HOME AWAY FROM HOME: Soldiers deployed to Mielec, Poland, in March 2022 are provided tent accommodations with sleeping cots, lighting, electrical outlets and heating. (Photo by Lt. Col. Alan Manzo, 405th Army Field Support Brigade – Europe & Africa)
Acquisition professionals provide Ukraine support from America’s Midwest.
by Liz Glenn and Elizabeth Urbaniak
West-central Illinois might be one of the last places one would associate with the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia but, in reality, the support coming from Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is unquestionably assisting Ukrainian and NATO countries in Eastern Europe in countering Russian aggression.
Headquartered on Rock Island Arsenal, the U.S. Army Sustainment Command (ASC) provides base life support services and transportation services, while Joint Munitions Command (JMC) provides ammunition including practice rounds, nonstandard ammunition, projectiles and mortars. Standing ready to support ASC and JMC, Army Contracting Command ‒ Rock Island (ACC-RI) acquisition professionals are assisting at the speed of need.
SETTING THE THEATER
From the very first day President Biden began to ramp up support to neighboring NATO countries in February 2022, ASC—with the support of ACC-RI contracting expertise—has worked tirelessly in developing requirements and executing contract actions supporting operations in United States European Command (EUCOM).
ACC-RI’s Power Projection and Base Readiness Directorate, which provides contracting support for ASC’s Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) and Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise (EAGLE) program, is engaged in fast-turn, quickly evolving contract actions supporting operations surrounding Ukraine.
The ability to quickly support can be at least partially attributed to the LOGCAP strategy, which maintains a footprint supported by contractors in every combatant command across the world, allowing them to quickly act when needed.
“For decades, we have been in EUCOM helping with existing requirements and exercises as they come up,” said Rebecca Jessen, procurement operations officer at ACC-RI. “The contractor has made relationships with subcontractors in the area, so that if and when things happen, contractors can mobilize resources that they have developed.”
Quickly supporting the security assistance requirements to aid Ukraine is a prime example of LOGCAP’s capabilities in setting the theater, and the proactive ability it has provided to U.S. Army Europe and Africa during the conflict.
“We’ve had something in place since March 2020 under our STT [setting the theater plan],” said Kristine Pennock, LOGCAP procuring contracting officer. “Our performance task order was awarded September 2020, and a lot of the base camps and sites were already set up under that task order.”
Over the course of the first year of the conflict, ACC-RI’s LOGCAP EUCOM team has provided base life support to over two dozen sites from Latvia to Romania. These locations provided quality services at impressive speed to thousands of U.S. Soldiers as they deployed to Europe to deter further Russian aggression. This included standing up over a dozen new locations, many with no previous infrastructure.
Additionally, the LOGCAP team provided services to unload the aircraft transporting all classes of materiel, as well as the infrastructure the Security Assistance Group ‒ Ukraine needed to provide aid to Ukraine.
ACC-RI has also supported ASC’s Army Pre-positioned Stocks-2 (APS-2) mission, executing numerous requirements stationed to supply, maintain and transport equipment in and around the area. APS-2 is comprised of combined-arms, battalion-sized groups of vehicles and equipment positioned in Europe designed to equip Army regionally-aligned forces when they rotate into theater for training, disaster relief, theater security or contingency operations.
“The prepositioned stock is located in Germany and it is designed to enable units to deploy into theater and fall in on prepositioned equipment at a moment’s notice,” said Maj. Neidas Cezar, EAGLE procuring contracting officer. “The task order, in effect since 2016, is designed to issue equipment to units that came from either CONUS [within the continental U.S.] or OCONUS [outside the continental U.S.] locations.”
In February 2022, the U.S. Army ramped up the rapid response mission, with thousands of service members deploying to Germany and Poland, said Kylah Rasche, an ACC-RI EAGLE branch chief. To meet this need, APS-2 activated for the first time in its history.
Operating under an aggressive timeline with copious visibility and risk, Rasche said the APS-2 contracting team jumped into action expediently and effectively drawing materiel in support of the deployments. Hundreds of vehicles and equipment pieces from their respective APS-2 sites were pushed out to meet the needs of these service members.
Working in coordination with the APS sites, strategic support areas, ports and airports, the Red Ball Express is a transportation plan designed to deliver critical maintenance equipment and other requested supplies within four calendar days throughout the EUCOM area of operations, according to Rasche. The Red Ball Express provides transport of parts, supplies and equipment from locations throughout Europe, expediting equipment repair to support the mission. Since July 2022, more than 298 Red Ball Express missions have been completed.
In addition, ACC-RI’s stateside EAGLE contracts ramped up to quickly bring military equipment heading to Europe to a fully mission capable status and prepared it for shipment. The EAGLE team supported numerous deployments and recovery of APS-2 equipment, including a full armored brigade combat team set consisting of thousands of pieces of equipment.
Richard Schildman, ACC-RI procurement operations officer, said using the APS-2 and LOGCAP contract methods in tandem allows units that utilize tanks and armored equipment to be ready to mobilize to Europe two to three times faster than if that unit deployed equipment from the continental United States.
“What LOGCAP did was provide a place for them to live and APS provided the equipment to rapidly form combat power,” said Schildman.
Overall, the Power Projection and Base Readiness Directorate has obligated nearly $500 million to provide world-class services to service members in the field.
LIFE, HEALTH, SAFETY: Soldiers return to their sleeping area from a dining facility tent in March 2022 at Mielec, Poland, where a full-service life support area has been established, thanks to Logistics Civil Augmentation Program contracts under the command and control of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade. (Photo by Lt. Col. Alan Manzo, 405th Army Field Support Brigade – Europe & Africa)
NATO SUPPORT
“We are getting our forces in Europe to support the training of the Ukrainian Army as well as move American forces east into Poland and other countries to do what they need to do as they have been directed,” said Jessen, the ACC-RI procurement operations officer. “We are helping Ukraine fight Russia, while preventing Russia from threatening NATO allies.”
The base life support elements provided by LOGCAP are intended for U.S. Soldiers but are ready to support NATO allies if needed. However, there are already some sites that are used in some fashion.
“For instance, there is a site in Poland that has had an American battalion for quite a while,” said Schildman. “LOGCAP provides services, and the host nation provides services so that it is kind of a hybrid model.”
“It would take too long for designated units to get their home station equipment sent from their locations into theater, so this most viable option would be to utilize the APS-2 EAGLE task order,” said Cezar.
CHOW LINE: Soldiers from elements of the XVIII Airborne Corps deployed to Mielec, Poland, stand in line for dinner at a dining facility tent. (Photo by Lt. Col. Alan Manzo, 405th Army Field Support Brigade – Europe & Africa)
CONCLUSION
The teams have faced many challenges throughout this mission, mainly the requirements’ fast pace.
“The speed of execution has been a challenge, but as a collective team we have been able to meet the challenge and execute requirements quickly,” said Pennock, the LOGCAP procuring contracting officer. “The mission is constantly changing and morphing on a daily basis.”
Though the support required of the ASC and ACC-RI teams meant long days and nearly constant execution adjustments, the satisfaction in providing critical services at the right time sustained and motivated the team.
“The LOGCAP program has the capability to turn around requirements within hours to days, which has resulted in logistics support areas being set up very quickly,” said Pennock. “It’s a success knowing that our Soldiers had a place to sleep, shower and eat, all within a timely manner.”
For more information, contact Army Contracting Command ‒ Rock Island at usarmy.ria.acc.mbx.acc-ri-pao@army.mil
LIZ GLENN is a public affairs specialist at Army Contracting Command ‒ Rock Island. She holds a B.A. in journalism and mass communications from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
ELIZABETH URBANIAK is a public affairs assistant at Army Contracting Command ‒ Rock Island. She has a B.A. in public relations and marketing from St. Ambrose University.
