IT TAKES A TEAM
MAJ CLIVE CUMMINGS, SC/AC SYSTEMS ACQUISITION OFFICER
ACQUISITION, LOGISTICS AND TECHNOLOGY DIRECTORATE BAGRAM AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN
SETTING THE STAGE FOR SUCCESS
M
AJ Clive Cummings’ job for the 401st Army Field Support Brigade (AFSB) at Bagram Air- field, Afghanistan, is to provide administrative and logistic support to the in-theater program
executive officers and program managers, and to the forward office of the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logis- tics and technology (ASA(ALT)). More succinctly, Cummings refers to the description that a colonel in the 401st used during an interview. Te colonel likened their role to being “roadies for a rock band.”
Whatever a PEO or PM needs or does, the 401st helps to facili- tate it, by keeping track of people, helping them find billeting and office or maintenance bay space, providing vehicles, mak- ing sure they get where they need to go, and supporting fielding, training and maintenance efforts. “Once the PM or PEO arrives in theater, we make sure they’re not fighting to get accommoda- tions or space to do their mission. We’re here to make sure that when they hit the ground, they can move right into their mis- sion,” Cummings said.
Te 401st is at the heart of the Army materiel enterprise for Soldiers who are deploying or returning from deployments. It
owns all of the theater-provided equipment (TPE), such as Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) systems. “So, if the unit’s leaving, the MRAPs, the CROWS systems, all the Harris radios, their UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]—they all stay in theater. … We get the schedule, we track what’s coming in, and we break that out according to what belongs to what PM. Ten we notify the PMs that their equipment is coming in.”
It could be chaos, given all the different players and their mis- sions, but it’s not. Te 401st makes sure that the PMs for the various systems are in the right place at the right time. “Te PMs work with the 401st to inventory the equipment,” Cummings said, “and then the 401st will pull all that equipment off the vehicles, if it’s an MRAP, because they have to tear the systems apart” to be upgraded and returned to full-machine capability (FMC) before deploying units use the systems.
MRAPs are just one example of this process, and only part of it at that. Cummings and his colleagues in the Acquisition, Logis- tics and Technology Directorate of the 401st work hand-in-glove with the ASA(ALT) Forward team, coordinating constantly.
“ONCE THE PM OR PEO ARRIVES IN THEATER, WE MAKE SURE THEY’RE NOT FIGHTING TO GET ACCOMMODATIONS OR SPACE TO DO THEIR MISSION. WE’RE HERE TO MAKE SURE THAT WHEN THEY HIT THE GROUND, THEY CAN MOVE RIGHT INTO THEIR MISSION.”
“We make sure that the PMs have the space, the maintenance bays—or outdoor space if it’s a big piece of equipment, a trailer, a generator—so that they can do the maintenance on the equipment,” Cummings said. “If they need tools, if they need resources, we work through the brigade or the garrison to make sure that they get that equipment.” Tose PMs bring the equip- ment back up to FMC, “and it goes back into the 401st pool, so the next unit can draw it and go out and do their mission.”
For Cummings, his job is all about helping the warfighter. He does that by making sure that things run as close to clockwork as possible. “I believe my office has had a huge impact in helping PMs accomplish their mission,” he said. “We are able to leverage [U.S.] Army Materiel Command [AMC] assets to better facili- tate the PM efforts. Additionally, we’re able to drive coordination
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Army AL&T Magazine
July–September 2013
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