Photo By Terrance Bell | Command Sgt. Maj. Terrence T. Scarborough, CSM, Transportation Corps, is part of the...... read more read more
Subscribe
FORT LEE, Va. (May 15, 2019) -- It has been three months since Command Sgt. Maj. Terrence T. Scarborough stepped into the Transportation Corps’ senior enlisted position – long enough to bask in the excitement of potential possibility that is companion to being part of a leadership team responsible for training and educating current and future transporters and developing doctrine that governs how they operate in the field.
“When I became the 14th Transportation Corps CSM, it was both a humbling and exciting time for me and Team Scarborough,” said the New Haven, Conn., native. “As I looked forward to that transition, it became clear to me the level of influence the position holds in regard to the multitudes of Soldiers and units across the Army.”
Although his initial excitement is a distant memory, a still-enthusiastic but super-focused Scarborough is now entrenched with tackling the challenges facing the corps in its efforts to support the Army’s large-scale combat operations initiative that aims to prepare the rank and file for near-future fights. He is well-suited to support Chief of Transportation, Col. Jered Helwig’s vision and goals as it relates to the larger objectives.
“I think I bring a lot of diversity to the table,” said Scarborough, noting his five deployments and assignments with cavalry, infantry and engineer units among several transportation elements.
Helwig, said Scarborough, is focused on three enduring priorities while the Trans. Corps moves forward as the Army’s movement proponent: building readiness, competency and capacity; supporting modernization and reform as the Army futures integrator for CASCOM; and operationalizing Army distribution and deployment in support of multi-domain operations.
Under readiness, the corps is undertaking a number of actions and reviewing various practices to shore up its competency. The realignment of the 2nd Brigade, 94th Training Division (an Army Reserve component headquartered at Fort Lee) with the corps regiment is one of them. The 2nd Brigade itself is aligned with the active Army’s 58th Transportation Battalion (Fort Leonard, Mo.), which is responsible for 88M motor transport operator instruction for advanced individual training students.
Scarborough said the realignment provides headquarters with greater control over motor transport training and better supports instruction for Army Reservists and National Guardsmen.
“This alignment will increase our readiness through the One Army School System, which aims to provide greater standardization and synchronization for reserve component Soldiers who require training,” Scarborough said.
The corps, as CASCOM’s futures integrator, also is involved with ongoing efforts to improve the Army’s ability to move troops and equipment during deployments. One of its efforts in this area focuses on the ability to provide movement control teams with sufficient numbers of portable deployment kits used in conduct of their missions.
“PDKs are very conducive to how we do business – how we move troops, supplies and equipment,” Scarborough said. “So, when there is a PDK shortage or if we can’t order them through regular supply channels, it can greatly impact movement cycles. We are currently looking at alternative means to fill the gaps when we lack the required equipment.”
In support of distribution and deployment, Scarborough said schoolhouse programs of instruction for AIT students are being revised to “include more warriorization” or the addition of various warrior tasks and battle drills providing for a more rigorous training experience during culmination exercises for each military occupational specialty.
“For instance, the 88Ms (motor transport operators) who train out at Fort Leonard Wood, are getting more time behind-the-wheel and in motor pools to perform preventive maintenance checks and services,” he said.
In addition to the 88M enhancements, the 88N Transportation Management Coordinator AIT course – the only one taught at Fort Lee – recently conducted its first field training exercise here since it was moved from Joint Base Langley-Eustis in 2011. The three-day pilot was held in conjunction with the Quartermaster School’s 23rd QM Brigade, which regularly conducts field training for students.
Furthermore, enhanced field training for 88Ks (watercraft operators), 88Ls (watercraft engineers) and 88Us (railway operations crewmembers) will be rolled out at JBLE in the near future, said Scarborough.
Aside from the corps’ enduring priorities, Scarborough said there are a number of less pressing issues he would like to address. Improving the flow of communication between the field and headquarters element is among them.
“There appears to be a lack of people being in the know; a lack of communication,” he said. “That line of communication is there, but word isn’t always trickling down to Soldiers and civilians.”
In response, Scarborough said the Trans. Corps CSM Facebook page has been revived, and he is making better use of resources such as the TC Quarterly Newsletter.
Lastly, Scarborough said he is approaching his duties from the premise the corps is not an island and requires support from inside and outside the sustainment community to remain a viable and relevant support element.
“TC can’t do it alone,” he said. “We have to leverage the capabilities of others such as quartermasters and ordnance as well as those across the Army in order to execute our mission in support of large-scale combat operations. We need to think more broadly, up and out.”
The Transportation Corps, one of CASCOM’s three logistical components, was established in 1942. It is comprised of 60,000 Soldiers across the Army spectrum and is responsible for developing operational doctrine and training Army transporters charged with moving personnel and materiel via truck, rail, ship and aircraft.
The corps’ schoolhouses, located at Fort Lee, JBLE and other locations around country, graduates roughly 5,700 Soldiers each year. Additional mission and organizational information is available at transportation.army.mil.
| Date Taken: | 05.15.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 05.15.2019 08:54 |
| Story ID: | 322471 |
| Location: | NEW HAVEN, CT, US |
| Web Views: | 62 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Senior enlisted transporter locks on to mission challenges, by Terrance Bell, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT