1CD RSSB conducts Sustainment Leadership Seminar

By 1LT. Daniel Fong, 1st Cavalry Division Resolute Support Sustainment BrigadeJanuary 12, 2017

1CD RSSB conducts Sustainment Leadership Seminar
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1CD RSSB conducts Sustainment Leadership Seminar
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1CD RSSB conducts Sustainment Leadership Seminar
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BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan--The 1st Cavalry Division Resolute Support Sustainment Brigade (1CD RSSB) hosted its first Sustainment Leadership Seminar at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan (BAF) Dec. 19 and Dec. 20. The seminar was led by Col. Christopher H. Colavita, commander, 1CD RSSB and chaired by Command Sgt. Maj. Jill L. Crosby, command sergeant major, 1CD RSSB.

The purpose of the seminar was to bring key leaders together in order to discuss the sustainment processes, capabilities, inconsistencies, and way ahead for current and future sustainment operations in the Combined Joint Operations Area -- Afghanistan (CJOA-A). The seminar also provided logistics leaders with a comprehensive and functional logistics plan that addressed the sustainment infrastructure and mission command in Afghanistan.

Key participants included the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP), Army Field Support Battalion-Afghanistan (AFSBn-A), Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC), Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), and United States Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A).

The RSSB relies heavily on strategic enablers to support and distribute commodities to outlying locations within the CJOA-A. Operational Contracting Support plays a major role in overseeing these enablers, which consists of 95 LOGCAP Sustainment Services, 13 RSSB contracts, and four AFSBn contracts totaling in more than $1.8 billion dollars.

"These contracts provide the essential base life support within Afghanistan, and have done so for more than a decade," said Lt. Col. Timothy Rados, commander for 3rd LOGCAP Battalion emphasizing the importance of the services.

Additionally, DLA plays a major role by providing disposition services and contract transition to ensure there are no gaps in service, Rados concluded.

Other service providers such as SDDC assist the RSSB in maintaining visibility of resources, ensuring that products arrive at the correct location in a timely manner. Together, these services operate to provide a streamlined process, ensuring assets and resources are able to move throughout the CJOA-A in order to sustain the warfighter.

The seminar also focused on the gaps within the sustainment enterprise, and discussed possible solutions to address them.

Among the major gaps are the small inconsistencies in distribution enablers throughout the CJOA-A. An assessment conducted by the RSSB determined that the ability to effectively conduct sustainment missions, decisive operations, movement control, and build upon partner capacity has been degraded through systemic erosion of integration over time.

Furthermore, the reliance on contracted support has resulted in less communication and duplication of efforts across the CJOA-A. Although the current process works, the RSSB took an unconventional and hard approach to restructure RSSB operations. This approach seeks to realign the expeditionary infrastructure, create a robust liaison officer (LNO) architecture, create a sustainment fusion cell, and provide emergency resupply capabilities. This aggressive tactic also solidifies and strengthens operations by creating a headquarters that is agile, responsive, and ready to meet all sustainment requirements.

The Logistics Leaders Seminar was successful in bringing the logistics community together, addressing current issues, and promoting changes for 2017 and beyond. The proposed changes create an end-state that allows the RSSB to address internal areas of opportunity, adjust LNO functions, clarify roles and responsibilities for sustainment within the CJOA-A, and create a viable distribution system to enable sustainment fusion across Afghanistan. Due to the overall success of the conference, the RSSB will continue hosting the seminar with plans already set in motion for March of 2017.