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The 21st Theater Sustainment Command deployed its Early Entry Command Post to Baumholder Airfield Oct. 20 to 24 as part of Phase One, Agile Challenge.
More than 100 Soldiers from the 21st TSC’s headquarters and subordinate units such as the 7th Civil Support Command, the Human Resources Support Center Europe, the Special Troops Battalion and the Financial Management Center participated in the exercise, which tested their ability to conduct sustainment operations in a contingency environment.
The 21st TSC is the single logistics command for both the U.S. Africa Command and U.S. European Command, said Lt. Col. Eric Stewart, chief of operations for Agile Challenge.
“This exercise demonstrates our ability to generate combat power and logistics sustainment anywhere in the world – like we did recently in the Republic of Georgia with humanitarian assistance there,” said Colonel Stewart.
The 21st TSC conducts sustainment operations in support of combat and non-combat related missions.
“Setting up this EECP allows us to centralize the information and to really tie in with the needs of the National Command Authority, USAREUR and EUCOM and project that sustainment power anywhere in the world,” said Colonel Stewart.
The Soldiers conducted tactical road marches from Panzer Kaserne to Baumholder Airfield
Oct. 20 and 21. Once at the airfield, they immediately began setting up an elaborate maze of Deployable Rapid Assembly Shelter tent systems, a mayor’s cell, a field dining facility and a motor pool area.
The EECP consists of two large J-series DRASH tent systems connected to nine smaller DRASH tents, providing more than 10,000 square feet of office space. Inside the EECP, stage seating was erected, three large visual projection systems installed and a network system that included about 40 unclassified and 40 classified computer stations and communications nodes were set in place. For many Soldiers, this was the first time they had seen a two-star command post built from the ground up.
“The whole thing is quite impressive – the set-up and the operations,” said Sgt. Maj. Edward Jindrich, aviation section sergeant major, Materiel Readiness Branch, 21st TSC. “I’ve always been assigned at the battalion level and below, so
seeing how a two-star, theater-level EECP operates is very impressive.”
Operations at the 21st TSC’s EECP will continue during Phase Two of Agile Challenge 09, scheduled to occur at the beginning of December at Panzer Kaserne. This portion of the training exercise will utilize the 21st TSC’s battle simulation center to generate scenarios and role play. Personnel from the 18th Military Police Brigade, the 16th Sustainment Brigade and the 39th Transportation Battalion, as well as the 21st TSC, will participate in Phase Two. All this training and the lessons learned will lead into Austere Challenge 09, a USAREUR Joint Task Force war fighters’ exercise, scheduled for spring 2009.
“Our number one goal is to sort of kick the tires – if you will – to ensure our connectivity is what it should be and to get our staff processes working. This includes our ability to generate orders and to see what’s happening on the battlefield,” said Colonel Stewart. “We are also examining our ability to understand what is happening on the battlefield and translate that information in order to anticipate the logistical needs of our customers, whether that’s a combat unit or an internally displaced persons camp.”
This is a two-star headquarters, and it has an amazing information requirement, particularly with the different agencies and the different enablers the 21st TSC works with, Colonel Stewart said.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “I don’t just have to talk with the subordinate units. I have to be able to talk with the Army Materiel Command, the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command and the Defense Logistics Agency. And our capabilities have to extend to working with other services in a joint environment. It’s really quite amazing.”
