ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Happy Birthday Joint Munitions Command! As Joint Munitions Command celebrates it’s 19th birthday, we honor the accomplishments and major milestones of the past two decades. As we look back, we remember that JMC’s roots reach back much further into the past.
The JMC lineage traces back to the Ordnance Departments that built the nation’s military infrastructure to defend America during World War II. In 1962, the creation of the Army Materiel Command and decentralization of the technical commands reflected the changing philosophies regarding the relationship between research and development, production, acquisition, and sustainment of munitions. Over time, management of ammunition continued to evolve with new missions and responsibilities, and the headquarters’ command name changed frequently to accommodate those changes.
Fast forward to Dec. 30, 2003, JMC’s predecessor command, the Operations Support Command, split into two major subordinate commands, the Joint Munitions Command and the Army Field Support Command. The separation emphasized the critical need for providing ammunition to the Joint Forces and the growing challenge of providing operational field support to Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
As JMC stood up its new command structure, it was faced with the critical task of rapidly increasing production and supplying ammunition the Warfighter in theater. To ensure munitions readiness and safety in the field, JMC civilians, Logistics Assistance Representatives, and Quality Assurance Specialists Ammunition Surveillance answered the call for deployments to theater. While providing frontline support, employees at JMC’s headquarters, ammunition plants and depots ensured a 100% on-time delivery rate for wartime munitions. The JMC also embarked on a journey to improve efficiency and effectiveness by implementing Lean Six Sigma, Value Engineering, and ISO:9001 programs.
To fully assess the ammunition stockpile, measuring munitions readiness and critically short munition items led to automation of the Munitions Readiness Report. Automation of the Industrial Base Assessment Tool provided better assessments of industrial base readiness. The Centralized Ammunition Management program enabled JMC to integrate wholesale and retail ammunition management, changing the logistics of issuing ammunition. Each of these initiatives were critical to this time period and remained important, while evolving over the years.
In support of OEF/OIF, JMC led efforts to increase small-caliber production capacity at Lake City Army Ammunition Plant to 1.6 billion rounds per year, while also building an in-house link manufacturing capability. The 5.56mm Enhanced Performance Round was fielded to increase lethality for Warfighters and to reduce the environmental impact of lead casings. The Excalibur 155mm precision-guided artillery round was fielded and proved successful as a smart munition.
For the first time in its history, JMC ramped up production, while simultaneously reducing the industrial footprint through Base Realignment and Closure. As the nature of the War changed, JMC repositioned and retrograded theater munitions.
In the past ten years, JMC has taken on important initiatives to execute the Logistics Modernization Program to transform logistics operations in six core processes: order fulfillment; demand and supply planning; procurement; asset management; materiel management; and financial management. The Enterprise Integrated Logistics Strategy provided framework for optimizing readiness and efficiency across the wholesale ammunition logistics base. The JMC reshaped the organization across several years to posture with Army Materiel Command and Army priorities.
The past 19 years have gone by quickly. Under the command of 11 general officers, the challenges have been plentiful, but those challenges have turned into the accomplishments that guided JMC forward. The JMC attributes that success to its people and their dedication, flexibility, and commitment to serve in the best interest of the Warfighter. In 2021, JMC’s focus is focused on increasing readiness with a 15-year strategy to modernize production capabilities and facilities, while meeting the requirements for ammunition items for all services from its headquarters at Rock Island Arsenal.
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