Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Bryant Maude | Col. Kevin O'Connell, a Clinton, Md., native, and the commander of the 1st Sustainment...... read more read more
By Staff Sgt. Bryant Maude
1st Sustainment Brigade, Public Affairs Office
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – The 1st Sustainment Brigade hosted a maintenance and supply symposium May 3, in which Multi-National Division – Baghdad leaders attended, as a follow-up to the Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq symposium held a few days prior.
They gathered leaders from 12 agencies that work with the Iraqi security forces on Camp Taji in an effort to share the information learned from prior meetings; the meeting also provided those attending a forum to talk about the partnership between the 1st Sust. Bde. and the locations command on the Iraqi side of the base.
"The purpose of the conference was to gather all coalition forces that operate in and around Taji that work with the ISF and ensure that we are all working towards the same end state – a self-reliant ISF," said Capt. Tim Weiser, the officer in charge of the Logistics, Training, and Advisory Team for the 1st Sust. Bde.
During the meeting, the gathered leaders were able to share their ideas with their fellow logistics leaders.
"I'm very excited about the momentum, about the synergy, about putting all these resources together," said Lt. Col. Mark Meyer, a native of Neillsville, Wis., and the senior advisor to the Logistics Military Assistance Team for Coalition Army Assistance Training Team, Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq. "We talked about a lot of different issues that are breaking news with the Iraqi army with Taji being the center of that entire military complex."
"The professionals that were in this room are the ones that are going to have to make that happen. So (I am) very excited, very pleased with the way the meeting went today and the plan ahead to make things better."
The attendees discussed a wide range of topics with Col. Kevin O'Connell, a native of Clinton, Md., who is the commander of the 1st Sust. Bde., along with his staff.
"We had pretty good expectations of it because of the leadership of the system from the Corp down. We've gotten a lot more visibility on Iraqi security forces logistics issues," said Lt. Col. Mark Collins, a Phoenix native, and commander of the 225th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team "Warrior," 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad.
"We've been partnering ... with three, and soon to be four, Iraqi (logistical) battalions that are in the Iraqi 9th Division. (We can) raise up stuff from the tactical level into the 1st Sustainment Brigade," said Collins.
The advantage of the forum, he added, is that it brought together all of the "key players" who can make recommendations for change that are designed primarily to create Iraqi solutions for Iraqi problems. This is important because the Iraqis have a different system for accomplishing their missions.
It is important that "we're moving forward – but not just moving forward, but moving forward in the direction the Iraqis have a stake at," he said.
"You never know what you don't know," stated Meyer. "As a commander, you have to be working toward the unknown and trying to forget; and with this theatre, it's very difficult to predict what's going to crop up as a huge issue."
There was a general consensus among those attending that basic life support for the Iraqi's is an urgent issue and will need to be addressed by the Iraqi government soon.
"It always goes back to, for me, the basic life support for fuel, water and electric," said Meyer. "Once you start with those, then you can build on all these other combat capabilities for sustainment and the infrastructure that the Iraqis will need ... (for) building (themselves) into a viable security force for their nation."
Meyer said it is important to help the government understand the importance of taking care of its logistical issues the ISF faces and to realize the hard facts of the costs and efforts that go into keeping those forces mission capable.
"The (Iraqi's) spend a significant portion of their time worrying about basic life support: everything from power to fuel, to water how their basic subsistence," said Collins. "If commanders are focusing on your life support, they can't focus on the missions that they have for ... logistics, maintenance, transportation and supply."
The bottom line, said Collins, is to keep the flow of communication open.
"This is truly a great forum and I'm looking forward to more of these as far as frequency," he said. "I think over time we are going to see a lot more getting done as these go on. The first few of these is going to be more condition setting. As we move into the middle somewhere, we are going to start seeing real changes."
| Date Taken: | 05.03.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 05.07.2008 16:37 |
| Story ID: | 19193 |
| Location: | TAJI, IQ |
| Web Views: | 127 |
| Downloads: | 81 |
This work, 1st Sustainment Brigade hosts Iraqi security forces Symposium at Camp Taji, by SFC Bryant Maude, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
