Army Sustainment VOLUME 46, ISSUE 5 | Page 39

effective sustainment to current and planned operations. Each partner within the global team brings a unique specialty, pooling organizational capabilities, management control mechanisms, and contracts ranging from the U.S. industrial base to foreign partners. The benefits of having a complex web of agencies involved in the R4D OEF operation are many. The most noteworthy are the shared financial burden, the efficiencies gained in economies of scale, the synergies attained in mutual support, and the shared expertise to manage ongoing process improvements in a difficult operational environment. Overcoming Challenges The challenges are not overwhelming for such an adaptive, conglomerated system held together not by command but through unified action that capitalizes on instant communications and shared understanding. The regulated velocity (speed and direction) of materiel from which R4D is derived is from the ISAF commander’s priorities and his declared end state. The USFOR–A J–4 fusion cell links the JLEnt to NATO, which connects to a support network and establishes a total systems approach to sustainment. The materiel reduction is a massive undertaking, but the JLEnt can provide clarity through shared metrics that represent system performance. The R4D mission being accomplished through the unified action of ѡ