A change in Army culture.

 

This blog is not about new technologies, increased budget for the Army or greater fighting capability. As a matter of fact, it is complete opposite. Since the glorious march across France and Germany back in 1945, American army has improved and changed a lot. One thing, however, has remained the same for decades, until recently. Culture of consumption is embedded deep inside the society, and it took a long time for the Army to start moving away from buying new equipment, to actually repairing it.

            1^st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25^th infantry division was the first one to step in the right direction. At the beginning of fiscal year of 2013, the brigade analyzed maintenance trends and class IX (repair parts) expenses and identified, that nearly $4 million had been spent over a 90-day period. The solution to this high level of expenditure came after wargaming to keep the readiness high and costs low. Brigade Commander’s decision was to bring field-level engine repair, tire assembly repair, and battery charging to the brigade level of resourcing and management oversight.

            The results were outstanding – within the first 90 days, savings in these three maintenance areas reached nearly $3.5 million. The details of what exactly was changed and how can be found in the article here.

On the greater scale, the shift towards filed-level repairs will start changing unit’s dependence on logistic support. In other words, based on GTSR model, sustainment of units is not as heavily dependent on their sustainment brigades. Everyone knows that Army cannot operate without logistics, but after this change, the gap between 1-25^th SBCT and their sustainment units grew a little larger. To an extent, SBCT can utilize local dealers to purchase parts and repair their own equipment. They also stressed the importance of increasing the qualification of individual soldiers and enabling them to attempt to fix broken equipment before asking for replacement.

Millions saved on replacements means that millions can be used for other purposes, like training, improving the quality of life or towards generation of new forces (based on GTSR model). Overall, it is a good trend that leads towards more efficient and responsible Army in the future.