IT TAKES A TEAM
MS. SUSAN BROWN OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM FORWARD LEAD PROGRAM EXECUTIVE OFFICE COMBAT SUPPORT AND COMBAT SERVICE SUPPORT
TAKING EXPERTISE WHERE IT’S NEEDED
“I knew what was going on with the equipment. I had worked with the PM for HEMTT [Product Manager Heavy Tactical Vehicles, including the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck], and having that background, I knew the trailers, the type of other equipment we were sending in. I had a good background, and I felt like I was a good person to send.”
I
Brown serves as the Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) forward lead for Program Executive Office Combat Support and Combat Service Support (PEO CS&CSS). In that role, she works closely with the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA(ALT)) Forward office and all the PM representatives under PEO CS&CSS.
“We provide a broad spectrum of training, sustainment support and equipment,” she said, “including material handling equipment, tools, force sustainment systems, mobile electrical power systems, tactical trucks and trailers, and route clearance vehicles,” not to mention upgrades to vehicle armor and trailers to fill operational needs.
On a good day, Brown’s job might be simple. But after a decade of war in Afghanistan, there’s a tremendous amount of heavy equipment in country. Until recently, the focus was solidly on fielding and upgrading equipment, but with the United States scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of next year, there’s a strong focus on the drawdown. Even as new equipment is being fielded, older equipment is being retrograded. Brown’s job of tracking heavy equipment and getting it to the people who need it begins to look more complex. Add to that the variety of organizations taking part in the materiel enterprise effort, and the job takes on an element of juggling cats, even as new cats are thrown into the mix.
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n her four years of active duty in the Air Force, Sue Brown never deployed. Now, as a DA civilian and a member of the Army Acquisition Workforce, she is on her second deployment. She volunteered to deploy, she said, because
But for Brown, it’s all in a day’s work if, say, a shipment of dozens of two-ton trailers that has been stuck at the port of Karachi, Pakistan, happens to show up unannounced.
“Te primary mission of sustainment here,” she said, “is getting the old stuff out. We want to see the old, old equipment out of here first. But that doesn’t always happen” because of the sheer complexity of tracking more than a decade’s worth of materiel. Adding to the complexity, Brown said, is the possibility that something intended for delivery to a unit that day is no longer available in the morning.
Brown believes strongly that deployed civilians in the acquisition workforce provide a real benefit to Soldiers. “My acquisition background has enabled me to provide recommendations to ASA(ALT) regarding the availability of assets to fill theater needs and offer possible recommendations for optimal equipment,” she said, adding, “I’ve also been able to reach back to PMs [in the States] for their expertise as materiel developers while fielding important upgrades that will increase safety and provide enhanced capability to the Soldier.” So, for example, when a unit puts in a request for a particular piece of equipment, she can say, “No, you don’t want that. You want this new equipment that’s better, has better armor, is safer.”
Another benefit of having deployed acquisition professionals is “knowing that the information we provide to ASA(ALT) may
“BEING PART OF THE ACQUISITION COMMUNITY, WE ARE UNIQUELY CAPABLE OF PROVIDING FIRSTHAND KNOWLEDGE ON THE LATEST EQUIPMENT, TRAINING AND MAINTENANCE SUPPORT.”
Army AL&T Magazine July–September 2013
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