COMMENTARY


FROM THE DIRECTOR,


ACQUISITION CAREER MANAGEMENT LTG WILLIAM N. PHILLIPS


In Step with the Warfighter


In pivotal R4D mission, Army Acquisition continues to support the Soldier


F


ollowing the attacks of 9/11, America’s efforts to dismantle al-Qaida, the Islamic terror- ist organization then led by


Osama bin Laden, took us into Afghani- stan with the objective of overthrowing the Taliban. Tus began Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) on Oct. 7, 2001, marking the start of the war in Afghanistan. For the past 12-plus years, our warfighters and Army Acquisition Logistics and Technology (AL&T) Workforce members have been in con- tact with the enemy.


From the Battle of Tora Bora to the cur- rent Retrograde, Reset, Redeployment, Redistribution and Disposal (R4D) mis- sion, Army AL&T professionals have been there every step of the way with the warfighter to provide the systems that make our Soldiers the most lethal weapon on the battlefield.


As we turn our attention to R4D in the final stages of more than a decade


150 Army AL&T Magazine


of combat, Army Acquisition still has a major role to play in the culmina- tion of this mission, ensuring that the Army makes the best possible use of the very systems we fielded and maintained throughout the war. We also continue to support our Soldiers’ decisive edge while remaining good stewards of payer dollars.


DOD estimates that more than 750,000 major end items are currently in Afghan- istan—$36 billion worth of equipment. In the next 12 months, the U.S. military expects


to remove as many as 28,000


vehicles and 40,000 shipping containers from Afghanistan. Tat’s in addition to the approximately 1,000 pieces of rolling stock and more than 2,000 cargo con- tainers that are coming back to the States per month, by air or on ground routes across Pakistan and Eastern and West- ern Europe. Tis R4D effort is expected to cost some $5.7 billion and requires intricate planning, teamwork, creativity and innovation.


tax-


R4D is also an opportunity to take a close look at where Army Acquisition goes from here: Knowing the state of our equipment, from tracked vehicles to robotic systems, where do we need to invest our limited resources in the near-, mid- and long-term? What can we do to preserve the vital skills and capabilities of our organic industrial base?


TEAM EFFORT R4D in Afghanistan is not new. For more than 20 months, ASA(ALT), in conjunction with the HQDA Reset Task Force and other key Army organizations (including the G-3, G-4 and G-8; the Army Budget Office; Office of the Chief of Army Reserve; the Army National Guard; the Army Materiel Command (AMC);


Army Forces


Command;


Army Sustainment Command; Army Medical Command; U.S. Army Europe; U.S. Army Pacific; and U.S. Army Special Operations Command), have been retrograding, resetting and redistributing to our coalition partners,


October–December 2013


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