OCTOBER 25, 2022 – To support the building of the Army of 2030 and sustain the fight across contested terrain and over time, the Army Materiel Command is continuing to show how its postured to support any operation worldwide.
Leaders of two of AMC’s major subordinate command’s – Army Sustainment Command and Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command – spoke about their efforts on supporting the mobilization of large-scale combat operations during an Oct. 11 Warriors Corner on Supporting Force Projection from Army Installations at the 2022 AUSA Annual Meeting.
Dan Reilly, Army Sustainment Command executive director for support operations, led the discussion highlighting the symbiotic relationship between ASC and SDDC to build partner capacity.
“We are one of the pieces of the strategic mobility triad and that’s important. Between our two commands (ASC and SDDC), we execute power projection from the fort to the port, to the other port, to the foxhole and beyond.”
Another strategic enabler Reilly noted is APS – which are Army Prepositioned Stocks managed by AMC through ASC. APS are strategically placed sets of equipment in key locations around the world and organized so Soldiers can be equipped quickly for mission deployments. APS reduces the strategic lift requirements for deploying units by providing the theater-specific combat equipment required to respond rapidly, speeding Soldiers to the frontlines.
To underscore the agility of APS, Reilly used a recent example of the 1st Armored Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division’s deployment from Fort Stewart, Georgia, to Europe to assure NATO allies and partners in the region following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. The unit flew from the U.S. to Europe on short notice, then quickly drew an armored brigade combat team worth of equipment and vehicles from APS-2.
“This was the largest issuance of APS since Iraq in 2003. APS continues to prove its worth as a part of the strategic mobility triad and allows us to readily provide combat power very far forward,” he said. “APS is also a huge deterrence because we can move so fast.”
Reilly also referenced contracts on the shelf, which are pre-written contracts for utilization during mobilization. The contracts have requirements from ASC, Installation Management Command and Forces Command already built into them – speeding up the acquisition process for a mobilization by 60 days.
Maj. Gen. Gavin Lawrence, commander of the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, spoke about strategic movements performed by SDDC. The organization moves combat power utilizing capabilities such as trucks, highways, ports and rails among other things.
This year SDDC performed 23 outside the continental U.S. and 85 CONUS continental port missions, according to Lawrence. SDDC serves as the Defense Department’s maritime single port manager. It is the only Army unit worldwide that manages common-user seaports and is key to moving military combat power.
Lawrence noted that SDDC exercises a strategy called port diversification, which identifies and exercises mission critical seaports for brigade-sized deployments in preparation for large-scale combat operations around the world.
“That is a deliberate effort of SDDC in coordination with Army Materiel Command and our theater combatant commands. It helps gain invaluable intelligence on the capability and capacity of our force, demonstrate presence as we compete in today’s operation environment to assure our allies and deter those that would take adverse actions against our interests; and provide options to our combat commanders to build resiliency in our systems,” Lawrence said.
During a recent exercise of capability, “we did a deliberate move utilizing a commercial port – to demonstrate our ability to move combat power using a west coast commercial port in support of Indo-Pacific Command operations,” Lawrence said. “We also did a port visit to Denmark to demonstrate our ability to deliver critical capability to the high north in support of Europe.”
SDDC sees itself as the “connective tissue” as materiel comes in, linking it from the strategic support area (installations) to the mode of transportation and to onward movement to the tactical support area, if necessary. Partnerships – joint, interservice and commercial – are key to augment SDDC in terms of strategic movements.
“We have over 300,00 trucks moving every year – we do that through building relationships with over 700 truck carriers based in the U.S. We have the capacity to support installation requirements, and to carry critical cargo and ammunition. In conjunction with the Department of Transportation, we have a voluntary intermodal service agreement that gives us access to state of art commercial to transport critical pieces of equipment via commercial liner if a military sealift vessel is not available,” Lawrence said.
To maintain a strategic advantage over adversaries, sustain the fight across contested terrain and mitigate threats, he emphasized the Army must be ready to rapidly project equipment and combat power anytime, anywhere.
“When you talk about some of the asymmetric advantages the Army has, I truly believe our ability to project critically combat capability to the point of need is one of the advantages we currently have and we need to fight to maintain and sustain as we look at Army 2030 and compete against our peer competitors,” Lawrence said.
Story by Alyssa Crockett
U.S. Army Materiel Command