Getting Ready to Draw POMCUS Stocks

Soldiers assigned to Continental US. (CONUS)-basedunits with POMCUS equipment stored in Europe are familiar with the acronym POMCUS. For others, POMCUS stands for pre-positioning of materiel configured to unit sets. POMCUS is stored by the US. Army Combat Equipment Group, Europe (USACEGE), a major subordinate command of the 21st Support Command. In 1985, USACEGE will store 476 unit sets of equipment at twelve different locations (Combat Equipment Companies) within West Germany, Belgium, Great Britain and the Netherlands. These unit sets include more than 35,000 wheeled and tracked vehicles, plus all of the ancillary equipment authorized by the Tables of Equipment and Organization (TO&E).

The POMCUS concept is a viable alternative to the stationing of fully-manned and equipped units in Western Europe. This concept is tested each year during the REFORGER exercises. REFORGER (Return of Forces to Germany) has proven that POMCUS works. Drawing POMCUS is not as awesome an undertaking as it may seem. The personnel assigned to USACEGE are a highly skilled and experienced group of civilian and military personnel. All that must be added to make your POMCUS experience a rewarding and meaningful experience, is an understanding of the procedures and some preliminary CONUS training. Each year, the 21st Support Command and USACEGE receive CONUS units, with POMCUS stocks, as participants in the POMCUS Inspection and Reconnaissance Program (PIREP). These units receive briefings and orientation tours of the appropriate Combat Equipment Company (CEC), Marshalling Areas (MA), Ammunition Supply Points/ Pre-stock Points (ASP/PSP). During their time at the CEC, the unit representatives receive detailed briefings, which explain how their particular set of equipment will be issued. They also inspect the storage site and the POMCUS equipment, and they review all of the applicable supply documents. This information, along with the USACEGE Issue SOP for POMCUS Equipment and the CEC’s SOP, is taken back to CONUS and will provide the starting point for unit and individual training. The Issue SOP provides a wealth of information for the unit. It explains procedures to be accomplished prior to the unit’s arrival at the storage site; recommended composition of the liaison party and the advance party, and their responsibilities and issue procedures. Site configurations, logistics considerations, safety requirements, and even a commander’s checklist are also provided. For the purpose of clarity, this article focuses on a tank battalion. As always, good training begins with prior planning. The battalion should plan on drawing everything shown on their POMCUS hand receipt, identified in the on-hand column. The equipment is stored in a ready-to-issue posture. Ths means all radios are mounted on vehicles, in accordance with a COMMEL Upload Plan (CUP), and that vehicles are stored with camouflage support systems and screens, basic issue items (BII), rail load tie-down equipment, tank and pump units (TPU), organizational tool sets, and prescribed load lists (PLL) already uploaded in accordance with a CEGE-wide standardized plan. About all that must be added to make each vehicle fully operational are the batteries and a 12

Pre-charged batteries are ready for installation by members of units dmw-ing POMCUS equipment, but units must bring tool sets with them. tank of fuel. This is where the training should begin. The advance party is critical to the successful accomplishment of a POMCUS issue. If the soldiers know how to perform their various tasks and are cross-trained to perform one or two others, the draw of POMCUS will proceed smoothly. The composition of the advance party, identifies the training requirements. The advance party, by USACEGE SOP, should be organized i n t o e i g h t units: T h e command element; property book officer hand receipt holder; battery installation team; fuel team; driver team; maintenance team; ancillary equip ment team, and trailer team. An examination of the duties and responsibilities of each team will help to identify some of the specific CONUS training requirements. The command element should be in the liaison party, which arrives 48 hours before the advance party. The battalion XO and senior NCO arerecom-mended for this duty. As part of the liaison party, they will have already had an opportunity to recon the site, pre-inventory, and to gather information from the CEGE Issue OIC. They will work closely with the Issue OIC to coordinate issue require-menta and to command and control the unit’s personnel. The unit property book officer hand receipt holder should also be a member of the liaison party. He should have reviewed the unit hand receipt and conducted a preliminary end-item inventory, so that he knows what he is to receive and will assume responsibility for it once the equip mentis issued. The battery installation team members do exactly that; they install the batteries, which have been pre-activated by CEGE, into the vehicles. This team must be thoroughly familiar with the battery wiring diagrams of each type of vehicle in the unit set. Speed and safety are of the essence in this operation. The team should practice with 3Binch drive speed wrenches and sockets to install batteries into the battery comparti ments of each type of vehicle to be drawn. The fuel team is made up of personnel who must be certified as fuel handlers. This team must be totally familiar with the operational requirements and safety procedures necessary to operate all types of military equipment. The fuel team will be responsible for all in-warehouse fueling operations, as well as exterior fuel points where all vehicles are topped off. The driver team is the most critical of all the teams and should also be the most versatile. During the initial stages of the POMCUS issue, the drivers will assist the battery installation team and the fuel team as they activate the vehicles. As the vehicles are activated, the drivers will drive them through the issue flow to the staging area, then ultimately onto the marshalling area. In most instances, the drivers will return to the storage site and drive following vehicles through the issue flow. It is not necessary for the drivers to be certified as fuel handlers. They should, however, be qualified to operate several different types of vehicles, both wheel and track.

The maintenance team performs necessary organizational maintenance and assists with starting stubborn vehicles. The mechanics on the maintenance team must bring tool boxes with them on the aircraft because there are no mechanic’stool boxes in POMCUS. The battalion maintenance platoon is ideally suited for this mission. The ancillary equipment team is comprised of a multi-functional group of specialists, including the unit armorers, who draw crew-sewed weapons; and supply sergeants who inventory, draw, and hand-receipt the ancillary equipment, crew-sewed weapons and CTA equipment. This team also operates the inventory control point. The trailer team is the least technical team. The team’s primary function is to attach the trailers to the prime-movers, by size, and to hook up inter-vehicular cables, safety chains and brake lines. The duties and responsibilities just described are really nothing out of the ordinary for the soldiers of a typical tank battalion. However, it is in everyone’s best interest if extra training is conducted to increase proficiency. The drawing unit must also 13

I the the IW of Both \ 14 be prepared to provide for site security during the issue of equipment. This is best accomplished by assigning that mission to one of the organized teams. Coordination with the storage site commander orissue OIC should include this critical mission: Once on the ground, the unit security element will conduct a reconnaissance of prepared defensive positions which have been established by the combat equipment company’s security element. There has been much said of the issue flow. Although it will vary from one storage unit to another, the issue flow is nothing more than an organization of those activities which must occur from the time the advance party arrives until the equipment departs the storage site en-routeto themarshalling area. Variations of the issue flow are driven by the configuration of the storage sites themselves. An example of an issue flow is shown in figure 1. The advance party arrives at the POMCUS storage site and is met by representatives of the drawing u- nit’s liaison party OIC, a representative of the marshalling area control group, and the issue OIC. The briefings will provide information pertinent to the tactical situation, site configuration, activities in the marshalling area, and other information. Simultaneously, the rest of the advance party is formed by the unit NCOs. Once formed, they are then joined by key personnel of the CEC and organized into their specified teams. Within approximately one hour of the arrival of the advance party, everyone will be ready to begin issue operations. The issue flow begins at the controlled humidity warehouse (CHW) where the battery installation, fuel, maintenance, and driver teams, augmented by CEGE military and civ-

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EQUIPMENT.

(figure 1)

‘WHEEL VEHICLES m rn I) ilian personnel, begin to work. -en-ty gallons of fuel will be pumped into all diesel-fueled vehicles by the fueling team. Following on their heels, the battery installation team activates the electrical systems and the drivers perform simultaneous pre-operational checks. Gasoline-fueled vehicles must be pushed or towed from the CHW for fueling because of the fuel explosion hazards of gasoline. Once activated, the vehicles are started and driven from the CHW to a safety equipment issue point and on to a fuel point where they will be topped off. The fuel team is responsible for operating all fuel-dispensing equipment, and ensuring that safety precautions are observed. Once topped off, the wheeled vehicle drivers follow a clearly marked route to the trailer issue point (track vehicles do not draw trailers), then to a safety inspection checkpoint. If minor repairs or adjustments are required, the quick fix point will be the next stop. The inventory control is the next stop for all vehicles. Here, an end-item accountability check will be made by a team of both the drawing unit and CEGE supply personnel. Then it’son to the staging area for the tracked vehicles and light, wheeled vehicles. All cargo trucks will be directed to up-load points where pre-inventoried ancillary equipment will be loaded. Finally, it is at the staging area where all vehicles join up and await clearance to move on to the marshalling area. A POMCUS equipment draw must be a very efficient undertaking and you can be assured that the storage site personnel will do everything possible to make it well organized. However, the drawing unit’s preparation and attitude are what really determine the outcome. As in every operation, prior coordination, prepar- \ ation and training are critical. If the soldiers know what to expect, have been trained for it, and their leaders set the example, the outcome will be an efficient, safe, and successful POMCUS equipment issue.

MAJOR P) LYMAN L.

of Arizona State University and has 16 years service. His primaryspecialty isarmorwith a secondary of maintenance management. He has commanded a tank company, a maintenance company and served as battalion S3 at Ft. Hood, Texas. He is presently commander, 6th Combat E- quipment Company, Miesau, West Germany. HARROL b is a graduate 15