The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission has voted to keep open Red River Army Depot, Texas, and Hawthorne Army Depot, Nevada, rejecting Department of Defense (DOD) recommendations to close them. The commission also voted against a DOD proposal to move the Army Aviation Logistics School from Fort Eustis, Virginia, to Fort Rucker, Alabama, to join the Army Aviation Center and School.

The BRAC Commission supported the great majority of DOD recommendations for the Army. In the most significant change for Army logistics, the Army Transportation School (now at Fort Eustis, Virginia) and the Army Ordnance School (now at Aberdeen Proving Ground Maryland, and Redstone Arsenal, Alabama) will move to Fort Lee, Virginia. There, they will join the Army Combined Arms Support Command, the Army Quartermaster School, and the Army Logistics Management College to form a Logistics Center of Excellence. The commission endorsed creating a Joint Center of Excellence for Culinary Training and a Joint Center for Consolidated Transportation Management Training at Fort Lee, bringing together all DOD training in those areas.

Other DOD recommendations approved by the commission will relocate major components of the Army Materiel Command (AMC). AMC headquarters and the Security Assistance Command will move from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to Redstone Arsenal, and the Communications-Electronics Command will relocate from Fort Monmouth, New Jersey (which is closing), to Aberdeen Proving Ground. The Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command will move from Fort Eustis to collocate with the U.S. Transportation Command and the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

In addition to Fort Monmouth, other Army installations approved for closure are Newport Chemical Depot, Indiana; Deseret Chemical Depot, Utah; Umatilla Chemical Depot, Oregon; Mississippi Army Ammunition Plant, Mississippi; Kansas Army Ammunition Plant, Kansas; Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant, Texas; Riverbank Army Ammunition Plant, California; Fort Monroe, Virginia; Fort McPherson, Georgia; Fort Gillem, Georgia; and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, D.C.

The President has approved the actions of the BRAC Commission. The list of closures and realignments will become final unless Congress passes a joint resolution of disapproval.

DUNWOODY NAMED ARMY G–4

Major General Ann E. Dunwoody, the Commanding General of the Army Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM) and Fort Lee, Virginia, has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and appointment as Deputy Chief of Staff, G–4, U.S. Army. General Dunwoody will be the first woman appointed as the Army G–4. She will succeed Lieutenant General C.V. Christianson, who has been named as Director for Logistics, J–4, The Joint Staff.

Before her assignment as Commanding General of CASCOM, General Dunwoody commanded the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command in Alexandria, Virginia, from October 2002 to August 2004.

General Dunwoody has a bachelor’s degree in physical education from the State University of New York at Cortland, a master’s degree in logistics management from the Florida Institute of Technology, and a master’s degree in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. She is a graduate of the Quartermaster Officer Basic and Advanced Courses and Basic Airborne School.

STATIONING DECISIONS ANNOUNCED

The Army announced in July the planned locations for its active component modular brigade combat teams (BCTs). The stationing of the BCTs is part of the Army’s transformation into a campaign-quality force with joint and expeditionary capabilities. The stationings also are critical to ensuring that the Army is postured to maintain the high degree of readiness needed to meet its strategic commitments, including ongoing operations in the Global War on Terrorism.

The Army selected the BCT locations based on their existing and potential capacities, available training space, and the current locations of similar and supporting units. The design also preserves the Army’s historic heraldry and lineage. Although the modular BCTs follow historic division and brigade unit-naming conventions, their design is completely different from that of their predecessors. The essence of this transformational design is a new force that can be deployed singly or in groups and is ready for employment over a dispersed area in a variety of configurations as self-contained modules.

The announced locations of BCTs and division headquarters are—
• Fort Riley, Kansas: headquarters and three BCTs of the 1st Infantry Division.
• Fort Knox, Kentucky: one BCT of the 1st Infantry Division.
• Korea: headquarters and one BCT of the 2d Infantry Division.
• Fort Lewis, Washington: three BCTs (all Stryker) of the 2d Infantry Division.
• Fort Stewart, Georgia: headquarters and three BCTs of the 3d Infantry Division.
• Fort Benning, Georgia: one BCT of the 3d Infantry Division.
• Fort Carson, Colorado: headquarters and four BCTs of the 4th Infantry Division.
• Fort Drum, New York: headquarters and three BCTs of the 10th Mountain Division.
• Fort Polk, Louisiana: one BCT of the 10th Mountain Division.
• Schofield Barracks, Hawaii: headquarters and two BCTs (both Stryker) of the 25th Infantry Division.
• Fort Richardson, Alaska: one BCT of the 25th Infantry Division.
• Fort Wainwright, Alaska: one BCT (Stryker) of the 25th Infantry Division.
• Fort Bliss, Texas: headquarters and four BCTs of the 1st Armored Division.
• Fort Hood, Texas: headquarters and four BCTs of the 1st Cavalry Division and the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment.
• Fort Bragg, North Carolina: headquarters and four BCTs of the 82d Airborne Division.
• Fort Campbell, Kentucky: headquarters and four BCTs of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).
• Germany: 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment (Stryker).
• Italy: 173d Airborne Brigade.

The Secretary of Defense approved an increase in the number of active modular BCTs from 33 to 43 in January 2004. The National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, also will have a BCT (-)—the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment—to serve as the opposing force for training.

BCT positioning was a key factor in the Department of Defense (DOD) base realignment and closure (BRAC) recommendations announced in May. The BCT positioning plan, which implements DOD’s Integrated Global Presence and Basing Strategy recommendations, allows the Army to return up to 50,000 soldiers from overseas locations by the end of the decade. Two key BRAC recommendations include returning the 1st Infantry Division from Germany to Fort Riley in fiscal year 2006 and relocating the 1st Armored Division from Germany to Fort Bliss at a time yet to be determined. One 2d Infantry Division brigade from Korea that is now in Iraq will be redeploying to the United States (Fort Lewis) rather than back to Korea.

Facilities to be returned to Germany in 2007 after the 1st Infantry Division relocates to Fort Riley include Harvey Barracks, Kitzingen Family Housing, Kitzingen Training Area, Larson Barracks, Schwanberg Defense Communications System Site, Faulenberg Kaserne, Wuerzburg Training Areas, Giebelstadt Army Airfield, Giebelstadt DYA [Dependent Youth Activities] Camp, Giebelstadt Tactical Defense Facility, and Breitsol Communications Station. Leighton Barracks and Wuerzburg Hospital also will be relinquished once they are no longer needed.

ARMY ISSUES NEW
MATERIEL MAINTENANCE POLICY

Revised Army Regulation 750–1, Army Materiel Maintenance Policy, dated 15 July 2005, reflects a major change to the Army’s four-level maintenance policy that has been in effect for the last 50 years. The revision implements policy for two levels of maintenance—field and sustainment—and updates roles and responsibilities for the maintenance of Army materiel.

Field maintenance combines operator/crew, unit, and selected direct support maintenance tasks. Performed “on system,” it involves replacement of defective parts, preventive maintenance, and return of the repaired equipment to the user. Sustainment maintenance encompasses general support and depot maintenance tasks. It is performed “off system” and involves repair of defective equipment or parts and return of the item to the supply system.

The two-level maintenance concept is expected to support Army transformation initiatives by providing—
• A reduced logistics footprint in the battlespace.
• Faster return of equipment to the fight.
• Decreased need to evacuate equipment.
• Increased productivity of maintainers, which will result in increased combat power.
• Potential force structure savings.

The Army has been moving toward two-level maintenance since the mid-1990s, when Force XXI concepts began to develop. Many ground and ammunition maintenance units have already converted to the two-level system, while aviation units are not expected to begin conversion until 2008.

The band tracks on this M2A2 Bradley fighting vehicle yield a smoother, quieter ride.

FCS VEHICLES TO HAVE RUBBER TRACKS
The Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) manned ground vehicles will be equipped with hard rubber band tracks instead of metal tracks. Transportability was a significant factor leading to the decision to adopt the new band track technology. A vehicle equipped with band tracks will weigh about a ton less than a similar vehicle equipped with metal tracks, which will make it easier to transport by air. Other considerations that favor the band tracks include the following—
• The service life of the hard rubber tracks is expected to be double that of traditional metal tracks.
• Band tracks are less resistant to rolling, which means the vehicles can start moving faster and will use less fuel.
• Vehicles equipped with band tracks offer a smoother ride without the vibration that steel tracks produce.
• Band tracks make less noise when they move than metal tracks. Together with hybrid-electric systems, band-track-equipped vehicles will be much quieter than vehicles with metal tracks.

The new band tracks do have several drawbacks. Tests show that the lightweight band tracks are less vulnerable to small arms fire than metal tracks but more vulnerable to mine blasts. Metal tracks often can be repaired by replacing an individual link; however, band tracks must be replaced completely, which means that Soldiers must carry spare bands with them. Developers at the Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command are attempting to develop a segmented track that has joints similar to those on metal tracks.

DEFENSE LOGISTICS CONFERENCE SLATED

“Marching Towards Seamless Support of Our Warfighter” is the theme of Defense Logistics USA 2005. This annual conference brings together logistics representatives from all four services with manufacturers of military equipment. This year’s event takes place at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C., 28 November through 1 December. For more information, see www.defenselog.com.