COMMENTARY
Validating the Operations Officer in
the BSB
The 601st Aviation Support Battalion used troop reductions in Afghanistan as an opportunity to
validate a concept proposed in an Army Sustainment article.
1st Lt. Joshua R. Scott
By
W
hile deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom,
the 601st Aviation Support Battalion (ASB), 1st Combat
Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Task Force Guardian, faced
a problem that provided the opportunity to validate recommendations
made in the article “The Operations
Officer in the BSB [brigade support
battalion],” which was published
in the March–April 2013 issue of
Army Sustainment.
The Premise
In “The Operations Officer in the
BSB,” Lt. Col. Michaele McCulley,
Maj. Will Arnold, and Maj. Tony
Stoeger explain two operational
struggles that BSBs typically face
at the National Training Center.
These issues stem from the BSB
modified table of organization and
equipment (MTOE), which authorizes a major as the support operations officer (SPO) and a captain as
the battalion S–3.
The first problem is that the SPO
and S–3 sections typically establish
separate common operational pictures (COPs), forcing the battalion
commander to draw information
from two different sources in order
to build situational understanding.
The second issue is that the BSB
S–3 could be the rater of two other
captains, with all three being in the
same year group.
McCulley, Arnold, and Stoeger
recommend that by “combining the
two sections into one operations
section, the commander could cre
ate a one-stop COP and achieve
greater synergy in mission command. By reorganizing the BSB
operations under one section with
one major in charge, … the BSB
can achieve this unity of effort.”
(See figure 1.)
Validating the Idea
Theaterwide troop reductions
forced the 601st ASB to make tough
decisions on how to meet manning
requirements in the theater of operations. Each section in the ASB redeployed Soldiers to meet requirements while trying to maintain the
battalion’s support capability.
Companies, platoons, and staff
sections were combined as the task
organization was restructured. By
the end of the reductions, over 40
percent of the battalion’s personnel
redeployed to home station and were
reassigned to the rear detachment.
In order to maintain control of
such a large formation, the ASB
S–3 redeployed to assume command of the rear detachment and
the SPO assumed responsibility of
both the SPO section and the S–3
section. This position, referred to as
the “operations officer,” was created
to provide synchronous oversight
of both the S–3 and SPO sections.
With ad hoc restructuring, the
operations officer empowered the
deputy SPO to make decisions in
his absence, granting him a large
amount of autonomy. This trusting
relationship allowed support operations to continue without slowing
in the absence of that section’s pri-
mary officer.
Overseeing the SPO section is a
significant responsibility and generally requires substantial logistics
experience, which poses a challenge
for many organizations. One asset
unique to the ASB that made this
structure possible is the operations
sergeant major.
Because of its immense geographical footprint and technical expertise required for aviation
support operations, the ASB is the
only type of sustainment support
battalion that is authorized a sergeant major. The sergeant major’s
experience, knowledge, and leadership were crucial to the smooth operation of the SPO section during
the restructuring.
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