AFSBn-Kuwait leads ROC Drill, simulates equipping ABCT

By Justin Graff, 401st AFSB Public AffairsJuly 2, 2016

AFSBn-Kuwait leads ROC Drill, simulates equipping an entire ABCT
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Maj. Kyle Johnson, executive officer, 401st Army Field Support Battalion-Kuwait, takes questions from logistics stakeholders during a rehearsal of concept drill for Army Prepositioned Stocks-5 equipment issue at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, June 30. (U.S. A... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
AFSBn-Kuwait leads ROC Drill, simulates equipping an entire ABCT
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Lt. Col. Russell Foster, commander, 401st Army Field Support Battalion-Kuwait, discusses how logisticians in the battle space can better advise incoming brigade combat teams about how to receive equipment during a rehearsal of concept drill for Army ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait -- The 401st Army Field Support Battalion-Kuwait led a rehearsal of concept drill for Army Prepositioned Stocks-5 equipment issue here, June 30.

The ROC drill was conducted to improve the process of issuing APS-5 equipment to an arriving unit, specifically in this case an armored brigade combat team.

"We look at the entire reception, staging, onward movement, and integration process in these drills," said Lt. Col. Russell Foster, commander, AFSBn-Kuwait. "It's more than just signing over property. If you have a brigade that's tasked to come over here into theater from back in the states, you have to do the whole RSOI process to get them into theater, equip them, and verify that they're able to go fight."

APS-5 contains three brigade equipment sets. The largest of the three is the ABCT, at more than 12,000 pieces of property. The other brigade sets are an infantry brigade combat team set and a Sustainment Brigade set.

"That's why we have Army prepositioned stocks located in different positions around the world, to expedite this complex process," Foster said. "Instead of having to ship the equipment over here, you can just get the people here and they can fall in on the prepositioned stocks and then go engage bad guys."

The AFSBn-Kuwait's mission is to issue the equipment to the incoming unit. However, that's only one piece of the process. The ROC drill included participants from other logistics organizations that are involved with RSOI in theater.

"There's the people, receiving the people, housing the people, transporting the people, in processing them into theater, and getting them to the property so they can receive the property," Foster said. "Then once the property is issued, somebody has to get it out to the tactical assembly area so they can zero the guns and make sure all the crews are certified on the equipment."

The drill served as a conversation forum for several different organizations to sync their parts of the process with one another and refine the process as a whole.

"The big thing we wanted to highlight during this ROC drill was the preparation and everything that goes into it, and highlight some of the challenges we can run into," Foster said. "We want to make sure the customer gets the best possible piece of equipment, on time, every time."

Participants included the 401st Army Field Support Brigade command team, and members of U.S. Army Materiel Command, Area Support Group-Kuwait, 1st Theater Sustainment Command, 257th Movement Control Battalion, AFSBn-Qatar, 17th Sustainment Brigade, and Vectrus.

"Since there are many stakeholders within the overall RSOI process, it is imperative that we all coordinate our efforts in order to ensure our actions are in sync," said Maj. Kyle Johnson, executive officer, AFSBn-Kuwait.

"The ROC drill allowed us to better quantify our gaps in capabilities in order to facilitate further discussions on what actions we can do to either mitigate or eliminate these shortcomings," Johnson said.

The AFSBn-Kuwait is scheduled to welcome a new commander July 1. The incoming commander, Lt. Col. Tim Haylett, also participated in the ROC drill.

"We've got a good team here, and I think they'll help set the new commander up for success," Foster said. "He's a competent guy, and I'm sure he'll do very well."

The drill spanned four hours, and was preceded by a full day of orientation briefings that occurred across four different APS-5 lots.

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