Photo By Master Sgt. Marianique Santos | Members of the Combined Contracting Management Cell pose for a group photo July 17...... read more read more
ROCKHAMPTON, QUEENSLAND, Australia – During a military exercise or operation, vessels, aircraft, artillery and troops carry out action-packed military missions. Behind every successful mission, however, are many dedicated service members and civilians who set the stage for the combat forces.
For Talisman Saber 2013, the “stage” is maintained by the Combined Contracting Management Cell. This group of 27 professionals is responsible for providing and acquiring goods for the forces on the ground during Talisman Saber 2013, making sure that they have the necessary tools to achieve objectives.
“Planning should be fully developed before it goes to contracting,” said Australian Defence Force Army Maj. Judy Pye, 2nd Force Support Battalion and Talisman Saber 2013 CCMC commanding officer for the Australian forces. “We look back and see what is available internally within our service. When it’s not available, the contracting team procures those items.”
Eighty percent of the team arrived May 31 to ensure facilities and other resources were prepared for the incoming units for Talisman Saber.
“We tried to coordinate with most of the units to get their resources on the ground prior to them arriving, so that when forces arrive, they wouldn’t experience delays,” said U.S. Army Master Sgt. Jerry Dysick, a Talisman Saber 2013 CCMC contract specialist with 411th Contract Support Brigade, U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan, Republic of Korea.
The CCMC is comprised of two sections: finance and contracting. The finance side obligates funds for mission resources that the contracting side finds and procures.
In order to provide the best services and the best product at the best prices and quantities, contracting team travels into the field to do research and locate vendors.
From various forms of transportation to building and communication equipment, the CCMC provides equipment necessary for mission support.
“The acquisition that we provide to the mission is what you see every time you walk out into field,” Dysick said. “We have trailer sites transporting goods such as military handling equipment. We have building equipment, communication cells, phones, rental vehicles and more. Without those goods, units would not be able to perform as required.”
CCMC also provides life support needs. Members of the cell provide sustenance, accommodations, fresh water, waste management and fuel supplies to service members and civilians involved in the operation.
“We have a lot of real-time support demands,” Pye said. “These are mission critical, and we have to source them rapidly and get them out to the troops.”
Dysick said that having to create a streamlined process with such a large, diverse group took discipline, understanding and patience; everyone conformed to an established standard and learned to work as a collective team.
“We tried to have some continuity in place,” Dysick said. “This is not the first [Talisman Saber], so we took notes from the previous exercise and improved our processes.”
In dealing with the real-life mission, Dysick said that coordinating logistics and operations benefitted all parties involved.
“Coordinating from the planning stage is always a benefit. You get to know your allies,” he said. “You get an understanding of what their focus is, so from that we can learn to complement each other.”
“In this day and age, it’s all about collaborative effort,” continued Dysick. “At the end of the day, we’re all looking to succeed. This is how we build friendships beyond the battlefield.”
| Date Taken: | 07.23.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 07.23.2013 05:53 |
| Story ID: | 110628 |
| Location: | QLD, AU |
| Web Views: | 218 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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