In a decisive action environment, the brigade combat team (BCT) is constantly on the move in order to gain tactical superiority over its enemy. When BCTs are constantly moving, engaging the enemy, dealing with difficult terrain, and rehearsing their next attacks, their operational readiness level can make or break an operation.
Equipment maintenance ranges from replacing small parts to rebuilding entire systems. Spending time on extensive repairs takes away from other tasks and bogs down support units when they can be helping units in other ways.
When units are constantly on the move, it becomes difficult to move deadlined vehicles and equipment at a rapid pace. Assets such as wreckers must be taken away from combat to move them, which slows the maneuver unit's pace.
THE ARMY MAINTENANCE STRUCTURE
Within the current structure of the Army maintenance system, the brigade support battalion's (BSB's) field maintenance company (FMC) is designed to support only the BSB and attached units that do not have the organic assets to maintain themselves.
Maneuver units with attached forward support companies (FSCs) are designed to accomplish their own field-level maintenance. Pass-back support from the FMC is not required unless the FSC does not have the organic assets necessary to repair the equipment.
This maintenance model was adopted during counterinsurgency operations in which fixing as far forward as possible was relatively doable since support units were not required to move rapidly from location to location. Now that the Army is moving back to decisive action operations, it needs to look at the way it conducts pass-back maintenance.
PASS-BACK MAINTENANCE
During its National Training Center rotation, the 1st Stryker BCT (SBCT) jumped locations every 24 to 48 hours. When units jumped, they had to tow their deadlined equipment. Towing deadlined equipment caused slower movements, clogged up logistics assets, and kept combat platforms occupied with towing like-vehicles.
The 25th BSB assisted units by accepting pass-back maintenance of equipment that had long wait times for parts or man-hour requirements exceeding 24 hours. By doing this, the BSB had roughly eight to 10 Strykers at any given time at the brigade support area (BSA) during the rotation, which freed up logistics and combat platforms to conduct maneuver and support operations instead of recovery. This method dramatically reduced the downtime of equipment because parts were easily accessible from the supply support activity located at the BSA.
The BSB completed more than 20 pass-back job orders within 10 days. Pass-back maintenance allowed the 1st SBCT to maintain an 80 percent operational readiness rate for Strykers during the rotation.
OPERATOR ESCORTS
The BSB was not just a drop-off or graveyard point for damaged equipment to await evacuation to higher level maintenance. Supported units were required to send operators or crews to do operator-level maintenance. These mechanics were either military occupational specialty (MOS) 91S (Stryker systems maintainer) or MOS 91B (wheeled vehicle mechanic), depending on the type and amount of equipment.
The purpose of sending an MOS 91S Soldier to the BSA was simply for added manpower. The BSB is authorized only six 91Ss to maintain the BSB's organic Stryker platforms. It was not designed to have an abundance of 91S Soldiers since current Army maintenance doctrine is not conducive to pass-back automotive maintenance within the BCT. Sending a mechanic with the equipment facilitated the workload at the BSA and reduced the repair wait time for Strykers and other equipment.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND COORDINATION
Along with operators escorting the equipment, a second and equally important piece to the success of pass-back maintenance was submitting job orders through the Global Combat Support System-Army (GCSS-Army). GCSS-Army presents some challenges with pass-back maintenance, particularly with accountability and communication.
Evacuating equipment to the BSA requires coordination with the maintenance control section of the FMC through the support operations (SPO) section to ensure accurate accountability of equipment. Coordination ensures the accountability of open job orders in GCSS-Army.
Without the job orders in GCSS-Army, the FMC maintenance team has little to no visibility of the equipment's deadline faults and the necessary parts that are already on order or on-hand. This problem was encountered multiple times and caused unnecessary equipment downtime. This situation could have been resolved easily had the SPO and FMC maintenance team coordinated prior to the equipment's arrival.
The solutions to the coordination problem were the daily logistics synchronization meetings and maintenance meetings. During these meetings, leaders identified which equipment required higher level maintenance or had long wait times for parts. They also prioritized equipment for pass-back maintenance. Once the SPO maintenance, transportation, and FMC maintenance control teams became fully synchronized through these meeting, the pass-back maintenance plan was a true combat multiplier for the brigade.
Getting to that level of synchronization, however, required the buy-in of pass-back maintenance from supported units, detailed coordination of equipment movement from the combat trains command post to the BSA, and the proper use of work orders in GCSS-Army. Full synchronization requires practice, detailed planning, engaged leadership from the company and battalion, and open communication during sustainment rehearsals.
Pass-back maintenance can be a combat multiplier for units, or it can cause the BSA to quickly become a collection point of broken equipment with no accountability of what needs to be fixed to get the equipment back into the fight. It is a model the Army needs to re-address in its doctrine to preserve, regenerate, and project combat power.
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Lt. Col. Garrick L. Cramer is the commander of the 25th BSB, 1st SBCT. He has a bachelor's degree in history and a master's degree in emergency management from Touro University. He is a graduate of the Officer Basic Course, Combined Logistics Captains Career Course, Combined Arms and Services Staff School, and Command and General Staff College.
Capt. Jeffrey P. Kelley is the commander of G FSC, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment 1st SBCT, 25th Infantry Division, at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. He previously served as the commander of B Company, 25th BSB. He has a bachelor's degree in kinesiology from the University of Kentucky. He is a graduate of the Ordnance Basic Officer Leaders Course and the Logistics Captains Career Course.
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Shawn Hubbs, the senior maintenance technician for the 25th BSB, 1st SBCT, contributed to this article.
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This article is an Army Sustainment magazine product.
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