Four Maryland Guard units move under new command umbrella

Photo By Ensign Margaret Taylor | Four units within the Maryland Army National Guard were moved under the umbrella of a new command, Feb. 1. The Special Operations Detachment and the 291st Digital Liaison Detachment report to the 58th Troop Command headquarters element; the 29th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment report to the 1297th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion; and the 229th Army Band report to the 581st Troop Command. All these units were transferred from Joint Forces Headquarters. (Illustration)  

BALTIMORE, MD, UNITED STATES

02.01.2014

Story by Sgt. Margaret Taylor  

29th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

BALTIMORE – “How can we make our organization more efficient and provide our soldiers with a better support product?”

On account of this question, four units within the Maryland Army National Guard were moved under the umbrella of a new command, Feb. 1.

The Special Operations Detachment and the 291st Digital Liaison Detachment report to the 58th Troop Command headquarters element; the 29th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment report to the 1297th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion; and the 229th Army Band report to the 581st Troop Command. All these units were transferred from Joint Forces Headquarters.

The reason for this transfer boils down to the best use of resources.

“The purpose of JFHQ is to provide support for the adjutant general and major subordinate commands,” said Col. Adam Flasch, chief of staff, MDARNG. “JFHQ doesn’t have the full complement of personnel necessary to support separate units.”

By tucking the four units in question under JFHQ’s umbrella, the results were less than ideal.

This realization spurred months of research. Flasch and a team drawn from the state’s command staff and major subordinate commands reviewed input from various command groups. They conducted independent research and then plugged their findings into a decision matrix. After they crunched the numbers, the overwhelming conclusion was that a transfer was in order.

“We moved each of these units out from under a headquarters structure that wasn’t designed to support them, to one that was,” added Flasch. “[This] was the 58th Troop Command.”

What sets the four units in question apart is that they all have designated AA-level unit identification codes (UICs). Every unit has a UIC. If it ends in ‘AA,’ it means that unit is a standalone. Standalones maintain a high level of operational autonomy, but given their small size, they must be assigned to a higher headquarters for administrative, training, and logistical support and sustainment. Of all the AA units in Maryland, these four were the only ones not already positioned under the 58th.

Once the decision was made to move these last four AA units, Flasch and his team ran a week of stress tests prior to the Feb. 1 changeover to iron out any hiccups that might remain in the affected support systems.

One of these systems is the Defense Travel System, the database that tracks Service members’ travel reimbursement requests. After the system’s move to the 58th, the process of submitting travel vouchers for each of the AA units will have fewer bottlenecks. While previous requests might have been routed through an individual, vouchers can now go through any one of a half-dozen or more people, which will increase the speed of a request’s approval.

“The same quality support will continue,” said Flasch. “If anything, things will move a little faster and more smoothly.”

Since the changes affect support and administrative processes, the average Soldier in the AA units won’t notice a difference. Only the command will.

1st Sgt. Walter Hirschmann, Sr., the 229th Band’s first sergeant and enlisted conductor, said his experiences working with the 58th have been good so far.

“They’re really reaching out to our people and trying to understand the way we operate,” Hirschmann said. “Even though there’s a learning curve, it’s been very positive.”

Hirschmann spoke about the potential to mingle more easily with the other first sergeants and commanders within the 58th and how it will provide its own wealth of opportunity.

While the band’s performance schedule has always been very robust, the restructuring brings with it a host of new ceremonial and morale-boosting venues.

“Ultimately, everything we do is so that every last soldier can know ‘that someone’s out there watching my six while I get my job done, and that [I’ll get] every opportunity to be successful’,” Flasch said. “That’s why we make any change: to improve the efficiency of the organization and improve the overall experience of our Soldiers as they serve our state and nation.”

• Date Taken: 02.01.2014
• Date Posted: 02.03.2014 09:31
• Story ID: 120011
• Location: BALTIMORE, MD, US