September 10, 2016 –
SLOAN, Nev. – Brig. Gen. David Elwell, 311th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) commanding general, Col. Jon Hewitt, 311th ESC deputy commander, and Col. Toni Glover, 650th Regional Support Group commander, conducted a Commander’s Readiness Training event at the George W. Dunaway Army Reserve Center in Sloan, Nevada September 8-10, 2016.
Soldiers from the 650th RSG, 653rd RSG, 304th Sustainment Brigade, 326th Financial Management Support Center, and the 311th ESC Headquarters Headquarters command, met to improve readiness.
This training event was designed to facilitate common understanding and improve readiness through discussions of effective processes and utilization of the key systems that impact readiness with subject matter experts on site to assist.
“The purpose of this training is to improve the readiness of all Soldiers in the 311th ESC,” said Elwell. “The Commander of the U.S. Army Reserve Command's number one priority is to make sure that every Soldier will be ready to deploy so that their unit can fight and win the Nation's wars.”
An added bonus was the participation of Plans and Training subject matter experts from the 8th Theater Sustainment Command who provided a briefing on the Pacific Command Theater and training opportunities further strengthening the 311th ESC regional alignment relationship with PACOM.
The 8th TSC postures and prepares assigned forces, executes mission command, synchronizes operational and theater strategic sustainment effects, and engages regional partners who contribute to a stable and secure U.S. Pacific Command Area of Operation, which includes the U.S. Army Pacific.
USPACOM protects and defends, in concert with other U.S. Government agencies, the territory of the United States, its peoples and its interests. With allies and partners, it enhances stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region by promoting security cooperation and encouraging peaceful development.
USARPAC postures and prepares the force for unified land operations, responds to threats, sustains and protects the force, and builds military relationships that develop partner defense capacity in order to contribute to a stable and secure USPACOM Area of Operation.
“We recognize that 78 percent of our sustainment capacity resides within our reserve partners. If we don't work at every opportunity to train, develop and improve as a Total Force, then we are simply missing the boat,” said Maj. Marc Vielledent, 8th TSC Strategic Planner. “The participants should takeaway that their active duty Pacific TSC partner cares and is ready to invest in furthering their collective training and readiness, serving as an opportunity to facilitate the value in total force integration across the Army as a whole.”
During the readiness training, representatives from each unit took turns going to each station and worked with the subject matter experts who assisted and guided them through the different systems. One of the most important stations was for medical readiness.
Medical Readiness Transformation is an important process which allows commanders to view all essential medical information, kept in one convenient location, and enables the commanders to quickly assess the medical readiness of Soldiers, while meeting HIPAA law requirements.
Per the August 2015 directive from the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, the U.S. Army's personnel and readiness reporting systems are being overhauled to achieve readiness, which is the Army's number one priority.
Elwell emphasized that the command teams who attended this training should learn the importance of readiness to our force and to the Army. They should also learn that readiness is not a one-time thing, readiness is continuous.
“If individual Soldiers are not ready, their units are not ready. If units are not ready, the Army is not ready! If the Army is not ready, we will not be able to complete our mission when called upon by the President,” said Elwell. “The main focus of this training is on improving readiness, not talking about readiness.”
Command teams were expected to come to the training event prepared with the documents and information needed to get their Soldiers enrolled in required schools, make medical appointments, schedule mass medical events, complete legal actions, complete administrative actions, plan training and interact with the staff who complete these actions on a daily basis, supporting their commands.
The 311th ESC staff and leadership answered questions and received recommendations from command teams on ways to make the readiness process more user friendly and effective. This face to face dialogue was very important.