KUWAIT NAVAL BASE, Kuwait - Army mariners within units throughout the 1st Sustainment Command (Theater) successfully completed the first-ever Brigade Inspection Reconnaissance Exercise Program, or BIREP, Sept. 1 to Sept. 28 in the United States Central Command area of responsibility.
"It's a program set up for Army Materiel Command and the Army field support brigade managing Army pre-positioned stock in a given area of operations to test maintenance and readiness for the equipment in their care," said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Kyle Darling, Support Operations Mobility Maritime officer, 1st TSC. "The BIREP evaluated the issue of Army watercraft pre-positioned in Kuwait.
Darling said the 1st TSC oversaw the issue process, and the BIREP helped leaders and Soldiers understand the mechanics of the process itself.
"The strategic mobility triad includes what we can move by sea or air, along with pre-positioned stock," said Darling. "This exercise ensures that Army pre-positioned stock is ready and available for issue anywhere in the world."
The 1st TSC operations rely on watercraft to aid in the movement of supplies and personnel throughout the region where waterways are accessible," said Brig. Gen. Daniel Mitchell, deputy commanding general, 1st TSC.
Army watercraft, allow the First Team to better execute the plans given to it by the joint staff and the secretary of defense.
"As you're moving into a theater to conduct operations, you have to be able to move forces. Sometimes there are situations where movement is limited or restricted," said Mitchell. "Army watercraft gives a commander the ability to move forces where he needs, protect them and sustain them when they get there."
Mitchell said the BIREP exercise played a vital role in assessing mission readiness. While there is a process on vessels drawn from the APS it has never been tested or validated in the U.S. CENTCOM area of responsibility. This process allowed for issues to be identified and changes made to the BIREP to make it more efficient and effective.
"Over the last 12 years the operational tempo hasn't allowed us to take the time to exercise this process in an operational environment, so this is the first time we've done this in U.S. CENTCOM," said Darling.
The BIREP included Soldiers from U.S. Army Central, 1st TSC, 3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), 492nd Theater Harbormaster Operations Detachment, 108th Sustainment Brigade, 402nd Army Field Support Brigade and 108th Special Troops Battalion.
Cramer Claxton, a contracting officer representative with Army Watercraft, 402nd AFSB, said the exercise proceeded step-by-step to validate the process map used for the BIREP in case additional boats are needed to support maritime sustainment operations. The units involved work out issues and learn the best method to make it a smooth and seamless transition.
The BIREP process involves multiple units and civilian contractors under the 1st TSC. These organizations all have to work together throughout the entire process. Claxton said the interaction of all the organizations involved was a good learning experience for units and contractors to learn their roles in the BIREP process.
"Each person teaches each other," said Claxton. "To make sure the process works the way its supposed to work."
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Terry Senn, 411th Transportation Detachment, said the BIREP provides the process needed to prepare and move a watercraft team or teams anywhere in the world to a pre-positioned vessel.
"If a situation came up and we needed to issue additional watercraft assets to support the war effort, USARCENT would give the order to the APS. The APS would then prepare the vessels to be issued, the crew would fly in, conduct inventories, take possession of the vessel, conduct the mission and then reverse the process coming back. They would bring the vessel back and after inventory, sea trials and dock trials, APS would take ownership of the vessel from the crew, and the crew would fly home; mission complete."
Senn said the BIREP exercise at KNB was set in a compressed schedule. For training purposes, one crew conducted the process on two vessels. Working with KNB personnel they conducted a 100-percent inventory check, dock trials and sea trials.
Senn said representatives from all the organizations involved in the BIREP would come together daily and evaluate the process map.
"After every day's iteration we conducted an (after action review) to see what could be improved, what should be sustained or what's good about it," said Senn. "We would adjust the validation process from there."
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Ezekial Coffman, Logistics Mobility Sea Branch master with U.S. Army Central, praised the Soldiers who participated in the BIREP.
"They really showed the ability to take on a mission that is different than what they normally do, and excel at it," said Coffman. "They were able to work their way through problems and maintenance issues. At the end of the day our success was due to the hard work of our Soldiers."
Mitchell said validating the BIREP is just the first step in improving Army watercraft readiness in the region. He said a similar exercise was held in the South Pacific, but the Southwest Asia region presents unique and different challenges.
This exercise helped to identify the difference and began fine tuning a process that works for this part of the world. The Brigade Inspection Reconnaissance Exercise Program will allow units involved to maintain readiness and increase available support to Soldiers across the area of operation.
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