Assignments Enablers
Written by Marty Kauchak
MLF 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 5 (June)
The U.S. DoD uses a wide range of education and training strategies to prepare its logisticians for assignment. Supporting these strategies is a blend of traditional classroom and technology-based instruction which allows community mangers, vehicle operators, load planners and other logisticians to learn and enhance their skills and competencies.
ONE ASSESSMENT
The department’s efforts to prepare its logisticians for their assignments received high marks from one observer. “In a word, the training DoD logisticians undergo is outstanding. It’s absolutely the best in the world—no question,” retired Army Major General Gary L. Border, director of strategic planning, Lockheed Martin readiness and stability operations, told MLF. “I think that’s reflected in the U.S. military’s ability to bring what’s needed to a hostile area, a humanitarian mission or large-scale disaster. It’s also readily apparent in the sheer number of DoD personnel who are sought after by commercial companies like Sears, Wal-Mart and UPS.”
Indeed, Border noted that the training as it exists now is standard-setting—a model for the rest of the world. “Just look at how the DoD was able to respond to simultaneous requirements in Afghanistan, Iraq and Haiti—that ability to shoulder the sustainment demand clearly demonstrates the value of the training that’s there now.”
Accolades aside, DoD is the type of organization that values and emphasizes continuous improvement, and there are two ways that current community training might be enhanced. “First, there could be more training in joint logistics, in supporting a joint taskforce in an integrated way at the tactical level. We fight jointly, so we need to support jointly. I think there would be great value in DoD-sponsored joint war games with distributed execution and a focus on the sustainment phase; logisticians would really benefit from practicing in that joint environment and ultimately, so would the warfighter,” added Border.
Product support integration is another way to enhance what’s already there— cross-training. Border pointed out that cross-training is already taking place so, for example, a supply officer might be trained in transport, too. He continued, “But full integration means a strategic understanding of how all the pieces fit together—and that’s what is really key in order to ensure weapons system availability to the theater.”
Border said that kind of integration might be encouraged by expanding the Defense Acquisition University and even complementing training with an industry exchange program. “Both groups could get a real sense of how everyone must work together to make those weapons systems available, and DoD logisticians would understand how industry works, the factors that drive decisions.”
Border’s advocacy of professional education for logisticians is well founded. “At Lockheed Martin, we’ve trained 10,000 professional logisticians to support our military customers and we’re proud of the work they’re doing. We’ve actually shared our training material with the Defense Acquisition University and they’ve shared their materials with us.” Acknowledging the requirement to add training to the learning mix, he noted, “Our convoy simulators are preparing troops for what they may encounter in theater.”
Lockheed Martin is also helping to deliver the art of war gaming to logistics training audiences. “At the Lockheed Martin Center for Innovation, we’ve hosted the U.S. Marine Corps Modernization Logistics War Games for the past three years and this year, it will feature elements of the Army and Navy. We’re proud of the added interoperability and what it means for the preparedness of our customer,” concluded Border.
LOGISTICS EDUCATION PROVIDER
Formal education opportunities as alluded to by Border are expanding. In one instance, professional logisticians from DoD and other public and private sector organizations complete an expanding menu of programs and courses through the Institute for Defense and Business (IDB). The IDB is a nonprofit research and education entity which collaborates with the University of North Carolina (UNC) system’s flagship campus at Chapel Hill, additional UNC system institutions and other national universities to provide resident and distance learning-enabled instruction.
IDB’s education programs are organized around four principles, Mark Cramer, institute president, told MLF. At the center of IDB’s strategy is the inclusion of students from the government and private sector in the same class, when feasible. “You receive a lot of great instruction, but you also have a lot of ‘cross-learning’ within the classroom itself among the different groups,” said Cramer. The institute is also following DoD’s efforts to expand the definition of jointness. For IDB, this means enrolling military attendees from across the DoD—the services, the combatant commands and other department agencies and organizations. “As of two years ago we included the Coast Guard, and as of this year we also added all the other components of the Department of Homeland Security,” pointed out Cramer. A third principle is to include both uniformed military and civilian participants in the classes to enrich the learning experience. The fourth principle has led IDB to form its cadre of instructors from faculty and academic subject matter experts from across the UNC system and other institutions in the U.S., private sector practitioners, and very senior active duty and retired military officers.
The institute’s four focus areas of instruction include logistics and technology, life cycle systems, organizational transformation and leadership, and stabilization and economic reconstruction.
The logistics and technology programs have the largest enrollment. This level of student interest is complemented by the efforts of the IDB’s and UNC’s LOGTECH (Center of Excellence in Logistics and Technology) to advance the state of the art in this discipline.
LOGTECH program courses provide a snapshot of the institute’s academic organization and impact on the community. As this issue was published, there were two, one-week executive education programs (one for executive level uniformed and civilian military members, the other for mid-grade uniformed and civilian military individuals). In 2010, two of these executive level programs (with 30 students per class) and six of the advanced mid-grade programs (with 45 students per class) will be conducted. “In 10 years, we have put about 1,600 students through the two programs,” said Cramer.
To date, LOGTECH has completed four MBA classes, with two also in progress. The MBA program is a collaborative effort among Indiana University, UNC-Chapel Hill and IDB. While the majority of IDB courses are completed on-site, 80 percent of the MBA program is completed through distance learning.
The institute’s academic program remains dynamic, as it enhances its program offerings to reflect DoD’s evolving missions and requirements. For instance, IDB is tailoring its stabilization and economic reconstruction roundtables to support brigade-level units deploying to Afghanistan.
Looking downstream, the institute is preparing to offer a program on logistics in a stabilization and economic reconstruction environment. “This combines our longstanding experience in logistics and technology with our more recent experience in stabilization and economic reconstruction. This will focus on, ‘How do you operate in these post-crisis environments in which we find ourselves,’” said Cramer, and added, “This would also include a post-disaster environment, in Haiti, for example. As in the roundtables, the new class would bring together NGOs, international organizations, the military, the Department of State and others to study post-crisis environments in which they have to work together, and in which logistics is the key activity.”
SIMULATORS FOR VEHICLE OPERATOR TRAINING
Technology-based training supports other logisticians.
FAAC’s operator driving simulator (ODS) has been a major contributor to the training of Army motor transport operators since 2002. The service has fielded 74 ODS systems, of which 71 are located at Fort Leonard Wood supporting the Motor Transport Operator Schoolhouse. The Army National Guard is in the process of fielding ODS systems in mobile configurations to support training ARNG motor transport operators in their operational and domestic logistics support missions. To date, 19 ODS simulators have been delivered to the Guard.
Todd Glenn, assistant director, military business development, FAAC, told MLF that the latest ODS systems for the ARNG are configured with interchangeable dash sets supporting training for M915, M939, FMTV, HET, HEMTT, PLS, up-armored HMMWV and MRAP vehicles. “The ARNG simulators are being fielded in selfcontained trailers that state training centers can relocate using organic tactical wheeled vehicle assets such as the M915,” he added. Technology is harnessed in ODS systems to replicate a full range of vehicles’ operational conditions. Glenn continued, “Drivers are able to learn proper operating procedures, as well as the performance characteristics unique to each vehicle type, through the high-fidelity simulation that includes 3-degree-of-freedom [DOF] seat motion, force feedback steering and over 100 scenarios in different simulated environments under all weather conditions. Trailer towing is also simulated, to include dynamic liquid loads.”
In addition to fielding new ODS systems in 2010, the National Guard Bureau plans to conduct ODS dash retrofits of systems that do not have a full complement of dash suites.
FAAC’s extensive DoD portfolio includes delivering and updating U.S. Marine Corps driving simulators. Beginning in 1999, the service committed to making a significant investment in developing high-fidelity driving simulators to support the fielding of the MK-23 Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR). Four simulators were fielded to the Motor Transport Maintenance Schoolhouse at Camp Johnson, N.C., and 32 simulators were fielded to the Marine Corps Motor Transport Operator Schoolhouse at Fort Leonard Wood in both 3-DOF seat motion and 6-DOF full motion base configurations.
“Since their fielding in 2002, the simulators received a major modification in 2007 that incorporated simulation training for the up-armored MTVR configuration; however, the original application computers, image generators, projectors and other system hardware components were still in use,” recalled Glenn. In September 2009, taking advantage of the recent fielding of 57 ODS systems to the Marine’s active component and reserve locations, the Marine Corps System Command’s program manager for Training Systems contracted the Daedalus-FAAC team to conduct a comprehensive technology refresh/rehost of the 36 MTVR schoolhouse driving simulators in the continental U.S.
High fidelity simulators are no longer the exclusive domain of traditional combat support and combat service support vehicles. Logisticians also use these systems to train aspiring operators of ground equipment.
In one effort, GlobalSim, a Kongsberg Maritime company, teamed with JLG Industries to deliver MasterLift 3000 simulators for the U.S. Army’s Atlas II forklift.
Sixteen ML3000 ATLAS II electronic training aids have been delivered to the service. Ten units are located at Fort Eustis, two units are at Fort A.P. Hill, and four units are at Redstone Arsenal, Ala. The four units at Redstone Arsenal will be relocated to Fort Lee in the near future.
JLG is the Atlas II program prime contractor, with GlobalSim as the subcontractor.
The two companies are also preparing to deliver the training system for the U.S. Navy’s Millennia military vehicle (MMV) forklift. “The MMV training system is currently being manufactured and is scheduled for delivery at the end of calendar year 2010,” Clyde Stauffer, senior vice president, GlobalSim, told MLF. He pointed out the MMV fielding plan calls for two stand-alone units to be delivered to the Navy’s schoolhouse at the Naval Weapons Station - Cheatham Annex, Va., and 10 upgraded units to various Navy Reserve facilities in the U.S.
For the MMV training system, GlobalSim is the prime contractor with JLG as the subcontractor.
The Atlas II and MMV training systems have a number of common technology features that provide the training audience with the tools necessary to learn to operate the vehicles in different mission environments. “Since the MMV cab layout, visual display system and motion base are very similar to the Atlas II system we delivered to the U.S. Army, the MMV system utilized a significant portion of the Atlas II hardware and software design and implementation data,” pointed out Stauffer.
From a hardware perspective, the simulators replicate their supported vehicles’ cabs’ physical design and layout with actual vehicle controls and indicators. A 2-DOF, fully articulated motion base helps impart the feel of operating the actual system in different modes.
The two systems are supported by a wraparound visual display system that provides a field of view of 220 degrees (horizontal) and 90 degrees (vertical) for the operator.
Two of the many software and modeling attributes that create high fidelity learning scenarios include the ability to model environmental conditions (calm/clear, wind, fog, etc.) and simulate malfunctions (oil leak, flat tire, etc.). The MMV’s software has been further upgraded to integrate Navy-specific requirements, including operations on a beach area, tent city, dock area work with large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off ships and other tasks.
Once inside the simulator, the trainee is immersed in scenarios that replicate contemporary operating environments and conditions. The system’s scenario editor tool set allows the creation and editing of virtually unlimited training scenarios, some of which may include working with movable loads (empty and full wooden pallets, 20-foot ISO containers, etc.).
Additional industry efforts will increase the commonality between the two systems. “After the MMV has been delivered, the enhanced training arena will be retrofitted into the U.S. Army’s Atlas II training system configuration,” added Stauffer.
SERVICE-PROVIDED LEARNING
The services also provide formal education to prepare logisticians for duty. The Marine Corps’ efforts to prepare logisticians to perform load planning and other skills caught our attention.
Major Darren DeMyer, company commander for the Mobility Operations Instructional Company within Logistics Operations School (LOS), Marine Corps Combat Service Support Schools (MCCSSS), told MLF that his command “has two separate areas that we [LOS, MCCSSS] train amphibious embarkation and combat cargo officer/assistant functions.”
The amphibious ship load planners course (ASLPC) consists of three weeks of amphibious doctrine and planning principles tied to four separate ship load plan exercises. “Students have to perform various levels of tasks, from data management to landing plan evaluation to load planning skills relative to cargo and vehicle stowage, using both paperbased load plans and automated tools like MDSSII (MAGTF Deployment Support System II) and ICODES [Integrated Computerized Deployment System]. This is often referred to as our TEO/A [team embarkation officer/assistant] course,” explained DeMyer.
A second course is the annual mobility officers course for newly appointed warrant officers. DeMyer added, “We have a combat cargo operations section where we talk to most everything that the ASLPC does, short of the physical load planning and some of the depth and breadth of stowage considerations.”
To overcome the greatest instructional challenges, ship familiarization and appreciation, the LOS attempts to include, when feasible, ship familiarization tours of Norfolk-based amphibious ships and briefings from naval support elements of the assault craft units and Naval Beach Group. ♦