The Value and Application of the Manpower and Force Management Course

THE PENTAGON, DC, UNITED STATES

04.25.2016

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army Career Program 26

By: Sarah Clark, Management Analyst, Joint Munitions Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois

Editors note ** Sarah Clark began working for the government shortly after graduating from St. Ambrose University. She started out at Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM-RI) under Army Material Command (AMC). She then transitioned to into the CP11 (Comptroller) career field. During BRAC, Sarah was offered a position as Budget Analyst at Joint Munitions Command (JMC) in the Appropriated Funds Division of Resource Management. **

This February, I was given the opportunity to attend the Manpower and Force Management Course (MFMC) in Crystal City, Virginia. After spending my first eight years with the government in the CP11 Financial Management program and being relatively new to the CP26 Manpower world I was looking forward to broadening my knowledge, strengthening my skill sets and learning how my position and actions fits into the Total Army.

In the declining fiscal environment the Army currently faces, this course helps manpower analysts understand how to fight for their resources. A subject I found particularly interesting was the Total Army Analysis (TAA). The TAA is the process the Army uses to validate and resource its requirements and establish Force Structure baseline for the next Program Objective Memorandum (POM). While my office develops and coordinates the Emerging Growth charts for the TAA process, this was my first year contributing. I knew the purpose was to validate our additional workload and to gain authorizations but did not know the process after submission to Army Material Command (AMC). In class I learned at the TAA forum, when the Senior Leaders of the Army prioritize the requirements, it is important to have Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) available to address any questions. It is also imperative to relate the requirement to the objectives of the National Military Strategy. These strategies will increase the likelihood of receiving your authorizations and placing high on the TAA priority list. My knowledge from this course will help Joint Munitions Command to compete well and obtain future additional authorizations in the TAA.

Another subject that I found useful as a manpower analyst was the Workload-Based Development, previously called a Concept Plan. Being in a manpower office, we are in charge of coordinating and submitting the Concept Plans and the segment of the course helped clarify the purpose and the elements needed to have an approved successful Workload-Based Development/Concept Plan. The guidelines given will help our MSC to streamline and standardized the process for a more efficient and effective Concept Plan.

Overall, I recommend this course to a wide variety of people. Manpower analysts will find value in knowing how important their actions are in developing requirements and fighting for resources. This course would also be beneficial to leadership, directors and division chiefs to understand the process and importance of writing detailed justifications for authorizations in order compete successfully and ultimately for us to support the centerpiece of the Army, our Soldiers.

• Date Taken: 04.25.2016
• Date Posted: 04.25.2016 13:46
• Story ID: 196438
• Location: THE PENTAGON, DC, US
• Hometown: ROCK ISLAND, IL, US