The Division 86 Maintenance Platoon

The Division 86 Maintenance Platoon by 1 st Lieutenant William E. Riker, Jr. The Army is going through a major organizational change known as Division 86. The general guidelines have been presented to staff to interpret and reorganize accordingly. Perhaps one of the most challenging tasks of Division 86 is the reoganiza-tion of the maneuver battalion maintenance program. The following presents a working model for the Division 86 maintenance platoon as well as some additional guidelines for the transition phase. The primary focus is directed at the armored and mechanized infantry battalion, with special emphasis on maintenance operations in the field and in garrison. This article is a discussion of a working solution to the Division 86 maintenance platoon and is by no means the ultimate solution. Scope of the Problem One of the primary concepts driving the Division 86 reorganization is the need for a highly flexible and mobile combat battalion that can deploy and sustain the maximum number of combat elements. In order to meet these requirements, a solid maintenance program is required and it must be as flexible and mobile as the maneuver forces themselves. The battalion maintenance team must also be capable of training and maintaining itself in garrison. If used and organized effectively, the new battalion maintenance team can offer the commander more training time and allow for a more efficient and productive maintenance program. Under the old, or H-series MTOE, the tank and infantry assets generally came under the control of each line company. A battalion maintenance platoon retained additional assets, usually handling such specialties as services and coordination for direct support. Generally, the program was decentralized with the BMO maintaining control over a very limited number of the maintenance assets. Under the Division 86 maintenance organization, the maintenance assets of the battalion are consolidated into a single platoon. The platoon is broken down into eight distinct sections, under the control of the BMO who is responsible to the commander. The headquarters section, composed primarily of BMO, BMT and BMS, directs the actions of the platoon. An administration section is responsible for all TAMMS and PLL. The recovery section supports services in garrison and provides a highly versatile recovery team in the field. The service section is responsible for the services within the battalion and can be organized into special maintenance contact teams in the field. The four tank or line company teams are responsible to the BMO for their respective company maintenance operations. The tank battalion maintenance platoon consists of 95 men, 11 tracks and 21 wheeled vehicles. Under the Division 86 MTOE, the mechanized infantry battalion maintenance platoon will consist of 11 1 personnel, 27 wheeled vehicles and 13 tracked vehicles. There are several major advantages that the new, or J-series, MTOE will provide the company and battalion commander. First, the structure of the maintenance platoon enables the commander to easily task-organize his maintenance assets. Assets for one line company can be augmented by another section or team by just a change in mission. The organization also gives the commander the capability to easily tailor the maintenance resources for particular garrison maintenance programs. Line company commanders are responsible only for operator maintenance and need only coordinate for additional support. Thus, the comman-november-december 1984 31

‘I. . .There is the need to ensure a combat ready atmosphere is consistently maintained within the platoon to prevent a “Joe’s Garage” syndrome.. .” der is more able to dedicate his efforts to training his maneuver elements and not be concerned with the mechanics who are repairing his equipment. Since the BMO is responsible for the organizational maintenance and has control of all maintenance assets, he is more able to provide responsive quality support to whoever needs it. Finally, another major advantage of the Division 86 maintenance platoon concept is that it allows for better training and morale of the maintenance personnel. Since all maintenance personnel are under the control of one individual, training time can be effectively scheduled and conducted without the interference of mission-support requirements. The Division 86 maintenance program is certainly not without problems, but they can all be solved with a little planning and leader involvement. First, the immediate reaction of many company commanders is one of a feeling of maintenance nakedness since they don’t have immediate control over their own mechanics. Extra effort must be taken to ensure that responsive and consistent quality support is delivered upon request. Another problem is the actual size of the platoon. A 95-man platoon is significantly large enough to cause control problems. The BMO and BMS must be in charge and responsible for the platoon’s personnel and equipment. Strong NCO leadership and a supportive platoon chain of command are absolutely essential for the platoon to function properly. Finally, there is the need to ensure a combat-ready atmosphere is consistently maintained within the platoon to prevent a “Joe’s Garage” syndrome developing. With these particular danger areas in mind, the planners and leaders should be ready to tackle the actual transition to the new battalion maintenance platoon. Transition From Old to New The actual reorganization of the Division 86 maintenance program must be accomplished quickly and efficiently to minimize down-time of maintenance assets. The battalion staff and company commanders must coordinate closely to ensure the smooth transition of people, property and mission. The complete transformation cycle for the battalion to the Division 86 concept is very much dependent upon equipment and personnel movements within the division. However, the on-hand personnel and equipment can be reorganized and mission-ready within three months. In order to prevent confusion and keep the maintenance program mission-capable, it is best to transfer people, property, and mission in complete units. Under Division 86, headquarters company becomes a mammoth company of over 300 men. The maintenance personnel and equipment are all signed for by the headquarters company commander. To prevent overburdening the company supply room, all equipment must be as serviceable and complete as possible at the time of transfer. Therefore, during the first month of the transition, company commanders are responsible for equipment inventories and resolving discrepancies. Commanders must also ensure that all personnel-related matters are identified and completed prior to the actual transfer to headquarters company. The BMO must brief his new motor pool and platoon organization plan to the commanders to ensure all of the users understand how the system will function. Building materials should be ordered at the earliest possible convenience, and new shop areas designated by section. A list of bumper number changes needs to be drawn up and distributed, along with changes to the maintenance SOP, thus preventing confusion about mission and equipment during transition. A company PLL must be ordered by the BMT and the PLL listing of HHC scrutinized to accommodate the scouts, mortars, and other additional equipment. During this time, the mechanics are assigned to a specific section and the S1 notified of additional requests for authorized personnel. Billet plans must be drawn up to house the on-post personnel, preferably by section within the platoon. Finally, the BMO should coordinate to get all of his future personnel together and fully brief them on their new organization along with specific goals and training objectives. It is imperative that the platoon chain of command is informally established prior to any movement to ensure that there is no question of who is in charge and where people get their instructions. The actual movement of the maintenance personnel and equipment to headquarters company occurs during the second month. A one to two-day period must be designated for shop movement and rearrangement of the motor pool; this will keep shop downtime to a minimum. Once the shops are set up, the commanders can begin property inventories and the personnel can be moved to headquarters company. Approximately three days should be allowed for completing the transfers, and following this period, the maintenance platoon assumes responsibility for the section. It is important to realize the vast amount of property within the platoon, and that control and resupply will be difficult. It works well if each section sergeant signs for his section’s equipment from the headquarters supply room, with the BMO and BMS retaining supervisory responsibility for monthly inventories and serviceability. Generally, the immediate mission of each maintenance section will not be significantly affected by the reorganization; however, the administration section must be prepared to absorb all of the TAMMS and PLL for the battalion. The administration section will be the most difficult section to organize due to the volume of paperwork needed to reorganize each PLL. The PLL parts trucks and office area require a lot of time to reorganize and consideration 32

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“. . .For field problems, or additional support, the company commander must coordinate with the BMO for a support package.. . 9 9 should be given to moving the clerks as soon as possible. With listings prepared by the BMT, the HHC PLL should be fairly complete from components of the CSC PLL. Special considerations should also be given to TAMMS, since the newly-activated D Company will be formed from the existing companies and some problems will occur. If conducted efficiently, the formation of a functional administration section should only take about two weeks, with additional time allowed for working out operational problems. Two other aspects need to be recognized. First, with an emphasis on maintenance skills and change, the importance of training mechanics as combat soldiers cannot be overlooked. Secondly, since the mechanics are no longer a part of a line company with a specific combat mission, morale can suffer if they are regarded simply as a ‘service support.’ There are several ways of combating morale problems with the maintenance platoon. One way is to quickly establish an identity as the maintenance platoon and establish feelings of pride, esprit de corps, and unity. The final phase of the transition requires a final month of ironing out the unexpected problems that will surface. Feedback and suggestions from platoon members can help to identify and resolve these problems. Bi-weekly maintenance meetings with the company XOs and section sergeants can help with solving problems. Personnel control and mission assignment can become problems following the transition. Due to the fact that mechanics are now assigned to the maintenance platoon instead of the line companies, company XOs must remain the liaison for maintenance support in the companies and to coordinate through the BMO. Finally, services and weekly maintenance priorities need to be planned at least one week in advance to allow section sergeants time to react to keep their personnel informed. Operations The maintenance platoon is charged with the mission of supporting the battalion in and out of garrison. Smooth operation depends upon good planning and realistic command and control. The headquarters section, composed primarily of the BMO, BMT and BMS, run the battalion maintenance operations. As before, the BMO is responsible for the maintenance operations and for advising the commander on maintenance-related matters. He is also the platoon leader of the maintenance platoon and must ensure that his personnel are technically competent and combat ready. The BMT is the battalion’s technical expert. He is responsible for finding solutions to maintenance problems and for supervising the PLLITAMMS section. The BMS runs the motor pool and is responsible for the daily maintenance operations. As the platoon sergeant of a 95-man platoon, the BMS is more of an administrator and manager than ever before. He also ensures that the shops and men live up to the platoon standards. It is crucial that these three leaders of the platoon work well together to direct the actions of their subordinates and that they fully delegate their responsibilities. Another portion of the headquarters section is a small 3-man staff. Due to the size of the platoon, it is necessary to use an additional member of the platoon to help handle the paperwork and routine matters required of the section. A good prospect for this is one of the section’s drivers who can be rotated back as a mechanic when not needed. The battalion dispatcher is retained in the section for tight control of off-post vehicle dispatch. Finally, a common tool clerk, under the direction of the BMS, provides additional availability for tools and test equipment. This small staff is very worthwhile since it provides the headquarters section with additional control over important operational assets of the platoon. The administration section is responsible for all the battalion vehicle TAMMSIPLL. There are four PLL clerks designated to handle the line company PLL and TAMMS. The PLL needs to be standardized to allow the parts trucks to be interchangeable between companies. Each clerk is normally assigned to a line company contact team and handles all dispatches, PLL and TAMMS for his respective vehicles, Two clerks are assigned to the HHC PLLITAMMS due to the density of equipment in that particular company. A PLL liaison clerk is designated for the sole mission of picking up and submitting requisitions from the local LSA. This frees the other clerks to keep up with their work and gives the section an extra member to help out where needed. An E6 supervisor is in charge of the section and is responsible directly to the BMT. The backbone of the maintenance platoon is the four line company maintenance contact teams. In the field and in garrison they provide the commander with a self-sufficient maintenance team; complete with PLL, automotive, turret, and recovery assets. Each team consists of a tool truck, M88Al and MI23 personnel carrier. In garrison, each contact team is assigned to a specific line company. Vehicle commanders work with the motor sergeant for daily PMCS and command motor stables operations. All 2404s go through the motor sergeant who, in turn, reports problems or equipment trends to the platoon headquarters. The team conducts Q, and Q3 services along with all of the company’s wheel services. For field problems, or additional support, the company commander must coordinate with the BMO for a support package. The administration section maintains a colocated PLL. All the clerks are located in the same office but separate from the maintenance section. During weekly motor stables, the clerks move to their respective shops to update denovember-december 1984 33

“. . .Depending on the type of mission, a company’s PLL is either located in the field trains or moving with the company trains. . .In addition, each tank company contact carries a few essential parts from their PLL for immediate repairs.. .” ferred maintenance 2404s and confirm part requests. Parts are ordered and picked up by the crews in their own maintenance sections. Motor sergeants and shop foremen only are allowed in the administration office to pick up parts and review maintenance records. The motor sergeant is responsible for verifying parts requests and for submitting high priority requisitions to the BMO/BMT for approval. Similar action occurs in the HHC except that the service section NCOIC accepts and maintains the company’s 2404s and command motor stable responsibilities. Depending upon the type of mission, a company’s PLL is either located in the field trains or moving with the company trains. For example, if a company is cross-attached to another battalion, the detached company gets a complete support package. However, if the unit is working within the battalion boundaries, the PLL remains in the field trains. Each motor sergeant or contact team has a numerical PLL listing. If someone needs a part they merely contact the trains and ask for that part number. In addition, each tank company contact carries a few essential parts from their PLL for immediate repairs. Thus, the commander can expect to have his vehicle’s minor repairs promptly fixed and still have access to a complete PLL section for parts. The seventh section of the maintenance platoon is the recovery section. In a tank battalion, this section is composed of two 5-ton wreckers, a welding section, a GOER wrecker and three M88AIs with crews. In garrison, the section maintains their vehicles and provides support to the service section. Under the direction of the team NCOIC, the section trains and works as a team, especially in the area of combat recovery operations. In the field, the section can be tasked to augment whatever section needs additional assistance. Normally, the GOER wrecker, welding crew and 5-ton wreckers remain in the field trains under the control of the BMS for ‘on call’ missions. Two of the section’s M88AIs maneuver with the BMO and the other with the BMT in the combat trains or along predesignated maintenance routes. It is this recovery section that provides the versatile recovery support essential for a highly mobile battalion. The service section is the largest in the platoon and is responsible to the BMT for quality control and productivity. The wheel section performs the HHC wheel services and daily operational support. The track section handles Q2 and Q, track services along with the HHC track organizational support. The turret and communications sections are responsible for their portions of the services and prepare equipment for direct support assistance. The generator shop maintains all of the battalion’s generators and special equipment. All of this equipment is signed out and dispatched through the section NCOIC. In the field, the service section NCOIC is second in command to the BMS and organizes his sections into small contact teams and a security force for the field trains. The track section complements the recovery crews and can act as a reserve to bulk up depleted contact teams. Otherwise, they remain ‘on call’ to maintenance collection points at the discretion of the BMO or

BMT.

In the field, the BMO controls the maintenance situation forward of the combat trains. He monitors the battle and deploys the maintenance assets as necessary. His contact teams maintain a minimum of combat-essential PLL to fix as far foward as possible. Depending upon the combat situation, if a vehicle cannot be repaired in a specified time, the BMO is notified and he decides whether or not to evacuate it to a maintenance collection point. On recovery operations, the team leader must recover only what is immediately recoverable so that he can keep up with his parent company. The BMO has a recovery team to help evacuate and recover vehicles and will do so as the situation allows. Repairable vehicles are evacuated to predesignated MCPs. Under the direction of the BMT, smaller contact teams from the service section repair or cannibalize to restore the maximum number of vehicles to operation. If the situation allows, damaged vehicles are further evacuated to the field trains for further repair under the direction of the BMS and direct support. Finally, all three members of the headquarters section must maintain an accurate vehicle status for commander’s SITREPS and for logistical reports to the S4. There are certainly other versions of what the Division 86 maintenance platoon is supposed to be. This is merely an example of what works well and gives some of the answers to questions renardinn transition and mission.

FIRST LIEUTENANT

WILLIAM E. RIKER, JR.,

was commissioned in armor from the USMA in

1981. He is a graduate of the AOBC, JOMC and the Airborne School. He has served as a tank platoon leader, tank company XO and as an interim tank company commander. He is currently the battalion maintenance officer with 1 st Battalion, 37th Armor, 1 st Armored Div, FRG. 34