Medical Logistics - Army Logistics University - U.S. Army

Soldiers from the brigade support
battalion S–2 section conduct a Raven
unmanned aerial vehicle training flight.
was available in the forward support battalion. Before
the Global War on Terrorism, and even immediately
after it began, the BSB S–2 position had been filled by
inexperienced officers. I found that many of the logistics
leaders I worked with had never had quality intelligence
support for their missions, and as a result, they
did not understand what intelligence capabilities were
available to them and had limited expectations.
Supporting the Commander’s Priorities
Knowing that the brigade combat team would deploy
within 18 months but not knowing the location or mission,
I started with the basics. I trained my Soldiers to
capture debrief data from our convoys, understand the
commander’s priority intelligence requirements, and
understand the broad influences of the Global War on
Terrorism on our mission.
Rotations at the Joint Readiness Training Center
Leadership Training Program at Fort Polk, Louisiana,
and the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California,
had given me a fundamental understanding of
the BSB mission and of what my commander’s priority
ARMY LOGISTICIAN PROFESSIONAL BULLETIN OF UNITED STATES ARMY LOGISTICS
intelligence requirements would be. When we deployed
to Iraq, we edited and made additions to those requirements
from time to time, but for the most part, my
commander’s priorities remained force protection of
our Soldiers and assets, force protection of convoys,
and route trafficability.
Force protection of our Soldiers and assets. What
are the indicators of indirect fire attack or ground
attack on BSB assets? When will these attacks occur,
and how can we mitigate them? These questions
gained greater emphasis when we learned that the
unit occupying our future forward operating base
(FOB) had lost its ammunition transfer and holding
point (ATHP) when it was hit by multiple indirect fire
rounds. The nature of the ATHP and the fuel system
supply point makes them more vulnerable to indirect
fire effects than other FOB resources. By understanding
the capabilities of enemy weapon systems and
alerting ourselves to indicators of pending indirect
fire attacks, we could better protect our Soldiers and
resources, ensuring continued support. We sent four
Soldiers to Raven unmanned aerial vehicle training
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