FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. – Command Sgt. Maj. Jimmy Sellers, senior enlisted leader of Army Materiel Command, hosted a Sustainment Noncommissioned Officer Townhall, April 5, at Beaty Theater.
“The Sustainment NCO town hall is a platform that allows senior leaders to provide an understanding on the direction the Army and sustainment NCO cohort are going, talent management, and developing multifunctional NCOs that are prepared to support large-scale operations should remain uppermost in our minds,” said Sellers. “With the Army’s continuous transformation, Army focus on sustainment leaders must employ the right talent, to the right positions with precision.”
The Army Sustainment Enterprise and senior sustainment noncommissioned officers must be prepared to meet current, surge, and future Army requirements through the development of multifunctional logistics NCOs.
As the Army continues transforming sustainment operations to delivery ready combat formations that can fight and win against a near-peer competitor, the sustainment initiatives require sustainers to bring in new capabilities and force structure changes to enable commanders to win decisively on the battlefield.
“We are transforming to an Army that is focused on multidomain operations against a near-peer competitor, and this transformation requires us, as sustainment NCOs, to invest in our NCO corps, as we are our greatest contribution to the Army,” said Sellers. “Without this investment and the continual development of strong outstanding leaders, our Army will not continue to lead the way for others to follow or to be feared if crossed.”
The town hall allowed senior sustainers to focus on the four focus areas, developing multifunctional logistic NCOs, the Sustainment NCO Initiative Guide, Eight Principles of Sustainment, Sustainment Leaders Rucksack, and professional military education.
“Lethality and readiness require a combat-ready force that can operate in decentralized formations, forcing us to do more with less to fight and win our nation’s wars,” said Sellers. “As the Army modernizes and transform in contact, its approach to large-scale combat and multi-domain operations, the proponent must maintain pace with providing multi-capable, trained and resilient professionals who are both technically and tactically proficient to execute within the Army priorities and four focus areas.”
During the town hall, Command Sgt. Maj. Oscar Llamas, commandant of the Logistics Noncommissioned Officer Academy and Army Sustainment University’s senior enlisted advisor, started his opening remarks by saying “Sustainment is warfighting, period.”
“We cannot war fight if we are not able to sustain,” said Llamas. “To sustain, we can teach, here, at the NCO Academy, we are teaching and educating our senior leaders on how they can provide sustainment throughout the battlefield.”
Llamas also spoke about the multifunctional logistician NCOs Personnel Development Skill Identifier, also known as PDSI, and how it identifies trained and experienced senior logistics NCOs for multifunctional positions in multifunctional organizations.
“We currently have logistics NCOs assigned to multifunctional positions, in multifunctional organizations performing multifunctional tasks,” said Llamas. “A senior multifunctional NCO possesses broad knowledge and experience and is qualified to fulfill several functions or roles within the sustainment warfighting function. The education portion of being a multifunctional NCO is delivered through Sustainment Common Core and presented to senior leaders who attend their respective SLC at the LNCOA.”
The implementation of the M1F multifunctional NCO PDSI allows NCOs throughout the sustainment NCO Corps to perform multifunctional duties in multifunctional organizations, which allows them to become a multifunctional logistician.
“It’s important that our sustainment NCOs have a foundation of overall basic sustainment knowledge,” said Sellers. “You do not have to be an expert in everything sustainment, but you must have a wide understanding of sustainment.”
At the end of the town hall, Sellers noted senior sustainment leaders are laser-focused on enhancing sustainment operations, processes, and procedures to establish and develop multifunctional logistics NCOs that are grounded in Army doctrine.
Additional panel members for the town hall included: Sgt. Maj. Paul Ellis, Combined Arms Support Command’s operations sergeant major, provided a briefing on the Sustainment Leaders Rucksack; Command Sgt. Maj. Marco Torres, the command sergeant major of CASCOM, spoke about the Sustainment Common Core, and the path to becoming a multifunctional logistics NCOs; and Sgt. Maj. Valen Wilson, support operations sergeant major of the 82nd Sustainment Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Liberty, Nort Carolina, spoke about the importance of having highly trained sustainment NCOs in formations. For more information on multifunctional logistics NCO, read the following article at https://www.dvidshub.net/image/8323549/multifunctional-logistician.
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