3d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) Cleans Up

Multimodal and redistribution property accountability team yard operations are helping to draw down excess property in Afghanistan.

Teams from the 3d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) have been operating throughout Afghanistan, helping units to get rid of large amounts of excess property no longer needed after 10 years of war. In the south, the 822d Movement Control Team the multimodal yard at Kandahar Airfield (KAF) moved more than 17.2 million pounds of equipment during a 5-month period earlier this year, contributing to the biggest U.S. airlift operation since the Cold War.  In the north, the Redistribution Property Accountability Team (RPAT), 3d Battalion, 401st Army Field Support Brigade (3–401st AFSB), at Bagram Airfield, redeployed over 1,600 pieces of rolling stock in support of the drawdown of U.S. forces. A retro-sort yard at Bagram Airfield is doing it part by ensuring that serviceable equipment already in country is reused.

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SPC Eric Wilson (left), an armor supply specialist with the 209th Military Police Company, performs a weapons inventory in the multimodal yard at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. The inventory was part of the company’s preparation for its redeployment stateside. (Photo by SGT Gregory Williams)

Multimodal Yard Operations
With the ground lines of communication (GLOCs) through Paskistan into Afghanistan closed for about 6 months this year, the Army was forced to use air assets for redeployment. To facilitate this redeployment by air, the 822d Movement Control Detachment out of Boston, Massachusetts, opened KAF’s first multimodal yard to centralize cargo movement from Kandahar to the United States. As many forward operating bases close in anticipation of the drawdown, the multimodal yard has helped to make the redeployment process easier for units by helping them palletize and schedule joint inspections for cargo. The multimodal yard operators work with Air Force assets to redeploy pallets, containers, and military vehicles back to the United States.

“Other yards would tell a unit they’re responsible for scheduling appointments, moving cargo, rolling stock, and contacting the Air Force, but we say, ‘Hey you’ve done your part outside the wire so let us take care of you’,” said Sergeant Josemy Morales, a movement control supervisor with the 822d Movement Control Detachment. “We’re more customer service oriented, and whatever we can do to make the transition from KAF back home easier, we’ll do it.”

During a 5-month period earlier this year, the multimodal yard moved more than 17.2 million pounds of equipment. The 822d Movement Control Detachment was able to do this because of its self-sustaining nature. Unlike many movement control teams, the 822d has organic transportation managers, truckdrivers, and a cargo specialist.

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SPC Antonio Martinez, a motor transport operator with the 233d Transportation Company, uses a rough terrain container handler to move a container of serviceable items for shipment at the retro-sort yard at Bagram Airfield. (Photo by SSG Michael Behlin)

The Soldiers at the multimodal yard have helped various units redeploy from KAF, including the 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, New York; 25th Infantry Division (Light Infantry), Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado; and 14th Combat Engineer Battalion, Fort Lewis, Washington; and other smaller detachments.

Even with the reopening of the GLOCs this summer, the 822d’s multimodal yard will continue to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to make sure units go home with everything they brought with them.

RPAT Yard Operations
For redeploying units, the RPAT yard at Bagram Airfield represents the end of mission. But for the Soldiers of the 3–401st AFSB, the yard represents a mission that will continue until the last Soldier leaves Afghanistan.

The RPAT works with contractors to in-process battle damaged vehicles, conduct ammunition abatement operations, and redeploy cargo back to the United States. From March to July of this year, the RPAT redeployed more than 1,600 pieces of rolling stock and anticipates that its workload will triple in the coming months during the drawdown of U.S. Forces.

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SGT Josemy Morales, an 822d Movement Control Detachment movement control supervisor, inventories the multimodal yard at Kandahar to make sure to account for all cargo in the yard. (Photo by SGT Gregory Williams)

“I know there are other yards on Bagram that help with the redeployment process, but it feels like everyone in country is coming through our yard,” said Specialist Anthony Espinal, a transportation data clerk from the 427th Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) working with 3–401st AFSB.

In 4 months time, earlier this year, the RPAT moved more than $500 million worth of cargo. The workload for the 3–401st AFSB has been so large that the battalion received cross-leveled Soldiers, those working outside of their military occupational specialty, who are learning transportation management skills from the 427th BSB.

As traffic continues to flow faster through the GLOCs, the 3–401st AFSB will start to redeploy cargo more rapidly.

In addition to the multimodal yard and RPAT yard operations, the 3d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) overseas retro-sort yard operations run by the 233d Transportation Company at Bagram Airfield. The retro-sort yard redistributes serviceable items among units, reducing waste and eliminating the need to order new items through the supply system. All of these operations performed by expeditionary sustainment command units in Afghanistan are reducing the amount of excess materiel in country and contributing to a streamlined drawdown of equipment as units leave.