establish the expanded and redundant network.
From the first OPT session, USAREUR engineer planners began
efforts to capitalize existing MK
infrastructure while looking at potential troop construction requirements. Three areas made up the
bulk of the engineering concept:
the customs facility, the passenger
terminal, and the baggage storage
area. Although the existing facilities on the temporary forward operating site would handle a small
transient population, they were
inadequate for surge requirements
and created potential traffic management problems.
Engineer planners from the
21st TSC conducted site visits
and assessments to begin developing construction requirements,
resulting in a detailed plan that
covered materiel, personnel, materials-handling equipment, and the
overall timeline. Less than 30 days
after receiving the mission and approximately 30 days before IOC,
engineers deployed to MK and began building the customs facility,
passenger terminal, and baggage
storage area.
From Plans to Operations
Following publication of the USAREUR operation order, the OPT
continued weekly meetings to work
through emerging issues. Within three weeks of the order being
published, the lead G–3/5 planner
provided the USAREUR G–3/3
current operations branch with a
comprehensive handover brief to
formally put the plan in operation.
A USAREUR G–3/3 current operations action officer, who had spent
a month at MK, attended the recurring OPT meetings and effectively
took over responsibility for moni-
Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), depart a bus and walk toward
a C–17 transport plane at the MK Air Base Passenger Transit Center, Feb. 3, 2014. Soldiers with the 2nd BCT were the
first group of Soldiers to use the passenger transit center as a transition point on their way into and out of the U.S. Central
Command area of operations. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Warren W. Wright Jr)
24 Army Sustainment