ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. (Jan. 11, 2016) -- With the addition of a U.S. Army Reserve Detachment, the Joint Munitions Command, or JMC, has enhanced the effectiveness of its global mission of providing ready, reliable and lethal ammunition to all military services throughout the Department of Defense.
The JMC Reserve Detachment was established in September 2009 and has provided an available, trained and deployable force, which offers a proven capability of logistics, operations, planning, joint exercise support and ammunition mission support.
The Joint Munitions Command manages a nationwide network of 14 industrial base installations across the United States. Its four core competencies are to produce, distribute, store and demilitarize Class V ammunition. It manages ammunition ranging from small-caliber rounds used by all military services to bunker-buster bombs used by the Navy and Air Force.
The JMC detachment is commanded by Col. Paul Walenesky, who provides the leadership for various ammo missions both stateside and overseas. The detachment has a staff of 12 Soldiers, who provide part-time support to JMC and its higher headquarters, the Army Materiel Command, during weekend battle assemblies and two-week annual training sessions.
"In November of 2012, when I took command of the JMC Detachment, we needed a reboot," Walenesky said. "Our legacy support to the JMC mission had dwindled and our Soldiers had transitioned to other jobs. However, with some targeted recruiting and a closer relationship with the Headquarters JMC G2/G3 Directorate, we were able to recruit logisticians from across the Midwest, and we were able to synchronize our logistical support with current and future JMC missions. Today, our 12 senior logisticians are supporting strategic initiatives like Korea Rotational Missions, providing nationwide U.S. Army Reserve and Army National Guard unit liaison for ammunition transportation and depot re-warehousing missions, and supporting property accountability and cost-saving initiatives at both headquarters and JMC installations."
"The Reserve detachment has provided JMC Headquarters with the ability to expand its global support to the warfighter," said Dottie Olson, deputy chief of staff for operations, G2/G3 Directorate. "The Reserve Soldiers have become an invaluable part of our team."
Since its inception, the Reserve detachment has supported several critical JMC ammunition logistics missions.
During the spring of 2013, 2014 and 2015, the detachment deployed Soldiers to support the JMC Senior Command Representative during Exercise Key Resolve at Camp Henry, South Korea. The Soldiers assisted in the work coordination and synchronization of Class V ammunition commodities during a joint service exercise.
During 2014, the detachment assisted in the development of the inter-service support agreement with Crane Army Ammunition Activity staff. The agreement provided tracking metrics which the staff used to reduce support costs on the installation that they shared with the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Indiana.
During the summer of 2014 and 2015, it supported Exercise Ulchi Freedom Guardian at Camp Henry, South Korea. The detachment deployed Soldiers to support a JMC Senior Command Representative with ammunition stock requirements. Soldiers managed and monitored all inbound ammunition, both by air and sea, communicated and assisted in the establishment of theater requirements, facilitated movement and strategic position of assets.
In a year-long effort, the detachment provided three Soldiers to assist during Nationwide Move 2015. The Soldiers assisted JMC's headquarters staff in developing stateside transportation routes and operations planning requirements in support of the exercise. NWM 15 was a logistics mission, which transported excess ammunition between two JMC managed installations to enhance their storage capability requirements.
During the summer of 2015, Soldiers performed a two-week mission at McAlester Army Ammunition Plant. During this mission, Soldiers worked with three Army Reserve ordnance companies and performed re-warehousing support in coordination with the plant's staff.
As part of an ongoing effort, one detachment Soldier has been assigned to Crane Army Ammunition Activity, or CAAA.
Lt. Col. David Callaway is leading a matrix organization of Army and Navy civil engineers, logisticians, railroad supervisors, budget analysts and a manpower analyst in developing and executing a plan to functionally transfer railroad operations and maintenance from the Navy Engineering and Facilities Command, or NAVFAC, to CAAA.
The Crane project reviewed decades-old inter-support service agreements between the Army and Navy. Looking specifically at scope and cost, it was determined the Army could save money and gain efficiencies if CAAA were to assume rail operations from the Navy. The rail transfer project is projected to save approximately $366,000 annually in overhead costs and increase efficiencies through cross-training rail personnel in direct support of other CAAA missions. Finally, this functional transfer properly aligns CAAA and NAVFAC missions and leads to a better value for CAAA's DOD customers.
The JMC Reserve Detachment has also developed a training course under guidance of Col. David Banian, JMC chief of staff. The course educates the JMC civilian staff in Army operations and the Army operation order process, or OPORD. This OPORD course is offered annually to all the Department of Defense civilians who work at JMC Headquarters.
The course is designed to provide a general overview and understanding of the Army operations process, the military decision making process and the orders production process. It is taught by Maj. Patrick Ryan, who is also employed as a civilian as the commercial demilitarization execution lead in JMC's Materiel Management Directorate.
The Joint Munitions Command has a mission to produce small-, medium- and large-caliber ammunition items for the Department of Defense. JMC is the logistics integrator for life-cycle management of ammunition and provides a global presence of technical support to U.S. combat units wherever they are stationed or deployed. With the additional support of the JMC Reserve Detachment, several missions and exercises are scheduled in 2016 to enhance JMC's global presence.
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