developed a possible method for future sustainment brigade-level HR
training.
Planning the Exercise
The STB commander was no
stranger to deploying HR units.
Having attended two Silver Scim-
erational issues to incorporate into
the MSEL and provide the most effective training possible. A realistic
gateway mock-up and SMEs fresh
from operations downrange lent a
powerful dynamic to the exercise,
but equally important was ensuring
the physical layout of the gateway
We need a force structure at the battalion level that
properly retains and uses expertise, provides upward
command opportunities for experienced HR leaders,
and trains modular units to support the sustainment
community.
itar exercises to assess HR training,
he knew he needed to build a realistic mock-up of the theater gateway
in Kuwait and bring in outside support and resources to ensure success.
His vision was to create a theater
gateway replica to test all the processes, functions, and systems being
used downrange.
In Kuwait, most large flights arrive after midnight and rotator
flights come and go over the weekend. Few senior leaders get an accurate feel for the operational and
leadership challenges involved with
processing hundreds of tired and
disgruntled traveling personnel. So
for the exercise, having the right
subject matter experts (SMEs) on
site with relevant master scenario
event lists (MSELs) to create realistic training was critical.
To gain the requisite SMEs, the
STB reached out to the 138th TG
PAT in the Indiana National Guard
and brought in the director and his
current operations integration cell
noncommissioned officer-in-charge.
Having just redeployed, their experience was significant as they reviewed the MSELs for relevance
and provided pertinent operational feedback, guidance, and lessons
learned throughout the exercise.
The 138th TG PAT director
reached back to the current theater
gateway director for real-time op50 Army Sustainment
accurately replicated operations.
A shortfall identified at Silver
Scimitar at Fort Devens was the
lack of separation between the inbound and outbound sections and
the director. So, the inbound and
outbound sections were built within a motor pool bay separate from
the current operations integration
cell and the gateway leaders’ offices to create operational distance as
a forcing mechanism for effective
communication.
This separation also ensured the
HR platoon leaders resolved MSEL
injects on their own then executed
appropriate reporting procedures to
engage the TG PAT leaders, who
helped identify and address communication issues during the exercise.
The distance between the PAT at
Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait, and
the rest of the gateway necessitated
bus transportation that simulated
the extensive distances traveled in
Kuwait by personnel arriving and
departing theater through the aerial port of debarkation and Ali Al
Salem.
Making the Exercise Count
Because of the significant number of units and organizations that
influence the theater gateway mission, many roles were notional and
controlled by the SMEs. Providing
the expertise necessary to mitigate
the artificiality of notional roles is
nearly impossible without recent
operational experience.
These notional roles are significant to training realism because
the TG PAT can manage on average more than 300 personnel from
different organizations while deployed, including the HR platoons
within the gateway.
Because the gateway director is a
director and not a commander, the
HR company commander reports
to the STB commander, and the
gateway director reports directly to
the sustainment brigade commander. It is important to note that Paragraph 3–39 of Army Techniques
Publication 1–0.2, Theater-Level
Human Resources Support, completely misconstrues the operational relationships of the HR platoons,
the HR company, and the TG PAT
in a deployed environment.
The TG PAT is a headquarters
element that is expected to assume
operational control of whatever it
finds when it arrives in theater. The
new TG PAT MTOE reduces the
director’s grade from a lieutenant
colonel to a captain. This creates
problems when it comes to addressing operational issues with senior
leaders and handling challenging
field-grade passengers. The captain
will have to call the brigade commander to deal with them, and that
simply is not realistic.
The director must possess the
technical expertise and sufficient
rank to open a new theater gateway
anywhere in the world and not just
be able to fall in on a well-established operation.
Information Technology
One of the STB commander’s
biggest concerns was the lack of
gateway information technology
and Single Mobility System integration with higher headquarters.
The battalion had to use email to
replicate changes to flight schedules and gave out hard copy flight
matrices.