JOINT SUSTAINMENT THAT WORKS
tasks to Army sustainment units. Some sustainment responsibilities will always remain with the service because of their uniqueness
(for example,
officially tasked to a service or agency to provide to all forces in the joint operation.
the mainte-
nance of the Air Force’s fighter aircraft or the Army’s Bradley Fighting Vehicles).
Included in Rule 1 is the need to con- sider sustainment functions assigned through executive agent directives or other instructions to a single service or agency. Tese sustainment functions include DLA’s responsibilities as the executive agent for subsistence, bulk fuel, construction and barrier materials, medical materiel and other consumables.
Another example is the Army’s designa- tion as the executive agent for functions such as the management of overland petroleum support, land-based water resources, the defense mortuary affairs program and veterinary services. Tese responsibilities allow for identifying and planning for sustainment functions
Te executive agent role is new to some students, and thinking through this part of the planning construct prompts them to research and find out what support a service or agency needs to plan not only for itself but also for the other joint forces in the operation. (Te DOD executive agent list is at http://dod-executiveagent.
osd.mil/agentlist.aspx.) Tis
requires
some assumption-based planning, since the capabilities and requirements of the other services involved in the operation are not always clear.
RULE 2 Te second rule of the construct, to con- sider exceptions to the first rule if they make sense, is deceptively simple, but it is meant to cause the planner to consider exceptions for the specific joint operation being planned. Tis is the most impor- tant area on which the joint sustainment planner should focus.
Te planner must consider the type of operation, its location, the forces involved and the deployment sequence, and then consider the sustainment functions that could or should be provided by a single service or between services. A service may be designated as the lead because that ser- vice is the dominant user of sustainment commodities, or because it has the great- est capability to provide the support, or to create efficiency.
PRESCRIPTION FOR JOINTNESS
Through its Customer Pharmacy Operations Center, DLA Troop Support’s Medical Directorate helps facilities worldwide save money, such as this pharmacy at Whiteman AFB, MO. DLA is responsible for sourcing and providing almost all the consumable items that U.S. military forces need to operate. (Photo by SSgt Nick Wilson)
Designating a single service as the lead for a sustainment function reduces the overhead created when all services must bring their own capabilities to provide sustainment for things commonly used by others. Some examples are feeding, retail fuel support, billeting, contract- ing, maintenance of common vehicles and medical support. Tese exceptions
78 Army AL&T Magazine April–June 2014
to service-only sustainment are not only more efficient, but they also can allow for a more effective operation by freeing up scarce strategic transportation assets for forces necessary in the decisive phase of the operation.
Tis rule in joint planning can be the most challenging because each situation is unique, and force lists, sequencing, host-nation capabilities and priorities vary depending on the opera- tional context. However, this rule is the most important because it identifies what the services need to know to sustain the operation being planned. Services gener- ally have figured out the first rule—they are responsible for supporting them- selves—but they need to know what else they’re expected to do if the joint force commander identifies additional require- ments. Rule 2 lets the service component sustainment planner know what to plan for that isn’t routine.
For example, while a service must plan to feed itself, it needs to know if it is also feeding another service during the opera- tion, or providing medical or base support to members of other services. Such details enable the service component planners to ensure that enough capability and capac- ity are available to provide such support, and it can help them set up appropriate coordination and reporting mechanisms to facilitate that support.
To decide if a lead service is appropri- ate, the joint planner considers how to make the operation more efficient and effective, rather than just defaulting to the statutory requirements and letting all the services bring what they need to provide their own support. Consider- ing who the dominant user is or who has the most reasonable capability to support other forces, as well as what is reasonably available in theater from the
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