OPERATIONS
R4D: Uniting the Logistics
Enterprise in Afghanistan
The retrograde, reset, redeployment, redistribution, and disposal mission in Afghanistan requires the
collaboration of every partner within the joint logistics enterprise.
Lt. Col. Jason J. Hanifin
By
T
he U.S. military will spend
the next several years focused
on planning and managing the retrograde, reset, redeployment, redistribution, and disposal
(R4D) of materiel in Afghanistan.
This mission will be daunting, considering the scope and scale of the
retrograde and the simultaneous
wide-area security operations.
This logistics challenge has created an environment in which every
agency in the logistics enterprise
must participate in order to establish a global supply chain. The shift
from Operation Enduring Freedom
(OEF) priorities to R4D operations
has unified logisticians across the
enterprise to execute this mission in
a landlocked combat zone.
The level of success required can
be achieved only by using a common operational picture of the
combined joint operations area,
which the U.S. Forces–Afghanistan
(USFOR–A) J–4 fusion cell provides.
Retrograde in Afghanistan
Retrograde is defined in Joint
Publication 4–09, Distribution Operations, as “the process of moving
non-unit equipment and materiel
from a forward location to a reset (replenishment, repair, or recapitalization) program or to another directed
area of operations to replenish unit
stocks, or to satisfy stock requirements.”
The publication states that “retrograde materiel consists of serviceable, unserviceable, economically repairable items and weapons
36 Army Sustainment
systems destined to a source of
repair, refurbishment program, or
DLA [Defense Logistics Agency]
Disposition Services.”
Within the R4D system in Afghanistan, retrograde materiel
also includes unit and nonunit
equipment, government-owned,
contractor-operated equipment,
and other Department of Defense
materiel across the country.
The R4D system involves not
only moving equipment destined
for reset actions but also intratheater redistribution and redeployment of all equipment needing
disposition.
As equipment in Afghanistan
is identified and accounted for by
service, departmental, and DLA
systems of record, more than a decade’s worth of materiel buildup is
being accounted for.
The process requires intense
management of disposition instructions and a reverse supply
chain network designed to redistribute, retrograde, redeploy, and
dispose of materiel.
The massive amount of materiel being processed represents all
classes of supply and includes base
support materiel and facilities. This
volume of equipment is too much
for any single-service logistics system and requires the collaboration
of partners across the joint logistics
enterprise ( JLEnt).
The Joint Logistics Enterprise
Because the OEF drawdown is so
extensive, it requires almost every
logistics partner within the JLEnt
to contribute expertise and business practices to build efficient and
unified action.
This network, bound by a common goal, has established a multifaceted supply chain that can
quickly handle a high volume of
materiel flowing out of the battlefield while replenishment materiel
is still effectively flowing in.
The partners bring different skill
sets to the supply chain, which
involves lines of communication
throughout the globe.
The unified action partners include the U.S. Joint Staff J–4, service departmental logistics staff
officers, the U.S. Transportation
Command, the Army Materiel
Command (AMC), other comparable service materiel commands,
DLA, the U.S. Central Command
(CENTCOM) J–4, service component logistics staffs, USFOR–A,
the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), NATO and
coalition logisticians, the 1st Theater Sustainment Command (1st
TSC), other governments (such as
Kuwait), and a plethora of commercial activities.
Many of these partners are embedded with operational units throughout the combined joint operations
area.
This fosters an ability to capture
requirements, provide in-transit
visibility, and redistribute materiel
identified by the USFOR–A J–4’s
and other ISAF commanders’ priorities while continuing to provide