FORT HOOD, Texas -- Gen. Dennis Via, commanding general of the U.S. Army Materiel Command, visited with Soldiers here March 9-10 to understand the challenges and concerns the III Corps command team is facing in terms of supporting the multiple ongoing missions at this sprawling Central Texas installation.
AMC, which has been commanded by Via since August 2012, is headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, and it has a presence in all 50 states and 145 nations around the world, with a workforce of 65,000.
AMC touches every part of a Soldier's mission -- technology, acquisition support, materiel development, logistics power projection, sustainment and more to the total Army force across the spectrum of joint military operations, globally.
"The (AMC), … we're responsible for providing logistics and sustainment support for our Army units," Via said. "We have a saying that goes: 'If a Soldier drives it, flies it, wears it, shoots it, communicates with it or eats it, the AMC has a role in providing for that equipment and sustaining it for the Soldier.'"
Via visited with the command teams of the 407th Army Field Support Brigade, the 1st Cavalry Division, the 310th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), and III Corps and Fort Hood to make sure the units here are being supported correctly by AMC.
He said with units currently overseas and at the National Training Center, mission success and efficient training is the priority.
"I leave with a better understanding in how we can better support and ensure their success," Via said.
AMC oversees just about everything involved in supporting Fort Hood's unit training, "whether it's the 1st Cav. Div. with the armored units they have, the tanks, Bradleys, as well as any of the artillery systems," he listed. "We support … the combat aviation brigade, we support … the sustainers and maintainers here, the sustainment brigades, the signal organizations.
"So we are involved in providing support in a variety of systems and capabilities," he continued. "(We're in charge of) pretty much anything that's involved in helping the units conducts their operations."
As the provider for materiel readiness, AMC's mission and priority is to provide the equipment, supplies and technology required in order for Soldiers to successfully accomplish their missions around the world.
The range of responsibilities for AMC is massive, ranging from developing weapons systems with the most up-to-date technology and research, to contracting, acquisition and manufacturing.
Via expressed concerns about the effects sequestration will have on AMC's mission in the future.
"The greatest challenge," the general said, "is sequestration and the impact that is having on our formations. (It) certainly risks a hollow force for our Army, the impacts of readiness (and) on our modernization.
"If sequestration returns in full in FY 16, the challenge comes in that we'll have a smaller Army. The concern there is, will you have enough Soldiers, and will they have the equipment ready and prepared to go and accomplish their missions the nation calls upon them to do," Via said.
The concerns don't stop at AMC as the sequestration would create a challenge for the entire force. From the AMC perspective, Via's priority is being able to ensure AMC continues to have and provide the resources required for units to be ready and prepared to complete their missions safely and successfully. But it is not only completing missions, it's being trained to perform those missions very well that AMC strives for in perfection.
"We never want to send any of our Soldiers into harm's way without being the best-led, best-trained and best-equipped force that they can be," Via said. "Sequestration impacts on that in a huge way, and we're having to make some tough decisions, ... and that's my biggest concern as I visit not only Fort Hood, but any of our locations where we have Soldiers serving today."
The biggest change happening with AMC and the Army right now is the fact that the Army is in a transition, coming out of nearly 14 years of war.
Over this past decade plus, "we've had resources, overseas contingency operations funds that have been able to support our forces," the general said. "Much of that equipment has been maintained through contracts and contract logistics support, and so we're in a period of transitioning now to where our Soldiers maintain their own equipment so we, in fact, can become more efficient and save resources."
Soldiers maintaining their own equipment means they have to be trained with the right tools, given the resources and knowledge to be able to do that. Via said Fort Hood is leading the way in training Soldiers to maintain their own equipment and train each other as the nation come out of years of conflict.
III Corps is leading a sustainment readiness model right now that Fort Hood has implemented into training at every unit level.
"(Fort Hood) is leading our Army in the way that we're going to go in the future," Via said. "I've been very impressed with the concept (of the sustainment readiness model) and how the units are implementing that, and (how they're) … reinstituting some of (the practices that) were resident in our combat formations prior to 9/11."
Via expressed how Soldiers and commanders shouldn't worry about having the resources to make sure that Soldiers are still getting sufficient training and ammunition to become and stay proficient.
"AMC is responsible for munitions. We have a command called the Joint Munitions Command, and they have the responsibility to oversee all of the manufacturing of munitions for our Soldiers to train with," he said. "To date, we have not experienced any shortages in ammunition or munitions to be able to conduct their training, and I don't foresee … that will have an impact. At this point in time, we're able to meet the training requirements that each one of our Army units have given us."
Via finished his Fort Hood visit with a stop at III Corps Headquarters to answer questions about sequestration, AMC's vision for the future and more before heading back to Alabama, but not without naming Fort Hood as one of the places he most enjoys visiting.
"To be able to talk to the officers, the noncommissioned officers and the Soldiers, to see how resilient they are and how they're looking forward to the other missions they're performing and how proud they are of their units and the missions that they have," he said, "I've just been impressed with them, as I always am when we visit with the units here, on what they accomplish each and every day."
Social Sharing