WASHINGTON -- Readiness is the Army's top priority, according to the new Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, and it is Army Materiel Command's sole focus as the provider of the critical materiel required, said the command's top leader.
AMC Commanding General Gen. Dennis L. Via addressed the organization's indispensable role as the premier provider of Army and Joint readiness to more than 300 chapter presidents and members at the Association of the United States Army's Presidents Dinner Oct. 11.
"At the Army Materiel Command, readiness is why we exist, and it indeed remains my number one priority, as the command continues to restructure our organization to remain globally responsive, regionally aligned with the geographic Combatant Commands, while providing strategic agility and operational flexibility to meet a wide range of global operations and contingencies," said Via.
AMC enables Army readiness as it commands the global supply chain reaching the joint force and partner allies in more than 145 countries, he said.
Via shared one example of AMC's effort to provide readiness through the modernization of strategically positioned resources known as Army Prepositioned Stocks, or APS.
"Army Prepositioned Stocks provide our Army and the joint force with strategic reach, allowing units to quickly deploy and fall-in on equipment that is modernized and maintained in the highest state of readiness," said Via.
During a recent visit to Europe, Via assessed the soon-to-be brigade-sized European Activity Set that includes over 90 tanks, 140 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, towed artillery, engineering equipment, and communication, intelligence, and reconnaissance assets.
The EAS is one of nine activity sets, a type of APS that supports multinational training exercises and contingency operations around the world.
Foreign Military Sales is another major effort for AMC, said Via, with worldwide reach and support to every Combatant Command.
"FMS continues to reach record numbers, yielding billions of dollars in new business and increasing the capacity and capabilities of our allies and interoperability with our own forces," he said.
To drive home the point, Via said that in Central Command's area of responsibility, AMC sold $7.3 billion in Patriot missile systems and $4.6 billion in Apache helicopters.
"Everywhere the equipment goes, so does the maintenance, sustainment and life cycle management, creating tremendous opportunities for our country and tremendous opportunities for business," he said. "FMS represents a win-win-win for our Army, commercial industry and our industrial base."
AMC is ensuring readiness on the home front with its 23 depots, arsenals and ammunition plants that make up the Organic Industrial Base, he said.
"The OIB serves as a national security readiness insurance policy, essential to our ability to maintain fleets and surge to meet future requirements," said Via. "And while we may not need it every day, just as an insurance policy, when we do call upon it, we want to make sure the premium has been paid in full. These great state-of-the-art facilities are doing just that for your Army and for our nation."
Public-Private Partnerships are a key a to success during sequestration and declining resources as AMC leverages the combined power of the best of what industry and the OIB have to offer, said Via. AMC has 288 Public-Private Partnerships that keep lines running and the AMC workforce employed and ready to support future requirements, all while generating profits north of $257 million to AMC partners.
Looking forward to readiness for tomorrow's Army, Via pointed out that AMC employs more than 12,000 scientists and engineers dedicated to discoveries that empower, unburden, protect and sustain Soldiers.
"AMC is already conducting the basic research that will yield the yet unforeseen innovations of the future, exploring the art-of-the-possible in fields from quantum science to polymer chemistry," he said.
ARL is researching brain-computer interface technology as a way to allow warfighters to communicate silently and to control military systems by thought alone.
Sustaining the Soldier in hostile environments is challenging, said Via, and AMC continues to look for efficiencies despite the austere budget environment.
"We remain committed to ensuring that our Army remains the best-equipped fighting force, prepared to meet future operations and contingencies, regardless of their location in the world," said Via.
In closing, retired Lt. Gen. Roger Thompson, AUSA's vice president for membership and meetings, said that many people do not understand who and what the Army is to the United States of America and Via's remarks helped package the story that AUSA can now tell to its members and their communities.
"You've expanded our knowledge base and given us all an opportunity to remind the great American public in our chapter areas about your mission, the people that do it around the world, and the way that they do it," said Thompson.
Related Links:
Article - Organic Industrial Base touted as nation's insurance policy
Social Sharing