FEBRUARY 20, 2020 – In a wide-ranging discussion, Gen. Gus Perna challenged Army Medical Logistics Command leadership to rethink its operations to streamline and speed delivery of medical supplies to Soldiers in the field.
“It’s about what you need to keep Soldiers alive on Day 1, and really, Day 30,” said Perna, commanding general of Army Materiel Command and the Army’s senior logistician.
Perna’s comments came during AMLC’s quarterly update to the general and AMC leadership, hosted at Fort Detrick on Feb. 11.
AMLC Commander Col. Michael B. Lalor focused on the command’s action plan to carry out the distribution of Class VIII medical supplies to ensure troop readiness, as well as current AMLC priorities and how they align with AMC initiatives and goals.
Perna charged AMLC leaders to consider unit-level demands and determine the “foundation” of what is required to meet basic medical needs at a moment’s notice, supporting everything from aid stations to field hospitals to Army Prepositioned Stocks.
“So at a minimum, we have the foundation of what we need,” he said.
Lalor also touched on gaps identified through recent exercises, an update on hospital conversion plans and the latest on several facilities projects in the U.S. and abroad. He highlighted AMLC’s planned table top exercise to examine medical maintenance reform later this month.
Other discussion centered on the ongoing efforts to solidify AMLC as a lifecycle management command for the Army medical enterprise and ongoing work to integrate medical supplies into larger commodity distribution efforts around the globe.
“Our plan is to integrate with other (commodities) from the start,” Lalor told Perna. “We will figure out what we want to move and to what echelon.”
When it comes to APS, Perna stressed the need for speed and agility to ensure deploying troops get the right medical supplies and equipment when and where it’s needed.
Lalor assured Perna that the organization would work toward revised processes with a laser-focus on Class VIII supply distribution.
“We’re moving,” Lalor said. “We’re not sitting back and waiting.”
Story by C.J. Lovelace
U.S. Army Medical Logistics Command