Army Logistician articles from March 2006

Army Logistician archives from March 2006

Letter from Major General Mitchell H. Stevenson.
March 1, 2006... DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY UNITED STATES ARMY COMBINED ARMS SUPPORT COMMAND AND FORT LEE FORT LEE, VIRGINIA 23801-1809 December 5, 2005 REPLY TO ATTENTION OF: Dear Army Logistician Readers: When I assumed command of...

Transitioning to support the future force.
March 1, 2006... Before my assignment as the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4, Department of the Army, I was the Commander of the Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM) and Fort Lee, Virginia. Although I have turned over the CASCOM reins to Major General Mitchell H....

Sustaining the momentum: the 1st Corps Support Command in Iraq.
March 1, 2006... Maintaining, equipping, arming, and feeding the forces supported by the 1st Corps Support Command (COSCOM) (Airborne) during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) 3 was an immense job. The COSCOM's mission required detailed plans, careful preparations,...

1st COSCOM total asset visibility in Iraq.(Cover story)
March 1, 2006... Total asset visibility (TAV) in Iraq is within reach. The current TAV structure focuses on tagging individual pieces of cargo and telling the user the last known location of a piece of cargo. However, the system does not tell the user where...

Distribution management in the 1st COSCOM: the newly created 1st Corps Support Command Fusion Cell managed all classes of supply on the Iraqi battlefield.
March 1, 2006... Acquiring and maintaining visibility of the flow of commodities throughout a Texas-sized battlespace is a daunting task. However, while deployed to support Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the 1st Corps Support Command (COSCOM) created an...

The new modular movement control team: a modular organization will replace the five types of movement control teams now in the field. Each modular team will be able to perform all movement control functions.
March 1, 2006... The Army movement control team (MCT) is changing. The current structure of five separate MCTs, each designed for a specialized mission, is being replaced with a "one size fits all" multifunctional, modular team. This initiative will provide the...

Redefining the role of the BSMC in Operation Iraqi Freedom: brigade support medical companies find themselves sidelined from their doctrinal roles. What new roles can they adopt to better support their BCTs?
March 1, 2006... "We're just vultures right now," replied the first sergeant from one of my sister medical companies when I asked him what his company was doing 4 months into its deployment to Baghdad in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). "We're just...

Preserving readiness through ammunition packaging.
March 1, 2006... Every Soldier knows that the weapons and munitions he uses have been tested thoroughly and are subject to strict quality control. The reason for this care is obvious: Weapons and munitions must work properly and safely every time. But probably...

A proposed modular distribution unit.
March 1, 2006... Supplying the Army's new brigade combat teams (BCTs) requires a fundamental change in how logisticians provide support. Concepts developed to support the traditional battlefield are no longer valid for today's nonlinear, noncontiguous...

Logistics synchronization and the targeting process.
March 1, 2006... Units at the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California, often have difficulty synchronizing their combat service support (CSS) planning and execution. As a result, logistics ceases to be anticipatory and becomes almost completely...

PBUSE in the global war on terrorism.
March 1, 2006... Over the past few years, the Army has struggled to find innovative ways to manage and track equipment. In its quest, the Army has been able to take advantage of some of the advances that the commercial sector has made in database and Web-based...

USAREUR: on point for logistics technology transformation.
March 1, 2006... U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR) continues to be on the leading edge of technology development for logistics information systems in the Army. USAREUR-developed or -introduced technology includes the Joint Deployment Logistics Model/Logistics Common...

Supporting SSAs in Iraq with a hub-and-spoke system.
March 1, 2006... At the onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the receipt, issue, and tracking of supplies became one of the biggest challenges for the Theater Distribution Center (TDC), Logistics Support Area (LSA) Anaconda at Balad, Iraq, and the supply support...

Joint force logistics: understanding location basics: in the January-February issue, the author discussed how military logistics management information systems often do not provide visibility of equipment in shipment. In this article, he shows how the basic concepts of latitude and longitude are helping to solve this problem.
March 1, 2006... Although military logistics management systems still do not provide total visibility of items in shipment, the Department of Defense has made tremendous progress in its ability to locate items in transit. Early Navigation In 1492, when...

Forward support in the Ia Drang Valley: a desperate fight in the jungles of Vietnam 40 years ago marked the dawn of the Army's contemporary tactical logistics doctrine.
March 1, 2006... Much of what is common practice for logisticians today has roots in the 1960s in the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) and a large clearing at the base of the Chu Pong Massif in the Pleiku Province of South Vietnam. The forward support element...

Maintenance evolution.(COMMENTARY)
March 1, 2006... In April and May 1976, I was a young Soldier working in the S-3 shop of the 1st Brigade, 2d Armored Division, at Fort Hood, Texas. I was unhappy because, although I had trained to become an armor crewman, I was assigned as a light vehicle...

DOD seeks industry partnership.(ALOG NEWS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Taking a cue from industry, the Department of Defense (DOD) plans to create a partnership with a world-class transportation services coordinator to increase efficiency across its supply chain. A study of industry best practices shows that using...

'Roadmap' explains DLA transformation.(ALOG NEWS)
March 1, 2006... A comprehensive overview of the Defense Logistics Agency's (DLA's) transformation efforts is available in a new document, the Transformation Roadmap. It summarizes how DLA is revolutionizing its business practices through 13 initiatives and how...

Unauthorized fuel practice.(LOG NOTES)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2006... The November-December 2005 issue of Army Logistician contained an informative and interesting article. "PMCS: Key to Readiness During Deployment" was well written and emphasized the need for preventive maintenance checks and services to ensure...

Correction.(Correction notice)
March 1, 2006... The photo that appeared on pages 28 and 29 of the November-December issue of Army Logistician shows a CH-47D helicopter from the 159th Aviation Regiment, not an MH-47 from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. We apologize for the...

Army refines plans for basic officer training.
March 1, 2006... The sites for phase II of the Army's new Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC) have been reduced to two: Fort Benning, Georgia, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The Army originally planned to conduct BOLC II at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Fort Bliss,...

Army cook proves that all soldiers must be warriors first.(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Every Soldier, even a cook, must be prepared to be a warrior. Quartermaster Chief Warrant Officer (W-3) David J. Longstaff proved this as he was returning from a procurement mission to Baghdad in August 2003. Longstaff's convoy of two...

ALMC and Penn State join to offer Supply Chain Management training.
March 1, 2006... The Army Logistics Management College (ALMC) at Fort Lee, Virginia, has partnered with Penn State Executive Programs, part of the Smeal College of Business at Pennsylvania State University, in offering Penn State's Certificate in Supply Chain...

LOGNet offers logisticians a new way to share their expertise.
March 1, 2006... Logisticians involved in the dynamic combat environments of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) sometimes find that they must adjust the doctrine and the tactics, techniques, and procedures they learned at their...

Army field support Battalion-Iraq captures Defense Logistics Award.(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... An Army unit providing vital support to warfighters in Iraq and its contractor partner have received a 2005 Defense Logistics Award. The Army Materiel Command's Army Field Support Battalion-Iraq and the L 3 Communications Corporation/Vertex...

DLA consolidates reutilization and marketing warehouses.(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Following a public-private competition, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) has decided to retain in house the performance of warehousing functions at 68 Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) sites in the United States. DRMS...

Low-cost pallet could save millions.(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Use of a new "pallet on a pallet" shipping system developed for the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) could save the U.S. military millions of dollars in shipment costs. The Associate Intermodal Platform (AIP) system consists of an 82-inch...

Humvee crews in Iraq test cooling vests.(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Liquid-filled cooling vests developed by the Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and the Natick Soldier Center are being tested in Iraq and Kuwait by the crews of some high-mobility, multipurpose wheeled...

3d COSCOM opens water bottling plant.(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... A water-purification and bottling plant established at Balad, Iraq, by the 3d Corps Support Command (COSCOM) will supply the bottled water needs of Camp Victory, Taji, and Balad. Bottling water on site eliminates the need for bottled water to...

Improved, long-life M1A1 Abrams tank engines, called "tiger engines", are being used to replace tank engines that cannot be repaired in Kuwait.(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Improved, long-life M1A1 Abrams tank engines, called "tiger engines" (such as the one above), are being used to replace tank engines that cannot be repaired in Kuwait. The tiger engine incorporates...