On-Scene Report: Outfitting the Operating Force
Blount Island Command Equips Marines for Battle
By David Vergun
Production Editor David Vergun toured Blount Island Command in Florida for the preparation of this article, as well as two maritime prepositioning force ships, and the Port of Jacksonville.
The I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) logistics officer was appalled.
Gazing out over the sprawling container lot at the Port of Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia, Maj. Paul F. Turner saw hundreds of opened steel shipping containers, their contents strewn about. Marines from shore parties and embarkation units, armed with crowbars and chainsaws, pried apart and cut through the 2-by-4-inch lumber that had been used to block and brace wooden boxes--ranging in size from a shoe box to a "100-cube box" (big enough to hold a couple of desks)--that were stored inside the containers. Marines scrambled from box to box reading content nomenclatures, frantically trying to match up the unit supplies urgently needed to sustain the lightly equipped I MEF Marines who were digging into the scorching sands of Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield. The process was agonizingly slow, tedious, and disorderly.
That was in October 1990, and valuable time was slipping away. In those first few months of Operation Desert Shield, Marines and Pentagon planners prayed that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein would not choose this "window of vulnerability" to attack.
Eleven years later: Turner, now a lieutenant colonel, is director of the Logistics Division at the Marine Corps' Blount Island Command in Jacksonville, Fla. He--and other like-minded Marines--are now in a position to implement systemwide changes. And implement them they have, with the support and encouragement of Col. Allen Coulter, commanding officer of Blount Island Command. They provided visitors an overview of the operational logistics associated with the Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF).
Born of Necessity
The MPF concept traces its origins to the height of the Cold War in the late 1970s. U.S. war planners, faced with the possible task of deploying large numbers of combat units to the Middle East or Southwest Asia, deployed interim prepositioning ships to the Indian Ocean to solve the immense time-distance challenges posed by the need to carry out major naval/military combat operations halfway around the world. It was a force born of necessity. The prepositioning concept has expanded steadily since its modest beginnings 20 years ago.
Vehicles, tanks, and howitzers that are maintained and operated in training and stored in lots and motor pools across the United States are not the same ones Marines will use for brigade-size (17,300 Marines and Sailors) or larger operations. Instead, their combat gear and sustainment materiel (supplies, repair parts, fuel, rations, etc.) are stowed aboard 15 forward-deployed Maritime Prepositioning Ships (MPSs).
To sustain a brigade's operations for at least 30 days requires one MPS squadron, typically composed of five or six forward-deployed MPS ships fully loaded with all types of supplies and equipment, including some extremely heavy and outsized rolling stock and combat vehicles: M1A1 tanks, AAVs (amphibious assault vehicles), ammunition and weapons of all types, M198 howitzers, LAVs (light armored vehicles), humvees (high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles), meals-ready-to-eat, water, fuel, tents, tools, hospital equipment, the construction materials used to set up an expeditionary airfield, and more.
Marines marry up with their supplies and equipment by flying into an overseas area of operations while the MPS ships are proceeding to a benign port in the same general area. The MPS ships, crewed by civilians, are not designed for forcible entry, so the port of debarkation must first be secured by Marines.
If a suitable port is not available, MPS ships can offload in-stream, meaning they can be offloaded in the open ocean or in the littorals within about two miles of shore. Pierside offloading, the much-preferred method, requires a minimum of two days of around-the-clock work. In-stream offloading takes about three times as long because supplies and equipment must first be lifted or driven onto lighterage--floating platforms also carried on MPF ships and lowered into the water by the ship's cranes--and ferried ashore.
The lighterage sections, which can be quickly connected with a powered section to form self-powered barges, are then used to transport gear ashore. Alternatively, a roll-on/roll-off (RO/RO) discharge facility can be assembled by grouping six sections of lighterage together to facilitate the offload of wheeled and/or tracked vehicles. In-stream off-loads are extremely weather-dependent and can take even longer if wave, current, and/or beach conditions present problems. Amphibious assault vehicles, however, are easily discharged in-stream through the ship's rear RO/RO ramp.
Once ashore, the containers are removed from the lighterage and placed onto trucks by Rough Terrain Container Handlers--special forklifts, two per ship. The trucks, tanks, and other vehicles then drive to the arrival and assembly operations areas, where the containers are sent to a container lot (or "cot lot") storage area. That is where the containers are opened, and where Marine units draw their equipment and supplies. Ammunition is taken to a separate ammunition supply point and can be issued there as and when needed.
Turner and other planners devised a way to bypass the "cot-lot clutter" and speed the delivery of combat-essential prepackaged supplies and equipment to the major subordinate elements--aviation combat, ground combat, combat service support, and command--that comprise the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF). The new "direct-delivery" method is a huge breakthrough in operational logistics, planners say, that could decrease force standup time by several days.
From Crates to Shark Cages
While deployed to Norway four years ago, Turner noticed that large volumes of military supplies were being loaded onto trucks in sturdy wire cages that resembled shark cages. He envisioned the use of similar containers to replace the wooden boxes carried inside standard 8-by-8-by-20-foot ISO (International Organization for Standardization) containers. The idea went from drawing board to prototype and, within the last three years, to similar wire cages--called storage and transportation frames (STFs)--that have been replacing the traditional wooden boxes. Turner listed some benefits of the new system:
Five STFs fit snugly inside one ISO container. Commercial or rough-terrain forklifts can slide in and out easily, eliminating the need for the blocking and bracing lumber--which is time-consuming both to build and to tear apart, and takes up valuable container and ship space. The use of STFs not only speeds the offloading, it also speeds the overall MPS and MPF maintenance cycle operations at Blount Island;
STFs can be prepackaged with essential gear and transported directly from ship container to combat forces ashore, eliminating the need to sort through 25 to 40 wooden boxes per container to pull out the same custom-tailored load. A new 7.5-ton truck (medium tactical vehicle replacement, or MTVR) pulling a howitzer, for instance, could carry in its flatbed up to five STFs preloaded with tents, aiming circles, camouflage netting, and all of the other tools and equipment needed to stand up an artillery battery;
STFs can quickly be removed from a container and transported by helicopter or truck as one load. One vehicle STF (VSTF), a smaller version of the standard STF, fits in a humvee. Five VSTFs fit in an MTVR and can be locked together and transported by helicopter;
The European Union has banned the importation of untreated wood; the use of STFs eliminates the need for lumber;
STFs can be folded flat for storage (25 in one ISO container); and
Each STF is fitted with adjustable shelves that can be manipulated in various ways to accommodate different-sized items.
Currently, more than 300 STFs/VSTFs are being loaded out on each MPS ship.
The axiom "little things count" is apt in describing the numerous big-picture logistics benefits that have accrued from the shift to STFs. Another "little" benefit Turner and others have contributed to operational logistics is a repair parts (Class IX) carousel container--informally called the "mobile NAPA," after the popular auto parts chain. Turner and his designer team devised a motorized conveyor belt of parts shelves, self-contained in an ISO container. That also has led to several improvements in the loading, delivery, and unloading cycle:
A person looking for a part can enter a location code on a self-contained keypad mounted on the container; the carousel then spins around and stops at the tray holding that part;
The carousel is conveniently located on the vehicle deck of the MPS flag or alternate flag ship, within ready access of personnel who might need parts to repair a piece of equipment so it can be offloaded in a timely manner;
The carousel is designed to hold four times the number of parts that a container with traditional "Vidmar" cabinets can hold in the same volume of space;
The carousel can be transported by helicopter, or by MTVR or another logistics vehicle, to the combat service support area; and
The carousel, which can open on either side to provide for easy access to parts, is electrically powered, but can be turned manually (by a crank) if power is not available.
Four carousels already have been built; a total of 17 are expected to be completed over the next year for deploying units. Eventually, all three MPS squadrons and the Norway Air Landed Marine Expeditionary Brigade (NALMEB) will have the carousels available. Turner said that the U.S. Transportation Command has provided more than $3 million in mobility enhancement funds for carousel, STF, and VSTF construction.
The Road Ahead
What will be next down the pike? Coulter and Turner listed several ongoing projects:
(1) A scanning and web-based data-tracking system that can be used to identify the condition and exact location of all 45.1 million items of MPF gear staged worldwide;
(2) The replacement of end-opening ISO containers with more efficient side-opening ones; and
(3) Replacement of the 6-inch-by-6-inch lumber now used for blocking and bracing ammunition with plastic inserts that would provide better cushioning. This would save weight, space, and packing/unpacking time.
The Marines at Blount Island Command obviously thrive on challenges and transformational approaches. The day-to-day task of refurbishing the ships is a huge challenge, but also absolutely necessary, Coulter said. "When we deliver a piece of gear to that Marine, I want to have confidence that that is exactly what he needs, that he has it when he needs it, and that it will work properly."
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About Blount Island Command
The Blount Island Command (BIC), established in 1989, is a Marine Corps logistics unit that manages the Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF) and Norway Forward-Deployed Equipment programs. BIC is manned by approximately 85 Marines and Sailors--who, with 60 DOD civilians, oversee some 700 civilian contract workers (most of them employees of Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc.). BIC is located on a 762-acre port and maintenance facility seven miles upstream from the St. John's River sea buoy in Jacksonville, Fla.
BIC manages 15 maritime prepositioning ships (MPSs) assigned to three MPS squadrons deployed to the Mediterranean Sea, Diego Garcia (in the Indian Ocean), and Guam. BIC also oversees the maintenance of supplies and equipment stored in caves in the area of Trondheim, Norway.
Each of the 15 MPF ships are offloaded at Blount Island once every 33 months. The supplies and equipment the ship carries are inspected, repaired if necessary, and cleaned. BIC's 1,000-foot-long pier can accommodate two MPF ships, but usually only one ship at a time rotates to Blount Island for turnaround. The pierside and river depths at Blount Island are 38 feet, and the MPF ship drafts range from 32 to 34 feet. The offload-to-backload rejuvenation time per ship is 60 days. Drydock work is performed elsewhere, usually in Virginia in the Norfolk/Newport News area. Ammunition is shipped by rail to Charleston, S.C., and Crane, Ind., for inspection and replacement. Medical equipment is refurbished at Cheatham Annex, Va.
Marines are brought in by helicopter to prepare equipment for offload prior to arrival at the port area. MPS ships have participated in numerous operations--e.g., Desert Shield/Desert Storm and missions in Somalia and the Philippines--since the MPF program was started in 1983.
MPS ships are not currently being used to support Operation Enduring Freedom, but operations planners are poised to respond if necessary. The Military Sealift Command's Afloat Prepositioning Force has been called into action to provide munitions for U.S. Air Force bombers operating from Diego Garcia. MPS ships, cruising at 17 knots, can reach most offloading sites in Europe and Asia within about seven days, and can be reinforced by another squadron within an additional seven days.
MPS ships can pump fuel ashore from distances up to two miles offshore; each ship also can produce more than 25,000 gallons of potable water a day from sea water, and can pump that water ashore from a distance of two miles.
The Marine Corps' current lease on Blount Island will expire in 2004. The Marine Corps recognizes the importance of this real estate to the Corps' MPS program, to U.S. national security strategy, and to the economy of the city of Jacksonville and its surrounding communities, according to Capt. Stewart T. Upton, a Marine Corps public affairs officer. Upton said that acquiring approximately 362 acres of the island for Marine Corps ownership is one of the Corps' highest priorities.
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