Life-Cycle Management - Army Logistics University - U.S. Army

containers blocked other pallets and containers, while
liaison officers from the supported units prioritized
what they wanted loaded next. This caused control and
security issues because cargo was being downloaded
and routed on the spot while other vehicles were
forced to wait to come into the yard. The reception
team also stages convoys and vehicles, so, at any given
time, 100 or more vehicles from three or four countries
were staged in the CDC.
Initially, the inbound radio frequency identification
(RFID) tag interrogator was perched on top of the
CDC control building near the sustainment cargo, a
position that could adversely affect the tags on the
cargo stored in the area. Multiple pinging of the RFID
tags on containers that sit in the arc of an interrogator
depletes the tags’ batteries and can cause an information
jam in the interrogator system. To prevent these
problems from occurring, we relocated the front gate
and the inbound interrogator to the front of the staging
area so they would operate more efficiently and save
tag battery life. We also moved a team of soldiers and
a civilian MCT to the new front gate to log in all types
of packs, RFID tags, pallet ID numbers, and CONEX
Cargo processing begins at the corps distribution
center’s reception point. This step is critical to all
follow-on processing.
(container express) numbers. The moves improved
security and control and, most importantly, improved
the overall reception operation.
Multiclass Yard
Our multiclass yard is broken down into several different
areas. One is the mixed-pallet and frustrated
cargo area. It is operated primarily by soldiers from
the 51st Maintenance Battalion’s 574th Supply Company
from Mannheim, Germany, with augmentation
from Halliburton Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR).
Their job is to receive packs that are mixed or frustrated.
Mixed packs are CONEXs or pallets whose
contents have multiple Department of Defense Activity
Address Codes (DODAACs) and are destined for
several different supply support activities (SSAs).
Packs that have items with multiple DODAACs but are
headed to the same SSA are not considered mixed.
Automated logistical specialists (military occupational
specialty 92A) break down the mixed pallets and segregate
their contents on pallets to be shipped to each of
the many logistics nodes served by the CDC. If
enough cargo for one location is received in 24 to 48
hours, a “pure” 463L pallet is shipped. Partial pallets
are sometimes shipped so critical supplies will reach
their destination on time.
Sometimes a pallet is labeled “pure,” but when it is
broken down at the receiving SSA, it is found to contain
items that belong to another SSA. When that happens,
the items must be shipped back to the CDC as
retrograde cargo. In effect, cargo is shipped several
times by the same transportation units. To avoid this,
greater effort should be made to increase the number
of pure pallets shipped to the theater.
Another part of the multiclass yard is designated as
the “retro” area. This area is run by the 574th Supply
Company, augmented by the 302d Cargo Transfer
Company, an Army Reserve unit from Fort Eustis, Virginia,
and KBR. Retrograde cargo from the satellite
SSAs is backhauled to the CDC, where it is determined
to be serviceable, unserviceable, or misdirected.
In the first few months, a lot of cargo was
shipped back and forth among SSAs, the CDC, and the
theater distribution center because the retrograde cargo
was not properly processed and labeled through the
Standard Army Retail Supply System (SARSS). For
example, when an unserviceable major assembly was
retrograded to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, or the theater
distribution center, often the original materiel release
order and military shipping label would still be on the
ARMY LOGISTICIAN PROFESSIONAL BULLETIN OF UNITED STATES ARMY LOGISTICS 29