The Army regularly introduces and modifies learning systems in response to a crisis, which was demonstrated during a crisis response by 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) in Watertown, NY during October 2023. The 10th Mountain Division (LI) team worked from a Sustainment Operation Center (SOC) and was able to effectively coordinate movement, track internal and external water storage and distribution capabilities successfully. The team captured lessons learned from this emergency response mission. In general, the approach and analog process the team used to resolve the issue was the principal lesson learned and most applicable solution for future Support Operations (SPO). How do you get a team to work effectively in one setting and establish a SPO Learning Center? There are multiple nuances that made the 10th Mountain Division Sustainment Brigade (MDSB) SPO successful. The current 403rd Army Field Support Brigade Command Sgt. Maj. Cedrick Harvey, stated during his tenure serving as the 82nd Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade SPO sergeant major, “You must affect climate immediately- if you want to drive change. Provide counselling to your entire SPO staff on expectations, the importance of accountability, training, and systems and processes. They may not feel comfortable at first, but they will thank you later.” A former 10th MDSB commander, Col. Fenicia Jackson, sums it up in one word “Leadership”. The pathway to empower a team to reach its max capacity and potential.
Each of the above leader’s guidance and advice had a profound impact on the team’s performance, which was evident in various initiatives that transformed the team. Some of these initiatives included fruitful initial counseling, periodic SPO phase II course training, culminating training events, recognition programs including commodity, officer, and noncommissioned officer of the quarter awards, customized coins of excellence, visual displays of culminating training accomplishments on the building walls, and the SPO Learning Center.
The SPO Learning Center aimed to motivate and immerse the team to align with the Division Sustainment Operations Army Training Publication (ATP 4-91), ensuring logisticians are well-versed and performing in a cutting-edge sustainment community with a best practice of executing sustainment warfighting functions to win our nation’s conflicts abroad and at home. As the Army Materiel Command senior enlisted advisor, Command Sgt. Maj. Jimmy Sellers, aptly stated, “Amateurs talk logistics, experts live logistics.” The 10th MDSB will continue to embody this mantra, refining it’s SPO Learning Center to master its craft as multifunctional logisticians.
The 10thMDSB, deliberately and effectively exercised the human communication dimension of interoperability within the brigade staff. It kept the team synchronized while using the principles of sustainment when anticipating requirements, but more importantly when it orchestrated sustainment continuity internally and externally across the 10th Mountain Division (LI). Leaders have the potential to arrive at a unit and endure a challenging time in finding commodity running estimates and lack the ability to analyze requirements due to reduced access to historical analog and digital data. The SPO Learning Center serves as a platform to easily access continuity material and close the previous shortfalls in systems and processes.
The SPO Learning Center provides the division’s logistics commodity leaders and warfighter customers access to analog products, such as Executive Summaries (EXSUM), Concepts of Support (COS), Sustainment Regulations, Center of Army Lessons Learned (CALL) manuals, The Sustainment Times publication, SPO Phase II course terrain model materials, Logistics Statuses (LOGSTAT), and division-wide sustainment Standard Operations Procedures (SOP). In addition, to analog products, the SPO Learning Center serves as a collaboration space, providing a calm and focused atmosphere for innovative problem solving. The space provides a platform for multifunctional logisticians to come together, think critically, and explore creative solutions. The SPO Learning Center, by design, supports the generation of ideas, which empowers sustainers throughout the division to balance support and enable the light division Alpine fight in Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO). Through a collaborative learning environment, the team can develop innovative ways on how to defeat adversaries performing in a contested logistics environment.
The SPO Learning Center will support commanders in making theater distribution decisions, for example, if ports become inaccessible for Joint Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, and Integration (JRSOI), as well safeguarding logistical systems against cyberattacks that could compromise operations while the enemy attempts to gather intelligence from our facilities. Collectively as a team, the SPO Learning Center provides the capabilities to conduct the Military Decision-Making Process (MDMP) for forecasted exercises, as well as drafting white papers concerning thoughts of a completed mission. In the 10th MDSB SPO, the team ensures writing is part of the monthly battle rhythm for officers, warrant officers, and noncommissioned officers, supporting the Army Harding Project in revolutionizing publications, including the NCO professional journal, which supports military authors.
The SPO Learning Center helps to frame the Division Sustainment Academy (DSA). The DSA stems from logistical systems trends and sustainment educational gaps across the 10th Mountain Division (LI). Due to the collective assistance of the division ordnance logistics officer, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Antwoine Anderson, the former and current 10th MDSB SPO senior maintenance supervisors, Master Sgt. Caleb Gallagher and Master Sgt. Daniel Almestica, respectively, and other leadership, they were all able to produce a curriculum to close the sustainment trending gaps.
Almestica noted, “A critical part of the DSA initiative is to provide the division with a multifunctional logistician armed not only with the knowledge and shared experience, but also with having the awareness of local resources and relationships networking with our “Quite Professionals”.
The DSA also provides education, coaching, and mentorship for sustainers and other combat Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) serving in critical company, battalion, and brigade logistics positions.
Maj. Adam Karlewicz stated, “The most significant advantage of the DSA is that it provides non-sustainment leaders with a unique opportunity to gain deeper understanding of essential sustainment practices, enabling their organizations to achieve greater performance and efficiency. This includes building valuable relationships with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)”. According to Anderson, “The DSA operates through the guidance of the division commanding general of support, 10thMDSB commander, and the division G4.
The SPO Learning Centers helps with selecting subjects for the DSA. The DSA topics are selected through analysis of the division sustainment trends amongst other drivers to include Mountain Maintenance Meeting (M3), Division Sustainment Synch, Logistic Readiness Review, Expeditionary Sustainment Command Synch, Army Field Support Battalion (AFSBN), and deployment readiness checklist to help improve our systems and process. The division has seen significant improvements since the establishment of the SPO Learning Center and DSA to include deep understanding on long lead time parts process and “how to” action SAARs at the lowest level, rail load operations, proper maintenance manhour accounting process, human resources, property book and supply operations.
The team measures the DSA success based on data collection, which depicts improvements on their readiness matrix, and their efficiency with leveraging sustainment resources within the Division Excess Consolidation Point (DECP) warehouse. Furthermore, with the assistance of the Sustainment Automation Support Management Office (SASMO), an extension of our 10th MDSB S6 team. Chief Warrant Officer Ault, created a SPO Learning Center Dashboard within our Teams knowledge management platform, which our customers within the division have accessibility to view reports and requirements.
The 10th MDSB Sustainment Operation Center (SOC) is collocated adjacent to the SPO Learning Center, enabling a classroom learning environment, married with the SOCs deployment setting, where all service members within the SPO and Division can collaborate, and work out of one centralized large conference room, allowing for commodities to cross talk and synchronize efforts. Additionally, the presence of the SPO leadership allows for mentorship and guidance during real-world missions or training events. This is a “one-stop shop” for our customers to feel welcome and have the accessibility to have a dialogue with all commodities representatives. Previously, having commodities members dislocated, and a lack of a centralized learning space was not conducive to synchronizing efforts or generating solutions for shared understanding. Collaboration in education is the number one ingredient to maintain continuity and integrate sustainment learning tools.
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