WASHINGTON -- Optimizing the Army's Organic Industrial Base was the focus of Army Materiel Command's top leader as he engaged congressional representatives and staff members July 27 at the annual House Depot Caucus Breakfast.
Gen. Gus Perna emphasized the importance of the Army's Organic Industrial Base as he addressed members of the House Military Depot, Arsenal, Ammunition Plant and Industrial Facilities Caucus.
"We need predictable and consistent funding to preserve the Organic Industrial Base's ability to support materiel readiness and meet current and future requirements," Perna told members of the Caucus and some of the members of the House Armed Services and House Appropriations Committees.
The Army Materiel Command oversees 23 Organic Industrial Base sites that include manufacturing arsenals, maintenance depots and ammunition plants. The facilities manufacture and reset Army equipment, directly generating readiness and operational capability throughout the Army's formations.
While Perna emphasized the importance of the Organic Industrial Base to the warfighter and the nation, he noted the aging infrastructure of some facilities needs to be modernized.
The annual House Depot Caucus Breakfast encourages candid dialogue between Army Materiel Command leaders and members of Congress about the Army's priorities in sustaining readiness for the total force through our national level maintenance process, said Army Materiel Command's Director of Public and Congressional Affairs Director Col. Richard Spiegel.
The Caucus, co-chaired by U.S. Representatives Walter B. Jones (R-NC) and Dave Loebsack (D-IA), is a bipartisan group of House members dedicated to policy issues that affect military industrial facilities, including depots, arsenals, ammunition plants, shipyards and energetic material production facilities. The caucus serves to educate other members of Congress on matters of importance to the military depot and industrial facility community, as well as advocate for necessary changes in policy.
When he joined Loebsack as chair of the Caucus in 2013, Jones recalled his past work as a member of the group to ensure maximization of military depots to regenerate equipment.
"I strongly believe that arsenals such as Rock Island Arsenal, ammunition plants like the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, depots, and other organic industrial facilities are essential to our national security," said Loebsack.
The U.S. Army's Organic Industrial Base includes:
Anniston Army Depot, Alabama
Anniston Munitions Center, Alabama
Corpus Christi Army Depot, Texas
Blue Grass Army Depot, Kentucky
Crane Army Ammunition Activity, Indiana
Hawthorne Army Depot, Nevada
Holston Army Ammunition Plant, Tennessee
Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, Iowa
Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, Ohio
Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, Missouri
Letterkenny Army Depot, Pennsylvania
Letterkenny Munitions Center, Pennsylvania
McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, Oklahoma
Milan Army Ammunition Plant, Tennessee
Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas
Radford Army Ammunition Plant, Virginia
Red River Army Depot, Texas
Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois
Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, Pennsylvania
Sierra Army Depot, California
Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pennsylvania
Tooele Army Depot, Utah
Watervliet Arsenal, New York
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