ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. -- Maj. Gen. Kevin O'Connell, commanding general, U.S. Army Sustainment Command, held a town hall meeting for ASC headquarters personnel in Heritage Hall, here, Sept. 1.
O'Connell started his talk with a global update.
"We are touching every piece of the Army," said O'Connell. "Just a great, phenomenal job across the board."
According to O'Connell, Army Field Support Battalion (AFSBn) Italy, which is under the 405th Army Field Support Brigade (AFSB) in Kaiserslautern, Germany, will be re-designated AFSBn ??-- Africa at the end of September. O'Connell said that AFSBn ??-- Africa will shift their focus to planning and operations in Africa.
O'Connell overviewed other recent changes in the command's AFSBs, including the moving of the 402nd AFSB from Kuwait to Hawaii in August. He said that this move has allowed the 402nd to take on responsibilities in the vast Pacific region.
The 401st, which took the 402nd's place in Kuwait in July, took over the mission in the Middle East and provides logistic support to U.S. and coalition forces in Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.
O'Connell also talked about how ASC will continue to build the European Activity Set located in Germany while removing, repurposing, and disposing of excess equipment from Korea.
O'Connell said that a primary goal for the Army is to make it look like and function as if it is much larger than it is by moving Soldiers around the globe.
Following O'Connell, several command sections talked about their top three main points of interest.
Norbert Herrera, director of G-1 (Human Resources), ASC, talked about his office's progress in recruiting interns for the Department of Defense's workforce revitalization initiative. To date, he said ASC has eight open and two pending announcements for interns, with more on the way.
Herrera also said that the organizational training division has moved back to G-3/5/7 (Support Operations).
Lonnie Mason, G-2 (Intelligence and Security), encouraged personnel to complete their mandatory security awareness training before the end of fiscal year 2015.
Mason also talked about the Department of Defense's new Continuous Evaluation Program. He said that under this program, instead of periodic security clearance checks every five years for top secret and every ten years for secret, reevaluation timing will be on an irregular schedule based on changes in a person's status like financial changes, family changes, and position changes.
Mason encouraged personnel not to be alarmed if they are notified of being under security clearance review.
Lt. Col. Grant Morris, G3/5/7 (Support Operations), said that Logistic Support Team Africa will be completely stood up by Sept. 20.
Jim Coffman, G-4 (Logistics), said that the elevator construction in building 390 will be finished in October. He also said that the G-4 is working on renovating old facilities where equipment will be stored in Europe.
Mark Lovejoy, G-6 (Information Management) reminded personnel of the new email limitations. He said that starting Oct. 1, a four-gigabyte email limit will be enacted for the remaining 150 people who have not already had their emails limited.
Lovejoy said that, at four gigabytes, personnel will not be able to send emails. At 4.6 gigabytes, they will not be able to receive emails.
Lovejoy encouraged personnel to save emails to their hard drives and to back up their hard drives. He also encouraged them to contact his office if they need help.
Cheryl Vincent, G-8 (Resource Management), said that ASC has currently obligated 83 percent of FY2015 funding, and they are working to obligate the rest of $327 million before the end of the month.
Vincent also discussed their current difficulties getting funding for FY2016, in part because of the Budget Control Act of 2011, otherwise known as sequestration.
"As far as planning numbers go, right now they are much, much lower than what we executed in FY15," she said, continuing that her team is working hard to communicate the risks of low funding to higher authorities.
Vincent asked management and staff to be very cost conscious in the upcoming year.
"We will make it through the year; we always do," she said.
O'Connell encouraged personnel not to let budget concerns worry them too much.
"Keep up the great work, keep up the positive attitude, don't let this budget stuff get you down; it can consume you if you let it," said O'Connell.
Awards were also given out at the event. Instead of reading citations, O'Connell spoke briefly about each of the 22 following award recipients.
Achievement Medal for Civilian Service: Patricia Hulett, Lindsay Sobie, Matthew Burns, George Eaton, Travis Haynes, Mark Lovejoy and Barb Zvonik.
Commander's Award for Civilian Service: Neal Ketron, Tom Kenyon , Cheryl Vincent, Cindy Beserra, Joe Schulz, Connie Schultz, Marty Utizig, Jody Fasco and Eddie Nagel.
Supervisor Civilian Service Award: Tim Fore, Lee Hansen, Matthew Sannito and Bobbie Russell.
Louis Dellamonica Award for Outstanding Army Material Command (AMC) Personnel of the Year: Marty Utizig and Joseph Schulz.
Army Achievement Medal: Capt. Derrick Lyles.
Army Commendation Medal: Sgt. 1st Class Shannon Wright.
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