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

Integrating Contractors
Into Brigade Support
Battalion Operations
by Ma j o r Da M i e n Green
As the sun set over the desert landscape of Forward
Operating Base (FOB) Hammer, the logisticians of
the 203d Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) prepared
another convoy in support of the 3d Brigade Combat
Team (BCT) of the 3d Infantry Division (Mechanized).
Following the afternoon logistics synchronization
meeting, the distribution company’s truck master
returned to her office to make the final adjustments to
the next day’s convoy plans.
Her first call was to the supply support activity
(SSA). Answering the radio was Mr. Smith, the site lead
for a company that provided personnel augmentation
to SSAs throughout Iraq. “I need you to load onto
the Iraqi truck platoon’s flatbeds 10 containers of the
Rhino Snot for Combat Outpost Salie. The convoy is
leaving tomorrow morning. I’ll have the convoy, upon
its return, stop at the SSA to pick it up.” “Understood,”
was his response.
Mr. Smith stepped outside the office container to
pass the message. Looking into the issue lanes, he
saw Haider Ezzet using a 4,000-pound forklift to load
a supply truck. Mr. Ezzet and four additional forklift
operators were contracted through a purchase request
and commitment (PR&C) to work in battalion motor
pools and the SSA. Mr. Smith entered the issue section
tent and passed the message to the noncommissioned
officer-in-charge for the section.
A couple of hours later, a group of contractors rolled
through the FOB’s entry control point after returning
from a barrier mission at Combat Outpost Salie.
Through FM radio, Sergeant Williams spoke with the
contractors and confirmed his next mission and the
delivery of the Rhino Snot, a soil stabilizer actually
called Envirotac II. The contractors were filling a gap
and working side-by-side with the 203d BSB Soldiers.
Supporting the 3d BCT from a newly created FOB,
the 203d BSB began its Operation Iraqi Freedom
rotation with only the transportation assets that it
had drawn from Army pre-positioned stocks in Kuwait.
A shortage in up-armored logistics vehicles left the
BSB with only 60 percent of its authorized transportation
requirements.
2
The vehicle shortage especially hindered the BSB’s
construction projects. The BSB waited a month for
concrete to arrive because concrete was in high demand
at all combat outposts, patrol bases, joint security sites,
and everywhere else that was not yet protected. But
once the concrete began to flow, the BSB Soldiers
thought they had the construction under control with
their palletized load systems (PLSs). How hard could
it be to move t-wall and Jersey barriers, Scud bunkers,
and towers? They learned the hard way that they definitely
did not have it under control.
The corps was able to loan the BSB a crane to use
indefinitely and two qualified Soldiers to operate it for 1
week. Their first mission was at Combat Outpost Cahill,
which is a few kilometers north of the Salmon Pak
facility near Baghdad. Within 3 weeks, the crane, which
had been abused for months, finally had to be taken
back to the Victory Base complex for extensive maintenance.
The 3d BCT had no organic crane capability,
so the BSB had to rely entirely on a contractor’s 60-ton
crane to emplace concrete. It was obvious that the BSB
needed help to move the concrete and barriers.
Filling the Transportation Gap
On 22 June 2007, a contract was awarded to an
Iraqi company to move 1,715 barriers. The contract
was written so that the vendor was paid by the number
of barriers moved. The conditions-based statement
of work (versus time-based) gave the BSB increased
flexibility to determine the right delivery time based
on the tactical situation. The contracted personnel and
their equipment easily merged into BSB operations.
Although the company was not a military unit of any
kind, it worked under the distribution company just like
a platoon, so the Soldiers of the BSB referred to it as
the “Iraqi Medium Truck Platoon.”
Using the Iraqi Medium Truck Platoon, the BSB
increased its ability to move critical supplies and
materials throughout the area of operations in support
of the 3d BCT. Through the use of a PR&C, the BSB
contracted four 22-ton cranes for 30 days. On the
first day of the contract, all four crane drivers took
a wrong turn on the way to FOB Hammer and were
NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2008