From the Editor-in-Chief
BACK TALK
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“
Here we go again/Same old stuff again/ Marching down the avenue/Few more days and we’ll be through …” Tat basic- training marching cadence reflects our R4D
mission in Afghanistan, if you substitute “LOC” (lines of communication, whether land, sea or air) for “avenue” and “One more year” for “Few more days.” We have been down this road before—figu- ratively and literally.
Because Afghanistan is landlocked, actually leaving the country is more difficult than in previous wars. (See back cover.) Equipment can be flown out of the country, driven to ports along a variety of routes and put on ships for transport, or in some cases moved to pre-positioned storage locations, but at great cost. Since Operation Enduring Freedom began, acquisition professionals have studied Afghanistan for the quickest, securest, most cost-effective routes out, which will help us meet President Obama’s directive to leave there no later than the end of 2014.
Using lessons learned from the Iraq drawdown, the Army is conducting the Retrograde, Reset, Redeployment, Redistribution and Disposal (R4D) mission and saving billions of dollars in the process, while continuing to provide needed equipment to U.S. and coalition forces.
How can this mission save money, you ask? Well, even though DOD estimates it will cost $5.7 billion to remove the equipment that remains in Afghanistan, detailed tracking, needs,
repairing versus replacing,
military sales will save many times more. For instance, repairing war-damaged equipment might cost $10 billion, but replacement costs for those items would be double that, according to estimates. Also, shipping an item to the right unit with a
need for it or sending it home with the unit, versus shipping to a central location and figuring out the proper use later (or, even worse, simply destroying it in place because you don’t know what to do with it) improves readiness and reduces costs.
Tis issue is all about how the Army Acquisition Corps, and the military overall, are identifying and moving an estimated 750,000-plus individual pieces of military gear—ranging from small arms to larger platforms such as wheeled and tracked vehicles— from where they are in Afghanistan to where they need to be. Read, for example, about the V2DR process that the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command is using to determine best- value shipping of equipment from theater.
Speaking of moving equipment, did I mention that we’re fielding equipment to Afghanistan while conducting R4D? Read about the Capability Set 13 network communications gear going into theater while equipment is flowing out. Also, learn about the Army Acquisition Lessons Learned Portal and how this developing storehouse of knowledge is already proving useful in current operations and is poised to be the go-to repository of R4D lessons learned.
identifying unit and foreign
Tis issue introduces two newly improved sections: BBP 2.0, an update to the former Efficiencies section that will feature Army successes in achieving DOD’s Better Buying Power initiative; and Workforce, an expansion of the former Spotlight section that will include more features on AL&T professionals and their accomplishments.
As always, if you have ideas, comments or critiques to help make the magazine better, please contact me at
armyalt@gmail.com.
Nelson McCouch III Editor-in-Chief
ii Army AL&T Magazine October–December 2013
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