Heavy Lifting

By Col. Albert J. Cole, U.S. Army Materiel CommandDecember 9, 2013

HANDLE WITH CARE
1 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Munitions require careful treatment in the R4D process, a mission supported by JMC. Here, Spc. Jacob Lanting of the 426th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division opens munitions containers March 26 during a munitio... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
LOAD 'EM UP
2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
MATERIEL ON THE MOVE
3 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – With more than 70,000 personnel situated around the world and missions ranging from research and development to reset, AMC has the daunting task of executing the disposition of enormous amounts of materiel, including tens of thousands of shipping con... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
RPAT YARD
4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Teams of Soldiers from both the active and reserve components assist in vehicle and equipment retrograde operations at bases across Afghanistan. The Soldiers work as part of RPATs, inspecting Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, other vehicles, ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

The Retrograde, Reset, Redeployment, Redistribution and Disposal (R4D) mission in Afghanistan is a herculean effort. Launched in January 2012 and unprecedented in complexity, R4D requires innovation and creativity to meet the national objective of bringing equipment back to the United States.

As of Sept. 4, the Army alone had tens of thousands of vehicles and shipping containers--more than a million pieces of equipment overall, valued at approximately $23.5 billion--that must move within a landlocked and land-constrained environment. With more than 70,000 personnel situated around the world and missions ranging from research and development to reset, the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) is uniquely suited to play a pivotal role.

As the R4D mission continues, each of AMC's major subordinate commands plays a part in the successful conduct and eventual completion of this monumental task.

Perhaps the most visible AMC asset involved in the R4D mission are the forward-deployed members of U.S. Army Sustainment Command's Army field support brigades (AFSBs). The 401st AFSB, located primarily in Bagram and Kandahar, serves as the first line of effort in AMC's support to the R4D mission, providing logistics synchronization. Early in the retrograde process, 180 days before the first unit's redeployment under R4D, the 401st sent property accountability assistance teams to forward operating bases (FOBs) and combat outposts (COPs) to help with turn-in paperwork, and pushed out mobile redistribution property assistance teams (MRPATs) to relieve redeploying units of excess property before the units arrived at one of the nine permanent RPAT yards in Afghanistan. Command emphasis and early planning between the 401st and commanders on the ground helped ensure a steady flow of equipment throughout the process.

Other forward-deployed AMC assets also play a critical role in processing and returning equipment from theater.

AMC's Logistics Support Activity forward training teams provide on-the-ground Logistics Information Warehouse (LIW) training, including Automated Reset Management Tool (ARMT) training and Theater Provided Equipment (TPE) Planner training, and can help units with any issues they may have with the systems critical to R4D.

DISPOSAL ASSISTANCE

TPE Planner and the Decision Support Tool (DST) also support the disposition of items for foreign military sales, which are managed by U.S. Army Security and Assistance Command (USASAC). During the current R4D process, USASAC is working closely with AMC and DA so that once materiel is identified as no longer required for the current force structure, it may become a candidate to support the excess defense article (EDA) program. Countries' requests for EDA items go through the service departments and Office of the Secretary of Defense. Once the items become available, they are offered to the country. USASAC is working several cases for EDA items in Afghanistan and throughout the United States in support of building partner capacity.

Another AMC asset, Joint Munitions Command (JMC), assists with the inventory, retrograde and disposal of munitions in theater, a critical role. In Operation Ammunition Clean Sweep, teams of quality assurance specialists (ammunition surveillance), explosive ordnance disposal contractors and Soldiers travel throughout Afghanistan to search ammunition handling areas and containers for explosives and munitions. The team separates them by lots, inspects the lots for safety and serviceability, and segregates them by condition code. Serviceable and safe munitions and explosives are repacked for use by the warfighter or to be retrograded out of theater. The operation allows for adequate planning for packing into containers, air movement and vessel requirements.

KEEP IT MOVING

The Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC) is responsible for that air and vessel movement. SDDC is the Army service component command of U.S. Transportation Command and a major subordinate command of AMC. SDDC is a critical partner for the 401st's equipment retrograde mission, providing strategic lift capability to move retrograde equipment from theater. Multimodal equipment movement requires a carefully coordinated series of actions to ensure that the right equipment is ready and staged for movement to an aerial point of departure, where it will be flown to a seaport for surface transportation to its final destination.

To best support the R4D equipment retrograde from Afghanistan, SDDC created the Velocity Volume Distribution Retrograde (V2DR) approach. V2DR is designed to balance volume (the vast number of items that must be moved) against velocity, or the speed at which returning equipment must move. V2DR includes best-value routing, sound equipping forecasts, and a free flow of carrier multimodal sites, while adhering to equipment required-delivery dates.

According to SDDC transportation experts, the V2DR approach was developed under the assumption that Pakistan ground lines of communication and the Northern Distribution Network would be open.

Once the Army has determined the disposition of equipment and vehicles in Afghanistan, SDDC coordinates the appropriate transportation. For many pieces of equipment, including rolling stock, that involves second-order transportation to one of AMC's life cycle management command (LCMC) depots or arsenals for reset and redistribution. In FY12, AMC depots reset the equipment-equivalent of 24 brigade combat teams.

The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) LCMC, TACOM LCMC and Communications-Electronics Command have the responsibility of life-cycle maintenance, resetting equipment to ensure that it can return to the materiel enterprise in the best condition possible. Often, this means refurbishing aircraft and vehicles to better-than-new condition. This reset process ultimately saves the Army money by revitalizing war-worn equipment and returning it to units in ready condition for whatever mission awaits them.

The TACOM and AMCOM LCMCs are using the reset requirement as an opportunity to enhance equipment configurations, rather than simply returning them to their original legacy designs.

The U.S. Army Contracting and Expeditionary Contracting Commands (ACC and ECC) also play significant roles in the R4D process, offering full-spectrum contracting support. In addition to ensuring support to the on-the-ground forces, ACC is conducting its own drawdown in theater, consolidating contracts as FOBs and COPs close and ensuring that the contracting population reduces in conjunction with the retrograde.

CONCLUSION

During the entire R4D process, Headquarters, AMC maintains overwatch from its 24-hour Global Logistics Operations Center, which can follow the numbers of tracked and wheeled vehicles and containers leaving the country, and facilitate communication and action between subordinate commands and other key participants, including the Army G-4 and 1st Theater Support Command.

For more information on AMC, go to www.amc.army.mil.

Related Links:

U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center

U.S. Army Materiel Command