GEN Ann E. Dunwoody Is the Commanding General of the U.S

Home , Redstone Arsenal

The new U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) headquarters at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.: AMC began operations from the building last summer after relocating from Fort Belvoir, Va., under congressional base closing and realignment mandates that collocated AMC with several of its subordinate commands. Inset is a photograph of GEN Ann E. Dunwoody, the commanding general of AMC.

EN Ann E. Dunwoody is the commanding general of the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC), headquartered Gat Redstone Arsenal, Ala., having taken command in November of 2008. She is the first woman in the U.S. military to attain four-star rank. At the start of Operation Enduring Free- dom, GEN Dunwoody commanded the 1st Corps Support Com- mand and deployed the logistics task force that supported the first deploying Army units in Afghanistan and stood up the Joint Logistics Command in Uzbekistan to support Combined Joint Task Force 180 in Afghanistan. Subsequently, at the start of Op- eration Iraqi Freedom, she commanded the Military Traffic Man- agement Command (redesignated as the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command), and as its commander supported Dennis Steele An Interview By Dennis Steele Senior Staff Writer

Q: AMC has played a large role in the drawdown of Operation New Dawn in Iraq and is playing a large role in sustaining Operation Endur- ing Freedom in Afghani stan. From your perspective, provide an update. GEN Dunwoody: As I watched GEN Austin and Deputy Secretary of De- fense Carter furl the colors when we closed our operations in Iraq, I was surprised when my eyes filled with tears during the ceremony. I reflected back with pride on the contributions and sacrifice our service members, our civilian corps and our families made over the past 10 years, both to support the war, and to complete the responsible drawdown plan. This last decade has been tough. It’s touched almost every sustainer and every logistics organization in the Army, but we have much to be proud of. Hands down, our greatest accomplishment was and is our ability to support our joint warfighters in Iraq and Afghani - stan, regardless of the many other de- mands placed on AMC. I think it’s important for folks to re- member that our drawdown in Iraq was one of the largest retrogrades in U.S. history. AMC supported that effort while being engaged on two fronts—Iraq and Afghanistan, while U.S. Army Materiel Command U.S. also sustaining contingency opera- the largest Army wartime deployment/redeployment movement tions in places like Haiti, Pakistan and Japan, and while since World War II. She went on to command the Combined completing the largest BRAC in history. At the same time, Arms Support Command and then serve as the U.S. Army’s we continued the reset of the Army’s and our joint part- Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, G-4, before joining AMC as ner’s equipment after a very hard decade at war to regen- its deputy commanding general. For soldiers who have served in erate combat power for future deployments. This meant Iraq or Afghanistan, if they drove it, flew it, shot it, ate it, wore operating our Depots, Arsenals and Plants at three times it, talked on it or used it to stop blood loss, AMC has played a the rate we ran them at the height of the Vietnam War. major role in loading it, getting it to them, fueling it, fixing it or One of our key initiatives in support of the end of Iraq getting it back from the theaters of operations since 9/11. After operations was the establishment of our Responsible Reset serving 37 years in the Army, GEN Dunwoody plans to retire Task Force (R2TF). It’s a forward-deployed, three-star later this year. The current AMC deputy commanding general/ AMC presence, commanded by the AMC Deputy Com- chief of staff, LTG Dennis L. Via, has been nominated by the Pres- manding General. R2TF served as a large ‘catcher’s mitt’ in ident to succeed her. Kuwait for all the equipment coming out of Iraq to ensure

March 2012 I ARMY 25 An AMC technician at Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pa., tests an optics system being repaired.

we could not only track it, but return it, repair it, dispose of it or redistrib- ute it. That’s a tough mission to accomplish from a CONUS-based headquarters. In fact, because we were forward deployed, we were able to support efforts to ship equipment di- rectly from Iraq to Afghanistan. More than 50 percent of the equipment needed for the Afghan surge came from equipment coming out of Iraq— a tremendous cost avoidance. This deployable command post-R2TF is now Army Materiel Command U.S. a model for the coming Afghan drawdown as we shift our theater. In fact, one of the things I’m most proud of is how focus to provide the same level of support for Operation today’s AMC really does serve as an extension of the Enduring Freedom. CENTCOM and ARCENT families and is a full member of Management of equipment on this magnitude would that great, joint logistics team. not have been possible in the past because the automation There will be new challenges as we transition efforts in tools did not exist. Now, because of advancements in auto- Operation Enduring Freedom. For example, as we de- mated systems and forward deployed logistics capabilities, parted Iraq, we were fortunate to have Kuwait to act as a we were able to see the equipment and as a result, we hub for our equipment retrograde effort. We won’t have could repair the equipment in theater, and we could ship that in Afghanistan. For those who have not been there: the equipment straight to Afghanistan instead of shipping Afghanistan is a land-locked country the size of Texas with from the United States. R2TF’s mission was fully inte- less than two percent of the road network and 20,000-foot grated with our ARCENT and CENTCOM joint partners in mountains. Recovering and retrograding equipment will be challenging. We’ll want to achieve the same kind of visibility, accountability and velocity of equipment retrograde that we did in Iraq.

A soldier wearing a Q: Concerning the Iraq retrograde developmental hel- operation, currently, is there a back- met is seated in- log of equipment that you have to side the “sphere room” (named for work through, or is it done? its spherical loud- GEN Dunwoody: Unlike Desert Storm, speaker configura- there are no “iron mountains” left in tion) at an AMC Iraq. There are no piles of containers. test facility located If you’ve studied the famous “Red at Aberdeen Prov- Ball Express” from WWII, you under- ing Ground, Md. stand that what we had to do in Iraq The sphere room is designed to create was equally historic. Just to give you a an auditory virtual visual, if you had put all the equip- space, allowing ment in Iraq in a single convoy, it complex testing of would stretch over 2,000 miles. The the effects of sound last of that equipment will come out on helmets and of the Kuwait staging area at the end other equipment. of February or early March. Through- out the course of Operation Iraqi Free- dom/Operation New Dawn, we deployed, sustained and redeployed a total of 314 brigade-equivalent units U.S. Army Materiel Command U.S.

26 ARMY I March 2012 and, to meet the President’s mandate, retrograded more arm of AMC, we were working to adapt AMC’s generating than 2.4 million pieces of equipment. The sheer size of the arm in order to better synchronize the distribution and re- responsible reset operation cannot be overstated: It was distribution of equipment. I’m proud to say that back in equivalent to closing down a city two and a half times the March 2011 the Secretary of the Army designated AMC as size of Annapolis, Md. The troop movement to Kuwait was the Army’s Lead Materiel Integrator (LMI). The LMI ap- akin to evacuating the entire population of Quincy, Mass., proach to materiel management is a transformational and moving it to Washington, D.C. If we stacked every model for the Army and will change how the Army equips container that left Iraq, the stack would be 51 miles high— our warfighter. Because we’ve been at war, our focus has nine times the height of Mt. Everest. This was a truly ‘PhD- been on getting the right equipment to our warfighters and level’ logistics mission on a historic scale. getting it to them fast. That’s absolutely the right approach, but it’s also expensive and it can lead to inefficien- Q: How has AMC evolved since the start of combat op- cies. So, for all the right reasons, we’ve developed multiple erations to provide operational support? organizations in the Army that manage materiel; we have GEN Dunwoody: Institutional adaptation has been criti- multiple piles of stuff being managed—theater sustain- cal in AMC’s success. Over the last 10 years, we’ve really ment stocks, theater-provided equipment, Army preposi- operationalized AMC to link the industrial base to the op- tioned stocks, left-behind equipment, prepositioned de- erational force and to focus on supporting the Joint Force ployment training sets—and we have multiple information and our Combatant Commanders. Since 9/11, we’ve built systems used to manage our equipment. With the designa- tremendous new capabilities for the joint warfight. For ex- tion of LMI, we’ll leverage state-of-the-art automation to ample, our Army Field Support Brigades, Army Contract- establish one distribution manager, one source for manag- ing Brigades and Transportation Brigades are all now ing repair, and one authoritative database, all working to- aligned with each of the COCOMs in order to respond to gether to provide the kind of visibility we need—visibility the needs of the Joint Warfighter across the logistics spec- of every piece of equipment across the Army. LMI will al- trum. Although we are not a joint headquarters, the sup- low the Army to optimize supply against demand, based port AMC provides to joint forces is significant. As GEN on Department of Army’s priorities, policies and strategy Odierno has said, we can never stop asking ourselves, ‘Are to minimize friction and make distribution decisions in we joint enough?’ Today’s AMC is able to ‘think joint,’ minutes or hours instead of weeks or months. ‘plan joint’ and ‘sustain joint.’ That kind of approach is a Another area where we’ve made significant changes is must for us as we move into a new decade. in contracting. The 2007 Gansler Commission report was a These new capabilities, along with R2TF, serve as AMC’s good wake-up call on the state of our contracting capabil- face to the field—allowing us to better support our CO- ity. That report, along with our field commanders, rein- COMs and the Army Service Component Commands, while forced the message that there was a difference between ac- ensuring that we get the equipment back into our depots in quisition and contracting. We had let our contracting order to generate combat power as quickly as possible. capability erode, while at the same time contracting re- Now, at the same time we were adapting the operational quirements skyrocketed in support of the war, and we

Mine resistant, ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles are lined up for shipment after being withdrawn from Iraq. The Responsi- ble Reset Task Force spearheaded the massive operation that brought equipment from Iraq, repairing or up- grading it and trans- porting it to where it was most needed. In-theater repair and transportation ac- counted for much of the equipment nec- essary for the U.S. Army’s surge operation in Afghanistan. U.S. Army Materiel Command U.S.

28 ARMY I March 2012 found ourselves doing billions of dollars in contracting in materiel command that serves as a single entry point for theater. It was a skill set that we lost because of downsiz- the logistics needs of our Army. We want AMC 2020 to ing trade-offs. When we deployed into Iraq, few would bring the full power of the national industrial base to our have thought that we’d be there 10 years, or would have forward deployed forces. imagined the scope and magnitude of the billions of dollars that we would do in contracting. We had to relearn the Q: Concerning Operation Enduring Freedom and the contracting lesson and reestablish that core capability. We NATO mission in Afghanistan, because we are now rely- can’t afford to lose it again. We cannot underestimate con- ing on the Northern Distribution Network, what are the tracting as a combat multiplier or “weapon system” on the additional costs and burdens on the logistics system and battlefield. Contracting allows us to support Iraqi and what part does AMC play? Afghanistan First programs, which hire the local popula- GEN Dunwoody: SDDC, one of our major subordinate tion and give them jobs while infusing money into their commands, has a huge role, and keeps an eye on the PAK economy. It is a powerful tool for nation-building and G-LOC (Pakistan ground logistics route) and Northern helps enable combatant and field Commanders’ theater en- Distribution Network. The PAK G-LOC is closed right gagement and partnering strategies. now, and it’s somewhat astonishing in itself that it’s been In 2008, we stood up the Army Contracting Command, a closed for more than 60 days and has had minimal impact two-star-level command. Now we have contracting sup- on our ability to sustain and maintain. The Northern Dis- port brigades that can deploy forward with trained and tribution Network gives us options—a safety net. certified contract managers who can give oversight to the TRANSCOM and CENTCOM have several proof-of-prin- contracting business in theater. We’ve hired and trained ciple projects, and pilots, under way right now to study more than 900 new acquisition professionals to meet grow- our abilities to use different, multi-modal routes. As you ing demand for contract operations. In addition, we’re im- well know, multi-modal is much more expensive. Every plementing initiatives such as our Service Contract Re- time you handle—load, unload, load—equipment it is form, a tool that will incorporate better buying power and much more expensive. optimization of services contracts across our Army. We are the only service that has a command and control capability Q: Meanwhile, as AMC was supporting two major associated with our contracting capability. In Haiti, we had combat operations, the AMC headquarters was being our contracting team in place within 72 hours of the earth- moved from Fort Belvoir, Va., to Redstone Arsenal, Ala., quake there and ready to do contracting services. That’s a under congressional base realignment and closure law tremendous capability. We have come a long way in a short (BRAC). What was entailed in that? time, but we still have work to do. Another organization adaptation has been the realignment of Surface Deployment and Distribution Com- mand (SDDC) to AMC with operational control to our joint partners at TRANSCOM. With SDDC assigned to AMC, it allows us to control and synchronize the movement of equipment, supplies and services. The benefit of all these initiatives is that we have been able to connect what was historically the industrial, CONUS-based organization to the joint warfighter—factory to foxhole, con- cept to combat. There’s still more to do. Our vision for AMC 2020 is to be a globally networked, fully transparent

An AMC contract worker inspects ammunition at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, Independence, Mo. The plant is a government-owned, contractor- operated facility, and it has produced millions of rounds of ammunition to support

U.S. combat operations since 9/11. Army Materiel Command U.S.

30 ARMY I March 2012 An Abrams tank undergoes repair and refurbishment at an AMC facility.

GEN Dunwoody: What I’m most proud of when it comes to BRAC is how our workforce continued to support the warfighter in both theaters and supported contingency operations around the globe—all without missing a beat. It was incredible: two combat operations and contingency operations—Haiti, Pakistan, and Japan —all done at the same time of the BRAC move. Our BRAC mission—a seven-year terrain walk—is complete, and we did it on time and in many cases ahead of schedule. Not many people know that this last BRAC round was the largest in the history of the Army. In fact, at AMC, BRAC impacted one out of Army Materiel Command U.S. every six employees. Because AMC is mainly civilian, we sions we’re making today, to ensure that doesn’t happen were asking many of our folks to move for the first time in again. In fact, if we adapt for this new era in a bold and in- their lives. That’s a tough decision. We had to recognize novative way, I’m confident we’re going to be a tremen- that and support our unique, talented workforce through- dously capable organization, and AMC will remain well- out the BRAC process. postured to support our joint forces as we implement our We also used BRAC as an opportunity to reorganize and new strategy. posture ourselves for the future. We moved into our new As I’ve told other folks, at AMC we’re taking an ‘Ends, headquarters building in June. In the building, we’ve de- Ways and Means’ approach to getting after the budget signed and implemented a world-class operations center challenges and meeting the requirements of this new strat- that equals any of our commercial logistics providers. For egy. What I mean by that is, we know that our ‘ends’— the first time in Army history we have an integrated opera- which I define as continuing to provide our joint warfight- tions center providing near real-time visibility of the ma- ers the decisive edge through superior sustainment teriel and services our warfighters need. —won’t really change. But we know our ‘means’—our re- BRAC allowed us to take advantage of synergies in our sources—won’t increase and will most likely diminish. So organizations as we shifted our AMC centers of gravity to the only thing we can do is to change the ‘ways’ we do our four locations: Redstone Arsenal, Ala.; Aberdeen Proving business. Fortunately, we’ve been looking at a number of Ground, Md; Warren, Mich.; and Rock Island Arsenal, Ill. ways to fundamentally change the way we do business For example, at Redstone Arsenal where our headquarters while addressing opportunities to consolidate and opti- is located, we also have the U.S. Army Security Assistance mize our capabilities. Command, the Army Contracting Command, the Expedi- One thing we’ve done, along with our partners at the tionary Contracting Command, the Aviation and Missile [Office of] Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisi- Command, and the Logistics Support Activity. Now that tions, Logistics and Technology (ASAALT), was to identify BRAC’s complete we can focus on enhancing our collabo- efficiencies and optimize how the Army does materiel de- ration, while leveraging our new state-of-the-art technolo- velopment and sustainment. This was a Secretary of the gies. Army-directed review, and it has made us take a hard look Q: Regarding the recently announced new national at ourselves. We know we can’t afford to do business as we strategy, what capabilities do you have in AMC to meet have in the past, and we know that we have to be good that strategy? stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars. ASAALT and AMC GEN Dunwoody: I think the new strategy clearly reflects have identified more than 60 different recommendations a strong commitment across the Army and DoD—not only that will enhance the full spectrum of our materiel efforts. to confront the fiscal realities of a new era, but also to This effort wasn’t just a budget ‘drill’ though. It was as avoid the mistakes we’ve seen during past drawdowns, much about becoming more effective as it was becoming like the hollow Army we experienced after Vietnam. We’re more efficient. looking at the second and third order effects of the deci- We’ve also aligned our core competencies through ef-

32 ARMY I March 2012 eov dfeecs n bid ofdne n respect. and confidence creative where environments create Trustingrelationships build and differences resolve to us enable they other; each understand better to us help cess is founded on increasing our effective relationships effective our increasing on founded is cess suc- our AMC, At flourish. can solving problem and ideas communication and Trust battlefield. the on other each other understand complement and optimize we can we so that capabilities service’s sure make to have we larly, quarters, they are amazed at our new capabilities. Simi- capabilities. new our at amazed are they quarters, head- this to come visitors When capabilities. and tunities oppor- the understand they sure make to together players the all bring to got you’ve business. And this in counts son logisticians? officer. general fellow your with share you would logistics learned lessons What a Iraq—as and Afghanistan ity andtrust ofourJointForce commanders. credibil- the earned and themselves proven have civilians mand and bringing AMC into the foxhole, our soldiers and com- our operationalizing Army.the By in institutionalize to want we that capability a is It well. as just Pacific the to go capability, deployable and operational new our of rest the with along could, It Afghanistan. on focus its turning it post, we’re Now Iraq. in help to Kuwait into go to designed was command deployable this built we When bility. the right-sizing we’re Army’s maintenanceandsustainmentcapability. headquarters, different in thing own our doing us of all of Instead AMC. to fleet training TRADOC’s of maintenance the for responsibility aligning tics from our garrison commanders to AMC, along with re- Logis- of Directorates installation of transfer the like forts GEN Dunwoody: Dunwoody: GEN in operations war—the whole the fought have You Q: flexi- strategy,have alreadyPacific-Asia we a Regarding It’s all about collaboration. Every per- Every collaboration. about all It’s obstacles inour future. any overcome can we together, working decade, last the decisive the over have we all accomplish can we with if believe truly I edge. warfighters America’s provide we as command to our sustains which AMC, Army,strengththe nation, our of opportunity the given been have to proud resources, emerginghonoredand very threats.uncertainties and am I reduced of era an confront we as ahead times maintenance. and logistics in principles fundamental and basics the to back get us help to leaders talented the importantly most and time the tools, Wethe basics. have to now back on cus understandable—we’ve been a busy Army—so now we fo- in experience It’s or had. generations previous that accountability propertytraining same the with in come didn’t that NCOs and officers and soldiers of decade a have we and years, 10 an for been war have at realizewe Army that should be proud of all they have accomplished. We have to our for champion Civilian Corps. a be to AMC want really I Army. the outside nowhere exist that abilities and skills and have 9/11 many since deployed have folks those of civilians. are Thousands percent 97 and people 69,000 than more of up made workforce talented incredibly an have we AMC At people. our to down comes always success Our force. challenges oftheyearsahead. the confront we as business our in us of those for must a CO- our industry.with and services sister Trustour COMs, really is stakeholders—ASAALT, key our of all among Finally, we all understand there are some challenging some are there understand all we Finally, they logisticians—and our of proud very I’m Second, Dunwoody: GEN Q: Isthereanythingelsethatyouwouldliketoadd? First, I’m so proud of our AMC work- AMC our of proud so I’m First, March 2012

U.S. Army Materiel Command reissue. tion toreadyitfor sible resetopera - the respon during - drawn fromIraq haul avehicle with - Depot, Texas, over - the RedRiver Army AMC employees at I ARMY ( 33