Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland – Setting conditions for success in combat starts before the battle begins.
Phase Zero, described in joint doctrine as steady state, theater-shaping operations, was the focus of a medical logistics sustainment forum Dec. 14-15, that drew stakeholders from Defense Health Agency, Defense Logistics Agency, U.S. Forces Command, U.S. Special Forces Command, Army Futures Command, Army Medicine, Combined Arms Support Command, U.S. Army Reserve Command, as well as U.S. Army Materiel Command and its major subordinate commands.
“The ability to deliver medical logistics on the battlefield seamlessly in Large Scale Combat Operations is imperative. There is nothing more important. This is why we are here,” said Col. Tony Nesbitt, commander of the U.S. Army Medical Logistics Command, the Army’s life cycle management command for medical materiel.
U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, or CECOM, hosted the inaugural event organized by AMLC.
Participants focused on identifying gaps and opportunities to bolster medical materiel management and distribution, as well as maintenance and information technology system interface.
The two-day forum kicked off a series of planning sessions that will drive toward a phased medical logistics change management plan implemented over the next two years.
AMC leadership challenged the team to collaborate toward two goals.
Firstly, make it possible for Soldiers to order medical supplies through the same systems that they use for other classes of supply.
Secondly, cross-train more Soldiers to execute medical logistics at strategic support areas at installations to serve as a resource-multiplier.
Current medical logistics business processes require Soldiers to use multiple systems to execute medical logistics. Further complexity is added since the systems and processes at home station are different from the theater of operations, which creates gaps.
“The way we manage, maintain, distribute and track Class VIII in a Phase Zero, stateside based environment cannot be different than the way we operate when we transition to combat,” said Col. Aron Meadows, AMC medical logistics officer. “Phase Zero is where it all begins. When we depart a unit, those Soldiers enter the battlespace with what they have.”
Pre-conflict plans drive Army readiness, enabling troops to rapidly transition to hostilities (Phase 1), the military action (Phase 2), to major conflict (Phase 3), stabilization (Phase 4) and, finally, enabling of civil authority (Phase 5).
Over the past two decades, units have grown used to “falling in on” mature forward operating bases where all the medical equipment and supplies they need are already there and set up.
That was the past, leaders emphasized, and the future is likely to be very different.
To fight and win against near-peer competitors in a contested battlespace, the Army must move faster -- and be able to sustain that speed.
Just as Soldiers need ammunition, transportation and food, they also need medical support to survive and physically dominate tough opponents in austere environments.
“If we don’t get this right, our Soldiers will suffer on the battlefield,” Nesbitt said. “No one command can make these changes. This is a total Army effort.”
Nesbitt explained that moving the effort forward to build a construct to support operational medical units in the continental U.S., or CONUS, will be a medical sustainment priority over the next 24 months.
Nesbitt added, “This initiative to deliver medical readiness at a decisive juncture is a must-win for the Army.”
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