An expeditionary sustainment command (ESC) performs sustainment operations for field armies and corps. It encompasses 74 military occupational specialties (MOSs) and 40 sections and branches. Preparing such a complex and multifaceted unit for deployment demands a careful strategy that optimizes time, resources, and personnel. This article presents a systematic approach to achieving this objective.
Get Guidance and Give Guidance Often
With few exceptions, most Army deployments have either been conducted before or closely resemble similar mission sets executed by units and leaders. As a rotational ESC to U.S. Central Command, we drew on the experience and insights of leaders from the previous decade. Leaders generously shared their knowledge and lessons learned. This information, along with discussions with the current chain of command and experienced Soldiers, informed a written, published, and version-controlled commander’s planning guidance.
Field Manual 5-0, Planning and Orders Production, states that the commander’s “planning guidance outlines an operational approach, which is a description of the mission, operational concepts, tasks, and actions required to accomplish it.” Given the wide variety of MOSs and functions performed by an ESC, along with the staffing challenge of adding team members throughout the deployment timeline, we found that broadly shared written planning guidance enabled Soldiers and leaders to identify the specified, implied, and essential tasks for their sections and to ensure these tasks were reflected in collective training events. Furthermore, it helped Soldiers quickly get up to speed with the command’s planning as the unit onboarded them. As we continued to gain insights from others, including challenging previously held beliefs, we published updated guidance to the entire formation.
Train as You Fight — Master the Battle Rhythm
The primary weapon system for an ESC is its battle rhythm. A headquarters battle rhythm consists of meetings, briefings, and other coordinated activities with specific times and purposes. It represents a deliberate daily cycle of command, staff, and unit activities to synchronize current and future operations.
Synchronizing 40 branches and 253 personnel to sustain a dynamic theater requires extensive practice with the battle rhythm. Fortunately, the Sustainment Exercise and Simulation Directorate, a subordinate unit of the Combined Arms Center located within the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command, was available to assist us. Through their Sustainment Simulation Staff Training program, we developed a low-overhead simulation to replicate deployment battle rhythm events during home station battle assemblies.
By creating detailed seven-minute drills for these boards, bureaus, and working groups, we began to understand the types of running estimates and information required as inputs for these meetings and the outputs and visualizations we needed to create. This training also helped shape our ideas about the sequencing and frequency of the meetings that constitute the battle rhythm.
Pre-Mobilization Training Design and Considerations
Filling out a deployment manning document for an organization as large as an ESC is a complex process that does not occur overnight. The organization’s manning strategy may not always align with its training strategy. Major subordinate commands schedule deploying units for command post exercises (CPXs), warfighter exercises (WFXs), and other events, even if the unit is not at full strength or consists of personnel who will not deploy.
It is crucial to tailor training objectives to the available personnel and for sections to manage any misalignment. This approach implies that while achieving mission essential task (MET) proficiency during the training event may be impractical, the focus can shift to critical steps and supporting collective tasks within those METs. An extended training plan is also necessary to ensure that understaffed sections catch up. As a Component (COMPO) 3 organization, we introduced monthly virtual academic sessions to offer additional training repetitions and to onboard new personnel.
When an external organization or trainer initiates collective training using a master scenario event list (MSEL), balancing the number of injects with the time needed for practical staff work is essential. While multiple injects engage the staff and create the intense atmosphere necessary to evaluate Soldiers and leaders before deployment, they often impede the staff ’s ability to complete the operations process as they swiftly transition from one inject to another. My failure to limit injects in our organization meant the staff did not receive adequate practice in executing the entire operations process, developing and revising running estimates, and creating operational visualizations for the commander. As a result, we spent the initial months of deployment learning to develop those skills.
Given the size and capabilities of the ESC staff and limited training time, we must seize every moment as a training opportunity. We leveraged the military decision-making process and the orders process, culminating in a rehearsal-of-concept drill for our movements to annual training and other administrative moves. This strategy provided multiple sections with extra training repetitions before deployment.
Leverage Available Training Resources
Fort Knox, Kentucky, is an exceptional training ground for ESCs. It houses the well-equipped Fort Knox Mission Training Complex (FKMTC) and the 1st Theater Sustainment Command (TSC) main command post, both of which facilitate training METs.
The FKMTC allows ESCs to task-organize as they would in a deployment. They can set up a current operations information center or a sustainment operations center and perform various battle rhythm events. The tactical training network within the FKMTC helps ESCs develop their knowledge management plans and organize information to enhance their operational effectiveness.
While the FKMTC is the foundation of the training experience, the expertise provided by the 1st TSC at Fort Knox is the catalyst to enhance collective training. As the only TSC with a permanently deployed operational command post and a rotational ESC, the 1st TSC main command post addresses strategic and operational sustainment challenges daily.
The 1st TSC provides a wide range of training support, from theater academic sessions to hands-on training by section, while ESCs conduct training at the FKMTC. They help shape MSELs and input based on real-world challenges faced by the rotational ESC in the field. MG Eric Shirley, commander of the 1st TSC, makes the following comments.
“TSCs own the theater distribution plan and the logistics synchronization support for setting the theater in support of the Army service component command. In order to accomplish critical theater opening and sustainment actions, the TSC must fully visualize, describe, and direct the training strategy and certification plans for supporting ESCs prior to employment. In the case of COMPO 2 and 3 units, this ‘Road to War’ validation is achieved in coordination with First Army and U.S. Army Forces Command. For COMPO 1 ESCs, regularly scheduled corps CPX and WFX events allow multi-echelon opportunity training to introduce theater-specific training requirements.”
Deliberate Talent Management
Building and training an ESC requires a strategic approach to talent management. Talent is defined as the unique intersection of knowledge, skills, behaviors, and preferences inherent in each Soldier. To optimize the ESC’s performance, it is essential to consider more than simply matching an MOS to a specific position. The operating environment may require the ESC to accomplish its mission differently than traditional doctrine, emphasizing the need for diverse skill sets that can be used in distinctive ways throughout the organization.
Identifying and assessing each Soldier’s strengths, weaknesses, and preferences are essential. While some Soldiers appear qualified on paper, they may not demonstrate proficiency in practice. Conversely, Soldiers from COMPOs 2 and 3 often possess civilian-acquired skills that are more beneficial for mission success than their official MOS.
Understanding Soldiers’ preferences and empowering them to take on roles or additional responsibilities that align with their interests can greatly enhance the ESC’s performance. However, there may be times when the alignment between a Soldier’s duties and their skills is not ideal.
To prevent isolating individuals, we should conduct multiple talent management sessions throughout the deployment. During these sessions, senior leaders can collaborate on personnel realignments. When Soldiers observe that the unit values these reviews, talent management realignments are less likely to have a negative impact on morale and the unit’s climate.
Conclusion
While an ESC provides comprehensive sustainment capabilities to the corps commander, preparing them for deployment demands a deliberate yet flexible approach guided by clear directives from the commander. This is reinforced through practical collective training that uses available resources, emphasizes the development of a battle rhythm, and maximizes organizational talent.
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BG Vivek Kshetrapal is currently the commander of the 364th Expeditionary Sustainment Command. He received his commission as a military police officer from the ROTC program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1999. He graduated from the Military Police Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, Senior Transportation Officer Qualification Course, the Support Operations Course, Advanced Operations Course, Intermediate Level Education Course, and the U.S. Army War College. He has also served as the commander of the 655th Regional Support Group. He has a Master of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.
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This article was published in the summer 2025 issue of Army Sustainment.