FORT LEE, Va. - The Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM) formally added the 58th Transportation Battalion located at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Jan. 1, and will fall underneath 2nd Brigade, 94th Division (a Reserve component training brigade) and the Transportation School to enable a total Army approach to 88M (motor transport operator) advanced individual training (AIT) and assist in the transformation of the course to better support large-scale ground combat operations.
The motor transport operator AIT training, the largest sustainment military occupational specialty (MOS) was under the mission command of the U.S. Army Chemical School.
"The Chemical School did an excellent job of leading and caring for the 58th Transportation Battalion. We asked to bring the execution of 88M training back under CASCOM to facilitate the transformation of all AITs in support of large-scale ground combat operations," said Col. Jered Helwig, chief of Transportation and commandant of the transportation school. "The program of instruction revisions have always been the responsibility of the transportation school, but the funding and structure was not. Fixing the responsibility and accountability under the same command ensures focus and supports Army readiness."
One of the reasons that the 58th Trans. Bn. was under the Chemical School was that the Transportation School didn't have a Brigade headquarters to provide it support. The 2nd Brigade, 94th Training Division, which is responsible for all the U.S. Army Reserve transportation training moved to Fort Lee in May 2016 and has the capacity to provide this support.
"This serendipitously allowed us to solve many problems," said Helwig. "It is also offered a great opportunity to further develop the One Army School construct and we now have a single entity responsible for holistically bringing together across multiple components the entire transportation training enterprise."
"It makes sense that the Army's Transportation Corps training brigade be within compo 2/3 (Reserves and National Guard)," said Col. Keith Barta, commander, 2nd Bde., 94th Div. "As the Army's ready, certified and accredited Total Force generator of transportation professionals, we are responsible for training 88 series Soldiers nearly every day of the year."
Approximately 70 percent of the Transportation Corps training, education, and execution resides inside the Reserves and Army National Guard.
According to Helwig, to ensure continuity of support a full-time school integration team has been embedded inside the brigade headquarters to facilitate and assist with component specific systems and needs. An approved memorandum of agreement was established to ensure actions that cannot be performed by the brigade on a daily basis are supported.
"By consolidating institutional training under a single command element, we believe it will improve our ability to conduct talent management, consolidate training, prioritize resources and manage the training population," said Helwig. "The multi-component training brigade places the majority of the transportation training enterprise under one command allowing improved coordination, training planning and execution as well as quality control resulting in improved readiness."
The brigade will relocate to the transportation school headquarters and bring more in-depth reserve component involvement into course develop , programs of instruction, resourcing instructors, and a more efficient certification of instructors across all components in support of large-ground scale combat operations.
"Our end state is to have a fully integrated Army transportation training enterprise," said Barta. "Ready and fully resourced to execute our training mission and deliver professional transporters to the operational force."
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