ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. -- The U.S. Army Sustainment Command is ramping up operations yet again after taking on eight new missions.
The change came about as part of the Secretary of the Army's readiness and reform efforts along with U.S. Army Materiel Command's "Shape the Fight" initiative.
"General [Gustave] Perna [commanding general of Army Materiel Command] felt that with us being the operational arm of AMC, it would be appropriate for ASC to take on these responsibilities," said Matthew L. Sannito, executive director for Army Sustainment Command Support Operations.
Army Sustainment Command took over mission command of the following entities Oct. 1, at the beginning of the 2019 fiscal year:
• AMC Logistics Assistance Program
• Second Destination Transportation -- Transportation Account Code
• PS Magazine
• Army Oil Analysis Program
• Army Expert Authorized Stockage List
• Army Airlift Clearance Authority
• Customer Assistance Division
• Packaging, Storage and Containerization Center
The Logistics Assistance Program came to Army Sustainment Command from Army Materiel Command Headquarters and the SDT--ACM mission came from Department of the Army's G4 -- Logistics. The remainder of the missions came from Army Materiel Command's Logistics Support Activity, better known as "LOGSA."
Even though Army Sustainment Command has taken over control of these operations, the 155 employees affected won't be moving physically. Most personnel will remain at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. The exception is the Packaging, Storage and Containerization Center, which is a self--contained entity located at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania.
"Nobody's moving, they just work for Army Sustainment Command now. If they were Soldiers in the Army they would have for example simply taken off a previous unit patch and then slapped on the AMC patch," said Dan Reilly, deputy director of Army Sustainment Command Support Operations. "This was a reform effort as well as mission command alignment because nobody moved, the people who were executing things will continue to do so, they just fall under the Army Sustainment Command umbrella now."
Here is a rundown of Army Sustainment Command's new entities and what they do:
Logistics Assistance Program -- The Logistics Assistance Program is composed of Logistics Assistance Representatives (LARs) who are Logistics and Equipment Subject Matter Experts. LARs provide commanders and Soldiers with technical guidance necessary to resolve weapon systems, equipment, logistics and training issues. Additionally, LARs assist commanders in solving readiness issues at unit level, as well as elevating those that cannot be solved at unit level. LARs are highly-trained experts with skill specialties that correspond to Army equipment readiness requirements.
Second Destination Transportation -- Transportation Account Code -- The SDT-TAC oversees the creation and management of more than 4,400 active Army TACs, which consists of a four-character code that is associated with a valid Line of Accounting (LOA) and identifies the funding account to be charged for transportation. TACs provide a more efficient means to book, bill and pay for freight and personal property moving through the Defense Transportation System.
PS Magazine -- PS Magazine, an approved Army Technical Bulletin, TB 43-PS-729, is a monthly online publication intended to enhance materiel readiness by emphasizing preventive maintenance, promoting proper maintenance and supply procedures. It is available to Soldiers worldwide through its website and as a downloadable app for smartphones. It also provides a reader service to answer maintenance and supply questions.
Army Oil Analysis Program, from LOGSA -- The Army Oil Analysis Program is chartered to provide component and lubricant condition monitoring support for all Army aviation, watercraft, locomotive, and ground combat weapon systems. Army Oil Analysis Program laboratories detect a wide variety of failure modes in engines, transmissions, gear boxes, and hydraulic systems at their onset, such as contaminated, degraded, and incorrect lubricants, bearing wear, gear wear, air induction leaks, fuel leaks, coolant leaks, etc., and issue actionable maintenance recommendations to Army maintainers.
Stockage Determination Branch-SDB (formally known as "Army Expert Authorized Stockage List") -- Headquarters, Department of the Army G4 selected LOGSA to establish an enduring, centralized Army Expert Authorized Stockage List (ExASL) Team in 2009 for the generation and management of Army ASL Stockage Objectives worldwide. SDB is the sole source for ASL products worldwide and supports the Army supply system in an Enterprise Resource Planning environment.
Army Airlift Clearance Authority -- The Army Airlift Clearance Authority's mission is to validate, challenge and control all Army sponsored air eligible cargo to support the Joint Warfighter. The AACA bridges the transportation and supply communities, providing tracing, greensheet/purplesheet support Special Assignment Airlift Mission requests, and port liaison support.
Materiel Readiness Training Division (formally known as the Customer Assistance Division) -- MRTD provides centralized management and execution of external training through the Training Branch and a Training Material Development Branch while ensuring that the training provided to strategic, operational, and tactical customer is accurate, current, and standardized.
Packaging, Storage and Containerization Center -- The PSCC mission is to improve and sustain Army readiness across the enterprise through logistics and engineering assistance for packaging, storage, hazardous materials packaging and transportation, automatic identification technology, distribution facilities optimization, standardization, and packaging applications testing.
"We've worked closely with LOGSA and AMC for years. Probably five commanding generals in a row at the ASC--level have said 'these are probably things that should fall under the Army Sustainment Command' and General Perna was the guy who latched onto it and pulled the trigger to make it happen," Reilly said.
ASC is no stranger to taking on new tasks and challenges. In 2012, Army Sustainment Command also picked up the LRC mission when directorates of logistics worldwide were converted into logistics readiness centers. In addition, ASC took over responsibility for the Lead Materiel Integrator mission in 2012 as well. The LMI mission is to is equip the Army and was previously handled by the Department of the Army G8.
The Army Sustainment Command is the point of the spear for logistics within the Army Materiel Command. Army Sustainment Command's mission it to deliver AMC's capabilities -- including material equipment, services, and contractor oversight -- to warfighters in the field and at home base.
Related Links:
Army Materiel Command Homepage
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