Since Operation Iraqi Freedom and later Operation Enduring Freedom, the lack of equipment at home station for units and Soldiers to train to operate in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) environment was a mission critical deficiency. To prepare Soldiers and units for deployment in order to operate more effectively in the IED environment, the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) and the Army quickly provided thousands of sets of Counter Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) equipment to conduct home station training.
The training equipment within the U.S. Forces Command (FORSCOM) Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) Program consists of non-Program of Record (non-POR) and non-standard equipment. Accountability and control over this training equipment, to include the Pre-Deployment Training Equipment (PDTE) fleet, was transferred from the Army Materiel Command (AMC) to the FORSCOM C-IED Program. (PDTE are designated stocks of equipment controlled by Department of the Army G4 and designated only to support Overseas Contingency Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.)
A higher equipment utilization rate and increased operational readiness rate coupled with decreasing training budgets and increased leader emphasis on home-station training has resulted in higher utilization and operational readiness requirements for non-POR and non-standard equipment. This has increased demand upon logistical support and the current system and processes.
Senior leaders recognized that having Mission Support Element (MSE) G3s, supported primarily by the C-IED Program Logistics Assistance Team, to sign for and assume control of the equipment would provide the most responsive, effective and efficient method to manage such critical equipment.
Since PDTE C-IED equipment, (now under the control of the FORSCOM C-IED Program) exists at fourteen different locations, each location is dependent upon a robust logistics and maintenance capability to ensure resources for the C-IED equipment is continuously available for home-station training.
Developing an Equipment Management and Inventory Control System
The C-IED Program Logistics Assistance Team identified this property accountability challenge associated with non-standard/non-POR equipment, and the need to develop and implement an inventory management system. The team embarked upon developing and implementing a solution that began with one analyst, an unknown quantity of equipment and no way of tracking the equipment sets the program required. The team developed the solution into a Logistics program that has assisted the FORSCOM C-IED Program with assuming control, maintenance, and sustainment training of over 6,500 pieces of equipment at fourteen home station installations and two Combat Training Centers across the Army valued at approximately $125M.
Further refinement of the Logistics program incorporated the deployment of the Tool Room Management System (TRMS) to all Active Army Component FORSCOM Home Station Training Sites. The Tool Room Management System (TRMS) is a standard Army computer-based system similar to Aviation Resource Management System (ARMS) that is used by aviation units. TRMS tags equipment and components and allows the equipment to be scanned in and out, while generating a computer hand receipt for signature. The web-based software, accessed from any C-IED Integration Cell (CI2C) site, provides real time equipment tracking and closes the existing logistics capabilities gaps regarding CI2C equipment in support of training soldiers.
The utilization of TRMS provides an automated inventory management solution for tracking receipt, issue, equipment visibility by individual end item, utilization rates, operational rates, and sustainment of C-IED asymmetric threat equipment systems. It also tracks usage and maintenance history on each piece of equipment and identifies actual equipment requirements or training shortfalls for FORSCOM units. The TRMS has also provided a method to expedite the long process to manage and account for equipment while also allowing for greater use by the units and Soldiers for training.
Equipment currently tracked in TRMS includes Handheld Detectors, Biometrics, Robotics, Company Intelligence Support Team (COIST), and Counter Radio Electronic Warfare (CREW) equipment. The FORSCOM C-IED Program Logistics Assistance Team leads the integration at each CI2C site, verifies on-hand equipment and assists in balancing equipment needs across the force.
By implementing both the Logistics program and TRMS to the FORSCOM C-IED Program, property accountability records have improved by reducing human errors, lowering manpower cost and time for inventories, decreasing wait time of equipment transfers, streamlining equipment loaned procedures, and providing real time visibility of equipment. This ultimately provides soldiers more time for C-IED training and less time spent doing administrative tasks.
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