FORT LEE, Va. - The Combined Arms Support Command hosted a Theater Opening Rehearsal of Concept Drill at the Logistics Exercise and Simulation Center April 27 - May 1 to gather feedback on adapting the sustainment community to support the Army of 2020 and beyond.
As the Army's sustainment think tank, CASCOM has been capturing lessons learned, best practices and recommended solutions with the intent of refining sustainment capabilities for the force. By hosting the Theater Opening ROC Drill, the command hopes to determine the Army's role and responsibilities during a joint theater opening as well as the procedures and processes.
CASCOM's Sustainment Battle Lab Experimentation department, took the approach of developing the exercise from a TRADOC approved scenario and topics for discussion to examine how to set the theater, provide strategic agility to the joint force and maintain freedom of movement during sustained high-tempo operations. Also, the exercise would identify the roles, missions and capabilities supporting the Army of 2020; examine how the Army will create positions of advantage; identify Reserve component capabilities for increased integration and utilize the five domains (land, air, maritime, cyber and space).
"This ROC Drill is a milestone in the two year Campaign of Learning that looks at the Army Operating Concept and its tenants," said William F. Moore, deputy to the commanding general, during opening remarks. "You will hear about the Army Operating Concept and we will take a hard look at what doctrine says and what it doesn't say."
In order to expand the exercise to a wider audience, participants from 11 Center of Excellence sites could let their voices be heard, virtually, by connecting to the exercise through the Defense Research and Engineering Network. The DREN is a closed-loop system that connects battle labs across the country via a secure network. Participating organizations from across the Army and the joint community included: the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Army Materiel Command, Army G-4, Special Operations Command, Forces Command, U.S. Army Europe, the National Guard Bureau, Office of the Chief of Army Reserve, U.S. Navy and Army logistics units from around the world. These sustainment professionals were able to actively participate in the exercise and provide their insights on a variety of topics.
One of the main focuses of the exercise was learning about the various resources available to a mission commander when first arriving on ground. Some were well known, while others were emerging technologies. One of those was the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore asset the 7th Transportation Brigade Expeditionary brings to the fight.
The 7th TBX is the watercraft section of the Transportation Corps that evolves into a joint task force to provide JLOTS capabilities to all branches of service during a theater opening.
"In a situation where you would need an actual military operation on a bare beach, you would be calling in the 7th TBX," said Maj. Theresa Armstrong, 7th TBX future planner. "We are able to flex to whatever the requirements would be at the time to get the gear from the water onto the ground."
Another aspect of the ROC Drill was to bring in other branches of the military to share the unique capabilities they can bring to the table as well as being able to communicate those need effectively across the different services.
"We are essentially the cargo handlers in a joint operating environment," said Navy Cmdr. Donna Johnson, Logistics Director, Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group. "In order to understand what we do, the other services parallel it to something similar in their branch. We can be called in to provide additional support in order to free up manpower for the Army to engage in other missions."
By the end of the week, participants had identified more than 16 insights that could potentially impact a theatre opening. It also provided a better understanding of the joint and Army organizations and agencies that provide critical capabilities to meet mission requirements.
Although this exercise has come to an end, the information gathered will continue to be discussed and will play a vital role in future doctrine and mission development.
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