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CDDOC pilot improves distribution pipeline

FORT BELVOIR, Va. (USTCNS) --- In January 2004, almost ten months after the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 63 subject matter experts from the Defense Logistics Agency, U.S. Transportation Command, Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, Army Materiel Command and the military services deployed to Kuwait, to embark on a first-time partnership to work directly for the U.S. Central Command.

Once assembled, their mission was to begin a pilot that fused strategic and tactical deployment and distribution processes under the newly formed CENTCOM Deployment Distribution Operations Center.

A concept of USTRANSCOM Commander Gen. John Handy and Army Materiel Command Commander GEN. Paul Kern, the CDDOC is just one of many distribution process owner initiatives designed to improve end-to-end distribution within the Department of Defense. Aimed to link sustainment, distribution and movement requirements within CENTCOM, the initiative fills gaps in the distribution pipeline that have been the source of tactical disadvantages from World War II to Operation Desert Storm.

Working under the tactical command of the CENTCOM Director of Logistics Army Maj. Gen. William Mortensen, CDDOC is improving CENTCOM’s ability to locate and provide data on shipment quantity, composition and delivery times to expedite the distribution of high priority commodities to the Army and other military services. CENTCOM will be able to prioritize and plan for the constantly changing requirements of the military forces while improving the speed, cost effectiveness and efficiency of equipment and supplies delivered.

With the already overburdened and over-tasked transportation and distribution systems, the pilot made recommendations to solve issues in the lack of distribution integration, prioritization of containers, pallets and various supplies, and the ineffective end-to-end in-transit visibility for theaters of operation in Southwest Asia.

Mortensen, USTRANSCOM Director of Operations Army Maj. Gen. Robert Dail and DLA Director for Logistics Army Maj. Gen. Daniel Mongeon agreed that the 100-day pilot was a viable test of the center’s responsibilities. The pilot could be disbanded easily, but if proved a success, the pilot would provide a model for future joint theater logistics operations.

Spiral 1

Army Brig. Gen. John C. Levasseur, director of the DLA Reserve Mobilization Office, assumed command of CDDOC in late February at the mid-point of the CDDOC pilot, Spiral 1. Following former Commander Brig. Gen. Brad Baker of Air Mobility Command, Levasseur has called the joint operation, “logistics in the making.”

Not only would this first phase discover more responsive and flexible ways of distribution, it was in full operation during the largest movement and sustainment of forces and equipment since World War II. By determining and eliminating many bottlenecks, or interruptions in the distribution pipeline, the CDDOC assisted in the movement of more than 250,000 troops and one million tons of cargo.

“If you are going to prove anything,” Spiral 1 Sustainment Division Chief Army Col. Richard Brooks, DLA’s deputy chief of distribution reutilization policy said, “you might as well prove it under fire. Once we proved the concept, the second phase, Spiral 2, refined the focus areas and mission and took the concept to the next level. It reevaluated and readjusted the processes and procedures for how the CDDOC should integrate with the theater commander. This became the blueprint for the enduring organization in place in Kuwait today.”

With a completely ‘purple’ operation, Levasseur said he took off his ‘DLA hat’ to lead the joint team that included 10 DLA employees and other subject matter experts who worked 12 to 18 hour days in a warehouse in Kuwait.

“Because this was a pilot program that merged the interests of two combatant commands and DLA,” Army Reserves Maj. Edward DeLissio said, “there was a lot of flexibility in determining what issues would be tackled in the first 100 days.”

Normally an individual mobilization augmentee at Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, a field activity of DLA, DeLissio set out with the team to compare the new mission with the current doctrine and processes in place for theater distribution of DLA stocks for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom units.

“If there were any shortfalls in logistics operations on a continuum of past, present or future,” DeLissio stated, “then we would address the issues and discuss them with the appropriate commands and staffs. We would then document the issues and recommend methods to make improvements.”

With team members from national logistical partners, each team could reach-back to their parent organizations to provide forward support information and capabilities. DeLissio was able to provide a link between DSCP, DLA's contingency support teams in theater and the logisticians with Coalition Forces Land Component Command and the Multi-National Forces Iraq.

Noting the great learning experience for all of the partners involved, Brooks felt that there was a great appreciation from the USTRANSCOM partners about the magnitude of DLA’s operations to sustain the forces. “The DLA partners,” Brooks stated, “also appreciated and saw first hand how stressed the defense transportation system is and what a challenge it is to balance deployment and distribution.”

Task Force Express: Marrying strategic and tactical pieces

The sustainment group of the pilot, Task Force Express, needed to map the distribution processes in the Southwest Asia theater to develop methods of improvement for the implementation of procedures and automation to supply the combat forces.

“We developed some automated systems to help identify critical parts,” Brooks said, “and prioritized those critical parts for movement. This allowed us to move those items to the front of the line ahead of other supplies based on the combatant commanders needs.”

The biggest challenge for the team was thinking strategically while focusing on the tactical demands of the mission.

“It was very easy to drift to our comfort zones,” DeLissio said, “since most of us were bringing vast amounts of logistics experience from the tactical level.”

“We scratched the surface, though,” Brooks said about marrying the strategic and tactical pieces of the mission. “One of the biggest challenges was making sure that sustainment didn’t take a backseat to troop deployment during the shift from OIF I to OIF II.”

Even with the demands of determining the critical needs of the services, the process was going very well, according to Brooks, until April 9 when terrorist threats and attacks increased.

With supply lines closed or cut off due to attacks, the mission became a combat support operation rather than a normal logistics sustainment operation. The remainder of Spiral 1 focused on resupply by airlift to maintain the distribution of ammunition, food, fuel and repair parts to the services.

“It was a significant impediment to move supplies north,” Brooks said. “We were able to pull the commodity experts together with the service teams and the transporters to develop viable solutions to keep up with the momentum of logistics to the combat forces. Without bringing the strategic piece together and marrying it immediately to the tactical, I don’t think we could have succeeded so quickly.”

The team in conjunction with the forces, according to Brooks, moved over 1600 short tons of ammunition in a week by air. When combined with the exorbitant amounts of food, Meals Ready to Eat, fuel and repair parts that all had to be pushed north into Iraq in a timely manner, the partnership of the CDDOC was an asset in providing the in-transit visibility necessary to distribute supplies.

“With a focus on the critical supplies,” Levasseur said, “Task Force Express has provided the theater with a process that gives better than 98 hours advanced notice of inbound cargo to the seaport in great detail and 24 to 48 hours’ notice of inbound cargo via air.”

According to DLA distribution team chief within the CDDOC sustainment cell Marine Corps Lt. Col. David Fisher, even with the original mission statement, he felt that accomplishments exceeded leadership expectations.

“The In-transit Visibility and Total Asset Visibility improved while we were there,” Fisher said, “simply by introducing those within the theater to the Global Transportation Network, Radio Frequency Identification tagging, ITV, Joint Deployment Logistics Model and the implementation of the Automated Manifest System at the Theater Distribution Center.”

The improvements in the utilization of the ITV systems also allowed the team to efficiently recognize where certain classes of materiel were being shipped in excess beyond the needs and capacity of its military customers.

Since Class IV materiel like lumber, barrier and construction materiel are usually the first items to be shipped into a theater of operations, sustaining and assessing the real need for these supplies after major combat operations have ended can be difficult.

During the pilot, for example, the team found that as logisticians tried to determine the location and quantity of Class IV materiel already in Kuwait and Iraq in support of OIF, the shipments were still arriving at the ports, creating backlogs of materiel into the theater.

Through the pilot’s efforts, according to DeLissio, the CDDOC directly impacted theater operations by successfully avoiding the shipment of over 1000 additional containers of class IV materiel into country that were unnecessary, while saving over $12 million in materiel cost and strategic lift.

Improving partnerships, logistics for the future

“In my opinion, there is still a lot to be done,” Brooks stated as he discussed the refinement phase that is being executed now with a new roster of deployed team members. Currently nine DLA employees are working in the CDDOC, which has been successfully refining the procedures and processes for how CDDOC will integrate with the theater commander.

The CDDOC pilot is already being used as a basis for other combatant commands, according to Levasseur, with an assessment being done for a similar “DDOC” in Korea.

“I think that it is absolutely imperative that this partnership remain strong and continue to bloom,” Brooks said, “because you just can’t separate the transportation from the distribution, and what the services bring to the table. No one can do it alone. It takes the expertise of all who are involved.”

Brooks also cited that the overall experience creates a better DLA employee that will bring a broader perspective of logistics back to the agency. “I think this will be a tremendous value to DLA. The agency can only benefit from the job that these folks did and the knowledge that they will bring back to the 22,000 people throughout all parts of DLA to better support the war fighter.”

“I’m glad I was able to be a member of the team,” Fisher said. “It is my hope that lessons learned from this pilot will evolve into positive changes to the Defense Transportation Regulation and to the course content of our logistics schools throughout the Department of Defense. If we teach our logistics communities correctly and empower them, there may be no need for a CDDOC in the future.”

Until that time, CDDOC continues to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week as a multi-agency effort that is improving communication between various distribution and transportation organizations and CENTCOM in order to reduce costs while supplying and sustaining the needs of America’s armed forces.

DLA, headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Va., is DOD's logistics combat support agency. DLA is the source for nearly every consumable item, whether for combat readiness, emergency preparedness or day-to-day operations for DOD. The Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard rely on DLA to provide a huge variety of items, including food, fuel, medical supplies, clothing, construction and barrier materiel and more than 90 percent of weapon systems repair parts, both in times of peace and war.

USTRANSCOM, headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., was established in 1987 and is one of nine U.S. unified commands. As the single manager of America's global defense transportation system, USTRANSCOM is tasked with the coordination of people and transportation assets to allow the Department of Defense to project and sustain forces, whenever, wherever, and for as long as they are needed.

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