364th ESC trains, validates at Bliss for first deployment

Courtesy Photo | Capt. Ben South, right, a trial counsel attorney, Sgt. Clark Bussell, center, and Sgt. Benjamin Pritchett, left, military justice paralegal noncommissioned officers with the Staff Judge Advocate’s Office, 364th Expeditionary Sustainment Command from Seattle, respond to a battle drill in the Sustainment Operations Center during their Culminating Training Exercise at Fort Bliss, Texas on Sept. 2. (Photo by Cpl. Christopher Bigelow, 364th ESC.)  

FORT BLISS, TEXAS, UNITED STATES

09.01.2011

Story by Jade Fulce 

Fort Bliss Public Affairs Office

FORT BLISS, Texas -- The 364th Expeditionary Sustainment Command was at the Maneuver Combat Training Center here for a week at the beginning of the September to train and be validated by First Army. They were supported by their 402nd Field Artillery Brigade and 5th Armored Brigade, to ensure they met their wartime mission.

The 364th ESC is an Army Reserve logistics command headquartered in Seattle that is preparing for a yearlong deployment to Kuwait. Their mission is to provide theater-level sustainment, oversee the responsible drawdown of forces in Iraq and set the stage for post-2011 operations in the Middle East. The command provides theater logistics (command and control) for the theater commander, supporting an Army or Combined Joint Task Force mission worldwide.

Nearly 300 soldiers representing 39 states, two countries and one territory participated in the battle drills and field problems at MCTC.

Brig. Gen. Jonathan G. Ives, 364th ESC commander, described a field problem his command worked on.

“Some of [problems] dealt with the ports in Kuwait and ships that were coming into there,” said Ives. “The ships ran into storms in the ocean and were delayed. So then, what is the impact all the material that ships affect the support to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan when the ship is delayed at sea? These are things we have to figure out.”

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Starla Brown said the training helped the command work as a team in a practice environment. One junior noncommissioned officer agreed.

“I learned the importance of good training with leader operation and how to coordinate with other units in tracking,” said Sgt. James Tyler, cargo coordinator.

Though the command has history back to the 1940s, it has never been deployed into combat. This will be the first time the 364th ESC has gone into a theater of operations, Ives said.

• Date Taken: 09.01.2011
• Date Posted: 09.17.2011 11:47
• Story ID: 77185
• Location: FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US