Mlf 8 1 final

AMCOM O Passive RFID O Microgrids and PowerSmart Handheld Devices O Afghanistan Drawdown

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Lt. Gen. Raymond V. MasonU.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4

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February 2014Volume 8, Issue 1

Exclusive Interview with:

mAj. Gen. thomAS j. richArDSonCommanderU.S. Army Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command

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Cover / Q&AFeatures

Lieutenant GeneraL raymond V. mason

U.S. Army Deputy Chief of StaffG-4

17

February 2014Volume 8, Issue 1

Departments Industry Interview2 editor’s PersPectiVe4 LoG LeadershiP Lessons14 suPPLy chain27 resource center

mike LennonAccount Executive for the U.S. ArmySAP

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6smart handheLd deVicesIn 2013, International Data Corporation tallies worldwide smartphone shipments to surpass 1 billion units, representing 39.3 percent growth over 2012. Today over 70 percent of all device sales worldwide are smartphones or tablets. People in the military who are familiar with these devices and their benefits in their personal lives want to reap these same benefits in the context of their mission or work.By Karen e. Thuermer

9amcomThe U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command is responsible for life cycle management of Army missiles, helicopters, unmanned ground vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles. By henry Canaday

11 microGrids and PowerMore environmentally friendly and efficient, microgrids are making a difference. By definition, a microgrid has the ability to provide electricity on its own and without being attached to the grid that powers the rest of civilization.By PeTer BuxBaum

24PassiVe rFid stiLL emerGinGAsset tracking is essential to efficient logistics and can be enabled by many technologies. Active radio frequency identification and barcodes are being widely used. But passive RFID and other technologies are also being considered.By henry Canaday

U.S. Army mIlItAry SUrFAce Deployment AnD DIStrIbUtIon commAnDSpecIAl pUll-oUt SUpplement

Exclusive interview withmAjor GenerAl thomAS j. rIchArDSonCommanderU.S. Army Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command

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Your single-source solution for material and services.

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teaminG to drawdown aFGhanistan oPerationsWhile there is a long history of civilians directly supporting military operations, contractors have never been more prevalent or more critical to mission success than in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In both wars, contractors were called upon by the military to feed the troops, build base camps, maintain facilities and provide dozens of other logistical support services.By STeve WhiTComB

The men and women of the Defense Logistics Agency will be the first to tell you that they don’t do their job for the pat on the back that may—or may not—come. But they recently earned their stripes and came out on top of a DoD Inspector General’s report. The DLA will look at this business as usual—and that’s the most interesting aspect: It is!

As background, it is recognized that DLA supports more than 2,250 weapon systems and supplies more than 84 percent of the military’s spare parts—repre-senting nine supply chains and 5 million items. In FY12 they processed $44 billion in sales and service, which would put them in the top 15 percent of the Fortune 500 if on that chart.

The DoD Inspector General recently released the findings of an audit of DLA’s fulfillment of time-definite delivery items to ensure that they met the required standard of four days. DoD regulations further define the TDD concept as representing 85 percent of the aggregate times that the wholesale supply system is capable of delivering the required materiel to its customers.

This particular audit focused on the delivery mission-critical batteries, which are managed from DLA’s Land and Maritime activity in Columbus, Ohio.

The IG’s report stated that, “DLA fulfilled CONUS warfighter requisitions for batteries designated as mission-critical by military services. DLA met the 4-day CONUS TDD standard for 82 of 96 CONUS critical battery requisitions reviewed. For the 82 requisitions, DLA properly estimated and planned battery demand, procured the subject batteries, and maintained sufficient stock to fill the mission-critical requisitions within the 4-day standard.”

To put this in perspective, DLA managed 74,773 battery requisitions in FY12. That’s about 204 requisitions a day for batteries alone. Congratulations to DLA for hitting the mark!

Turning to the pages of this issue, Lieutenant General Mason’s interview brings home in great detail the Army’s logistics outlook for the near term: where the emphasis is, what the contingencies are what the expectations are. I have to admit that one segment that stands out is his conversation—shared from a previous mentor of his, Bob Dail, former director of DLA—about how there is value in scarcity. The explanation brings the meaning home and is a great philosophy at work and at home.

jeffrey D. mcKaughanediTor-in-ChieF

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About LeidosLeidos is a science and technology solutions leader working to address some of the world’s toughest challenges in national security, health, and engineering. The Company’s 23,000 employees support vital missions for our government and the commercial sector, develop innovative solutions to drive better outcomes, and defend our Nation’s digital and physical infrastructure from ‘new world’ threats.

Evolved from SAIC’s decades-long expertise in national security, Leidos delivers a unique perspective dedicated to helping protect our country and secure our future.

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Leidos — Delivering scientific and technology solutions for government and commercial customers in national security, engineering, and health

1990'sInnovation and Evolving Markets

f Largest U.S. employee-owned research and engineering firm

f Listed as a Fortune 500 company

1970'sServing the National Interest

Formed Technology Systems Group in the Washington, D.C., area to perform studies of information from nuclear weapon dust clouds.

Evolved from the legacy of SAIC, Leidos is a solutions company that combines the innovative application of technology, science, and engineering with deep mission and domain understanding of its customers and markets. We focus on solutions delivery to the national security, health, and engineering markets.

Leidos is a coined name, clipped from “kaleidoscope.” It is easy to say and feels international in tonality. It alludes to our ability to approach challenges from different angles to uncover a solution.

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1980'sServing the National Interest

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f Acquisitions and Mergers: Benham Investment Holdings, LLC , R.W. Beck Group, Inc., Cloudshield Technologies, Inc., Vitalize Consulting Solutions, and maxIT Healthcare Holdings

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About LeidosLeidos is a science and technology solutions leader working to address some of the world’s toughest challenges in national security, health, and engineering. The Company’s 23,000 employees support vital missions for our government and the commercial sector, develop innovative solutions to drive better outcomes, and defend our Nation’s digital and physical infrastructure from ‘new world’ threats.

Evolved from SAIC’s decades-long expertise in national security, Leidos delivers a unique perspective dedicated to helping protect our country and secure our future.

KeY operAting locAtions

United States:

Washington, D.C.

Baltimore, MD.

San Diego, CA.

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St. Louis, MO.

Pensacola, FL.

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Kuwait

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Canada

Japan

Korea

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An oft-quoted comment from the phi-losopher George Santayana goes: “Those who cannot remember the past are con-demned to repeat it.” I’m a believer in the cyclic nature of history. In the 40-plus years I’ve been involved with military logis-tics, I’ve participated in or witnessed three cycles of budget-driven force reductions and subsequent “rebuilding” of logistics capabilities lost during those reductions. We are in the throes of the third cycle now, and I keep recalling how we wrote great studies on lessons learned in the first two. We discussed what had happened and how we could do it better the next time, but I cannot recall a concerted effort to expedi-tiously codify into our logistics DNA the hard-won gains we had made leading up to those reductions. This left us having to reinvent the wheel at times, and expend scarce resources in the process.

My sense is the last 10 or more years of expeditionary combat logistics support has taught logisticians from all of the services the value and force-multiplier effect of joint logistics. From my soda straw view of the world, it seems to me the most likely scenarios for near- and mid-term national security threats all point to joint opera-tions as the most probable response. So what can logisticians do now, in a practical sense, to ensure we do not have to repeat/relearn our logistics past because we are unable to remember how we did it before?

Given the above propositions, I believe logisticians can do a lot to engage in and expand joint logistics capabilities, even in this current, budget-driven force

reduction period. They can be ready to do it again, as well as to maximize the efficiency of reduced resources in all the services for the foreseeable future. First, I believe the services should move to have more joint logistics officer assign-ments in those defense agencies which live and breathe jointness everyday: agen-cies such as the Defense Logistics Agency, U.S. Transportation Command, and the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

Another way to codify joint logistics would entail more cross-service assign-ments. For example, Air Force aircraft maintenance officers and senior NCOs would be assigned to multi-year tours on a Navy aircraft carrier, or assigned to an Army aviation regiment and vice-versa. This would provide an ever-growing pool of professional logisticians who have been there, done that as they learn and share best military logistics business practices with their peers from the other services. Such a program would also provide a ready source of support personnel who could backfill over-committed logisticians from one service in a specific theater of operations. By way of example, if combat operations are being waged at sea, Army and Air Force logisticians who had partici-pated in this program could backfill Navy logisticians in another theater not engaged in the conflict. Those Navy logisticians would then be available to supplement the Navy forces actively engaged in combat operations, wherever they may be occur-ring. Such an arrangement could help all the military services develop trained and

capable (with minimal refresher training) joint logisticians, ready to support another service if that service is heavily committed as the lead echelon in a combat operation.

Another idea: Expand the service’s logistics career broadening assignments to rotate logisticians among all of the service depots. Personal experience taught me that, if nothing else, these assign-ments significantly increased mutual understanding and dialogue between the field and the depots within a service. Why not extend those same benefits among all the services?

What about using some of the $150 million Congress wants to provide Army arsenals to address the issue of their non-competitive rates to establish joint technical training centers at these three national treasures? Training would be available (for a fee) to both public and pri-vate sector agencies. This approach would allow the arsenals to exercise and preserve their globally-unique technical capabili-ties while providing a training source to satisfy the need for skilled technicians in both the public and private sectors.

The bottom line is this: Today, many active duty uniformed and civil service logisticians have “been there, done that” in a joint warfighter support environ-ment. For this cycle, let’s examine and implement ways the services can be bet-ter prepared to add: “…and ready to do it again” now. Our adversaries won’t wait for defense resources to rebound; why should we? O

[email protected]

LOG LEADERSHIP LESSONS Compiled by Kmi media Group staffLOG LEADERSHIP LESSONS

Been There, Done That; Ready To Do It Again

Colonel Mark Roddy, USAF (Ret.), is the CEO of DawnMar Associates Inc. His active duty service as a career logistician and his work in the private sector as an information technology consultant reflect over 40 years of logistics and information technology expertise. Roddy is also a past national president of the Logistics Officer Association.

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No one can dispute that the growth of mobile devices over the past few years has been astounding. In fact, for 2013, Inter-national Data Corporation (IDC) tallies worldwide smartphone shipments to surpass 1 billion units, representing 39.3 percent growth over 2012. Today over 70 percent of all device sales worldwide are smartphones or tablets.

Contributing to this growth is the fact people are using mobile devices quite dif-ferently than they used desktops or laptops. Mobile devices provide people with location-based, contextual services. They also enable people to get information they need from anywhere, at any time, and share it with whom they want to have access.

These uses are also fueling the wide-spread adoption of mobile devices within DoD as the preferred computing platform.

“People in the military who are famil-iar with these devices and their benefits in their personal lives want to reap these same benefits in the context of their mission or work,” commented Umesh Vemuri, head of enterprise sales engineering, public sector at Google. “Enabling the military logistics com-munity with mobile devices that can deliver location-based, contextual services to people is critical to increasing data sharing, reducing decision timelines and ultimately enabling a globally responsive supply chain to support the warfighter.”

Nett Warrior Program

There are numerous examples of how smart handheld devices are already being used within military scenarios. The Nett War-rior Program is one such example. Operating in conjunction with the Soldier Require-ments Division at the Maneuver Center of Excellence, the program exemplifies how handheld smart devices and technologies are being used in combat by the Army.

Jason Regnier, deputy product manager of Nett Warrior, describes one of the main combat purposes of putting computing power on dismounted leaders as to provide a means for digital, networked situational awareness and command and control that goes beyond voice over radios.

“For the first time, we can give all battle-field leaders a view of the friendly and enemy situation, not just those in a tactical opera-tions center or in command vehicle,” Regnier said. “The fact that the smart handheld device is in a form factor that soldiers are familiar with [e.g., smartphones] and their operation is kept simple and intuitive like their personal phones is an added bonus that increases sol-dier acceptance.”

The Nett Warrior program, named in honor of Medal of Honor recipient Colonel Robert Nett, leverages commercial smart devices to provide an integrated dismounted leader mission command and situational awareness system for use during combat operations. The Nett Warrior program focuses on the integration and evaluation of commer-cial smart devices for the mission command and situational awareness system, improved navigation and reduced fratricide through the visualization of friendly forces. The integra-tion process employs recent combat veterans for soldier integration and feedback, enhanc-ing the human factors and fightability.

Currently, commanders in tactical opera-tions centers and vehicle commanders have mission command and situational awareness, but dismounted leaders do not. “The primary driver for the current suc-cess has been SWAP-C [size, weight, power and cost] reductions,” Regnier said.

Nett Warrior started out under the Land Warrior pro-gram in the late 1990s at a

weight of nearly 40 pounds. It was reduced in 2011 to just under 9 pounds, but still took up a lot of space.

“The current Nett Warrior system weighs in at 3.5 pounds,” Regnier added. “The real-ization of Moore’s Law [i.e., computer proces-sors double in complexity every two years] also meant that more computational and display capability could be delivered to an individual in a much smaller package.”

Smart device systems provide situational awareness and understanding, allowing for faster and more accurate decisions in the tactical fight. “This translates into soldiers being at the right place at the right time, with the right information, thereby making them more effective, more lethal and more survivable in the execution of their combat mission,” Regnier said. “They are able to navigate and close on an objective in the dark with a more complete understanding of where the blue forces are—preventing fratri-cide—where the enemy is known or thought to be, and how to execute the mission.”

In addition to the primary tasks of mis-sion command and situational awareness, the Army is looking at using these same smart devices with applications for artillery and fires, machine foreign translation, medical applications and logistics functions.

“Currently the Nett Warrior supports Army standard supply point and resupply messages at the platoon level, and we expect

interest and capabilities in the combat logistics areas to grow,” Regnier explained.

Regarding security, the Nett Warrior system is required to operate at the secret level due to the classifi-cation of the operational data.

“The program is in compliance with the full suite of military require-ments described in Army

game chaNgers for military logisticiaNs.

Umesh Vemuri

By KareN e. thuermer, mlf corresPoNdeNt


Regulation 25-2 and other security-related regulations and processes from OSD and the Army CIO-G6,” he said. “The devices are no longer phones, and all communications is performed through secure tactical encrypted radios [not commercial cell towers or WiFi]. The smart devices are secure enough to pre-vent intercept and decryption by the enemy.”

The Nett Warrior systems are also required to meet the full suite of tactical mili-tary requirements for electromagnetic inter-ference and compatibility, as well as military standard environmental tests for vibration, salt, sun, temperature and so on.

“There are a few exceptions to the ini-tial requirement, such as relief on 2-meter underwater immersion, nuclear survivability and extreme temperature ranges,” Regnier said. “However, we are developing special pur-pose cases for those needs or looking at the new, commercially available cases that skiers or outdoor enthusiasts are buying.”

Ruggedizing the system must be balanced against life cycle costs and the desire to keep pace with the commercial market to lever-age rapidly evolving technology. This was a huge step within the Army in allowing some environmental requirements to be relaxed in order to use commercial smart devices.

“Put simply, we don’t expect the phones to last as long as most traditional military equipment. It is cheaper to replace a system with a newer smart device which will have a faster processor and added capabilities versus hardening a device so that it lasts 10 years,” Regnier commented. “What is surprising to the program office is how well the unmodi-fied phones with currently available protec-tive cases performed in testing and in combat. Of the 4,000 fielded for testing and in combat, we have had fewer than 50 broken devices.”

Another example where smart devices in the military are being implemented is the Joint Long Term Evolution (LTE) Deployable-Tactical Cellular System (JOLTED TACTICS), a cellular and Internet Protocol-based sys-tem designed to provide robust communica-tions to dismounted special operations forces teams and general purpose forces company and below tactical users.

According to Army Lieutenant Colonel Scott Brooks, C2 integration lead, Technical Integration & Services Branch, C4 Assess-ments Division, JOLTED TACTICS started about four years ago when the special opera-tions community worked with third genera-tion (3G) networks.

“Based on successes they had, as well as capability gaps that war fighting commanders

found 3G was unable to fulfill, DoD provided momentum for JOLTED TACTICS.”

Consequently, JOLTED TACTICS is lever-aging innovations in fourth generation (4G) LTE cellular technologies and mobile Ka-band spread spectrum satellite communica-tions to deliver megabits of data to mobile and dismounted teams equipped with mobile devices such as smartphones or netbooks. Using LTE-based technology, dismounted warfighters can use applications such as streaming media, voice over Internet Proto-col, email, and instant messaging for immedi-ate situational awareness.

U.S. Special Operations Command and Naval Air Systems Command are consider-ing using JOLTED TACTICS for fixed wing aircraft and unmanned aerial systems range extension. The JOLTED TACTICS capability is being evaluated by the U.S. Navy under their 4G LTE Afloat Sea Trial for use in surface ship to ship and internal ship com-munications.

VeNdor offeriNgs

A host of vendors, from network provid-ers to device manufacturers, demonstrate how handheld smart devices fit well with military logicians.

Experts at Verizon maintain that a cel-lular network for smart devices is a game changer. With a robust network that covers nearly the entire United States with 4G LTE and 3G, Verizon can provide the military real-time information for asset management.

“There are multiple uses from surveil-lance to tracking a specific item,” explained Adam Rosenbaum, product and marketing manager for Verizon Enterprise Solutions. “With the build out and adoption of 4G LTE, users now can have even more data and data visibility.”

To keep the network secure, Verizon utilizes an encryption and authentication mechanism that are built into the network.

“We protect our users and our network upstream by ensuring mobile devices have gone through a certification process to get their devices and capability onto our net-work,” Rosenbaum described.

A particular benefit for military opera-tions, Verizon offers a mobile private network that segments user traffic off the public network. “It utilizes the Verizon network, but traffic is separated from the public traf-fic by dynamic mobile routing,” explained Rosenbaum. “Customer authentication is performed for all mobile form factors.”

Verizon also works with its vendors and OEMs to ensure they design their devices with security in mind so that they offer best in class capability right out of the box. “Consequently, we offer devices that are FIBS 140-2 validated in addition to accessories for multi-factor authentication,” he said.

FIPS 140-2 is the National Institute of Standards and Technology standard that addresses the use of cryptographic algorithms in IT systems.

An example of one of Verizon’s devices is the common access card that slides onto the device and can be used for authentication in cases such as DoD-provided enterprise email.

Another product Verizon offers is the mobile workforce manager, which provides a mobile device management capability. This is a scalable, cloud-based service that manages and controls user access and provisioning across multiple devices based on one’s own security compliance policies.

“At the end of the day, cellular technology allows logisticians to extend their enterprise,” Rosenbaum commented. “Folks working in the field now have access to information, logistics data and mobile dispatching. They are also able to utilize devices to troubleshoot problems and access a technical manual—even video conference with an expert. It even offers a tele-maintenance capability.”

Verizon Wireless Field Force Manager is an app that offers greater visibility as to where assets or soldiers are located, particularly when out in mobile pool. Field Force Man-ager helps provide proof of service, automate timesheets and job dispatch, collects service information and much more. Essentially, it helps increase management insight and opti-mizes operations.

“It also integrates with GPS for naviga-tion so that you streamline your dispatching and have the ability to provide quicker ser-vice,” he added.

Verizon’s Networkfleet enables the track-ing, monitoring and managing vehicle fleets. Networkfleet offers an easy-to-use dashboard that can easily pull up information on an individual vehicle or the entire fleet. Fleet managers can pull up the mapping data in their choice of street map, satellite or hybrid view. Managers can also receive alerts if the system detects a problem with the vehicle’s engine, speed or performance.

“Networkfleet is also able to provide real-time tracking and interpret bar codes,” Rosenbaum added. “It has a robust capability to find out where an item is and integrate into a back-end information system.”

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Vemuri points out that given the fact that Android is the world’s most popular mobile platform, with more than 1 billion device activations worldwide, many manufacturers are building mobile devices on the Android platform. “They continue to release new high quality devices on a regular basis,” he said.

DoD has been using Android devices for over two years as part of an effort to bring modern mobile devices to military employ-ees. In fact, Samsung provides a hardened version of Android, known as Knox, which was developed to meet the military’s security requirements.

“Chromebooks are a new breed of com-puters that run on Google’s Chrome OS, an operating system that is fast, simple and secure, and engineered to run a wide range of Web-based applications,” Vemuri said. “Chromebooks can support DoD’s thin- and zero-client initiatives. They are ideally suited for virtual desktop infrastructure solutions, whether offered by commercial vendors or custom-built solutions.”

To address security needs, both Chrome-books and Android have been designed from the ground up with security at the forefront. Chromebooks use the principle of defense in depth to provide multiple layers of protection for data, users and networks from malware, viruses and other threats.

“Every boot process involves a self-check, to ensure the system hasn’t been tampered with,” Vemuri explained. “Each tab executes in its own sandbox process, making it is isolated from others, and an attack on one cannot affect others. And data is stored safely in the cloud, so a lost computer no longer means lost work or data released in the open.”

Android was designed with multi-layered security that provides the flexibility required for an open platform, while providing protec-tion for all users of the platform.

“Android seeks to be the most secure and usable operating system for mobile platforms by re-purposing traditional operating system security controls to protect user data, protect system resources and provide application isolation,” Vemuri added.

To achieve these aims, Android provides a number of key security features, including security at the OS level through the Linux kernel, mandatory application sandbox for all applications, secure interprocess communi-cation, application signing and application-defined and user-granted permissions.

Durability is always an issue, particularly in the military. But Vemuri points out that in the traditional model, an organization would

purchase a device and spend a significant amount of money “ruggedizing” the device to increase durability.

“This approach was right-fully rooted in the view that data is central and protecting the local device would pro-tect the data,” he said. Hence, spending significantly more to ruggedize the device was justi-fied to ensure ongoing access to the data. While increasing durability, how-ever, ruggedizing a device could not address loss or theft, not to mention the significant cost of keeping the device up to date.

“Today’s reality is that the data no longer has to reside on a specific device,” he said. “Data for which a person has appropriate rights should be available to her from any device.” To do this, first, the data is stored in the cloud; second, the data itself is pro-tected both at rest and in transit; and third, software-based protections are implemented in the devices.

“Given this, the focus shifts from durable devices to durable data to ensure access to the data even in circumstances where a device is destroyed,” Vemuri explained. “Chrome-books, which are available for as little as $200, illustrate this quite well. Lost, stolen, dam-aged, or destroyed Chromebooks can be easily replaced and have little impact on budgets when compared with the high cost of ‘rug-gedizing’ and maintaining ‘rugged’ devices.”

Johnny Overcast, director of government sales for Samsung Telecommunications America, points out that Samsung devices can be used for a number of logistic purposes, such as bar code scanning and quality assur-ance. For example, the camera on the Galaxy line of devices can be used to scan traditional 2-D bar codes and 3-D/QR bar codes. Data can be fed directly into spreadsheets, forms or applications, and can be relayed in real time. Orders for supplies can be made on the spot with Galaxy connected tablets, eliminating many errors in data capture.

“Additionally, cost savings for devices is important with shrinking IT budgets,” Over-cast said. “Samsung offers mobile devices that are multifunctional, helping IT departments replace expensive devices that only serve one purpose, like bar code scanning.”

According to Overcast, Samsung offers the best range of smartphones and tablets to allow maximum productivity and security for military logistics professionals, whether working from an office or in the field. “From

the large-screen Galaxy Note line to the best-selling Galaxy S series to ruggedized smart-phones, Samsung’s lineup provides users with an unpar-alleled choice in screen size, form factor and functionality,” he said.

Regarding security, Sam-sung provides mobile security for the many regulated orga-nizations through Samsung

Knox. “Knox ensures integrated security from

the hardware layer to the application layer, arming Samsung Mobile devices with fea-tures that deliver security and compliance even for highly regulated industries,” he said.

Leveraging both hardware and operat-ing-system-based security enhancements, Knox creates a secure container on Samsung mobile devices that can be used to protect sensitive information, such as work email and files. “Knox provides peace of mind for IT departments, as well as company employees, by ensuring sensitive business information is managed and protected, while employ-ees’ personal information is kept private and secure,” Overcast added.

Samsung also offers enhanced features and premium accessories that turn mobile devices into purpose-driven tools.

“Samsung Mobile is the first mobile device manufacturer to establish a strate-gic relationship with OtterBox to supply a complete and complementary portfolio of accessory solutions for enterprise custom-ers,” Overcast emphasized. “Samsung also built the Galaxy S4 Active with a dust- and water-resistant exterior to provide a sturdier design without sacrificing high-performance functionality.”

Additionally, Samsung ensures peak per-formance through the full device lifecycle. Samsung MobileCare for Enterprise simpli-fies the maintenance, support and manage-ment of Samsung Mobile devices through training, technical support, certified repair and extended warranty care.

As these examples demonstrate, smart-phone devices and networks are game chang-ers for the military, since they enable the end user to accomplish the mission better and faster. O

jonny overcast

For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief Jeff McKaughan

at [email protected] or search our online archives for related stories

at www.mlf-kmi.com.


The United States Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) is responsible for life cycle management of Army mis-siles, helicopters, unmanned ground vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles.

AMCOM faces major challenges in many areas, including main-taining its diverse fleet of helicopters. The drawdown from Iraq and now Afghanistan, coupled with reduced budgets, is largely respon-sible for these challenges, said AMCOM officials. But AMCOM’s Cor-pus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) has met the challenges by treating the organic industrial base as a business and finding smarter, more efficient ways to invest in its people and technology.

With a complete organizational restructuring, strategic plan-ning and fundamental cultural change, CCAD has developed a high-volume operation for the future. The CCAD workforce has demonstrated the synergistic effects of an enterprise approach to operations. By reorganizing and transforming its business cul-ture, AMCOM officials say CCAD has positioned itself to survive the force drawdowns and the downturn in military spending.

The depot has successfully promoted a professional recom-mitment to its core values of financial responsibility, customer service, product quality, employee empowerment and organiza-tional improvement.

CCAD has set a standard, known as the Balanced Scorecard, by which all production and support areas are continually mea-

sured. This initiative enables the depot to achieve organizational change, increase production and lower costs to survive the effects of reduced budgets and fewer troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was these strides that made CCAD’s UH-60 Black Hawk recapitalization program such a success, according to AMCOM officials. This represents just one example of how CCAD is achiev-ing the highest possible return on capital assets and investments.

The depot has become the keystone for sustaining the Army’s Black Hawk fleet. Its recapitalization program maintains the Army’s combat readiness by improving the aircraft already in the inventory. CCAD modernizes the Army’s Black Hawks by updat-ing older models to meet the evolving requirements of modern warfare. Recap is part of the Army’s efforts to reduce platform sustainment costs. It also avoids the expense of replacing aging helicopters with new ones.

CCAD’s Black Hawk recap program, by avoiding the cost of replacing aging helicopters, saves the taxpayers about $12 million with each rebuild. Since 2003, this recap program has saved the taxpayer more than $20 billion, while cutting time and costs and making smarter choices in workload.

CCAD’s new proactive and efficient culture has enabled the workforce to recapitalize more Black Hawks than ever before. CCAD has achieved this at a lower cost and in a shorter amount of time by evolving systems and processes in workshops with

maNagiNg rotary WiNg suPPort aNd maximiziNg efficieNcy.By heNry caNaday

mlf corresPoNdeNt

MLF 8.1 | 9 www.MLF-kmi.com

innovative technology, lean methodologies and best business practices to accomplish the mission. The Aircraft Support Division, for example, reduced turnaround time 17 percent in fiscal 2012, and the division has continued the trend to shorter turnaround to this day. This reduces the overall costs of Army aviation and converts every dollar saved into more capability for the Army.

In short, AMCOM’s Corpus Christi Army Depot workforce has achieved savings in cost, schedule and human capital while maintaining superior quality.

In terms of the commercial equivalent, the depot has achieved International Organization for Standardization 9001:2000 qual-ity-management system certification. That is, the depot meets the quality-management system requirements for an aerospace maintenance organization.

CCAD meets this standard as it consistently provides prod-ucts that satisfy customer and other applicable requirements. The depot also aims to enhance customer satisfaction through effective application of the quality-management system, includ-ing processes for continual improvement and assurance of conformity.

There are also challenges in managing the supply chain, that is, inventories and part supplies for these assets, which are of many different ages. AMCOM officials said supply chain management is an enduring key focus area as AMCOM continues improvement efforts in enterprise resource planning integration and elimination of outdated legacy processes.

AMCOM has begun new efforts in demand planning with analyses that combine tables of distribution and allowances reconciliation; sales and operations planning; and authorized stockage list inventory reduction. These efforts yield greater speed in providing parts and components to AMCOM customers, at reduced cost.

AMCOM has also embarked on an enterprise approach to sustainment that highlights four initiatives, each with identified supporting goals.

First, conduct maintenance at the correct level. This is sup-ported by conducting pre-shop analysis to determine the best maintenance approach and reduce the no-evidence-of-failure rate on failed components.

Second, enable soldiers to return to core maintenance and supply competencies. This is supported by fully exploiting the mix of soldiers, civilians and contractors and by applying AMCOM’s enterprise approach to maintenance and supply-point operations

Third, for the force structure, AMCOM is improving its logis-tics capability to overcome anti-access or area denial, improving power-projection capabilities and optimizing the mix of active and reserve components and its support to each component.

Fourth, for modernization, AMCOM is reducing its unique equipping solutions, investing in energy innovation and embed-ded prognostics, reducing life cycle sustainment costs and improving accountability and auditability.

These four initiatives take on added significance in light of the fact that 10 major weapon systems, including the Javelin and UH-72 Lakota, will be transitioning to sustainment in the near future.

As AMCOM approaches 2030, funding this transition to sustainment will be a major challenge, which it is addressing through all of the cost-saving and efficiency measures identified above. Put simply, AMCOM’s energy, resilience and commitment to excellence will continue to be crucial in attaining its objective of providing sustainable, affordable combat power.

AMCOM officials said the Logistics Modernization Program (LMP) is helping AMCOM to meet future challenges by trans-forming the Army’s logistics operation into a collaborative, efficient and effective enterprise. The command has teams of experts who have designed a new organizational structure that reflects the six core processes of LMP: order fulfillment; demand and supply planning; procurement; asset management; materiel maintenance; and financial management.

AMCOM’s sustainment logistics role begins with the comple-tion of materiel fielding and is the core direct-funded component of its mission. This role includes readiness reporting and analy-sis, logistics assistance, national level maintenance and national level supply activities.

National level maintenance includes management of the two Army maintenance depots, CCAD and Letterkenny Army Depot, that provide repair, overhaul, rebuild and modification for aviation and missile systems and equipment. It also includes operating the National Maintenance Point for all maintenance management, provisioning, technical publications, tools, and test-equipment activities required to sustain assigned systems throughout their service life.

Furthermore, supporting the soldiers of 2030 will require continued excellence in delivering AMCOM’s core competencies, tighter integration of its materiel enterprise to deliver the best possible support within tight budgets and a two-fold business process reinvention.

This reinvention is looking at integrating logistics functions, supply, maintenance, logistics assistance and readiness, with a strong science and technology program focusing on zero-main-tenance weapon systems.

AMCOM is working closely with Redstone Arsenal’s Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center, using a building-block approach to exploit technology and enable transitional capabilities for achieving maintenance-free systems. The two units are developing monitoring and maintenance support technologies to enable optimized designs, enhanced condition-based maintenance and improved maintainability.

Supporting other focus areas in the development of ultra-reliable components, systems and operations means that sustain-ment objectives need to be incorporated into the requirements of the programs within each technical area, as well as sustainment programs that integrate all of its pieces. The goal is high mis-sion reliability and low maintenance burden through reliable usage-based designs, health-based adaptive controls, prognosis-based inspections and maintenance scheduling and intelligent networked sensors. O

For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief Jeff McKaughan at [email protected] or search our online archives for related stories

at www.mlf-kmi.com.


Last May, the U.S. Army commissioned the first U.S. Department of Defense grid-tied microgrid. The project was funded by DoD’s Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP). The Fort Bliss microgrid is designed to advance sev-eral goals: to reduce greenhouse gas emis-sions and energy costs while providing the capability to operate independent of the electric utility grid when the grid has been compromised.

By definition, a microgrid has the ability to provide electricity on its own and without being attached to the grid that powers the rest of civilization. Stand-alone generators have long supplied power requirements for facilities in forward loca-tions. Technology advancements can now network those generators intelligently to maximize efficiency and minimize costs.

DoD has more recently been strategiz-ing about deploying microgrids to fixed bases in the continental United States and

perhaps elsewhere as well. Environmental concerns partially inform this strategy. Other aspects of the interest in microgrids include cost reduction and assuring that the operations of critical facilities are assured in case the grid goes down.

“Deploying microgrids to military bases in the United States allows them to operate without being sus-ceptible to an attack on the grid,” said Bob Dail (Lieu-tenant General, USA, Ret.), chief commercial officer of Supreme Group and a for-mer Army logistician. “In the 21st century, an attack on critical infrastructure is one of the biggest threats we face.”

“Electrical grids are vulnerable to cyber attacks as well as man-made and natural disasters,” said Bill Anderson, director of strat-egy and business develop-ment at Eaton and a former assistant secretary of the Air Force. “In the event of such an attack, power on military bases can go down for more than a few hours or days. This would nega-tively impact the ability of the United States to project power.”

“Microgrids represent an additional step to hard-ening perimeters around critical infrastructure,” said Dail. “The U.S. military has already deployed microgrids at a few key command and

By Peter BuxBaum

mlf corresPoNdeNt

bob Dail

bill Anderson

more eNViroNmeNtally frieNdly aNd efficieNt, microgrids are maKiNg a differeNce.


control nodes, including in the capital region.”

In the case of the Fort Bliss project, Lockheed Martin was selected by ESTCP to demonstrate an intelligent microgrid at a U.S. Army brigade combat team complex. Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract in 2010.

“An intelligent microgrid manages the distribution of electrical power generated by various sources, continuously balanc-ing loads and supplies while ensuring that all elements of the grid perform at peak efficiency, whether they’re connected to a larger grid or operating in an isolated mode,” said Jim Gribschaw, director of energy programs at Lockheed Martin Mis-siles and Fire Control. “The microgrid helps to stabilize power grids, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cut energy costs, as well as enhance energy security of government installations.”

Both deployed and fixed military com-plexes have a growing need to reduce energy consumption and efficiently use available energy sources, Gribschaw noted. “The ESTCP sought to demonstrate a solu-tion that provides greater than 10 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption,” he said.

Smart power distribution systems play a prominent role in the 2011 DoD plan, “Energy for the Warfighter: Operational Energy Strategy,” designed to transform the way fuel is used in theater. Imple-menting that plan through an action memo, the U.S. Central Command stated: “To better manage base camp energy demands, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan has identified requirements that include energy efficient generators, power distribu-tion systems, shelters, and a capability to measure energy usage for more effective energy management. Opportunities exist to improve power generation and electrical distribution systems.”

Anderson believes that implement-ing microgrids powered by local feedstocks working in coordination with the local grid is the best solution to the risk of a long-term grid outage resulting from man-made attacks or natural disasters. “The microgrid would operate parallel to the primary grid when it is healthy and disconnected as an autonomous islands when required,” he said.

Eaton has already demonstrated that smart microgrid technology can reduce energy consumption at forward operating bases. “Demonstration projects beginning in 2007 showed fuel savings of 25 to 30 percent,” said Jim Dankowski, a national

business development man-ager at Eaton. “That means taking that amount out of supply lines and putting fewer troops at risk.”

With regard to fixed bases, commanders want to know that their mission-critical activities have the ability to remain up and running during prolonged outages. “The idea devel-oped that microgrids should

provide a source of continuous power to the base and not just backup power. This can offset the costs of obtaining power for the grid and allows the power to be avail-able continuously in disconnected mode in the event the grid goes down,” Dankowski explained.

The question then becomes how to finance these kinds of infrastructure investments on a widespread basis. “If you are bringing private industry into the picture, there has to be a profit motive,” noted Dail.

Because of the expense involved and the limited discretionary budget dollars

available to DoD, it would be unlikely for the government to be able to finance these kinds of investments, whatever their mer-its. “These systems are very expensive, and the federal government doesn’t have the money for new projects,” said Anderson. “Paying $50 million for one of these sys-tems is not in the cards right now.”

The solution, according to Anderson, is to structure deals in such a way as to attract private financing for the projects. “The microgrid project would have to gen-erate sufficient cash flow,” he said. “That way we would not be asking the govern-ment for money but would be providing a project that is privately financed. When the grid goes down, the private source is already there and wired into critical assets to make power available at all times.”

Eaton has been asked to demonstrate this type of scheme for the U.S. military and is currently scouting locations. “We are working right now with bases and communities where the revenue structure would seem to work,” said Anderson.

In fact, community involvement would be key to acceptance of such a project. “In many cases, many people who work on the base live in the nearby community,” said Dankowski. “An agreement would have to be structured so that the base alone doesn’t get power from the microgrid in the event of an emergency, but that important com-munity assets, such as a gas station, a

In addition to power generation, the secret to an efficient system is smart distribution and management. [Photo courtesy of DoD]

jim Gribschaw


grocery store and a pharmacy, are also connected to the microgrid.”

“Through proper incentives it is pos-sible to meet government requirements with a private-public partnership,” said Dail, who is the former director of Defense Logistics Agency and deputy commander of the U.S. Transportation Command. “In that way, it is possible to achieve a public purpose by means of private investment.”

Dail believes such a plan can work to protect key government infrastructures both in and out of DoD. “It is critical to be able to sus-tain operations in the event of an interdiction,” he said. “This type of arrangement could also prove valuable in overseas bases such as in Bagram, Afghanistan, and Incirlik, Turkey.”

Dail estimates that perhaps half a dozen key logistics nodes might also be worthy of being served by a microgrid. “I don’t see logistics units on microgrids,” he said, “but I do see logistics information network as suited for microgrids. USTRANSCOM and DLA servers support those organizations as well as the services’ materiel commands. The collection and storage of data on those systems are key to operations.”

The most important technology ele-ments that would make the Eaton scheme work are intelligent components that work to balance power coming off the grid and the microgrid. “You have to be able to balance the power so you can bring it on cleanly,” said Dankowki. “The second piece is how to manage power on the system to direct it to where it needs to be. That is what we were trying to accomplish with three DoD demonstration projects. We are not the only ones doing this, but we strongly feel that we are past the demon-stration phase and that we can move to full commercialization.”

The Fort Bliss microgrid consists of onsite backup generation, a 120-kilowatt solar array, a 300-kilowatt energy storage system, utility grid interconnection and Lockheed Martin’s Intelligent Microgrid Control System. “The energy storage sys-tem is especially critical in maintaining a reliable stream of energy in islanded con-figurations [when the microgrid is operat-ing independently] while also providing economic benefits when grid-tied,” said

Gribschaw. “The system also stores energy to respond to high periods of energy demand and to produce reliable power.”

The same kind of idea has been imple-mented by other companies, in particular in service of forward bases. The DRASH Intelligent Power Technology (IPT), a digi-tal power management system, has been tested by several branches of the U.S. military. “IPT permits operators to create

networked microgrids in the field,” said Ron Houle, vice president for government relations at DHS. “Testing has shown its ability to sig-nificantly reduce current military fuel consumption over current technologies in the field, but also reduce maintenance and provide users with greater flexibility as well.”

Army studies have shown that IPT can reduce fuel consumption by as much as 60 percent, and the system has been recommended for full fielding. The system can be found supporting pro-grams such as Terminal High Altitude Air Defense, and Harbormaster Command and Control Center.

“As near as I know, we are the only ones who have been able to bring analog generators into a dig-ital grid,” said Houle. “We have developed a controller that allows our grid to sync with analog generator sets.”

HDT Expeditionary Sys-tems Inc. has developed a microgrid with an eye toward maximizing effi-ciency. “The HDT microgrid is single-phase, like 120 VAC house power,” said Chris Colelli, an HDT business manager. “Almost all environmental con-trol units are three-phase, and they are the largest single energy user in a forward operating base because they are attached to large generators that are dedicated to the units and run constantly.”

The HDT single-phase microgrid works with the company’s new single-phase 1.5-ton environmental control units (ECU). “Our microgrid is a hybrid of gen-erators, solar panels and lithium batteries, which means the ECU is operating on hybrid energy,” said Colelli. “The ECU can run even when the generator isn’t on.

Logistically, that enables users to use smaller generators, smaller ECUs and smaller microgrid components. Fuel sav-ings go way up and the logistical burden goes way down. The system becomes right sized for its application.” HDT’s two big-gest customers are the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps.

The HDT microgrid’s solar panels catch solar energy and charge the microgrid’s batteries as the sun comes up. As the load on the microgrid increases, the control unit may provide power from a combina-tion of batteries and the solar unit. If the batteries are depleted, one or more genera-tors kick on to provide power and replenish the batteries. When the batteries are full, the generators turn off and the microgrid returns to full battery support.

HDT’s microgrid allocates power across the system via a proprietary algorithm that operates what the company calls a buy-and-sell scheme. Units that need more power can buy it from elsewhere in a 12-shelter system. “The system knows if the batteries are full or low,” said Colelli, “so individual units can talk to each other to determine who has power, who doesn’t, and who needs it. The metric we go for is to keep the generator on 30 percent of the time. Depending on the load and level of

solar energy being captured, they might not have to be turned on at all during a given cycle.”

According to Gribschaw, the Fort Bliss project is dem-onstrating the microgrid’s ability to provide power when utility power isn’t avail-able, while also providing economic benefits. “Upon successful completion, Lock-heed Martin’s Intelligent Microgrid demonstration

will help pave the way to the implementa-tion of this technology to a wider range of Department of Defense facilities,” he said. “The Fort Bliss microgrid demonstrates the value microgrids provide in the evolving energy dynamics and ensure our custom-ers can power their most critical operations through any challenge.” O



at www.mlf-kmi.com.

chris colelli

ron houle


Compiled by Kmi media Group staffSUPPLY CHAIN

DLA Foundation Announces Scholarship ProgramThe Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)

Foundation has announced that it plans to issue its first scholarship awards in 2014, a full year ahead of the originally planned date.

Formed in late 2012, the foundation is a non-profit philanthropic organization whose members include employees and retirees who have served with DLA. Board members and friends of the foundation have held various activities in 2013—including a charity golf tournament and a wine-tasting event at a Washington area restaurant—that will fund the scholarships. Such funds are intended to help defray the cost of post-high-school education for qualified applicants. The board intends to award a half-dozen or more schol-arships of $1,000 per awardee in the initial year.

To be considered a candidate for a DLA Foundation scholarship, a candidate must be a high school graduate, a high school senior who will graduate upon completion of his or her senior year or a college student who has completed at least a semester of undergraduate school. All candidates must be able to provide proof of their acceptance into an accredited college as a full-time student. A candidate will be recognized as full time if he or she is enrolled in 12 semester credit hours or equivalent quarter hours. The candidate must be a close family member—defined as a child, step-child, grandchild, niece or nephew—of a current or former DLA employee, whether civilian or military.

To rank among the most highly competi-tive in the selection process, high school graduates applying for college or university

for the first time should have a minimum 3.0 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale. Those candidates already attending a college or university should currently maintain a minimum 3.0 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale to be optimally competitive for the one-year scholarships. Scholarships will be awarded based upon a cumulative evalu-ation of candidates’ academic and extracur-ricular achievements and personally written essays. Scholarships will be awarded for undergraduate degree programs only.

The DLA Foundation will publish the application deadline and the schedule for evaluations and award announcements at www.dlafoundation.org in early 2014. Applicants will also find application forms and pertinent information about the selection process on the website.

Joint High Speed Vessel Joins 6th Fleet

The Navy’s first joint high-speed vessel recently departed Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story on its maiden deployment to the U.S. 6th Fleet area of respon-sibility.

USNS Spearhead ( JHSV 1) is expected to remain in U.S. 6th Fleet until May 2014 and sail to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of responsibility through the end of fiscal year 2014. While deployed, the ship will undergo planned experimentation and testing to deter-mine the ship’s capabilities.

“The JHSV ship class will play an important part in the future of our joint forces in terms of affordability, flexibility, speed and agility,” said Rear Admiral T.K. Shannon, commander, Military Sealift Command. “Its performance to-date is solid and I think its first deployment will offer us a great opportunity to further demonstrate the important capabilities this new class brings to our fleet.”

PBL Award for USMC’s COC Program

General Dynamics Information Technology, a busi-ness unit of General Dynamics, has received the 2013 Secretary of Defense Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) Award for its work on the U.S. Marine Corps’ Combat Operations Center (COC) program.

General Dynamics, along with the Marine Corps Systems Command and Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic, was recognized for delivering demon-strated comprehensive logistical planning and execu-tion skills on the COC program. This government and industry team successfully developed and implemented tailored PBL strategies to sustain a total of 260 COC systems in the continental U.S., outside the continental U.S. and deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom. By employing an innovative PBL approach, the team enhanced the effectiveness of the sustainment strategy, resulting in dramatic cost reductions while maintaining exceptional availability including: a 21 percent opera-tions and sustainment cost reduction, resulting in a $7.1 million savings per year; a 39 percent reduction in forward-deployed support personnel; and system avail-ability of over 90 percent.

“We congratulate the Marine Corps Systems Command and Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic on receiving this prestigious award,” said Bernie Guerry, senior vice president for General Dynamics Information Technology’s Intelligence Solutions division.


U.S. Army militAry SUrfAce Deployment AnD DiStribUtion commAnD

2014

materiel mover

maj. Gen. thomas J. richardson

commanding GeneralU.S. Army military Surface Deployment and Distribution command

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Major General Thomas J. Richardson assumed command of the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., on March 27, 2012.

Richardson was born in Saint Louis, Mo. He entered the U.S. Army upon graduation from Stephen F. Austin University in 1980, and was commissioned in the Quartermaster Corps.

He has held a wide variety of command and staff positions during his 31-year career. The general recently returned from Iraq where he was the J4 for U.S. Forces – Iraq. Other key assignments include: commander, Land & Maritime DLA; U.S. Pacific Command J4; executive officer to the deputy commander, Army Materiel Com-mand; commander, 64th Corps Support Group; Deputy J4, U.S. European Command; and commander, 296th Forward Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.

His military education includes the Quartermaster Basic and Advance Courses, Combined Arms Staff School, Army Command and General Staff College, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He holds a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from Stephen F. Austin State University; a Master of Military Arts and Science from U.S. Army Command and General Staff College; and a Master of Science in Strategic Resource Management from National Defense University.

His joint assignments include: commander, Defense Supply Center Columbus, Defense Logistics Agency, Columbus, Ohio, from August 2009 to September 2010; director for Logistics, Engineering and Security Assistance, J-4, U.S. Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, from June 2007 to August 2009; and, joint logistics staff officer, and later, chief, Logistics Operations Division, and later deputy director, Logistics and Security Assistance Directorate, J-4, U.S. European Command, Germany, from June 1999 to July 2002.

Richardson’s operations assignments include: director, J-4, U.S. Forces-Iraq, Operation New Dawn, Iraq, from October 2010 to December 2011; commander, 64th Corps Support Group, Fort Hood, Texas, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq, from June 2003 to June 2005; and, Task Force S-4 observer/controller, Operations Group, Combat Maneuver Training Command, Seventh Training Center, U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army, Germany, and support

operations officer, Seventh Army Training Command Mobile Train-ing Team and Operation Desert Storm, Saudi Arabia, from August 1989 to June 1992.

His decorations and badges include the Defense Superior Service Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters); Legion of Merit (with Oak Leaf Cluster); Bronze Star Medal; Meritorious Service Medal (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters); Army Commendation Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clus-ters); Army Achievement Medal; and Parachutist Badge.

Q: Describe SDDC’s role in the Afghanistan retrograde.

A: As the Army service component command to U.S. Transporta-tion Command, we touch almost 90 percent of all cargo along the USTRANSCOM transportation pipeline through various modes of transportation, including trucks, rail, planes and ships. According to 2013 Defense Department estimates, more than 700,000 pieces will need to be moved out before the president’s 2014 deadline. That includes everything from mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles and HMMWVs to unit equipment, and more.

That said, a vast majority of equipment will be moved out of Afghanistan, and no matter what you call it—retrograde, reset, redis-tribution, redeployment or resupply—and no matter what service

Major General Thomas J. RichardsonCommanding General

U.S. Army Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command

Materiel MoverManaging Cargo Movements Efficiently and Seamlessly

Q&AQ&A

www.MLF-kmi.com U.S. Army Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command | MLF 8.1 | 1

U.S. ArMy MILITAry SUrFACE DEPLOyMENT AND DISTrIBUTION COMMAND

2014

Maj. Gen. Thomas RichardsonCommanding General

Virginia KingDirector, Personnel

& Logistics

Col. James RupkalvisCommander

Col. David BanianCommander

Command Sgt. Maj. Cedric Thomas

Command Sergeant Major

Stacy ParrishDirector, Intelligence

Command Sgt. Maj. Scott Reed


Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin McKeller


William BuddenDeputy to the Commander

Col. Glenn BacaDirector, Operations

SDDC HEADQUARTERS

BRigADES

DiRECTORATES

596TH TRAnSpORTATiOn BRigADE595TH TRAnSpORTATiOn BRigADE

Col. Matthew ReddingCommander

Command Sgt. Maj. Cynthia Howard


598TH TRAnSpORTATiOn BRigADE


Bruce BuslerDirector

Brig. Gen. Garrett YeeDeputy Commanding General

for Mobilization

Debbie Harvey-DavisDirector, Strategy & Analysis

Curt ZarganDeputy Director

Col. David GaffneyDeputy Commander

Capt. Darrell MathisDirector, Information

Technologies

Melvin HollandDirector,

Strategic Business

Col. Ines WhiteChief of Staff

Linda WilsonDirector,

Resource Management

Capt. Aaron StanleyDirector,

Personal Property

Brig. Gen. Michael MannCommanding General

Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph Brown


DEplOymEnT SUppORT COmmAnD (U.S. ARmy RESERvE)

TRAnSpORTATiOn EnginEERing AgEnCy

Col. Jason VickCommander

Command Sgt. Maj. Alveno Hodge



Col. Shannon Cox Commander

Command Sgt. Maj. Claudia Shakespeare



owns it, USTRANSCOM and its service component commands are responsible for moving the cargo.

To handle this monumental task, SDDC in 2012 unveiled a new approach to logistics called velocity volume distribution retrograde [V2DR]. V2DR is designed to balance the volume of cargo with the velocity in which the cargo needs to travel. It does this by identifying early what cargo is being shipped and which routes and modes of transportation will be used to expedite the movement of cargo out of Afghanistan.

V2DR focuses on getting equipment out of Afghanistan faster, best value contracting and aggregation of cargo at key sites to reduce movement cost.

Q: What does your forward deployment footprint look like in Afghanistan now?

A: To handle the numerous issues involved with transporting hun-dreds of thousands of pieces of equipment, traversing dozens of countries and multiple modes of transportation, personnel assigned to our 595th and 598th Transportation Brigades are located through-out EUCOM and CENTCOM areas of responsibility to closely manage cargo operations on the Northern Distribution Network, Pakistan ground lines of communication and multimodal sites. Personnel assigned to the 595th provide face-to-face transportation expertise at major forward operating bases, redistribution property account-ability team yards, and several U.S. embassies and multimodal sites within that theater of operations. It’s important to note that we could not do our mission in Afghanistan without the support of hundreds of reserve soldiers who routinely deploy to those AORs in support of our mission.

Q: What are the biggest challenges facing SDDC as the tempo increases? Were these challenges anticipated and planned for? Have there been any unexpected issues, and how have you responded?

A: To ensure the success of our forces exiting Afghanistan, U.S. forces must overcome significant obstacles. Aside from the mountainous terrain, undeveloped road networks and enemy attacks, we must deal with a variety of other political, environmental and operational constraints.

Moving cargo out of Afghanistan is extremely complex, especially considering the number and types of supply routes, or what we call ground lines of communication, or GLOCs. A majority of the cargo travels out of Afghanistan through Pakistan. However, we also know, based on recent history, that we can lose that option. Within the past couple of years, the PAKGLOC was closed for more than a year, and more recent protests along that border have slowed or halted cargo movements.

That said, we have other options. That’s where the Northern Distribution Network comes into play. This northern route stretches from the Baltic ports in the northern part of Eastern Europe to Afghanistan, traversing through Russia and more than a dozen other countries.

SDDC also uses a multimodal approach. We have contracts that allow us to move cargo by air to one of our multimodal ports, where the cargo is transferred to an ocean vessel for the final leg of its jour-ney to the United States. Multimodal is significant because it gives us flexibility. If we can’t move it out by land, we can fly it out.

Every day brings new challenges. However, despite these obsta-cles, our transportation experts at SDDC are prepared to meet the president’s December 31, 2014, withdrawal deadline—not surprising when you consider this command has been responsible for moving a vast majority of military cargo into and out of Afghanistan since operations there began more than a decade ago.

Q: Even though deeply involved in retrograde activities, what are your other global initiatives?

A: Although our primary focus has always been on the warfighter, we are also planning for the future—ensuring we are properly structured, relevant, cost effective and positioned to sustain the warfighter of tomorrow.

In October, SDDC realized Phase 1 of a new business transforma-tion initiative that we call POST-PB, a course of action that describes the command’s effort to integrate the processes and systems involved with planning, ordering, shipping, tracking, paying and billing of international, domestic and personal property transportation. The ability to perform life cycle management of every shipment, to include independent government cost estimates, was a key com-ponent that drove the need for POST-PB transformation. Given the dynamic nature of global distribution and deployment, and our role in managing the Transportation Working Capital Fund and safe-guarding taxpayer dollars, we recognized the need to do business better.

Looking toward the future, we are working on a variety of sig-nificant POST-PB supporting tasks, including brigade and battalion restructuring; standardized and normalized business processes; improved contract supervision and acquisition; headquarters func-tional realignments; strategic business plan development; a new active/reserve component integration strategy; and more.

As part of the first phase of the POST-PB process, in October we stood up the centralized booking office at our headquarters. Central-izing booking is the first step in aligning our business processes to our 2015 goals. This gives us enterprise visibility and allows our brigades to work directly with customers on requirements. It also allows them to best use their resources to ensure quality assurance of the contracts in their areas of operation.

Transportation is one of the largest variable costs for any DoD organization. Whether it’s a program manager shipping parts, a depot moving equipment and parts in and out, or the Defense Com-missary Agency moving commissary goods across the globe, trans-portation costs are substantial. That said, if we can make significant reductions in overall transportation costs, we can affect the budgets of all our armed services. However, to reach those savings, efficiency needs to be part of every SDDC employee’s mindset. Maybe we only see a 5 percent savings in one area, but 5 percent of a large number is another large number.

As an example, by aggregating more cargo at CONUS ports we are realizing an average of $930,000 a month in cost avoidance by using rail versus truck.

Q: What processes and tools do you use to ensure asset visibility with a worldwide supply chain?

A: This is one of those areas where leveraging today’s technology, in this case cargo tracking, not only increases our mission effectiveness,

www.MLF-kmi.com4 | MLF 8.1 | U.S. Army Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command


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but relieves us of time-consuming manual processes due to its automation capabilities.

We’ve been using radio frequency identification devices on most everything we ship for about a decade now. Our commercial carriers provide automatic status updates to our business systems, which basically reports where our cargo is. We’re also tracking the location of commercial vessels with DoD cargo on board. And our soldiers and civilians on the ground and at strategic seaports are also updating the systems using handheld devices and laptops. This is beneficial not only to us knowing where our “stuff” is, but also to commanders in the field so they can make critical decisions based on knowing where their equipment is and when they’ll receive it without second guessing themselves or putting themselves further in harm’s way.

That’s a big part of our “Delivering Trust.”We’ve also spent a good deal of time improving our software

designed to track cargo. This ensures we, and everyone in the Defense Transportation System, receive real-time cargo status updates, while managing the supply chain at a macro level.

Integrated mission support for Surface Deployment and Dis-tribution Command, better known to logisticians as ISDDC, is another program we use to track government cargo. ISDDC pro-vides detailed operational awareness for surface cargo moving along commercial and military lines of communication. This system is key to the management of our routes into and out of Afghanistan. Logisticians and supply folks around the world depend on ISDDC’s responsiveness and accuracy.

Additionally, ISDDC is linked to another program we developed called IRRIS, or the Intelligent Road/Rail Information Server, which is more of a mapping capability. It’s kind of like a Google Earth for transporters, giving us, and our commercial trucking carriers, details of U.S. road and terrain activities related to our logistics mission.

Q: On a daily basis, how does SDDC coordinate and plan with USTRANSCOM and the other service components to ensure the smooth movement of supplies across the different services, com-mands and modes of transport?

A: Interestingly enough, this is the very reason we relocated from Virginia and consolidated with USTRANSCOM at Scott Air Force Base during the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act [BRAC] movements.

The 2005 BRAC presented a win-win opportunity to bring us from three locations in Virginia to Scott Air Force Base and col-locate SDDC with USTRANSCOM and our sister component com-mand, Air Mobility Command. The move created a one-stop center with personnel from these organizations working side by side and can simply turn to each other to coordinate transportation require-ments versus long distance communication.

Q: In the past SDDC held an annual training symposium that brought the command together in concert with its industry part-ners. What are you doing to fill the space?

A: In prior years, we hosted an annual training symposium in which we included workshops as a foundation for exchanging ideas, and to educate and train transportation experts from the military to the commercial transportation industry.

Now we use industry working groups, telecoms and other meetings to do the same interface and coordination that we did at the symposium, with a lot less cost.

Q: Any closing thoughts?

A: It’s no small task to try and capture the global impact of SDDC on our armed forces and our nation. In addition to deploying and sustaining the warfighter, we move the household goods and vehicles of DoD servicemembers and civilians; we manage the military’s substantial container inventory; and our Transportation Engineering Agency provides expertise across DoD.

As much as this command has accomplished, we know the sun never sets on SDDC; there is still more to be done. As we reach the backend of operations in Afghanistan, rest assured this command will be fully engaged in the huge withdrawal of equipment from that area of operations. And as natural disasters strike around the world—much like the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010—we will be called upon to offer assistance to those in need. And as hundreds of thousands of military families move each year, we will continue to ensure the safe, secure delivery of their household goods and privately-owned vehicles.

Our soldiers and their families deserve no less than our best effort. I’m confident we will continue to amaze, just as I’m confi-dent we will continue “Delivering Trust” ... trust with commercial industry, trust with our war fighting customers, trust with our servicemembers and their families, and trust with the American public. O

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Richardson (right) commanding general, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, hands the unit colors to Col. Matthew D. Redding during the change of command ceremony for the 598th Transportation Brigade at Sembach Kaserne, Germany, Aug. 23, 2012. Redding relieved Stephen L. Marshall of his post. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Army/by Elisabeth Paque]

www.MLF-kmi.com4 | MLF 8.1 | U.S. Army Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command


Compiled by Kmi media Group staffSUPPLY CHAIN

USNS John GlennThe USNS John Glenn (MLP 2) successfully completed builder’s sea trials in mid-

January.During the week of sea trials the shipbuilder, General Dynamics National Steel

and Shipbuilding Co. (NASSCO), conducted comprehensive tests to demonstrate the performance of all of the ship’s major systems.

“John Glenn performed extremely well, a testament to the thorough prepara-tion by NASSCO, the Navy MLP program office, and our supervisors of shipbuilding,” said Captain Henry Stevens, strategic and theater sealift program manager, Program Executive Office, Ships. “This ship is well on its way to acceptance trials and delivery later this year.”

USNS John Glenn is the second ship of the Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) class. Using the commercially designed Alaska-class crude oil carrier as its base, the Navy’s Strategic and Theater Sealift Program Office (PMS 385) worked in conjunction with NASSCO to develop a design that supports the Navy’s core capabilities while main-taining low costs.

MLP has a maximum speed of 15 knots and range of 9,500 nautical miles. The ship has tankage for 100,000 gallons of potable water and can hold 380,000 gallons of JP-5 jet fuel. Acting as a mobile seabase, MLP will be part of the critical access infra-structure that supports the deployment of forces and supplies to provide prepositioned equipment and supplies with flexible distribution in support of a variety of missions including humanitarian support and sustainment of traditional military missions.

Following builder’s trials, the ship will be inspected by the Navy Board of Inspection and Survey during a series of acceptance trials. Delivery of the ship to the Navy is expected in March 2014.

Sherpas into the Sunset

The sounds of the C-23 Sherpa are now a thing of the past as the Army National Guard bids farewell to the venerable aircraft after two decades of service.

The box-shaped aircraft described by many as a workhorse is now heading into retirement.

Throughout its operations in the Army Guard, the Sherpa has been used in response to natural disasters and war missions, said Army Major Matthew Moore, chief of future operations with the Operational Support Airlift Agency, or OSAA, adding that it was also a widely used aircraft to support parachute-drop training missions for all components of the Army and special operations organizations.

The Sherpa, a fixed wing aircraft, was introduced to the Army Guard in the early 1990s and has been flown in countless missions in both stateside and overseas operations, including the 1991 Gulf War and more recently during operations in Iraq.

“The C-23 provided limited rear support during the Persian Gulf War,” said Moore. “However, it saw continued action from 2003 through 2011 in Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn, often moving half-a-million pounds of cargo a month.”

The aircraft has seen continued use in other missions as well, including in Egypt as part of the Multi-national Force and Observers, or MFO, peacekeeping mission.

“It was a privilege to have had the opportunity to fly the last Sherpa into retirement and the greater privilege was to have served as a crewmember with those hard-working quiet profes-sionals,” said Shockley.

309th Aerospace Maintenance and

Regeneration Group Industry Day

The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (309 AMARG) located at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., is plan-ning an industry day in mid-February.

The purpose is to obtain industry inputs on alternative engi-neering methods and materials for constructing aircraft moduling units. These aircraft moduling units must be designed to support either a complete aircraft or major components of aerospace vehi-cles above ground in long term storage, while subjected to climatic environmental conditions.

The mission of the 309 AMARG is the U.S. Air Force Technical Repair Center for reclamation, regeneration, storage and disposal of aerospace assets. The group is also the Department of Defense’s designated site for storage and reclamation of aerospace assets for all of America’s armed forces as well as the U.S Coast Guard, federal government aviation branches, and the U.S.’s foreign allies.

Skid Loader and Backhoe Trailer

The Product Director, Light Tactical Vehicles (PD LTV) is conducting a market survey to determine the level of interest among qualified contractors in providing a light engineer utility trailer (LEUT) Type II system for the U.S. Army. The LEUT Type II will transport the armored and unarmored skid steer loader Type II, and the armored or unarmored backhoe loader (BHL) already in the Army’s inventory.

The prime movers shall include 5-ton cargo, Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck Cargo, Medium Mine Protected Vehicle, 5, 10, and 20-ton dump trucks. The trailer is considered a tactical rear area support vehicle due to its mission profile, including some off road travel and extreme climatic conditions.


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Lieutenant General Raymond V. Mason assumed duties as the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4 on November 3, 2011. He oversees the poli-cies and procedures used by a quarter million U.S. Army logisticians throughout the world. He served as the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4 (Operations) from July-November 2011.

Before joining the Army staff, Mason served as the G-4, United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) from August 2009–June 2011. He directed logistics support to the Army’s largest command and was responsible for the readiness of more than eighty percent of the Army’s operational forces. He oversaw the sustainment, equip-ping, training, mobilizing, and deployment of forces to the COCOMs and worldwide contingencies.

Mason’s other key command and staff assignments include: com-manding general, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, Fort Shafter, Hawaii; commanding general, 19th Support Command (Expedition-ary), Daegu, Republic of Korea; commanding general, Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Defense Logistics Agency; commanding general, Army Materiel Command (Theater) Southwest Asia, and C-4, Opera-tional Sustainment, Coalition Forces Land Component Command, Central Command, providing logistics support to U.S. forces operating in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Djibouti, and across the ARCENT area of responsibility.

Mason served as the commander, 25th Infantry Division Division Support Command; commander, 407th Forward Support Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division; commander, E Co (Rigger), 407th Service and Support Battalion, 82d Airborne Division; and commander, Services Company, 21 Supply Battalion (Australian Army Exchange), Sydney, Australia.

Mason completed his undergraduate studies at James Madison University as a Distinguished Military Graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business marketing and management and was com-missioned a second lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps in December 1978. He is a graduate of the Quartermaster Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, the Command and General Staff College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He received a Master of Science degree in procurement/contract management from Florida Institute of Technology and a Master of Science degree in national resource strategy from the National Defense University.

Mason’s awards and decorations include the Army Distinguished Service Medal (1 Oak Leaf Cluster), Defense Superior Service Medal (1 Oak Leaf Cluster), Legion of Merit (2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (5 Oak Leaf Clusters), Army Com-mendation Medal (3 Oak Leaf Clusters), Army Achievement Medal (1 Oak Leaf Cluster), Master Parachutist Badge, Parachutist Rigger Badge, Australian Jump Wings, Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge and the Army Staff Identification Badge.

Q: Did the passing of the budget deal in late December and then the signing of it have an immediate effect on defense spending as it affects the logistics community and the Army? Was there work that was pushed because of the sequestration and the budgets back then that you’re now being able to release?

A: Yes, there was an effect, and let me provide a specific example. In the Army G-4 one of our key missions is to develop policy and the funding requirements, in coordination with our superb partners at AMC and ASAALT, for the Army’s organic depots, arsenals and ammo plants. In fact, the depot budget is the largest portion of the programming the G-4 is responsible for; it’s really our flagship program. One of the most important things with developing and executing an organic depot maintenance budget is predictability. Just as in the commercial world, for example at Ford Motor Com-pany or some other large industrial production operation, you need a predictable forecast of requirements and resources … you need to bring raw material in one end, have the labor there at the right time, all the repair parts there, and produce a product out the back end—you have to have a long-term view of your investment in all those sources. Predictability allows you to plan and execute these functions in the most efficient and effective manner.

However, over the past several years, we’ve not had much predictability—we’ve had continuing resolutions, sequestration, a

Lieutenant General Raymond V. MasonU.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4

Predictability ProviderProviding the Plans and Processes to Allow Diligent Execution of Logistics Ops

Q&AQ&A


government shutdown, and unfortunately even an employee fur-lough, all of which created uncertainty and inefficiencies, as well as causing incredible stress on our magnificent civilian teammates. This fiscal year (FY14) we’re seeing some predictability, especially with the NDAA being passed. That gives us increased confidence and the ability to plan resource application better; not only from a cash flow perspective, but more importantly in my mind, this improved level of predictability provides our workforce with some confidence in their employment future and re-affirms what hugely valued members of the Army team they each are!

Q: A few months ago, I saw some numbers that said there’s $24 billion in materiel sitting in Afghanistan, with a need to bring back about $17 billion of that. As far as the retrograde, are there any characterizations of the state of the drawdown?

A: Let me begin by painting a broad picture of this critically impor-tant mission. The drawdown and retrograde from Afghanistan has some similar characteristics to Iraq, but many are dissimilar, and in many ways the retro from Afghanistan is orders of magnitude more challenging. We took lessons learned from Iraq, the basic principles, a number of the capabilities and C2 processes, some of the SOPs we learned coming out of Iraq and, where appropriate, we’ve applied those to the Afghanistan drawdown/retrograde.

The most dramatic difference is that there’s no ‘catcher’s mitt’ like there was in Iraq—as we closed out OIF we could drive equip-ment directly into Kuwait and process, clean and ship everything from that adjacent ‘sanctuary.’ Afghanistan is a landlocked country, and has significant geopolitical factors that impact it every day—the Pakistan ground line of communication (PAKGLOC) is one of the most challenging routes in terms of constant opening and closing. Because of the unpredictability of the PAKGLOC, we have had to fly a large percentage of retrograde equipment out the country, which is dramatically more expensive.

One of the most significant decisions ARCENT made in Afghani-stan was to put in an organization, a synchronization/command-and-control capability, called the CENTCOM Materiel Retrograde Element (CMRE), that is built around an Army sustainment brigade (currently the 82d SBDE), which is linked to the 1st Theater Sustainment Com-mand. It helps the combat formations sort through the thousands of vehicles and containers, organize it, clean it, prepare it for shipment and book it for transportation back to home station or to a depot for reset.

The CMRE is truly an incredible part of the retro solution set in Afghanistan; and frankly, retrograde is going pretty well from a macro perspective, which is a testament to the commanders and the entire Log Nation, and especially our national partners at TRANSCOM and DLA. The joint team is performing magnificently, just as they did in Iraq.

Currently the Army has about $15 billion worth of equipment on the ground in OEF—more counting what the Marines and Air Force still have there. Of that $15 billion, we’re going to bring out/retro about $10 billion. About a year ago, that number was about $28 billion, so you can see the joint and service teams are making great progress

We also plan to divest equipment that is either battle damaged, beyond economically repairable, obsolete or no longer required by our Army, based on the National Military Strategy. Of the $15 billion, we’re going to divest about $5 billion. Some of that are supplies that

we will consume and draw down while in Afghanistan—repair parts, ammunition and so on.

We’ve gone through a very deliberate process to review the equipment that we need to bring home and what we will divest. For example, there’s a certain number of MRAPs that we’re going to divest; these are the oldest MRAPs where the technology no longer meets the force protection requirements of an increasingly lethal battlefield.

The execution of divesture has several components to it. We can sell it to either the Afghans or other countries as appropriate through foreign military sales, or we designate equipment as excess defense articles and then donate to allies or other partners; there are very detailed OSD and congressional policies/law that formalize this pro-cess.

Finally, if DoD does not have a need, there are no foreign mili-tary sales or other claimants, the equipment is beyond economically repairable, or if it’s just too expensive to ship out (from a cost-benefit perspective), we will demilitarize it and scrap it in place. That scrap is then sold to local Afghanistan companies, which does contribute to the local economy.

Based on assumptions, about what kind of a bi-lateral security agreement there will be and if and what size force will exist after December 2014, we’re making plans on what equipment will remain in Afghanistan, and what additional items might need to come out. Most importantly, the leaders in theater and the staffs back in the Pen-tagon are building flexibility into the drawdown/retro plans to match whatever political decisions are made.

During the past month, TRANSCOM, based on the request of ISAF and USAFOR-A, executed a surge of equipment shipments out of Afghanistan by air. The main reason we are so focused on getting this equipment out of OEF is because it is our latest, most modern, up-armored equipment. It’s the modernized weapons systems we need for whatever the nation asks of the military next; the command and control systems, radios, night vision capabilities, biometrics, MRAPs and other vehicles, it’s all those systems that the taxpayers of the United States paid for and provided to our soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen. So we want to get that back, reset it at our depots, and be pre-pared for whatever mission the U.S. military is asked to execute next.

Q: And the cost estimates?

A: The cost to move the remainder of the equipment out of Afghani-stan is between $1 and $3 billion. The reason for that rather large range is based on the unpredictability of the PAKGLOC and how much we can send by ground versus air—as well as other factors such as increased enemy activity, weather impacts, the worldwide price of fuel and other geo-political variables.

Our strategic goal is to get about 60 percent of retro equipment on the PAKGLOC—right now we’re less than that. The balance has to be flown out, which is much more expensive. We also have the option of using the Northern Distribution Network, up through northern Afghanistan, across the ’Stans and into Europe, but that’s a very long route, and also more expensive than the PAKGLOC.

The current cost for depot and field reset of all the remaining equipment from OIF and OEF is about $9.5 billion.

However, due to sequestration, we were forced to move/defer nearly $1 billion in reset and related activities from FY13 into FY14 (and we are not sure we will get that full funding in FY14 either). I would say though that Congress and the American people have been incredibly supportive through OCO funding for reset, to ensure our


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Army recovers from the punishing effects of terrain, weather and combat operations of Iraq and Afghanistan on our equipment.

To summarize, we need between $1 and $3 billion for retro transportation and about $9.5 billion to reset our equipment, using both organic and commercial depots. We will need those reset dollars through three years after the last piece of equipment arrives at our depots; the three year window of funding is required because of the large amount of equipment that needs resetting (both from Iraq and Afghanistan) and the time it takes for the literally thousands of sys-tems to move through the field and maintenance depot process (for example, helicopters take well over a year to reset).

Q: Talk a little more about the flexibility in the drawdown plans based on likely scenarios as to the speed, intensity and timing of the withdrawal.

A: The U.S. military is always working on contingency plans, and the Afghanistan drawdown and retrograde is another great example of the military’s planning strength. The people really doing the detailed planning and analysis are the leaders in theater—and we at DA are here to support them.

One of our key tasks in DAG-4 is to provide theater with sound, executable and flexible equipment disposition instructions; give them the right policies and the processes, and let them aggressively execute. So I’m always asking our theater teammates what else can we provide in terms of authorities in order to make their job easier, give them flexibility and decision space; we don’t want to use the ‘10K mile screwdriver’ ... in fact most decisions should not/don’t have to come all the way back to the Pentagon. The leaders on the ground have the situational awareness to make the right call for our Army; we just need to provide the framework from the DA.

The leadership at OSD, specifically Mr. [Alan] Estevez [Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics] and Paul Peters [Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Materiel Readiness], and Lieutenant General Bob Ruark [JCS J4], are incredibly helpful partners. They have given the services sound guidance and the commanders on the ground the right level of flexibility to make decisions about what can be donated, what can be sold, what can be divested, and what needs to be retrograded immediately.

I mentioned earlier that the team is conducting a proof of ret-rograde principle this month (February). TRANSCOM is surging a significant amount of aircraft—C-130s and C-17s—to get a large quantity of equipment out of Afghanistan over the next month. Based on this, we will develop best practices in terms of our ability to surge when needed. General Fraser and his awesome team at TRANSCOM are fully focused on this. By the end of February, we should have a good idea of our options and capacities, and be in a position to execute the drawdown at whatever pace is required based on geo-political dynamics.

Q: You talk about the drawdown as a joint effort with USTRANS-COM and the service components. In what ways can the Army impact transportation costs?

A: We work closely with TRANSCOM and the Army’s Surface Deploy-ment Distribution Command and its commander Major General Tom Richardson, as they do most of the retrograde strategic movement execution.

Like the earlier discussion about predictability—one of our goals is to provide SDDC and TRANSCOM with a forecast of what the retro loads are going to look like, in terms of quantity and time. This forecast allows the commercial carriers to more effectively and effi-ciently schedule ships or aircraft, thereby allowing the government to negotiate better transportation rates; that provides best value to the government, and allows our commercial partners to optimize their global resources.

Army Materiel Command, with their worldwide equipment vis-ibility as the Army’s Lead Materiel Integrator, recently finished a theaterwide container assessment. They oversaw the count of every container in the theater, opening them up to inventory what’s inside. The purpose of this was to ensure we have visibility of what is in the thousands of containers in theater, so we can then better determine, down to the discrete level, which of the literally hundreds of thou-sands of items need to be retrograded, consumed in place, donated or divested. This process has given us confidence that we won’t find ourselves with massive numbers of containers full of ‘stuff’ to sort through as we ‘come to the end of mission.’

Let me also mention how critical DLA is to the retrograde mis-sion. Vice Admiral Harnitchek and the entire DLA Enterprise, most notably DLA Disposition Services, have really risen to the challenge of OEF retrograde. Additionally, DLA has responsibly drawn down their considerable stocks, and they have surged resources and per-sonnel to execute the disposal mission. The forces in OEF could simply not meet the drawdown timelines without the professionals of DLA.

Q: Going back and looking at overall Army logistics and the force structure of it—is the structure today optimized for what opera-tions are expected to look like in the future? Should it be changed?

A: Our Army structure is under constant review through the Total Army Analysis process. Each year the DA staff, led by the DAG3 and in coordination with the MACOMs and ASCCs, review the size and composition of the force, and specifically the enablers, which I’m most interested in. It’s a very deliberate process and allows us to ensure we have the right mix of combat and enablers, AC-RC, and we appropriately factor in the capabilities and risk of commercial contractors and host nation support.

The modular force that we built in the early to mid-2000s per-formed very well in Iraq and Afghanistan—however, those theaters are unique environments in terms of the spectrum of war. OIF and OEF, after the initial invasion stages, mainly became counter-insurgency and stability and training operations; primarily operating out of fixed based. However, we are now beginning to train more on decisive action with combined arms maneuver and wide area security missions—requiring the use of tanks, other tracked vehicles, deep attacks, major air assaults, artillery barrages, echeloning logistics, command and control on the move, etc. These are combined and individual skill sets that have somewhat atrophied across the Army. So while we certainly must sustain the incredible level of combat experience the Army has gained, we do need to balance our capabili-ties with those other warfighting functions that we have not spent much time on over the past decade.

I think the modular combat brigade team (BCT) and all the functional/multifunctional brigades are very effective organiza-tions. We did determine that we had some war fighting shortfalls in the modular BCT, and therefore we are adding another maneuver


battalion and engineer battalion to each BCT. We also want to ensure the ‘new’ BCT does not become too large in terms of deployability or operational mobility on the battlefield, so we are moving capa-bilities from the BCT support battalion to echelons above brigade. For example, we’re taking some transportation/distribution, fuel and water production and moving it to a combat service support battalion at the sustainment brigade level, which is similar to how we were organized under the previous Army structure, called the Army of Excellence (where we had DISCOMs and main/forward sup-port battalions). These CSSBs will be habitually aligned to combat formations and will give division commander’s the ability to ‘weight the main effort,’ a capability that really does not exist in the current modular BCT/division.

Another important aspect of the current modular force is the AMC brigades: field support brigades, contracting brigades and the SDDC transportation brigades. This structure puts three colonel level commands ‘deep’ into the battlespace for all things logistics, an incredible array of combat logistics focused capabilities; extending the enterprise if you will.

So to summarize, yes, I’m confident the modular structure, with the changes described above, is the right force for our Army into the next decade and on to 2025. TRADOC constantly reviews how the threat continues to morph, and how our force should adapt to deter/defeat that threat. Our task in G-4 is to work closely with our CASCOM (Combined Army Support Command) partners to develop the sustainment capabilities, structure, doctrine, etc., so that the Log community can continue to fully meet the demands of the emerging battlefield.

Q: That’s an important point that we have strengthened skills sets in certain areas while others may have been neglected—refuel on the move, for example?

A: As we discussed earlier, a number of capabilities and skill sets have atrophied during the Iraq and Afghanistan operations, because of the characteristics and nature of those kinds of operations. Again, from a general standpoint we became FOB-centric, where units would operate from a fixed base, go out and conduct operations, and then come back to the FOB, as opposed to executing more traditional continuous maneuver over long distances, setting up temporary bases and then moving on to new locations as the battle ensued. The FOB-centric/‘stationary’ situation created some unintended conse-quences, some bad habits.

And so certain skill sets began to atrophy across the force: the ability to echelon logistics, command and control on the move, refuel on the move (ROM)—ROM is not a particularly complicated battle task, but it’s a skill set that we were really good at in the 1990s with AirLand Battle. That skill set has really gone ‘cold’ in our Army, and we need to get it back.

Additionally, we turned over a lot of our logistics mission sets in Iraq and Afghanistan to contractors; in many cases, functions like running warehouses, operating fuel points, transportation/distri-bution, dining facilities, and so on were contracted to commercial sources. We did that deliberately, with our eyes open. We did it for a multitude of different reasons; part of it has to do with force caps, part of it has to do with rotation of forces and depth of capabilities across the Total Army. So as a result, we had many Log soldiers/units doing non-MOS related missions, such as convoy and base security, so many of our basic sustainment skills atrophied. Don’t

misunderstand me, there is an important role for contractors on the battlefield; we will always need them, and overall, they performed magnificently in OIF and OEF. However, in some cases I think we let the balance to out-sourcing go too far.

Now that dwell is increasing, we’re getting back to training on our basic soldier and MOS specific skills at the individual, team and unit level. For example: How do you operate in an austere environ-ment where you don’t have a fixed facility to establish a TOC or to provide basic life support; what if you’ve got to take a shower in the field without a fixed latrine? Can a unit establish its communication ‘backbone’ from scratch, not having the ‘luxury’ of moving into a facility that has been occupied for years by previous units, where all you have to do is ‘plug your radios/computers into the wall?’ Can units establish a ration break operation and run field feeding, a fuel or ammo supply point, with minimal or no contactor augmentation? And perhaps most critically, can units and soldiers execute field level maintenance on our complex weapons systems without extensive contractor logistics support? These are all questions that we are addressing in our training, policy, doctrine and structure.

We certainly want to sustain the incredible individual and col-lective combat skills our Army has gained over these past 12 years in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have the most combat-hardened Army we’ve probably ever had, and we want to continue to hone that. However, it’s also about getting some balance back and training on those other skill sets that made our Army so very good and set the conditions for success in OIF and OEF; leader and unit skills such as running a training meeting, executing a maintenance readiness review, command supply discipline, individual soldier counseling, etc.—those are the skills that we have not focused on much because we have been very busy in combat, and now with increasing dwell we can re-balance our training spectrum.

Q: Is there anything you would like to add about the budget and the time it will take to get the force back to where it needs to be?

A: A couple of things. First, the Army ground fleet is in pretty good shape right now. In the year 2000, about 85 percent of our ground fleet needed depot maintenance; we were coming out of the ‘cold-war’ drawdown, the ‘peace dividend’ of the 1990s and a significant amount of our fleet needed ‘deep’ depot work.

Over this past decade, with great support from the Congress, our incredible American citizens, and certainly the work of the industrial base—both commercial and organic—we reversed that. Currently only about 20 percent of our ground fleet requires depot mainte-nance (and a significant amount of that is in Afghanistan).

The challenge will be how do we maintain this over time? How do we make sure that 10 years from now, we’re not back there again where 85 percent of the fleet needs depot maintenance? Appropriate and predictable investment in our organic industrial base; maintain-ing equipment in a ‘band of readiness;’: soldiers performing main-tenance on their vehicles, tracks, etc., with leadership, officers and NCOs supervising ‘motor stables is all part of the solution.’ It goes to putting a soldier’s name on the windshield of a vehicle: ‘There are many vehicles, but this is my vehicle.’ That has intrinsic value and the soldier makes a personal commitment to take care of his or her equipment—that is huge!

In some ways, we have run a rental car company in the Army during this war. Units left most of their equipment at home station for somebody else to maintain, they ‘borrowed’ equipment in theater


and they got loads of new equipment fielded. We know why we did it, but there were some unintended consequences of all that; when you’re ‘borrowing’ a vehicle as opposed to ‘owning’ it, it just doesn’t have the same value or commitment, and readiness suffers.

I like using a phrase from one of my mentors, retired General Bob Dail, “there is value in scarcity.” The analogy I use to highlight that concept is that if you’re a family that has three cars and two drivers and one of your cars breaks, how incentivized are you to fix that car? Most likely you’ll get around to it sometime. But if you’re a family with two drivers and one car, you value that car, so you’re probably going to take care of it, and if it breaks you’re going to get it fixed right away!

To me that’s the value of scarcity, its being good stewards of the resources our nation entrusts to America’s Army. While budget reductions are tough, especially those that are unpredictable, there’s some good that comes out of that as well. It does cause people to take better care of what they have, not be wasteful, to ‘squeeze’ the most out of every resource. It’s an interesting dynamic.

Scarcity also causes us to prioritize requirements and resources better. This past year, one of the biggest lessons we gained as an Army staff, with the great leadership of the Secretary and Chief, was to put more rigor and discipline into our prioritization processes, to develop and execute a ‘one to end list;’ to really understand what we can afford, what we can’t, and communicate that from top to bottom across this large and complex Army.

Q: You talk about the relationship with industry and your commer-cial partners, and also what kind of work is done at the depots—organically versus the non-organic. Whatever the relationship is today or the ratio today, do you expect the amount of organic work to go up?

A: Well, overall depot workload is coming down. Our peak for both the commercial and organic industrial base was 2009. It was really the height of the stuff coming out of Iraq and as we surged into Afghanistan. The quantity of equipment requiring depot reset has been coming down since then. We clearly anticipated that and so we’re right-sizing our capabilities as best we can.

There’s a law called the Depot 50/50, designed to ensure that we have a sound mix of organic and commercial capability; it requires that at least 50 percent of all DoD depot workload be executed in the organic depots of the services. To also ensure an appropriate mix, AMC and the department are working on innovative initiatives such as public-private partnerships, where we leverage each other’s comparative advantages.

We recently completed a deep look at the Army’s organic depots and arsenals to ensure we have the core capacity and critical techni-cal capabilities to meet COCOM war plans. When we dip below that core capacity/capability, we describe to the Army leadership, DoD and Congress the risk we’re taking, any possible mitigation, and most importantly, the impact of that risk on the COCOM missions.

As part of that deep look we partnered with AMC to conduct a critical manufacturing skills analysis, to determine which ‘artisan’ skills we need to keep organically in the arsenals and which exist in sufficient depth and scope in the commercial world. Again, this was executed through the ‘lens’ of risk, what must we keep organically, and what can we rely on the commercial sector to provide. For the skills that are rare or perhaps only exist primarily in offshore com-panies, we certainly want to keep those organic.

We’re in a constant review of the health of the organic industrial base. I tri-chair, with Lieutenant General Pat McQuistion [AMC deputy commander] and Lieutenant General General Bill Phillips [military deputy/director, Army Acquisition Corps] the Quarterly Depot Corporate Board; we review the overall status of the organic depots using detailed metrics, investments, resources, people, plant equipment, safety, and many other factors—and this past year we brought the arsenals into that board as well.

Also, this past year we published for the first time the Army’s Organic Industrial Base Strategic Plan (OIBSP), which lays out our long-term vision to ensure we fully optimize our industrial capabilities. The goal is to ensure we right size the organic base to keep it competitive and provide the services/products the PEO/PMs and other customers want, at reasonable prices. This is a constant balance, because as workload comes down and we are not able to reduce our fixed costs as quickly as we would like, the cost per unit of production increases, making the organic depot/arsenal less attractive. So the OIBSP is providing us with the roadmap to ensure we continue to provide a world-class product at competitive prices.

Q: The Army is in the middle of a pretty large implementation of an enterprise resource planning system. What is the program status?

A: We call our Army-wide Logistics IT modernization program SALE, Single Army Logistics Enterprise, and it has several compo-nents.

The first is the Logistics Modernization Program—LMP. It is our wholesale ERP enabling AMC to manage the industrial, wholesale, strategic side of Army logistics—depots, arsenals and the inner workings of AMC. The program was launched several years ago, with a new increment being implemented this year to provide more detailed production floor management.

The second component of SALE is GCSS-Army—Global Combat Support System-Army—the other services having similar pro-grams. G-Army is our retail system (at the tactical and installation level) across all COMPOs. G-Army is being fielded in two waves. Wave 1 began last year with converting our legacy warehousing and materiel management system (called SARSS) to G-Army. G-Army is directly linked to the Army’s financial ERP (GFEBS – General Fund Enterprise Business Systems); this linkage is critical to ensuring the Army can achieve auditability, as directed by Congress. To date we have fielded about 20 percent of Wave 1 across the Army. Next year we will begin Wave 2, which brings the supply room/property book system (PBUSE) and field level maintenance (SAMS) into G-Army. As we field G-Army we are retiring the legacy systems of SARSS, PBUSE and SAMS; this will save us significant dollars in the out-years. Key to G-Army is that all those stove-pipe legacy systems will now be on ‘one-screen’ in a web-based environment, significantly improving data accuracy and simplifying soldier training—all pro-viding a common operating picture of logistics. G-Army is a huge ERP; at end state it will have 160,000 users, touching every com-pany-sized unit in the Army. It is also collapsing over 40,000 dispa-rate databases. In my opinion, G-Army is the most important and positive Army logistics innovation I have experienced in my career.

We are now determining what other legacy systems can be brought into G-Army in a Wave 3 option; we would like to bring Army preposition stock (APS) management, ammunition, trans-portation/distribution functions all into G-Army, thereby increasing


our COP and reducing legacy system costs; achieving the full pack-age of supply, maintenance, property, finance, distribution, ammu-nition, all in one system that is auditable.

Q: What about the financial side of the equation?

A: As I mentioned, for the first time ever in the Army we will have a logistics-finance system that is linked and auditable. We have a very strong partnership between the logistics and the finance com-munities; through this fielding it has become very obvious that the ‘tentacles’ of logistics reach deep into finance and vice versa; they must be totally synchronized.

Bob Speer (Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller)) and I hold quarterly global VTCs where we link-in the Log and finance leadership from across the entire Army to ensure we are synchronized; it is a power-ful event where we have well over 300 participants from all three Compos, the MACOMs, ASCCs, etc.

Q: Can you tell me about the logistics warfighter symposiums?

A: It starts with the tri-chairs of the symposium: McQuistion at AMC, Major General Larry Wyche (CG, CASCOM) and the G-4. The three of us develop the agenda items: issues and topics that are challenges to the Log community that we want to solicit broad ideas about, or simply ensure we have Armywide situational awareness on. The quarterly symposiums include the community of Log gen-eral officers, SESs, commanders in the field, theater sustainment commands, expeditionary commands, depot commanders, etc.—all the different constituencies across the Army that have equities in how the Army operates logistically.

We’re not a decision-making body; rather, this forum solicits innovative ideas and it helps to level the playing field so that the logisticians of the Army understand the actions/focus of each other and we ensure that we are not working at cross purposes or duplicating efforts. It gives us a common operating picture and synchronizes actions across the sustainment enterprise. We look at everything from force structure, leader development to theater logistics.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to add about the men and women of the Army Log Nation?

A: Thank you for that question. I would like to talk about the U.S. military in general first and then get a little more specific about our Army’s outstanding logisticians.

At the end of the Vietnam War, and as we transitioned to an all volunteer force, there were a lot of pundits who opined that if the U.S. military ever got into a protracted conflict, the U.S. would have to return to the draft, most defined protracted as at least six months.

Well, we are now at 12 years of combat and we haven’t had to go back to a draft. I think that fact speaks volumes about our nation and her citizens; to me this generation has truly more than met the challenge of its time, just like the American’s of WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc. When you think of the WWII greatest generation, of which my father was a part, I know he would agree that our current soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen are the latest greatest generation. It hasn’t been without cost—we’ve lost brothers and sisters, the

nation has spent an incredible amount of treasure in these wars—however, we have endured and prevailed.

Each year we bring about 60,000 soldiers into our Army; the other services bring in similar numbers. The incredible thing to me is that the Americans who have joined the military since 9/11 did so with the full knowledge that they would be going into combat, and that they may have to give their last full measure, and yet they do it—they raise their right hand to serve something greater than themselves … it’s just humbling and inspiring!.

I think we’re a stronger military today with an all-volunteer force. It’s not inexpensive; it requires an investment on the part of our nation for a reasonable level of housing, pay and compensa-tion, however, you end up with an incredible military across all the services that you might not otherwise have. It is a U.S. military that has proven its remarkable resilient quality these past 12 years. Our challenge is how to sustain the all volunteer force? We’ve had some readiness challenges, as the joint chiefs so dramatically laid out in their recent congressional testimony. An Army at war for 12 years is going to get on the razor’s edge, and certainly the budget issues that happened over the last couple of years have really degraded our readiness to conduct full-spectrum operations. We’re working every day to improve our readiness so we can be prepared to do whatever the nation asks of us next. The funding we’re getting this FY is going to help, but with years of continuing resolutions and sequestration, it will take several years to come out of our readiness trough.

So let me conclude by talking about the Log Nation. In some ways, it’s almost transparent in terms of what has been accomplished by our Army and joint logisticians. Nearly everyone knows the story of the Red Ball Express in World War II; it’s an incredible logistics story. I would point out that there have been accomplishments over this past decade of combat that are at least as phenomenal as the Red Ball Express and the breakout from Normandy in 1945.

One dramatic example is up-armoring. In 2005-2006, IEDs were beginning to proliferate on the Iraq battlefield. This nation commit-ted resources and the Log Nation executed the up-armoring of over 50,000 vehicles on the battlefield, while in contact, all within about one year. We were basically taking unarmored vehicles and putting an armor ‘box’ around them. We started OEF and OIF with a couple hundred up-armored HMMWVs and incredibly were able to armor the entire ground fleet in short order. Then when the president directed the surge into Afghanistan, we moved capabilities out of Iraq, while in contact, and moved them to Afghanistan by air and ground, that was executed flawlessly and on time: simply amazing!

In WWII, General Patton pulled his 3d Army out of a winter battle, moved it hundreds of miles, committed it back into the fight and was able to relieve the U.S. forces surrounded at Bastogne. In my opinion, the movement of equipment/capabilities from Iraq to Afghanistan as part of the surge was an equally historic accomplish-ment, one that somebody should write a book or make a movie about so we can properly recognize the incredible troopers, NCOs, joint partners and leadership that made this historic event such an incredible logistics success.

Our job as logisticians is to be an enabler on the battlefield, to make sure that commanders can execute their missions without having to worry about where their supplies and support are coming from; they just know that it will always be there on time for them. And the bottom line is that the Log Nation has accomplished that, and much, much more. As a lifelong 35-year Army logistician, I’m very proud of that! O


Asset tracking is essential to efficient logistics and can be enabled by many technologies. Active radio frequency identification (RFID) and barcodes are being widely used. But passive RFID and other tech-nologies are also being considered.

Active RFID is extensively deployed. “We have a network; most NATO countries use it as well, and it is also in Australia,” summarized Bob Carpenter, lead systems analyst providing contract support to U.S. Army Product Director, Automated Movement and Identifica-tion (PD AMIS). The Army can only use active RFID in nations that allow installation of interrogators, and there are a few countries that do not. Fortunately, the U.S. uses a frequency that is an international standard. The active RFID network is at present in 44 countries and in most of the places defense needs it.

Fixed RFID systems need communication and power, easy require-ments to meet in Europe. That is not the case in remote places like Afghanistan.

Active RFID can also be deployed on a Movement Tracking System (MTS) device that looks like a laptop PC, rides in a vehicle, connects with a satellite link on roofs, uses Iridium satellites and GPS, and can send real-time text messages.

MTS with active RFID is used during natural disasters like earth-quakes or in the early phases of military operations when no power or communications are locally available.

Competition has reduced the cost of active RFID tags dramatically, from $70 to $100 apiece to $25 to $40 in the last four years. PD AMIS would like to see a reduction in costs for satellite tracking devices it puts on ammunition containers whose location is sensitive. The satel-lite device is just a GPS and reporter, with no keyboard or screen like the mobile RFID laptop. They currently cost over $1,000 apiece.

Over time, Army active RFID tags have become more durable and easier to attach and remove. Carpenter would like to see tag batteries last longer than the current two to three years. Experiments are being conducted on tags that have built-in batteries.

Fred Naigle, an RFID strategist who provides contract support to PD AMIS, said the Army still has very limited adoption of passive RFID. Most supply chains still use barcodes. “DLA is starting to move on pas-sive RFID, but it is still emerging.”

Army passive tags are ‘license plates’ with 96 bits of data. There is no data on what the tag is attached to; this data must be obtained by matching the tag with the advanced shipping notice. Many current logistics business systems are not able to use the new advanced ship-ping notices.

Fully burdened passive RFID tags cost DLA about 17 cents apiece; the tag itself is less than 10 cents, plus the cost of installation.

Passive tags can typically be read at 12 feet, although long-range tags used by the Marines are readable at 30 to 40 feet, and read ranges of 100 feet or more are possible with special tags used.

Naigle expects barcode use will continue for a long time, and pas-sive RFID will work best for large volumes that are moving quickly. “We want to use the right automatic identification technology (AIT) for each environment and get visibility into the chain.”

PD AMIS would like to be further along in sharing AIT data, but business systems need to be modernized for that and funds have been tight. At present, these business systems do not connect directly to RFID systems but must come to the PD AMIS system.

RFID vendors have been busy. “Motorola’s RFID solutions enable a new level of efficiency by providing greater visibility as inventory moves across the supply chain,” stressed Tom McMahon, director of corporate communications and government affairs. Motorola inte-grates wireless technology with advanced data-capture capabilities in mobile handheld computers.

The company provides fixed and handheld readers and accessories for warehousing, manufacturing, shipping and logistics. Products are designed for demanding environments. Motorola’s FX9500 Fixed RFID Reader delivers extremely high read performance for tracking large volumes. The MC9190-Z Handheld RFID Reader is targeted for medium- to long-range read applications.

The company’s DS9808-R next-generation hybrid presentation imager with integrated RFID is the first combination 1-D/2-D barcode scanner and RFID reader. It is a handheld/hands-free UHF RFID reader that delivers record swipe speeds for 1-D and 2-D barcodes and cap-tures images and signatures.

Motorola RFID technology has been deployed by the military to establish forward operating positions and track transfer of materials to warfighters. It is also used for convoy logistics.

In January 2014, Motorola introduced its FX7500 Fixed RFID Reader with advanced RFID radio technology for faster, more accu-rate read rates and more consistent performance. McMahon said the FX7500 now provides the best-in-class dense reader mode perfor-mance, up to 1,200 tags per second in FM0 mode.

“Northrop Grumman has more than 20 years of experience inte-grating active and passive RFID solutions for the Defense Department and federal government,” summarized Susan Wilson, director of defense security solutions in the Cyber Solutions Division of Northrop Grumman Information Systems.

NGIS is an integrator and cybersecurity provider, combining off-the-shelf products. It offers full-system life cycle development of RFID, including requirements, design, development, test, integra-tion and fielding. “We understand the complex requirements for operating in a secure environment,” Wilson said. “The threat from cyberspace continues to grow and systems are more networked than ever before.”

NGIS has just fulfilled two RFID contracts with DoD and provides active RFID to the Marine Corps. “We are supporting transition from

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their current active RFID infrastructure to a centralized infrastruc-ture, saving hardware and labor costs down the road,” Wilson said.

Wilson said active RFID with sensors for monitoring temperature, shock and humidity, and even security are becoming popular with logi-cians. Also new are multi-use tags that incorporate active and passive RFID. Active RFID readers are getting smaller, allowing more flexibility. As active RFID gets less expensive it is used in real time locating systems (RTLSs), which use telemetry to locate tagged items.

Big news in passive RFID is a new tag standard expected in 2014. This Gen2v2 standard offers extended memory, authentication options, untraceable functions for hiding or restricting data, and a non-remov-able flag.

CDO Technologies have supported a Marine Corps effort to improve processing of wheeled vehicles, rolling stock and high-value assets using passive RFID. Fixed readers are placed at choke points to automate loca-tion and business processes. Outdoor solar-powered readers are placed at truck gates, rail heads and other choke points. Mobile readers are placed on forklifts and carts. Read data is forwarded to legacy Marine systems, then filtered by part number, serial number and other criteria. Since pas-sive tags don’t require batteries, the system should be more reliable and less expensive than active RFID. The Marines expect inventory accuracy will increase and employees can use their time more efficiently.

In addition to this Marine project, CDO also makes a high value asset tracking system that can be customized for RFID or barcodes, said Senior Vice President of Operations Don Ertel. “It gives you flexibility to create a nearly customized solution in a very short time.”

Honeywell Scanning and Mobility has recently acquired both Inter-mec and Vocollect. Intermec is part of the team led by SRA International that recently won the Army’s pRFID II Passive RFID contract.

Kurt Mensch, senior product manager RFID, said many defense pas-sive RFID applications are still planned but not funded. “It is not rolling out as quickly as expected.” But pRFID II is the third such contract. “We are still looking for the big initial deployment,” he said.

Intermec makes some hard tags for durable assets and makes print-ers and readers, including a fixed reader and a mobile device intended for forklifts.

Mensch stressed that Intermec “makes some of smallest and most lightweight, highly durable mobile RFID readers, the 70 series.” This passive-RFID reader is integrated in a rugged mobile computer, very compact and wearable. Intermec also makes a longer-range handheld reader and can attach Bluetooth to handheld readers.

Vocollect is a voice-based system already used for tracking assets in base stores that sell consumer goods to soldiers, noted Jay Blinderman, director of product marketing of the new Honeywell unit.

It could also be used to inspect assets like tanks. “The system gives the inspector a checklist; he checks it and records the information,” Blinderman explained.

Vocollect can take inventories, instructing users where to go for each item and validating identifiers on boxes. It can be used for order fulfillment, instructing workers on the most efficient route to pick up orders and, if an item is not present, beginning replenishment. Nearly 90 percent of the world’s largest retailers use Vocollect for this task.

The system is hand-free and more accurate than typing data. The technology can instruct as well as accept data. Vocollect can be com-bined with barcodes or RFID, integrating data from sensors and human observations.

Kirstin Knott, managing director of FedEx government services, said FedEx’s SenseAware gives near real-time vital statistics on ship-ments. SenseAware gives customers temperature, exposure to light,

humidity inside shipments, atmospheric pressure on sensitive prod-ucts and shocks to shipments. SenseAware uses a combination of GPS receiver, multi-sensor device, cellular network and a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery, rather than RFID.

FedEx sees sensor-based logistics and SenseAware as the new frontier in supply-chain technology. The company will continue to consider RFID and believes the tool has a future in asset tracking. For example, RFID could complement active-sensor technology like SenseAware to create a mesh network of sensing capability across the entire supply chain.

Cubic Global Tracking Solutions offers an innovative, affordable solution to provide immediate worldwide reporting on location, condi-tion and security status of valuable assets, said Randall Shepard, vice president, technology innovations. The solution supports container tracking, yard management and, with mist mesh technology, logistics.

Cubic’s Global Sentinel Unit provides global infrastructure-free monitoring, tracking and security via wireless communications provided by Iridium and cellular. This allows continuous GPS, status reporting, event alerting and remote configuration.

Shephard said Cubic’s Device Management Center provides secure data collection, analysis, visualization and dissemination to authorized parties. The DMC maintains regular two-way communication with each Global Sentinel.

Mist’s mesh asset tag uses a wireless mesh network for logistics. Mist combines technologies, devices and services on a mesh protocol optimized for ad hoc configuration, security and ultra-low power. Tags talk to each other, yielding continuous connection and dynamic recon-figuration around broken or blocked paths.

Shepard stressed that Global Sentinels provide ubiquitous global communications via both satellite and cellular, support internal, tethered or wireless sensors, can monitor complex events and can be programmed remotely. They last for more than five years with off-the-shelf batteries.

Zebra Technologies offers a broad range of passive RFID and RTLS solutions. Zebra’s tracking capabilities are based on its passive RFID printer and tags for items, cases or pallets, explained Service Product Manager Michael Fein.

One Zebra user, Warmkraft, makes millions of uniforms for the Defense Department, which requires suppliers to tag items with tags 100 percent visible at more than 10 feet. Using Zebra’s R110Xi4 RFID printer and encoder, Warmkraft has reduced quality-control labor by half and improved customer relations with order accuracy.

Fein said Zebra makes it easy for existing customers to upgrade to its newest offerings, including Zatar platform, cloud-based software with a user-friendly experience. Zebra invested in Zatar to lead in the Internet-of-Things market.

SAP provides both on-premise and in-the-cloud software to exploit RFID by reducing costs and enabling awareness of supply chains, summarized David Lincourt, vice president of global defense industry. Examples include applications for material traceability in warehouses and in-transit, for identification to prevent counterfeiting, mobile applications for personnel on the move, and analytics to deal with high volumes and the high velocity of data produced by many RFID sensors.

SAP focuses on enabling end-to-end integrated supply chains with RFID. Lincourt said SAP provides the capabilities to understand in real time what is happening and respond as fast as things happen. SAP continues to innovate to give defense customers continuous intelli-gence with complex event processing built on SAP’s HANA in-memory technology to “truly realize the sense and respond vision.” O


While there is a long history of civilians directly supporting military operations, con-tractors have never been more prevalent or more critical to mission success than in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In both wars, contractors were called upon by the military to feed the troops, build base camps, maintain facilities and provide dozens of other logistical support services. This support was largely provided under the Logistics Civil Aug-mentation Program. Since its establishment in 1985, LOGCAP has successfully leveraged civilian resources to provide logistics, engi-neering, construction and other support ser-vices for U.S. Army contingency operations. Today, contractors routinely work side-by-side with soldiers, sometimes assuming support roles traditionally performed by military per-sonnel to allow soldiers to concentrate on combat operations.

Just as contractors were reliable partners in supporting the surge and assisting with the sustainment of operations in Afghanistan, they must now help execute the drawdown—something that is especially challenging in a landlocked country with inhospitable ter-rain, harsh weather, and an extremely lim-ited transportation infrastructure. As if these obstacles weren’t enough, the drawdown is further complicated by ongoing combat oper-ations and an ambiguous political landscape. The execution of the drawdown while con-ducting ongoing combat operations requires teamwork—teamwork predicated on contrac-tor involvement in the planning process, open lines of communications, and the willingness of all team members to be agile and flexible.

Moving personnel and material out of Afghanistan not only entails the movement of military forces, but also tens of thou-sands of contractor employees and contrac-tor-managed government-owned property. Furthermore, the logistics and support ser-vices provided by contractors are so embed-ded in today’s military operations that they simply cannot be divorced from the plan-ning process. For these reasons, contrac-tors must be involved early as partners with military commanders, the Defense Contract

Management Agency (DCMA), Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), Army Material Com-mand (AMC), and U.S. Central Command Material Retrograde Elements (CMRE), among others. Although military commanders are ultimately responsible for drawdown deci-sions, recommendations and advice from other team mem-bers, including contractors, can help inform those decisions.

Contractors offer several unique capa-bilities as a drawdown partner. Foremost, they provide essential base life support and health and safety services that ensure the continued well-being of military forces during the draw-down. The delivery of these support services must be balanced with aggressive timelines of phasing out or ceasing services to meet the “Off the FOB” date. Until the last light bulb is unscrewed at the last site, the military can depend on LOGCAP contractors to pro-vide power, meals, water and other services deemed critical by the command.

Contractors also provide continuity of operations. Because of unit rotations, the commanders planning the drawdown today may not be the commanders executing the plan tomorrow. However, when LOGCAP con-tractors are included as partners in the plan-ning process, they provide consistency and continuity for efficient execution of drawdown operations.

Additionally, contractors offer resources and knowledge to manage property and mate-rial responsibly and efficiently during the drawdown. LOGCAP contractors routinely collaborate with their contract manager, DCMA, to reassess requirements as the draw-down progresses and to disposition materials that are no longer needed. Contractors also routinely review their authorized stockage list to identify opportunities to cross-level material throughout theater, resulting in sig-nificant savings in re-order and delivery costs.

Finally, LOGCAP contractors provide assis-tance with retrograde operations, teaming

with DLA, CMRE, DCMA and AMC to sort through thou-sands of containers of parts and equipment and determine their ultimate disposition. For example, DLA Disposition Ser-vices sites or CMRE Retrosort yards were initially fixed sites that received and dispositioned property and materials. How-ever, as the pace of FOB clo-sures picked up, the process

evolved to include forward mobile teams that coordinate and approve material turn-in or transfer at the site. These teams included DLA’s expeditionary disposal remediation teams and CMRE’s mobile retrosort teams augmented by LOGCAP contractors. As the pace of retrograde operations accelerates in the coming months, contractors will be called upon for further assistance as reliable teammates in this critical logistics function.

As proven in most conflicts throughout the ages, successful military operations fre-quently depend upon a force structure that integrates contractors as essential partners. By teaming with the military, communicating frequently and maintaining agility in execu-tion, LOGCAP contractors helped build and sustain operations in Afghanistan, and are now doing the same to contribute to the responsible drawdown. Collaboration between contractors and the military has served our nation well, and serves as a model for the rapid-paced contingency operations of the future. O

Lieutenant General Steve Whitcomb (USA, Ret.) is the LOGCAP Afghanistan country manager for Fluor Government Group. During his military career, he served as the inspector general of the Army, commanding general of the Third Army, and chief of staff of U.S. Central Command.

By steVe WhitcomB



at www.mlf-kmi.com.

Steve Whitcomb


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Cover and In-Depth Interview with:


Mike Lennon is former U.S. Marine who has worked in the technology field since 1992 and is currently an account executive on SAP’s Army team. Lennon served as an enlisted infantryman in the Marine Corps for eight years and was commissioned, served as an attack heli-copter pilot, then as a data systems officer. He also serves at the chairman of the annual Fisher House Golf Classic.

Q: How would you describe your com-pany’s focus, goals and abilities to meet the needs of the military customer?

A: For more than 40 years SAP has focused on helping our customers be the best at what they do through improved automa-tion of business processes and through industry specialization. For example, SAP created an industry specialization around defense and security and a defense inter-est group that tells us the needs of the industry. The U.S. Department of Defense participates in that defense interest group. Being in tune with our customers is a key to our ability to support their needs.

Q: What innovations do you expect to bring online that will make your opera-tions more efficient and better position you to compete in today’s military market space?

A: During the past several years, SAP has dramatically grown and improved its ability to respond to the needs of the 21st century. We’re well along the way to put-ting all of our technology and business applications ‘in memory’ via our HANA platform—taking advantage of improve-ments in solid state processing power to eliminate the slowness of traditional rela-tional databases.

This HANA platform will allow our military customers to simplify their tech-nical architectures and to improve the

effectiveness of their organizations and their mission readiness. We’re also mak-ing mobile, remote and detached access to business processes much simpler—a big benefit to our military customers who routinely work in remote areas with lim-ited and/or intermittent access to band-width/connectivity.

Q: What do you do to better understand logistical requirements from the mili-tary’s perspective to be able to deliver a solution that takes into account best industry practices and meets the stated needs of the military?

A: We listen to our customers and we hire people who have served in uniform. Our global Defense Interest Group is a great source of understanding and prioritization for SAP.

We also work closely with our custom-ers during program implementation and take their feedback during the process. Measuring as we go, through our value management approach, helps us and our customers.

Q: What challenges have you forecasted for the coming 12 months and how have you positioned yourself to address those?

A: Everyone’s budget is under scrutiny and duress. We’re encouraging defense customers to build upon the successful SAP programs they’ve already fielded—leverage the foundation they’ve created to eliminate redundancy and legacy systems, thereby extracting additional value at a greater pace and extending the reach of their programs.

Q: What are the things that SAP is proudest of in working with the U.S. defense community?

A: First, I’d say we’re proudest of the success our customers are having using SAP technology across DoD to support their mission at home and abroad.

Second, I’d say we’re very proud of the use of our University Alliance Program (UAP) at a number of colleges and univer-sities that support our DoD. For example, our UAP has helped to enhance a symbi-otic relationship with the Army Logistics University and Virginia State University so that soldiers who will use SAP during their service are SAP-capable, technol-ogy literate and process oriented when they get to their unit. It helps them be better soldiers, and it helps them define the needs of tomorrow better for our Army.

Third, I’d say that we’re very proud of our relationship with the Fisher House Foundation. For more than 10 years SAP has supported the Foundation via the annual Fisher House Golf Classic. We help them raise funds to build Fisher Houses at locations like Fort Belvoir and Fort Bragg, and to raise funds for other programs managed by the Foundation. Our 11th annual Fisher House Golf Classic will be held on May 5, 2014, and we’re trying to raise $1 million for the Heroes Legacy Scholarship Program.

[email protected]

Mike LennonAccount Executive for the U.S. Army

SAP

INDUSTRY INTERVIEW Military Logistics Forum


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