FORT BRAGG, N.C. (June 21, 2012) - The U.S. Army Forces Command G-4 Sustainment Seminar gathered logisticians from the strategic and operational levels to study the future of military sustainment and logistics operations. The more than 160 attendees received briefings on both near-term logistical challenges and a projected vision for sustainment operations in 2020.
Those attending the two-day gathering represented a wide range of commands, including the Department of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4; FORSCOM's G-4 and its subordinate units; the Army Training and Doctrine Command; Combined Arms Sustainment Command; Surface Deployment and Distribution Command; Army Materiel Command; Army Sustainment Command; Installation Management Command; Mission Installation and Contracting Command; and U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Brig. Gen. John R. O'Connor, FORSCOM deputy chief of staff for logistics, kicked off the seminar by taking a look back at the logistics accomplishments since last year's gathering and a look forward to the future challenges facing the Army's logistics leaders.
Lt. Gen. Raymond V. Mason, the Department of the Army's deputy chief of staff for logistics, who spoke on such key Army sustainment topics as logistics force, operations update, the cost of sustainment, property accountability, and sustaining the force.
"We must deal with the converging challenge of how to deal with more sustainment requirements with no more money," he said, pointing out that systems have gotten more complicated, using as an example how ten years ago the HUMVEE was merely a mode of transportation but today has become a fighting platform. "Is the MRAP we have now, plus all the stuff in it, what we want in five to ten years? Probably not. Is what we're outfitting Soldiers with now what we want them to have in ten years? Probably not.
"But not everyone can have everything they want. We just can't afford it. We've got to figure out how to spread scarce dollars."
With regard to logistics forces structure, he emphasized the need to keep the Army Reserve Component operationalized, especially with the size of the Active Component being reduced.
"We must stay connected with our Reserve units. Assured access to a trained, ready, operational Reserve is essential to continued operational-level sustainment of any expeditionary Army," he said, acknowledging, however, that political pressure may impact that goal.
He brought up that the Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, wants to focus on three principles: prevent, shape, win.
"To prevent, we must have a credible force that can get to the fight. To shape, we must remain engaged in theater with the Combatant Commands and not pull back into the U.S. And to win, we must have an Army that is manned, trained, equipped, and led," Mason explained.
"You are the ones who are going to solve the problems. It's all about partnerships. That's why conferences like this are so important because they get you talking to each other as groups, organizations, and individuals," he stressed, pointing out as an example of inter-organizational unity the planned implementation of a Single Army Logistics Enterprise that will achieve improved accountability and auditability.
On the second day of the seminar, Col. Lenny Kness, 1st Theater Sustainment Command chief of staff, discussed lessons learned during retrograde operations from Operation New Dawn in Iraq and their potential application for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
He outlined several key lessons learned during the OND retrograde such as: maintaining a warfighter focus on accountability of organizational equipment, creating maximum flexibility in processes and systems to adjust to unforeseen changes, and ensuring the management of expectations.
"It was a lot of great work across the entire team," said Kness as he noted an important distinction of the effort, "it was not a sustainment mission, it was an operation supported by the sustainment community."
Kness then used these lessons learned as a starting point to discuss planning and preparation for similar requirements in Afghanistan.
"The bottom line is we are using a lot of the same processes," explained Kness, "the challenges are a little different as we go through this but as long as we stick to what we're doing and use the lessons learned, we'll get this done."
Kness was followed by retired Army Lt. Gen. Claude V. Christianson, senior director of the Center for Joint and Strategic Logistics at the National Defense University, who discussed the role of logistics in the Joint Force of 2020.
Christianson opened his discussion of the future of military logistics, Christianson by sharing a quote from a capstone concept document in the development of the Joint Force 2020, "the joint force cannot afford to apply preconceived methods reflexively, but instead must conform its methods to the specific conditions of each situation."
Christianson identified several characteristics of the joint operating environment that he discussed through the lens of logistics: distributed operations, globally networked, adaptive and mission command.
Christianson emphasized that the future demands global, distribution-based sustainment concepts where rapid and precise response becomes the overriding performance metric.
"This should not be 'business as usual' for us...designing and managing global and regional distribution networks will be the coin of the realm," said Christianson.
Christianson concluded his discussion by outlining what the Army sustainment community must do to prepare for Joint Force 2020: networking the enterprise; positioning, delivering and sustaining operations; and optimizing the processes.
Other topics covered during the FORSCOM G-4 Sustainment Seminar included the Global Combat Support System-Army (GCSS-Army),deploying and resetting echelons-above-brigade logistics units, the Rapid Expeditionary Deployment Initiative, the special mission logistics planning way ahead, the Army reset common operating picture, and a contract overview from the Mission Installation Contract Command.
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