiel ready to handoff to units when they arrive at any location to which they may deploy, the IOC is studying a proposal to provide hanadoff training. The scenario would call for units to be issued their equipment at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California, when they arrive for a training rotation, as practice for real deployments. ALOG
Stephen D. Abney is public affairs officer (PAO) for the Army Industrial Command, Rock Island, Illinois. He also served recently as PAO for the Joint Logistics Support Command in Haiti, and previously was the PAO for the Army Depot System Command. Army Logistician also thanks Beverly Lombardo, of Seneca Army Depot Activity, New York, for the photographs that illustrate this article.