Vice Admiral David L. Brewer III, USN Commander, Military Sealift Command

hen fiscal year 2004 began, it seemed that Operation Iraqi Freedom was more of a relay race than the sprint we all originally thought it might be. By the end of FY 2004, it had become equally obvious that the relay race had evolved into a marathon.

We completed OIF phase two, the first major troop rotation and movement of combat cargo into and out of the Middle East, in the spring of 2004. It was a Herculean effort, one that would not have been successful without the dedication and hard work of each and every MSC employee and shipmate and our commercial partners. As we begin the new fiscal year the marathon continues with the OIF phase three rotation, which has already commenced.

During FY 2004, MSC Sealift Program ships delivered almost 25 million square feet of combat equipment and supplies and nearly 2 billion gallons of fuel for U.S. and allied forces engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the same time, Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force ships provided 1.3 million square feet of spare parts, supplies, food and mail and 428 million gallons of fuel to Navy surface combatants at sea.

Total Asset Visibility

One of the lessons learned during Operation Iraqi Freedom missions was that no one command or entity had responsibility for or visibility of the total distribution of combat cargo, supplies and materiel from the factory or fort to the foxhole. In other words, there was no single DOD command or entity to direct and enforce the total asset visibility performance standards; optimize strategic and operational lift of cargo, supplies and materiel; synchronize force and materiel movements; and direct war-fighting theater logistics and transportation process improvements. That's the reason Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld designated the U.S. Transportation Command, or TRANSCOM, as the single owner of the Department of Defense distribution process. By extension, Military Sealift Command is also an owner of that process, specializing in overcoming the challenges of sea transportation.

Under TRANSCOM's leadership, Air Mobility Command, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, Defense Logistics Agency and MSC are now responsible for the seamless integration of the distribution process from the factory production line or the marshalling yard at the fort to the war fighter in the foxhole anywhere around the globe, whether by truck, train, ship or aircraft, or any combination of transportation modes.

Owning the distribution process means having a single organization that knows the location of each piece of combat gear and sustainment material – each truck, tank, Humvee, bridge section, ammo container, meal-ready-to-eat, etc. – as it moves from origin to destination within the steady stream of millions of pieces of cargo throughout the supply chain. That's called total asset visibility.

Owning the process also means getting each piece of equipment from its starting point to the customer where it's needed, when it's needed. That's called customer service and mission accomplishment.

RFID Tags

TRANSCOM has been working with DOD and its component commands – AMC, MSC, and SDDC – for more than two years to bring new technology to bear on the visibility issue. One of the outcomes is the use of radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags to make cargo selection, loading and tracking more accurate and much faster at those locations where the transportation mode changes. Resolving problems at those nodes eliminates the primary cause of cargo bottlenecks. Field commanders can be more confident that the equipment and supplies they need for their war fighters will arrive on time.

Radio frequency identification tags are now being used instead of bar code readers to identify each specific piece of equipment and each container. Bar code, an older, 20th century technology, was quite an advance in its time, but it is a cumbersome process that requires individuals to approach and point a bar code reader at every vehicle or container being loaded. Retail stores still use this process today.

Radio frequency identification tag technology uses a remote electronic sensor, called an interrogator, to read a code transmitted via radio frequency by the tag. Interrogators are located in the marshalling area on the pier, on the ship's loading ramp and in the ship's cargo hold. As each container or piece of equipment goes by, the RFID tag transmits its data to the interrogator, which automatically stores the data, providing an accurate record of what each ship is carrying and where the piece of equipment or container is stowed. Imagine buying a cartload of groceries with an RFID tag on each item. Instead of checking out in the traditional bar code manner, you could just walk past the cashier and have your grocery bill tallied and your checking account automatically debited - all within seconds. As customers deplete the products on the shelf, a computer would page store personnel to restock the shelves and also send a signal to the manufacturer to deliver more product to the store.

Global Command Information Center

Another positive step forward in the distribution process will significantly increase our capability to rapidly and accurately disseminate operational information: creation of a single, integrated global command information center. The center eliminates five smaller, redundant MSC command centers in our area commands and makes maximum use of technology. The center will use web-based scheduling, push and pull automatic updates via integrated command, control and communications systems and sophisticated web links. MSC will be able to provide customers with virtually instantaneous updates on a specific ship's location and operational readiness condition – even the status of specific cargo items.

Selective Discharge Technology

Loading and off-loading cargo is another area we're improving at MSC. It can be awkward and time consuming to reach a specific cargo container buried on the bottom level in the back row of hundreds of other containers aboard a large ship. Sometimes, almost the entire ship must be off-loaded before the desired container can be reached – a laborious process that takes hours.

Selective discharge technology will enable us to use computer software technology to know the exact location of each container aboard ship and retrieve any container from any location in the ship's hold using an automated gantry and conveyor system. This automated system will bring the container to the ship's cargo discharge area within minutes where it can be transferred to shore via helicopter, high-speed vessel or lighterage – a flat-bottom boat or barge. This new process will revolutionize cargo retrieval, reducing hours to minutes, thus delivering vital cargo to the war fighters faster. The process will also improve safety by virtually eliminating the need for human hands to touch the containers.

Improved JLOTS Technology

MSC is also looking at technology that would facilitate off-loading cargo at sea in higher sea states. The transfer of cargo at sea is called joint-logistics-over-the-shore, or JLOTS. Using present technology, we can off-load combat cargo at sea for transfer to shore via barges and other lighterage only in sea state one or two, virtually calm conditions. Unfortunately, conflicts and contingencies don't often wait for good weather, so we must be able to safely conduct at-sea off-loads in worse sea conditions. We're working with the maritime and other industries, seeking improvements in auto-compensating crane technology – cranes that automatically adjust to the ship's rolling or pitching in heavy seas – and more stable lighterage for the trip from ship to shore.

Sea Basing

Improved crane technology could be incorporated into the selective cargo discharge system as part of the sea-basing concept – a key component of the Chief of Naval Operations' Seapower 21 strategy. Sea basing would provide a U.S. base at sea for power projection, command and control and cargo transfer via aircraft and high-speed vessels, etc. A sea base would avoid the need for a permission slip from a host country to establish a forward military presence in the region. The sea base could be as simple as one command ship or as complicated as several ships providing logistical and maintenance support, selective discharge, warehousing, modular living quarters, hospital facilities, flight facilities and advanced command, control and communications.

MSC Transformation

For MSC, transformation is realigning the way we function. We are working to put the right people in the right numbers in the right places at the right time working on the right projects with the right tools to provide our customers with the most efficient and cost-effective service possible. In other words, we want to streamline MSC to effectively complete each of our missions with the best results in the most efficient manner.

In April 2004, MSC's global leadership met in Washington, D.C., to review the recommendations from MSC employees around the world in the first phase of our transformation into a 21st century organization. The leadership challenged assumptions, looked at eliminating non-core functions, identified repetitive or redundant processes that could be merged or eliminated and, throughout it all, looked for ways to attack costs.

The New MSC

As a result, we're realigning MSC area commands with the Navy fleet commands to engender more war-fighting efficiency and synergy. In July, MSC Atlantic merged with Navy Logistics Squadron Two and became Sealift Logistics Command Atlantic. Upon assuming Navy Region Northwest's combat logistics force mission and operationally realigning with Commander, 3rd Fleet, MSC Pacific will become Sealift Logistics Command Pacific/Task Force 33 early next fiscal year.

In our overseas commands, we're realigning our operational Navy billets into the Navy numbered fleet staffs, but will continue to maintain organizational and operational control of our TRANSCOM mission funded billets. In September 2004 we signed a memorandum of agreement with Commander, 6th Fleet to merge MSC Europe with 6th Fleet's operational logistics task force, Task Force 63. Once this merger is consummated, MSC Europe will become Sealift Logistics Command Europe/Task Force 63. Similar organizational paradigms will result from mergers between 5th Fleet and MSC Central and 7th Fleet and MSC Far East.

We're establishing a new command, presently named the Military Sealift Fleet Support Command – MSFSC, in the Tidewater area of Virginia beginning in FY 2006. This organization will crew, train, maintain and equip MSC's civil service mariner-crewed, government-owned/government-operated ships – fleet ocean tugs, fast combat support ships, fleet replenishment oilers, combat stores ships, ammunition ships, hospital ships, salvage ships, cable ships and command ships. This new organization will consolidate functions currently being administered by MSC Headquarters, Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force East in Norfolk, Va., and NFAF West in San Diego, and the Afloat Personnel Management Center in Norfolk. At the same time, we'll establish MSFSC Ship Support Units in Singapore, Italy, Japan, Guam, Bahrain and San Diego to coordinate ship husbanding, maintenance and repair services for these government-owned/government-operated ships in support of our fleet customers.

Navy Transformation

The Chief of Naval Operations continues to recognize MSC as a transformation leader because of our success in gaining mission efficiencies and improving customer service.

MSC has already assumed most of the Navy's fleet logistics services, providing food, fuel, ammunition and spare parts to the combatant ships at sea. We can operate non-combatant ships more cost-effectively because of the experience and professionalism of our civilian mariners. When MSC mariners assume control of these ships, Sailors can return to war-fighting billets.

For example, beginning in 2006, the Navy's four ARS 50-class salvage ships will be added to the Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force. These ships will operate with civil service crews and Navy mobile diving and salvage unit augmentees for a full mission surge capability.

Joint Military-Civilian Crewing

We've also moved beyond combat fleet logistics to other missions. We now have civil service mariners aboard the command ships USS Coronado and USS Mount Whitney serving in ship operations billets (e.g., navigation, deck, engineering, laundry and galley functions) under a Navy commanding officer instead of a civilian master. Sailors fill the billets for combat systems and command, control, communication, computer system and intelligence missions. We successfully demonstrated the concept when Coronado deployed as flagship for the 7th Fleet during an overhaul of USS Blue Ridge. The concept will become permanent for Mount Whitney when she relieves USS LaSalle as flagship for 6th Fleet in February 2005. The joint military-civilian crew concept is in the final evaluation process for implementation aboard the Navy's two submarine tenders, which require active duty Navy commanding officers since the ships are nuclear repair facilities. At the same time, we are pursuing legislation to clarify and protect the roles of our civilian mariners serving aboard these ships.

With those achievements underway, we're now looking into other areas outside the MSC box to see what might be in our future, such as crewing a Missile Defense Agency test ship.

In Conclusion

Fiscal year 2004 proved to be another challenging year. Military Sealift Command again was a critical component in our nation's defense strategy and the global war on terrorism. We also helped the Navy and U.S. Transportation Command transform to more efficient and effective organizations, and we implemented significant internal transformation processes. In the years ahead, we'll realize more of the efficiencies and cost savings of transformation, and we'll help lead the Navy into the future. The hard work, innovation and dedication of MSC's worldwide workforce, afloat and ashore, guarantees that MSC will deliver!

DAVID L. BREWER III

Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy Commander, Military Sealift Command