FORT SILL, Okla. (Oct. 11, 2018) -- Deploying a unit into theater under normal conditions is a complex mission. Maintaining a battery ready to deploy within 96 hours is even more daunting.
Speed, efficiency, mobilization, accountability, readiness, time, and safety are just a small amount of conditions required for a battery to rapidly deploy.
Ninety-six hours is not a timeline, but a race against time and resources. The Prepare to Deploy Order (PTDO) mission is the ultimate challenge to bring equipment and personnel forward to support the combatant commander in a real-world air defense mission.
B Battery, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Air Defense Artillery, is on a PTDO mission. Upon activation, the battery is required to deploy a contingent designated as the Minimum Engagement Package (MEP) capable of conducting air and missile defense operations anywhere in the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) area of responsibility (AoR) in a maximum of 96 hours.
This particular mission set has many challenges, to include maintaining a constant level of readiness, equipment, and personnel, and to be prepared to execute a complex array of tasks to ensure the MEP is deployed.
The objective of designating a battery as the PTDO is to have a ready force available to augment or directly support the combatant commander in the theater of operations. Maintaining a battery in this constant ready status means orchestrating a delicate balance of training and execution of deployment readiness activities.
The challenge of managing personnel in a PTDO battery is to maintain one section of the battery ready and available to deploy within four days. This includes deployment bags packed, travel and privilege restrictions in effect, and interval sustainment training. B/3-2 ADA tackled this challenge by implementing a duty calendar specifying which crew was on duty, and under what restrictions.
Soldiers were briefed by the commander and counseled on all responsibilities associated with the duty rotation. While one crew was on duty, the remaining two crews acted as the pusher unit, tasked with maintaining vehicles, conducting wash rack operations, and loading and certifying containers, just to mention a few tasks.
The constant personnel movements (changes of duty station, deployments, etc.) brought a new set of challenges in need of coordination.
The mitigation plan for these movements is slotting additional personnel through precision manning in key positions and forecasting personnel movements as far in advance as possible.
Even with contingency manning plans in place, B/3-2 ADA absorbed unprojected manning losses and remained ready to deploy through a series of standalone certifications and two Table VIII certifications. Through it all B/3-2 ADA maintained the highest manning readiness required.
In this type of mission, it is paramount crews remain proficient at conducting air and missile defense operations. To this end, sustainment training was accomplished by deploying crews to the USCENTCOM AoR for crew immersion for a minimum of 30 days at a time.
Three crews supported the mission in Southwest Asia, with the last crew immersion operated in the United Arab Emirates. During crew immersion, each crew was tasked with certifying before assuming duty as a standalone unit. Subsequently, the crews were also subjected to unannounced exercises, known as operational readiness evaluations (ORE). Both certifications enabled crews to remain at the highest level of readiness throughout the mission.
Training for basic Soldier skills was executed in accordance with the 11 principles of training set forth in the Army Field Manual 7-0, "Train to Win in Complex World," and incorporated into several field training exercises.
The approach B/3-2 ADA strived for was the integration of air and missile defense operations with Army Warrior Training (AWT).
As such, the execution of field training exercises combined Reconnaissance Selection and Occupation of Position (RSOP), tactical deployment, Patriot site set up, air battle management, site security, and a wide diversity of individual and collective tasks.
The training proved to be very challenging yet rewarding and demonstrated B/3-2 ADA's ability to execute the PTDO mission.
Equipment readiness added a layer of complexity to the PTDO mission. Maintaining the MEP equipment ready to deploy within 96 hours meant constant services and maintenance.
All PTDO equipment was assigned a higher level of parts priority to meet the elevated readiness required. As such, any equipment malfunction was immediately reported, all parts ordered at the highest priority, and mechanic support was provided immediately.
Equipment readiness included all necessary equipment for a potential deployment, such as chemical and biological protection equipment on hand for each Soldier, and communications equipment allocated and installed on all required vehicles. In addition, blocking, bracing, and packaging was on hand and staged to properly ship all equipment for a pending deployment.
The execution of deployment readiness exercises (DRE) was vital to the validation of the PTDO battery's ability to execute the demanding timeline. One DRE was required to validate the battery before mission assumption, and subsequent exercises were required every 60 days. These time-sensitive exercises tested the unit's ability to complete all required tasks necessary to deploy the MEP in 96 hours.
The coordination involved several external agencies, specifically the Fort Sill Logistics Readiness Center, to pack the equipment, oversee vehicle shipment operations, load plans, and movement to the sterile lot to await final movement to the airfield.
Ultimately, the uniqueness of the PTDO mission is a challenge in itself, the ability to oversee and coordinate multiple layers of operations is highly critical to the accomplishment of the mission and the goal of supporting the combatant commander if needed.
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