Senior logisticians from the services visit 401st Army Field Support Brigade

By Summer BarkleyDecember 9, 2011

Senior logisticians from the services visit 401st Army Field Support Brigade
1 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Clockwise from center foreground) Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Charles Hudson, commanding general, Marine Corps Logistics Command; Air Force Maj. Gen. Judith Fedder, director of logistics, Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Installations and Mission Sup... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Senior logisticians from the services visit 401st Army Field Support Brigade
2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Air Force Maj. Gen. Judith Fedder, director of logistics, Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Installations and Mission Support, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, and Rear Adm. Jonathan A. Yuen, commander, U.S. Naval Supply Systems Command, Global Logist... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Senior logisticians from the services visit 401st Army Field Support Brigade
3 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Air Force Lt. Gen. Brooks L. Bash, Director for Logistics, Joint Staff, the Pentagon fastens his seat belt in a M-ATV vehicle at 401st Army Field Support Brigade, Bagram, Afghanistan. Bash and the senior logisticians from each service and the U. S. C... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Senior logisticians from the services visit 401st Army Field Support Brigade
4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Kevin Stewart, Oshkosh Defense site manager at Bagram Airfield, explains how Lean Six Sigma was used to 'lean' the underbody installation that is being completed on thousands of vehicles across the 401st AFSB footprint. Looking on are Marine Corps Ma... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan--The Director for Logistics, the Joint Staff and the Service senior logisticians visited the 401st Army Field Support Brigade November 15 to see how the brigade will reset and retrograde thousands of pieces of equipment in response to the presidential directed surge recovery already underway.

Led by Air Force Lt. Gen. Brooks L. Bash, Director for Logistics, Joint Staff, the Pentagon, the group of senior logisticians from each service and the U.S. Central Command was briefed by Col. Michel M. Russell, Sr., 401st AFSB commander prior to seeing first hand, many of the types of vehicles that will be reset or retrograded.

Calling the Afghanistan surge recovery and eventual drawdown "Iraq writ large," Bash acknowledged the challenges the brigade faces.

They saw the Bagram Redistribution Property Assistance Team yard and had the equipment turn-in process explained by Lt. Col. Grant L. Morris, commander, AFSBn-Bagram, 401st AFSB. He discussed challenges and courses of action developed to address them as his unit prepares to begin receiving retrograde and reset equipment from off-ramping military units.

"They have Title 10 authority over reset," Russell said. "A large part of what we do is processing their equipment through our RPAT yards."

"They listened," said Russell. He said they were not familiar with the RPAT process, but left asking, "Where and how can we help?"

They ended their trip to Bagram and the 401st by visiting Joint Program Office MRAP work area to see vehicle upgrades and a static display of several MRAP vehicles.