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The 21st Theater Sustainment Command is one of five Army units selected by the Department of the Army’s personnel division to participate in a Total Army Sponsorship Program 180-day test pilot program through May 15.
The pilot, which began Nov. 15, requires the 21st TSC and participating units to provide data and feedback to the DA deputy chief of staff of personnel with the aim of potentially modifying the TASP.
“The purpose of the current program is to make sure that as our Soldiers and families transition from one location to another, that there is someone there who can help them in their transition before they come and once they arrive as well,” said Sgt. Maj. Bryan L. Novak, the human recourses sergeant major for the 21st TSC.
Novak is overseeing the 21st TSC’s effort in gathering, analyzing and forwarding data during the three-month test program.
The current sponsorship program isn’t really changing. The pilot program’s focus is collecting data on how quickly units are assigning sponsors to incoming personnel.
Conducting the pilot and tracking the data allows the Army to analyze the TASP and make a decision of whether or not anything should be changed, whether or not the program will be continued or whether or not the program needs to meet new requirements.
Novak said the vast 21st TSC’s geographic footprint makes it an ideal unit for the test pilot program.
“I don’t know why the 21st TSC was chosen to participate in the pilot program, but I can tell you that I think that we’re probably one of the best units in the Army to test the program,” Novak said. “The 21st TSC is in every community within Europe, so if you can do it right in the 21st then you can do it right anywhere.”
The 21st TSC is the only sustainment unit in Europe and has nearly 11,000 Soldiers assigned to more than 15 different communities within U.S. Army Europe, including Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Units participating in the pilot program are required to submit monthly reports that depict the number of Soldiers identified for assignment instructions, number of assignment instructions issued, number of sponsors identified and validated, and orders published and distributed.
The data collected from participating units will be analyzed at the DA level. Patrick E. Vestal, the chief of military personnel for Installation Management Command-Europe personnel division, said the overall goal of the pilot program is not only to make the quality of the sponsorship program better, but also to better link Soldiers and ensure that their transition to a new place is as smooth as possible.
“I think that this pilot is just to validate that the Army is doing a good job in sponsorship already and to see if there is anything else that can be done to make the program even better for Soldiers,” Novak said.
