REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – With the Army’s largest transformation in decades underway, Army Materiel Command has achieved significant progress toward building and sustaining the Army of 2030.
AMC and its 10 major subordinate commands have made great strides this year improving quality of life, modernizing facilities and the Army’s Organic Industrial Base, developing plans to create a more robust and resilient Army supply chain, providing security assistance to partners and allies, and more.
“We are going through the biggest transformation in 40 years, and within AMC specifically, there’s OIB modernization, supply chain optimization efforts, quality of life and people initiatives, and Ukraine support, to name a few,” said Gen. Ed Daly, AMC commanding general. “Our employees are making a huge difference not only in our Army, but with our nation and other nations around the world.”
PEOPLE
In a year full of change, AMC never lost sight of its number one priority: people. Over the year, AMC has improved quality of life for Soldiers in the Active, Guard and Reserve components as well as for their families, and Army Civilians and contractors.
Army Housing and Barracks
Installations provide critical capabilities and are the platforms for building Army culture, caring for people, and projecting and sustaining forces. Transforming installations to meet the Army’s needs today, tomorrow and into the future is a critical business imperative that directly impacts Army readiness.
Both the Army and the privatized companies who manage housing on installations continue to invest in on-post housing. Plans call for 3,000 new homes and approximately 15,600 renovated homes by FY25 across the Army.
The Army is also investing about $1 billion per year to improve barracks.
Facility Investment Plan
AMC is leading the active Army’s effort in developing and implementing a holistic Facility Investment Plan which identifies all infrastructure requirements at installations and aligns resources with Army and commander priorities.
Senior leaders at active Army installations began conducting walk-through inspections in October 2022 of all real property on their sites to identify requirements for prioritization at the annual FIP wargame slated for early 2023.
“This is about taking care of people, and our efforts will holistically address all facilities where Soldiers work, live and train,” said Daly. “We want to ensure healthy environments for all Soldiers and will immediately take action on any issues that are adversely affecting Soldier readiness, resilience and quality of life.”
Civilian Retention
As the Army’s largest civilian employer, AMC has ensured retaining top civilian talent is among the organization’s primary goals. The enterprise has adopted initiatives to promote engagement and greater work-life integration through modern workplace flexibilities, quality of life and wellness programs.
AMC is championing the Army’s Civilian Implementation Plan through retention efforts, which include outcomes of being an employer of choice and in the top “Best Places to Work” rankings, and to encourage employee participation in quality of life and Holistic Health Promotion programs, such as the Civilian Fitness Program.
READINESS
To maintain a strategic advantage over adversaries, sustain the fight across contested terrain and mitigate threats, through exercises, power projection platforms and other capabilities, AMC is taking prudent steps to heighten readiness and to posture the command to support any operation worldwide.
AMC’s Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command performed over 23 port missions outside of the continental U.S. and 85 within the continental U.S. this year. SDDC is the only Army unit worldwide that manages common-user seaports – key to projecting military combat power. Army Sustainment Command is also utilizing their strategic capabilities through Army Prepositioned Stocks by exercising them to ensure they’re positioned correctly and modernized to meet combatant commander requirements.
“AMC is one of the critical commands of the Army in terms of synchronizing and delivering readiness,” said Daly. “This organization has a worldwide presence in the Army’s campaigns, and in crisis and conflict around the world.”
A collaboration between Fort Bragg, Duke Energy and Ameresco, this utility energy service contract project will provide carbon-free on-site generation, supplemental power to the local grid, and backup power for Camp Mackall during electricity outages. VIEW ORIGINAL
DEFENDER-Europe 22
DEFENDER-Europe is an annual large-scale U.S. Army-led, multinational, joint exercise designed to build readiness and interoperability between U.S., NATO and partner militaries. AMC supported the DEFENDER-Europe 22 series of linked exercises by projecting combat power from start to finish through five logistics centers, five different countries’ ports and movement of more than 20,000 pieces of equipment through six different countries.
APS
APS continued to prove its worth in supporting Army readiness and setting the theater. This year, Soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division deployed from Fort Stewart, Georgia, to Europe to assure NATO allies and partners in the region following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. AMC responded on short notice to provide an armored brigade combat team’s worth of equipment and vehicles from APS-2, marking the largest issuance of APS since 2003.
Support to Ukraine
The Army, alongside allies and partners, have teamed up to provide security assistance and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Among several initiatives across the enterprise to support efforts in Ukraine, AMC’s resource management team obligated more than $48.5 billion in appropriated funds and foreign military sales for the region.
Energy
The Army is the largest consumer of energy in the Department of Defense, and AMC is implementing projects aligned with the Army’s efforts to have secure and reliable access to energy. AMC is partnering with local utilities and industries to meet evolving mission requirements during normal and emergency response operations.
In November, Fort Carson, Colorado, began construction of the Flow Battery Pilot program. The one-megawatt battery produces a carbon free generation of power and is expected to provide long-duration and clean energy storage.
Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is also at the forefront of providing mission critical power for the future. The Floating Solar Array at the installation is the first of its kind in the DOD and is the largest floating system in the Southeast United States. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth noted the project, “fulfills the commitment made in the Army Climate Strategy to increase resilience while delivering clean energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
MODERNIZATION
As the world evolves, needs change and grow, creating a demand for new types of products and services. AMC continues to adapt quickly, innovate to changes and emerging technology in maintaining a competitive edge, and safeguard against adversaries.
OIB Modernization
Rolled out by the Army this year and led by AMC, the OIB Modernization Implementation Plan will ensure persistent modernization of the OIB and sustain the next generation of Army equipment, current unit readiness and the ability to surge in support of contingencies. The plan will modernize facilities, processes and the workforce across the 23 depots, arsenals and ammunition plants that manufacture and reset equipment, generating readiness and operational capability throughout Army formations.
“The 15-year OIB modernization plan represents a once-in-a-generation chance to holistically modernize,” said Daly. “The plan provides a deliberate and comprehensive roadmap to a 21st century OIB focused on processes, facilities, equipment, workforce, data and information technology, as well as energy and cyber resilience.”
Project Convergence 22
Also looking toward the future, AMC and sustainment leaders across the enterprise were integrated with Project Convergence 22, giving them an opportunity to test new technologies, including sustainment capabilities that empower a sensor to shooter to sustainer loop and back again, creating a data loop that enables informed decision making at echelon.
“When you employ all these together you really understand that they are linked in terms of the effects that they deliver,” said Daly. “Production at the point of need, juxtaposed with distribution capabilities in unmanned air and ground systems as well as watercraft, while adding in an understanding of predictive logistics with data management and it really demonstrates the ability to sustain readiness and extend operational reach, freedom of action and prolonged endurance in the battlespace.”
Supply Chain Optimization
To better adapt to supply chain disruptions and reduce vulnerabilities in support of Army readiness, AMC is standardizing and specializing its supply chain management, while using data to drive decision-making. Initial changes will be seen as early as January 2023.
“Today’s current global environment demands that we modernize the Army’s supply chain to be robust, responsive and resilient," said Daly.
Other efforts include reviewing position descriptions of its supply chain workforce to specialize roles, skills and training requirements to modernize how it manages the supply chain. The end state will be a workforce made up of skilled professionals who are experts in specific roles, rather than generalists.
Underlying the standardization and specialization is the use of data analytics. AMC is providing a data-driven capability to enhance decision making with visibility throughout the entire supply chain, while better positioning to build combat power and project it globally. The new system will allow supply chain experts to view a dashboard of current trends, where parts are needed, where there are extra parts and more.
Looking to the Future
The annual AMC Commanders Forum set the organization’s path into the future and provided an opportunity for commanders and staff to review and discuss the AMC campaign plan, determining the strategic initiatives the AMC enterprise needs to support the Army of 2030.
In 2023, AMC will continue to invest in future quality of life improvements for Soldiers and their families, lean forward in the areas of readiness and modernization, and adapt and innovate to meet the ever-changing needs of the nation.
Social Sharing