The joint-capable theater sustainment command (TSC) under development by Task Force (TF) Logistics promises to help the Army be more effective and efficient in its support of land component operations. The organizational structure of the new TSC eliminates layering of commands by combining operational-level functions of the current corps support command and theater support command, thereby eliminating redundancy and maximizing flexibility.

The Army has created 17 focus areas to ensure that it remains the best force in the world. TF Logistics, a focus area approved in January by Army Chief of Staff General Peter J. Schoomaker, includes logisticians and support personnel from all branches of the armed services. One of the task force’s areas of concentration is the TSC design.

The goal of the TSC is to deploy equipment much more rapidly, and the way to do that is through visibility to the soldier and the command, said Major Chris Stolz, TF Logistics operations officer. The command will be able to know where the soldier is and what he needs, and the soldier will know when he will be receiving the supplies he needs.

The TSC will be a modular organization with a standard headquarters and subordinate support units tailored for the mission requirements of specific operations. Modular subordinate units will provide capabilities for theater opening; theater distribution; medical; bulk petroleum; aviation; civil engineering; and multifunctional supply, maintenance, and transportation support.

The TSC will work under the new unit of employment operational headquarters (known as the UEy), with the TSC commander serving as the senior Army logistics commander in the UEy. The TSC headquarters will provide command and control of assigned, attached, and operationally controlled units.

Sustainment brigades will provide support to operational-level units in the UEy’s area of operations and sustainment support to tactical-level forces engaged in combat in forward areas. This will allow throughput of critical sustainment, such as fuel and ammunition, from the theater logistics hubs to brigade combat teams engaged in combat.

Currently, corps support commands and theater support commands must funnel supplies and equipment through different layers of management before getting it forward to the battle area. With the new concepts and emerging technology, trucks will be able to transport cargo directly from the ports to the requiring brigade combat teams.

Stolz said that the current “stovepiped systems” do not talk to each other. “The emerging systems have integrated communications,” he said. “This means that the logistics information system will receive all requirements, and the computer network will show that. In the past, units could only see what affected their specific segment. With integrated communications, it will be possible to look down the entire pipeline and speed the process by prioritization and reallocation.”

Predictive technology, which is still in the conceptual phase, eventually will be able to show where brigade combat teams will be and what they will need, said Stolz. This will enable delivery of supplies even sooner. According to Stolz, the prediction will take into account the operational environment of the units and anticipate their needs.

“The big difference is in the way the logistics systems will operate. The soldier is going to see that he or she is not going to have to ask for the same thing two or three times. We are going to have Amazon.com type of visibility,” Stolz said, explaining that soldiers will know the status of their orders and have confidence in when they will arrive.

The Army Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM), at Fort Lee, Virginia, plays a major part in the task of supplying the troops. Colonel John Wharton, in CASCOM’s Directorate of Combat Developments-Combat Service Support and Deputy of TF Logistics, said that the task force is collaborating with CASCOM to develop new standard requirement codes (SRCs) that are associated with tables of organization and equipment. He said that SRC teams, some as small as one or two soldiers, will be able to provide support based on their specific capabilities. Currently, a whole unit must be mobilized to provide support for a job that could be done by a few.

TF Logistics is working with the Army staff, the Army Materiel Command, and the Army theater support commands to develop the required capabilities based on tasks, functions, and missions. It is also collaborating with the Joint Forces Command and several regional combatant commands.

TF Logistics hopes to have 80 percent of the TSC design in place by the end of fiscal year 2004, Wharton said.

 

ARMY MOVES EQUIPMENT AND TROOPS FROM KOREA TO IRAQ

Military equipment is staged at Pier 8 in Pusan, Korea, awaiting movement to Southwest Asia.

Approximately 3,600 troops from the 2d Infantry Division’s 2d Brigade in Korea have been deployed to Iraq to provide support to Operation Iraqi Freedom. The move represented the first time in the 50 years of U.S. military presence in Korea that troops stationed there were moved to another operational area. The soldiers will return to the United States following their tour in Iraq.

In preparation for the move, transporters of the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command’s 837th Transportation Battalion in Pusan, Korea, loaded 1,700 pieces of brigade equipment onto two Military Sealift Command (MSC) vessels, the MV Cape Horn and MV Cape Hudson. They were supported by soldiers of the 20th Area Support Group and the 1-38th Field Artillery Battalion. As part of the deployment, 80 containers of ammunition were loaded onboard a third MSC vessel, the SS Cape Inscription, at the Chinhae Ammunition Pier. Korean Navy sailors assisted with that operation.

LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE WILL INTEGRATE AMC MSCs AND ALT PEOs

A memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ALT) and the Commanding General, Army Materiel Command (AMC), seeks to improve future soldier sustainment and readiness by establishing a closer relationship between AMC’s major subordinate commands (MSCs) and the program executive officers (PEOs) in the Army ALT community.

The 2 August MOA formalizes an initiative that will establish Life Cycle Management Commands (LCMCs) by aligning AMC’s Aviation and Missile Command, Communications-Electronics Command, Joint Munitions Command, and Tank-
automotive and Armaments Command with the PEOs with whom they now work. The initiative will result in better products being delivered to
the soldier more quickly and at less cost and optimize the interaction and effectiveness among the ALT communities.

The new alignments will be the Aviation/Missile LCMC, the Soldier/Ground Systems LCMC, the Communications/Electronics LCMC, and the Joint Ammunition LCMC. The PEOs will align closely with the MSCs but will continue to report to the Army Acquisition Executive, who is the Assistant Secretary of the Army for ALT. AMC logisticians in the LCMCs will be able to provide more input into the acquisition processes that affect sustainment and readiness. They will continue to report to the AMC Commander.

The PEOs will retain responsibility for establishing program objectives and will be the single points of accountability within their respective LCMCs for accomplishing program objectives. They will work closely with LCMC elements to design and execute effective sustainment strategies. The LCMC commanders will be the focal points and primary responsible agents for actions across the entire life cycles of the systems assigned to their LCMCs. Both the PEOs and the LCMC commanders will maintain operational relationships with the AMC Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) concerning the technology and engineering aspects of their respective systems.

An integrated process team made up of representatives of the MSCs, the PEOs, and RDECOM is charged with developing implementation plans for each LCMC. The plans, which are to be completed by 2 February 2005, will outline relationships, processes, and reporting chains for the new organizations.

DLA FORWARD STOCK INITIATIVE EXPANDS

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) opened its fifth forward stock depot in Kuwait this fall with 7,000 stocked items. By the end of 2005, the depot will have an additional 40,000 items. The depot was established in Kuwait to give DLA a larger presence in Southwest Asia in order to minimize costs as the United States and its coalition partners execute Operation Iraqi Freedom II.

DLA established its forward stocking initiative (FSI) in the mid- to late-1990s to minimize transportation costs. Under the FSI, DLA forward-stocks materiel ordered by customers four or more times a year for 2 consecutive years. This allows DLA to deliver the needed items quickly without having to resort to more expensive air transport.

The other forward stock depots are in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Germersheim, Germany; Sigonella, Italy; and Yokosuka, Japan. DLA plans to establish additional depots in Guam and Korea.

AMC AND DLA PARTNER TO TEST WAL-MART RESUPPLY PROCEDURES

The Army Materiel Command (AMC) and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) have formed a partnership that seeks to improve their resupply operations by following the vendor system used by retail giant Wal-Mart.

Under a collaborative approach known as “ co-managed inventory,” Wal-Mart shares inventory and sales information with its vendors and allows some of them to recommend resupply strategies to the retail chain. A Wal-Mart proprietary system called “Retail Link” permits vendors to access information on Wal-Mart sales and inventory of the items they supply.

In April, DLA and AMC started a 6-month pilot program called “Vendor Initiated Parts Resupply” (VIPR) that is based on the Wal-Mart system. The goal of the pilot is to determine if sharing consumption information at several inventory points will increase supply readiness, improve in-transit visibility, cut costs, and improve parts resupply to field locations.

Vendors taking part in VIPR will have visibility of consumption and inventory data on their items at specific sites, including 8th U.S. Army tactical supply support activities in Korea and an AMC maintenance depot, Red River Army Depot in Texas, and in wholesale inventories managed by DLA and AMC. Based on this information, vendors will make recommendations on resupply quantities needed to maintain inventory levels. Vendors will be responsible for shipping approved resupply quantities to the appropriate inventory locations. AMC and DLA representatives will meet regularly with the vendors to discuss problems and find ways to improve the VIPR process.

For the pilot, DLA selected Oshkosh Truck Corporation and AM General to provide land-component items such as vehicular component boots, shock absorbers, oil pans, and engine crankshafts. AMC selected Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Michelin, and Barnes PSP, Inc., as additional vendors. The U.S. Transportation Command will provide visibility of shipments through the Global Transportation Network.

Information sharing under the pilot program began on 1 April, and the vendors became responsible for making resupply recommendations on 19 April. The AMC and DLA commanders, General Paul J. Kern and Vice Admiral Keith W. Lippert, were scheduled to evaluate VIPR’s success in October. A successful pilot could lead to incorporating elements of VIPR into DLA’s and AMC’s operating procedures.

ARMY PRESENTS DEPLOYMENT AWARDS

The Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff, G–4, Lieutenant General C.V. Christianson, presented the 2004 Army Deployment Excellence Awards in a ceremony on 22 June. The awards, established by the Chief of Staff of the Army in 2000, are open to any unit or installation that has deployed or supported a training or contingency deployment during the competition year, which runs from
1 December to 30 November.

Units and installations can participate in one of five categories: Operational Deployment; Large Unit (battalion and above); Small Unit (company and below); Supporting Unit; and Installation. The Operational Deployment category, which was added in 2003, is for units that deploy to support operational missions.

The winners of the 2004 Deployment Excellence Awards are—

Operational Deployment Large Unit. 2d Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Operational Deployment Small Unit. C Company, 121st Signal Battalion, 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized), Kitzingen, Germany; and B Company, 65th Engineer Battalion, 25th Infantry Division (Light), Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Active Large Unit. 53d Movement Control Battalion (Echelons Above Corps), Fort McPherson, Georgia.

Active Small Unit. Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 7th Transportation Group, Fort Eustis, Virginia.

Active Supporting Unit. 842d Transportation Battalion, Beaumont, Texas.
Army Installation. Fort Stewart, Georgia.

Army National Guard Large Unit. 2d Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, Lynchburg, Virginia.

Army National Guard Small Unit. 82d Rear Operations Center, 82d Infantry Brigade, Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Army National Guard Supporting Unit. 1067th Transportation Company, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.

Army Reserve Large Unit. 1192d Transportation Terminal Brigade, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Army Reserve Small Unit. Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Army Reserve Supporting Unit. 2125th Garrison Support Unit, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

More information, including the awards evaluation criteria, checklists, and sample nomination packets, is available at the Deployment Process Modernization Office Web site at www.deploy.eustis.army.mil/DEA.

ARMY PRESENTS MAINTENANCE AWARDS

The winners of the 2003 Army Awards for Maintenance Excellence are as follows—

Active Army (Table of Organizationand Equipment) (TOE)

Small Unit. 11th Signal Detachment, 2d Signal Brigade, Mannheim, Germany.

Medium Unit. 3d Military Intelligence Battalion, Camp Humphreys, Korea.

Large Unit. 532d Military Intelligence Battalion, Yongsan, Korea.

Active Army (Table of Distribution and Allowances)

Small Unit. Operations Group, Aviation Flight Detachment, Combat Maneuver Training Center, Hohenfels, Germany.

Medium Unit. 58th Transportation Battalion, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Large Unit. Maintenance Activity Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Army National Guard (TOE)

Small Unit. Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 690th Maintenance Battalion, Kinston, North Carolina.

Medium Unit. 732d Maintenance Company, Roxboro, North Carolina.

Large. 2d Battalion, 156th Infantry Regiment, Abbeville, Louisiana.

Army Reserve (TOE)

Small Unit. 912th Medical Company, Independence, Missouri.

Medium Unit. Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 807th Medical Command, Seagoville, Texas.

Large Unit. 94th General Hospital, Seagoville, Texas.

The awards were presented by Lieutenant General C.V. Christianson, Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G–4; Brigadier General William M. Lenaers, the Commandant of the Army Ordnance Center and School; and Chief Warrant Officer (W–5) James J. Wynne, the Regimental Chief Warrant Officer of the Ordnance Corps, in an August ceremony at the Pentagon.

SUPPLY AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Army Chief of Staff General Peter J. Schoomaker announced the following first-place winners of the 2004 Army Supply Excellence Award on 1 September—

Active Army

Table of Distribution and Allowances (TDA) Unit (Small). 222d Base Support Battalion, Baumholder, Germany.

TDA Unit (Large). 2d Battalion (Short-Range Air Defense) 6th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, Fort Bliss, Texas.

TDA Supply Support Activity (SSA) (Small). Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 22d Area Support Group, Vicenza, Italy.

Modification Table of Organization and Equipment (MTOE) Company With Property Book. Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 59th Signal Battalion, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

MTOE Company Without Property Book. 11th Signal Detachment, Mannheim, Germany.

MTOE Battalion With Property Book. 205th Military Intelligence Battalion, Fort Shafter, Hawaii.

MTOE SSA (Small-Classes II, IV, and VII). 305th Quartermaster Supply and Service Company, Yongsan, Korea.

MTOE SSA (Small-Class IX). G Company, 52d Aviation Regiment, Wonju, Korea.

MTOE SSA (Large-Class IX). D Company, 701st Main Support Battalion, 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized), Kitzingen, Germany.

Army National Guard

TDA Unit (Small). Headquarters, 209th Regional Training Institute, Ashland, Nebraska.

TDA Unit (Large). Joint Forces Headquarters, Wisconsin Army National Guard, Madison, Wisconsin.

TDA SSA (Small). U.S. Property and Fiscal Office, Supply Center, Lincoln, Nebraska.
MTOE Company With Property Book. 107th Maintenance Company, Sparta, Wisconsin.

MTOE Company Without Property Book. Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1/114th Infantry Battalion, Fort Dix, New Jersey.

MTOE Battalion With Property Book. Headquarters, 1/25th Field Artillery Battalion, New Ulm, Minnesota.

MTOE Battalion Without Property Book. Headquarters, 2/127th Infantry Battalion, Appleton, Wisconsin.

MTOE SSA (Small-Class IX). B Company, 193d Aviation Regiment, Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii.

MTOE SSA (Large-Class IX). U.S. Property and Fiscal Office, Supply and Services Warehouse, Springfield, Illinois.

Army Reserve

TDA Unit (Small). 4249th Port Security Detachment (Military Police), Pocahontas, Iowa.

TDA Unit (Large). Area Maintenance Support Activity 57 (Ground), Belton, Missouri.

MTOE Company Without Property Book. 216th Transportation Detachment, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

MTOE Battalion Without Property Book. 317th Quartermaster Battalion (Supply and Services), Lawrence, Kansas

PENN STATE OFFERS Certificate IN Supply Chain Management

Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Supply Chain Research, in cooperation with the Army Logistics Transformation Agency, now offers a certificate program in Supply Chain Management for Army logisticians. To receive the certificate, logisticians must attend Penn State’s new course, “Logistics Transformation Management: Developing and Accelerating Logistics Change,” and two other supply chain courses offered by the university. For more information about the certificate program, send an email to William.Koenig@hqda.army.mil. Information on course offerings is available on the Penn State Smeal College of Business Web site, www.smeal.psu.edu/psep.

DEFENSE LOG CONFERENCE SCHEDULED

The Third Annual Defense Logistics Conference, Defense Logistics 2004, is scheduled for 29 November to 1 December at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the conference is to bring military and industry logistics leaders
together to promote interoperability and develop tools for supporting the warfighter.
Conference information and registration is available on the World Wide Web at www.defenselog.com.

SmarTruck III represents cutting-edge military automotive technology.

SMARTRUCK III OFFERS MULTIPLE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANTAGES

The Army’s new SmarTruck III can detect an airborne biological hazard and alert authorities before it can cause harm, track and repel attackers in complete darkness, and sense an incoming missile and knock it out of the sky. Its armor, four-point safety belts, run-flat tires, and fire-suppression systems enhance crew protection.

SmarTruck III was built by Integrated Concepts and Research Corporation of Madison Heights, Michigan, and Heart International of Grand Blanc, Michigan, in partnership with International Truck and Engine Corporation, for the National Automotive Center (NAC). NAC is the Army Tank and Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center’s technology transfer arm.

The vehicle can be used in a war zone, for homeland security, or for other security purposes, such as border patrol. Its weapons station module has a remote-controlled .50-caliber machinegun that rises from the back of the vehicle and sniper-detection directional sound capabilities. Antimissile missiles deployed from behind SmarTruck III’s side flares offer perimeter defense from rocket-propelled grenades and antitank guided missiles.

SmarTruck III is outfitted with ballistic protection that can withstand 51-millimeter machinegun rounds. It can be equipped with armor flooring that will dissipate the energy of a ground explosion away from the vehicle. The vehicle’s automatic fire-suppression system can sense an explosion or fire in the crew compartment and suppress it within milliseconds. Its diagnostics system will help the crew identify and solve vehicle maintenance problems.

The vehicle has two sophisticated camera systems: The periscope camera comprises a night-vision camera, visible light camera, and laser range finder. The telemmersion camera system can be raised 8 feet above the truck to record the 360-degree, full-motion spherical scene at 100 million pixels per second. The system includes directional sound monitoring and can record for up to 4 hours.

SmarTruck III’s bio-agent acquisition system can analyze samples and distinguish bio-aerosols from dust and other nonbiological materials. The vehicle’s communication technologies create an integrated, standalone command and control center. Its occupants can control unmanned aerial vehicles, and each of its rear seat passengers will be able to monitor SmarTruck III’s many technologies and two 7-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screens to view selected camera feeds. SmarTruck III also has high-speed satellite Internet access and satellite TV.

According to NAC’s Bruce MacDonald, SmarTruck III is at the “top end of innovation coming out of NAC.” The Army has not set a date for fielding SmarTruck III.

TRANSCOM REALIGNS TO PERFORM AS DISTRIBUTION PROCESS OWNER

The U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) has announced a management structure designed to enhance its effectiveness in its role as the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) Distribution Process Owner (DPO). The realignment will create a flatter structure with fewer layers of management, consolidate management accountability, and streamline the flow of information to senior-level decisionmakers
.
The designation of the DPO last September established one accountable commander for DOD distribution. The realignment creates a complementary structure with subordinate levels of accountability to support the DPO.

Under the realignment, General John W. Handy, USAF, the TRANSCOM Commander, now chairs a DPO Executive Board that also includes the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Materiel Readiness, the Director of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), and the J–4, Joint Staff. The Executive Board will oversee the improvement of the distribution process through six focus areas, or “pillars,” each headed by a general officer (GO) or senior executive service (SES) civilian. The pillar leaders will report monthly to the board. The six pillars are—

• Execution (the responsibility of the TRANSCOM J–3), which focuses on the Deployment and Distribution Operation Center and containers.
• End-to-end process (the responsibility of the TRANSCOM J–5), which focuses on end-to-end
architecture, asset visibility, metrics, and the deployment and distribution process.
• Information technology (the responsibility of the TRANSCOM J–6).
• Financial (the responsibility of the TRANSCOM J–8).
• Human realm (the responsibility of the TRANSCOM Chief of Staff).
• Integrated distribution (the responsibility of the DLA J–3), which focuses on supply and transportation, direct vendor delivery, and the Defense Transportation Coordination Initiative.

According to Major General Carlos D. “Butch” Pair, USAR, the TRANSCOM Chief of Staff, “The DPO’s aim is to improve overall efficiency and interoperability of distribution related activities—deployment, sustainment, and redeployment support during peace and war. This realignment adds GO/SES-level accountability and velocity to these hugely important efforts so that our Government can start reaping the potential dollar savings at hand.”

TRANSCOM also has received DOD approval to establish a contracting activity for commercial transportation services. TRANSCOM was authorized to procure commercial transportation when it was established in 1993. However, to do so, TRANSCOM first needed a delegation of authority from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. TRANSCOM did not seek such a delegation at that time and instead executed the acquisition mission through its components, the Air Mobility Command, the Military Sealift Command, and the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command. Following its designation as the DPO, TRANSCOM determined that it needed the authority to establish its own acquisition capability that could be dedicated to DPO requirements and requested the delegation of authority. TRANSCOM hopes to have the contracting activity operational by March 2005.