As the Army transitions from counterinsurgency operations to large-scale combat operations (LSCO), it is imperative to focus on training our formations with the necessary skills to deliver combat ready formations in the multidomain operations (MDO) environment. The pacing challenge of China, the acute threat of Russian overt aggression, and other threats from North Korea, Iran, and violent extremist organizations have degraded traditional advantages (e.g., assured lines of communication and uncontested command and control) to deploy, fight, and win our nation’s wars and support civil authorities.
Moreover, the Army, and in particular the sustainment community, must prepare and train for force projection in a contested operational environment. Through open collaboration across the sustainment enterprise, skills such as theater opening, setting the theater, and protection and deception operations, along with the military decision-making process, must be integrated into individual and collective training exercises. To address emerging threats and prepare sustainment units for the challenges of LSCO, the Sustainment Exercise and Simulation Directorate (SESD), a Combined Arms Center subordinate, co-located with the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command at Fort Gregg-Adams, developed the Sustainment Simulation Staff Training (S3T) concept. This concept represents a significant step toward innovative, low-overhead, and low-cost training methods that maximize limited time and resources to address emerging challenges in MDO and better prepare staffs for sustainment operations in an LSCO environment.
Sustainment units, recognized throughout the Army as one of the most hyper-modular formations in existence, encompass a wide range of job specialties:
- Ordnance: maintenance, ammunition, explosive ordnance disposal, safety.
- Quartermaster: supplies; mortuary affairs; subsistence; petroleum, oils, lubricants, and water; field services.
- Soldier Support Institute: adjutant general, finance, Noncommissioned Officer Academy, music, postal.
- Transportation: strategic deployment and distribution, movement control, air and sea ports, motor transportation, watercraft, rail.
The diverse array of specialties across the sustainment enterprise creates a high demand for their services and resources, which in turn impedes their ability to train collectively as a unit and as a staff. The implementation of the Regionally Aligned Readiness and Modernization Model (ReARMM) in 2020 replaced the sustainable readiness model, directing sustainment units at all levels to transport, receive, and distribute equipment and personnel in support of modernization requirements. The transition to LSCO reveals significant doctrinal, organizational, and planning gaps that S3T should examine while preparing sustainment forces for LSCO challenges.
Recognizing these challenges, SESD has identified several training opportunities for sustainment units preparing for participation in large collective training events, such as warfighter exercises and command post exercises (CPXs). These opportunities primarily revolve around the following areas at the battalion to corps echelons:
- Staff systems and processes optimized for LSCO.
- Rapid decision-making and synchronization process.
- Battlefield knowledge management.
- Effective battle rhythm.
- Staff mission command information systems proficiency (primarily command post computing environment common operational pictures) by staff section.
- Joint operations/sustainment.
- Multinational interoperability.
To address these training gaps, the SESD developed the S3T concept. The goal is to provide sustainment staffs across multiple echelons with the necessary tools to increase skills and knowledge, increasing proficiency for the systems and processes required to inform commanders to enable the “decision dominance and overmatch we need to deter competitors and potential adversaries” on today’s multidomain battlefield,” as then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. James C. McConville put it in a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2021. Using a framework of a facilitated discussion, S3T employs a series of vignettes and training scenarios tailored to a unit’s specific exercise or training objectives, to ask open-ended questions that impose stress on the staff’s analysis of systems and processes. By utilizing this transformative initiative, S3T can begin bridging gaps in readiness caused by staff and leader turnover and other challenges.
The S3T concept is versatile enough to support various military units, including expeditionary sustainment commands (ESCs), theater sustainment commands, division rear command posts, and brigade and battalion sustainment staffs. This training concept does not require complex computer-based systems or specific equipment, making it adaptable to meet the unique needs of units across the total Army.
The initial pilot of S3T helped prepare the ESC for an upcoming deployment. It was tested in coordination with the 364th ESC commander and several members of the general staff, including the command sergeant major, the chief of staff, and the support operations chief.
The ESC staff faced numerous training challenges before mobilization that included personnel turnover, a new commander, and limited training time. To address these challenges, SESD conducted a three-day event, covering the following focus areas: commander and SESD expectations, area of responsibility brief, battle rhythm review and analysis, CPX expectations, and vignette development. Initially designed to support CPX preparation, S3T was modified to meet the training goals of the 364th ESC, effectively filling training gaps within their staff before deployment. Collaboration across staff sections in designing the final training product fostered ownership and commitment among the leaders of the unit. Ultimately, S3T and 364th ESC produced a comprehensive training plan for the remaining battle assemblies, improving their readiness for deployment and serving as a successful proof of concept for the S3T pilot.
The S3T concept is designed to enhance military training and readiness. Below are examples of S3T concepts nested in the CSA’s focus areas.
- Warfighting: The S3T concept allows for the customization of scenarios to meet the commander’s training objectives, including highly specialized mission sets in contested environments and scenarios that stress systems in a disrupted, disconnected, intermittent, and low-bandwidth environment.
- Continuous transformation: Mission command and control is vitally important to the concept of continuous transformation. The S3T concept supports mission command by providing staffs with comprehensive education on knowledge management, adaptive battle rhythm, common operational picture, staff systems and processes, and more. The intent of S3T is to prepare staffs to assume any mission, any time, in any environment.
- Strengthening the profession: S3T provides unit leaders with the necessary tools and knowledge to boost their confidence and competence to empower leaders to excel in their roles and contribute to the growth and success of their profession.
- Delivering ready combat formations: The S3T concept aids commanders in developing scenarios that allow staffs to rehearse multidomain sustainment in a contested operational environment. Additionally, S3T supports development of modular plans with sufficient agility and flexibility to prepare the deploying unit. The SESD recognizes the potential of S3T in achieving decision dominance, leveraging internal knowledge and experience to develop comprehensive training packages tailored for sustainment units at different echelons, to address critical mission objectives of each unit.
Future S3T training packages will include vignettes and a recommended master scenario event list to enable sustainment planning and allow staffs to rehearse realistic sustainment challenges, improve understanding of their systems and processes, refine their standard operating procedures and battle drills, and expedite the analysis of critical information that the commander requires for decision support and any additional training objectives the commander requires. An adept and cohesive staff should provide the commander with greater flexibility to make decisions faster than the adversary, and predict future sustainment needs ahead of emerging requests.
In conclusion, the S3T concept serves as a vital bridge to address the capabilities gap in sustainment formations, exacerbated by the demands of ReARMM and maneuver support requirements. SESD, through its expertise in S3T, serves as a force multiplier, enhancing decision dominance and assisting sustainment staffs in transitioning from reactive sustainment to predictive sustainment. Through the use of the S3T concept, sustainment units preparing for mobilization or deployment can overcome challenges, optimize their operations, and ultimately contribute to the overall success of military operations in LSCO.
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Col. Michael K. Barnett currently serves as the functional area models and SIMS officer for the director for the Sustainment Exercise and Simulation Directorate at Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia. He is a graduate of Norwich University, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Army War College.
Maj. Robert Mathis serves as an exercise division team lead for the Sustainment Exercise and Simulation Division at Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia. He has previously served as a platoon leader, executive officer, and commander of various armored units, battalion S-3 and observer controller/trainer, and a brigade AS3 simulations officer. He was commissioned as an Armor Officer, later attended the Maneuver Captain's Career Course, and the Command and General Staff College. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from the University of Mississippi.
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This article was published in the fall 2024 issue of Army Sustainment.
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