CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait (Jan. 16. 2014) -- A vast sea of shipping containers spread out over eight separate storage yards covering more than eight acres of dirt and sand. Sprawled across the Kuwait desert thousands of empty containers intermingle with thousands more filled with parts and supplies, bound for the United States or other locations in Southwest Asia in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Together the eight separate yards form the theater excess warehouse, commonly referred to as Whiskey seven alpha, or W7A. W7A falls under U.S. Central Command authority which is responsible for 20 countries throughout the Middle East.
"Whiskey seven alpha is an excess warehouse for retro-grade parts," said Staff Sgt. Jamar A. Sherrill, supply and service multi-class non-commissioned officer-in-charge, 143rd Sustainment Command (Expenditinary), or ESC . "It receives all excess parts from the area of responsibility repackages them and ships them back to the states. We in the supply and service multi-class section collect data on pallets and containers processed and give a strategic overview of stock levels to support the CENTCOM AOR."
The ability to efficiently process, store, move and ship containers and parts throughout the area Of responsibility, or AOR has proved essential to the U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, mission here and abroad.
"[W7A] fills the requirements of other Supply Support Activities when there is a shortage of a commodity or part," said Maj. Jonathan S. Pipkens-Smith, supply and service deputy branch chief, ESC. "It is instrumental in providing the war fighter necessary equipment and means to sustain the fight."
Although the 143rd ESC does not work in the warehouse itself, it's responsible for its contents.
"We here at the 143rd Multiclass section are responsible for the downsizing of the warehouse," said Pipkens-Smith. " We are in direct contact and conduct coordinating efforts with our strategic partners, [the] Army Materiel Command and Defense Logistics Agency . . . Our mission is to align W7A while issuing directives to reduce our inventory in the CENTCOM AOR to mirror the supply and demand of our Soldiers that are fighting on the front lines."
Since taking over operations in October, the 143rd ESC multi-class section has successfully reduced the inventory of W7A by 139 line items, saving the U.S. government upwards of $25 million.
The ability to successfully save money, reduce stock and consolidate equipment and parts comes at a crucial time for U.S. forces.
"With the drawdown of forces in Afghanistan and removal of equipment coupled with the vision to right size the military holistically, it is important that we focus on meeting the needs of the war fighter and remain financially responsible," said Pipkens-Smith.
The supply and service section handles the excess parts and equipment within W7A, but it is the container management team that handles the throng of containers situated around Arifjan.
"The container management team provides continuous training and operational support to Container Control Officers located throughout Kuwait to reduce detention and other charges on carrier-owned containers, maintain accountability of government owned and government leased containers, and improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency for all container management," said Maj. Brian. K. Holste, container management officer-in-charge, 143rd ESC.
Like the supply and services department, the container management team is yielding positive results.
"We have dropped the average monthly carrier container detention fees in Kuwait by [more than] $6,000 per month from last year's average," said Holste.
With leasing fees lowered and increased accountability the container management team is able to focus their attention towards container readiness. Not all containers are ready for travel; some require repairs and all must pass inspection before shipping off-post.
"Our day in the W7A yielded over 200 empty containers identified for repair in order to return to mission," said Holste. "This combined with other container reallocation activities have provided the 1st Theater Support Command with enough local container assets to turn off a previously planned import of containers from CONUS. The projected cost avoidance of these efforts to date is more than $1.5 [million].
Social Sharing