AMC takes lead in task force aimed at Army Reset effort

By Ms. Rikeshia Davidson (AMC)December 21, 2009

AMC takes lead in task force aimed at Army Reset effort
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. - How do you carefully and expertly repair and return the tools of war'

You assemble your best personnel; plan profusely and ultimately Reset America's Army.

The drawdown of troops and equipment Reset were the driving force for a Responsible Reset Task Force or R2TF. Assembled, in place, and facing a 2011 deadline, the R2TF is led by Lt. Gen. James H. Pillsbury, the deputy commander of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.

The R2TF is staffed with 25-30 individuals from throughout the Materiel Enterprise with the skills to make that 2011 goal achievable. A command with more than 67,000 employees and a presence in 48 states and 127 countries, AMC is a mix of military and civilians skilled at weapons development, manufacturing and logistics.

As the executive agent for equipment Reset, AMC provides management and oversight for the execution of field and sustainment level maintenance offered by the industrial base maintenance complex.

"The purpose of the R2TF is to help Army Central Command (3rd Army)--which is the Army service component command of CENTCOM--as it conducts its responsible drawdown.

"The concept is that the equipment that is not needed by ARCENT for its mission in Southwest Asia (that is above their requirements), we will take care of and send it back to the States ultimately to assess repair so we can effectively and efficiently Reset the Army," said Pillsbury.

The R2TF supports the warfighter forward and enables the Army's successful and timely execution of Reset; in doing so, the four areas of focus for the R2TF are property accountability, timely disposition, triage formation and total asset visibility.

"AMC is well-suited for this mission (because of our) ability to repair our equipment at not only our organic depots but at our directors of maintenance depots," said Pillsbury.

But he also added, AMC has the ability to work with the original equipment manufacturers to repair certain vehicles, certain pieces of equipment, at their locations.

"AMC executes, on behalf of the Army, a Responsible Reset using the full power of the Materiel Enterprise to ensure a rapid return, repair, redistribution, and combat power regeneration for the Army," said Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody, commander of AMC.

However the enormousness of repair and moving equipment is daunting.

- 60,000 to 80,000 containers

- 50,000 vehicles

- Upwards of 3 million different pieces of equipment

By admission, Pillsbury calls R2TF a large undertaking.

"(And) we have to do (it) while we're still in contact with the enemy on a timeline that's been directed by the President of the United States. That timeline is to be down to 50,000 by August 31, 2010 and then ultimately leave the country by December 31, 2011," he said.

Pillsbury acknowledged the numerous participating agencies.

"The stakeholders of this operation are many, including AMC and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology who make up the Materiel Enterprise and could not do this by themselves. Certainly the U.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8, the U.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3, and U.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4, are the key stakeholders in this massive undertaking. The Defense Logistics Agency is playing a huge role in this, and so many items that will not be brought back to the States because of their (unserviceable) criteria will be sent to Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office," said Pillsbury.

Ultimately, every decision the R2TF makes must be driven by the goal of being good stewards of taxpayer's dollars.

In addition to financially responsible decisions, there is the need to secure non- U.S. involvement as well. The Materiel Enterprise is fully engaged with senior leaders in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan as well as partners at headquarters, Department of the Army and Department of Defense.

"The Multi-National Corps-Iraq and the Multi-National Force-Iraq have put together some pretty aggressive plans to move wheeled vehicles, containers and the rest of the equipment to what we call Redistribution and Property Accountability Team yard run by the 402nd Army Field Support Brigade in Iraq.

"These items will be brought to record, the accountability will be established and then they will be given disposition instructions within 72 hours for (an) ultimate location. That piece of equipment will go to Red River Army Depot (Texarkana, Texas) or to Sierra Army Depot (Herlong, Calif.) or even to an original equipment manufacturer," said Pillsbury.

Executing every element is critical to the R2TF as it must ensure property accountability, total asset visibility, triage equipment forward and the timely disposition for equipment and materiel.

"The disposition of instruction or the disposition instructions for equipment coming out of Iraq are many. The disposition instructions, the definitions, depend on where you sit," said Pillsbury.

He admits there can be multiple requests for equipment before it is Reset. According to Pillsbury, the MNC-I could request the equipment stay within the corps (one set of disposition instructions) or ARCENT may ask that the piece of equipment be sent to an area within its scope (another set of instructions).

"Another option for a piece of equipment is foreign military sales where our U.S. Army Security Assistance Command works with the theater to establish requests for both Afghanistan and Iraq so that this equipment can stay over there rather than come back and be sent back again at a great expense," said Pillsbury.

Ultimately, equipment will be either redistributed within theater for consumption, retained for Army Prepositioned Stocks, transferred to Afghan units, donated to the Iraqi government or other foreign sovereignty to assist in meeting regional strategic goals, or disposed of in accordance with approved guidelines. Remaining equipment will be taken back to the U.S. to be repaired and reissued to units.

Finally, Pillsbury acknowledges more players that will make the task force successful and their efforts.

"I'd like to mention that the people that make up the R2TF are great Americans: they're dedicated hardworking Department of the Army civilians, a couple of dedicated hardworking contractors and then we've got a "smattering" of military. They are working 16-18 hours a day--6 A,A1/2 days a week and have become so engrained in the operation over there that no meetings happen, no decisions are made logistically without the input of the R2TF," said Pillsbury.

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Related Links:

AMC Web site

Video: Draw Down in Iraq