Photo By Eben Boothby | Chief Warrant Officer 5 Darren Cook and Capt. Joseph Koennecke discuss changes to the...... read more read more
Subscribe
FORT BENNING, Ga. –A representative from the Army’s materiel enterprise recently described the direction the Army is moving to mid-level managers and how as leaders they can impact their organization’s readiness.
Army Materiel Command’s Command Chief Warrant Officer 5 Darren Cook traveled to the Maneuver Center of Excellence, Ft. Benning, Ga. Feb. 15 to communicate to Army officers attending the Captain’s Career Course how they can use leadership to foster readiness through a culture of equipment sustainment.
“When I talk about maintenance and supply discipline I’m essentially talking about readiness,” Cook said.
Cook made the association of how the commander’s priorities influence the outlook soldiers have toward maintenance.
“It is so important for sustainers and commanders at the unit level to be diligent with both maintenance scheduling and record keeping,” Cook said. "You must own, operate and account for equipment becoming its first responder to report problems.”
The Army’s supply system works by demand signal. When equipment breaks and is properly logged into the system, it initiates a series of actions that allows the Army to track its resources allowing it to allocate them where they are needed.
During the last 16 years, warfighters needed to focus only on counterinsurgency operations.
“This was accomplished by utilizing a large in-country contracting force to perform maintenance and supply functions traditionally performed by soldiers,” Cook said.
This led to a culture that does not prioritize sustainment from its troops; the readiness of a unit was expended throughout the course of deployment.
“Our Army does not have the resources to withstand a post-mission readiness cliff,” wrote Maj. Gen. Flem B. "Donnie" Walker Jr., Forces Command G-4 in the May-June 2016 issue of Army Sustainment magazine. “Therefore, we must focus our attention on enhancing the fundamental logistics components needed to master materiel readiness.”
For years, Cook has tackled endemic Army-wide logistical issues by traveling throughout the Army emphasizing the importance of Soldier-led maintenance ownership and collecting feedback from organizations about their unique challenges and concerns.
By receiving firsthand knowledge from the source, Cook can determine how the Army’s materiel enterprise can deliver value-added assistance with the process of returning to a sustainable Army.
“I now understand how imperative that as a commander, you always need to remember how your presence and emphasis on maintenance delivers a great impact on the readiness of your organization,” said MCoE Small Group Instructor Capt. Brandon Pasko.
| Date Taken: | 02.15.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 03.02.2017 15:27 |
| Story ID: | 225479 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 72 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Implementing a sustainable Army, beginning with leaders, by Eben Boothby, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
