USAMMC-K Soldiers test skills, enhance relationships during joint training exercise

CAMP CARROLL, South Korea -- Members of the 563rd Medical Logistics Company at the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Center-Korea participated in several exercises as part of a combined command post training in August.

The training, commonly referred to as CCPT, is a bi-annual simulation to practice operational plan proficiency and support current and future diplomatic efforts across the entire Korean Theater of Operations, or KTO, according to Maj. William Wiltbank, deputy commander of USAMMC-K.

Wiltbank said the exercise serves a key joint training opportunity for USAMMC-K and the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency, which oversees the Army Prepositioned Stocks site in Korea known as APS-4, to drill specific plans and procedures related to contingency operations.

Both USAMMC-K and USAMMA are direct reporting units to Army Medical Logistics Command, headquartered at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

“For USAMMC-K, it is vital to synchronize and coordinate with our strategic partners who enable us to complete our wartime mission,” Wiltbank said.

The exercise primarily focuses on service component commanders and their staff, but all joint enablers and major subordinate commands on the peninsula provide data, support simulation processes and exercise their identified contingency requirements, he added.

During the exercise, the 563rd MLC took part in night-time drivers’ training, as well as drilled its forward logistics element procedures and APS-4 absorption operations in preparation for a potential transition-to-hostilities posture on the peninsula.

The unit has served as an integral part of the organization, dual-hatted as the headquarters and headquarters detachment, or HHD, at USAMMC-K.

Wiltbank underscored the necessity of teamwork and coordination between the USAMMC-K team and their many partners, noting that materiel distribution is “accomplished entirely outside of our organization.”

“Without positive relationships with the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, supported by 6th Medical Logistics Management Center augmentation, distribution needs and requirements across the KTO could be lost in the expansive enterprise requirements of the ESC’s distribution mission during contingency operations,” he said. “Having a team embedded to speak on our behalf is essential.”