By Staff Sgt. Anishka Calder
1st Sustainment Command (Theater)
Public Affairs Office
CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait – Soldiers fighting on the battlefield require the logistics support of various individual organizations in order to succeed. They need adequate supplies of food, water, clothing and hygiene items, but most importantly, they need ammunition.
The munitions section of the 1st Sustainment Command (Theater), gets ammunition to troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Soldiers need ammunition in order to fight the war on terrorism, and defend the freedom and democracy of Iraq and Afghanistan," said Sgt. Maj. Golden Giddings, 56, the munition's branch sergeant major for the 1st TSC, and a native of Alexandria, Va. Without ammunition, the Soldiers will not be able to accomplish their mission and they could put their lives in danger, she said.
Ensuring that Soldiers receive ammunition in a timely manner is a collaborative effort of the munitions branch and the various elements that support them by loading up the equipment and transporting them to the units who send in the requests. The process is done through a series of steps to ensure that every piece of ammunition is accounted for and that each unit receives their order.
A "call forward", which is an ammunition request to ship ammunition to a specific unit, is sent to the munitions section by phone or through email. The "call forward" specifies the amount and type of ammunition that is being requested.
Once the request is received, the munitions section checks the stock status at the Theater storage area to see if the ammunition is on hand, and checks the munitions report for the unit's expenditures, said Master Sgt. David L. Jackson, senior non-commissioned officer from the munitions section in the 1st TSC.
He said that if they have the ammunition that is requested, shipping directives are cut using the standard Army ammunition system modernizations, which tracks all ammunition. Once it is programmed into the SAAS, the munitions section sends the request to the TSA, who sends a copy of a "lateral transfer directive" to the requesting unit, letting them know that the ammunition is on the way.
A "build sheet" is generated at the TSA, listing the items and where they are going. This is then sent back to the munitions section to let them know that the ammunition is ready for transportation. A transportation request is sent, outlining when the ammunition will be moved.
Ammunition is packed one of two ways, depending on their mode of travel to the final destination, and the urgency of the request.
"If the unit has a critical issue, and they need to go forward by flight, they are put on pallets and are tracked by radio frequency identification tags which are placed on each pallet," said Jackson, 44, a native of Leary, Ga. "If they are going forward on a convoy, the "Blackjack Express", then they are put in containers, which are also tracked by RFID tags, and secured with a security seal."
"Once the units receive the ammunition, we go back in our document register and update it. The receiving unit updates the quantity they received in their SAAS, and we keep track of what they have on hand." said Jackson.
Aside from "call forwards", the munitions section also report daily different types of critical ammunition and their expenditures, said Jackson, a 26-year veteran. They also process ammunition requests for initial basic load ammunition and force protection arms for various units. The munitions section tracks retrograde ammunition from outline units in Iraq and Afghanistan. The section coordinates all transportation for ammunition shipments from the U.S.
Their team of about 20 Soldiers and civilians receive about four "call forwards" a week, but work daily to keep the troops supplied with all conventional ammunition such as small arms, rockets, missiles and demolitions.
The role that the munitions section plays in supporting the troops who are fighting in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom is instrumental in ensuring the success of these Soldiers' mission throughout the central command area of responsibility. Sgt. 1st Class James Robinson Sr., the operations NCO for the munitions section, summed it up best.
"You can survive a few days on the battlefield without food and water, but you cannot survive a second without bullets to protect you or your buddy," the 36 year-old native of Clinton, N.C., said. "We are here to ensure that no Soldier loses his life on the battle field because of the lack of ammunition."