Balikatan 2006: moving cargo: end to end.

More than 15 Soldiers and Department of the Army Civilians from the 599th Transportation Group made the deployment and redeployment for Exercise Balikatan 2006 in the Philippines a successful accomplishment for the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command recently.

The two-phased Deployment Distribution Support Teams lead by Capt. Daniel Gunter and Maj. Monica Washington, both from the 836th Transportation Battalion in Yokohama, Japan, played a critical role in ensuring cargo was received on-time and at the proper destination.

According to Washington, "As SDDC plans to expand its oversight and tracking capability of all military cargo the 599th decided to put the concept into practice by providing command oversight from end to end distribution."

The 599th team was comprised of members from the 836th; the 835th Transportation Battalion from Okinawa, Japan; and the 599th Transportation Group from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, to process, track, and deliver cargo from all military services to undisclosed locations throughout the Philippines.

The 836th Transportation Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Drefus Lane was given operational control of all cargo moving by sealift in support of Balikatan 2006.

According to Lane, he deployed his organization in two phases to support both the deployment and redeployment of all military cargo. "The DDSTs were responsible for the processing, tracking, and the delivery of all cargo entering the Philippines by surface."

The DDST moved and tracked cargo from the time it departed home station to the port of debarkation to the port of embarkation to the foxhole or in this case to the field training exercise site.

Lane said, "The movement of cargo in support of Balikatan 2006 was a combined effort between the military and commercial sealift companies. And, the DDST was the vital link to the entire process as they provided custom clearance support, documentation support, intransit asset visibility through the use of RFID, shipping instructions, dispatch instructions, coordination of Material Handling Equipment, vessel operations, onward movement operations, unstuffing and unlashing support, and complete command and control overall equipment entering the Philippines."

This was quite a task since it was the first time ever that SDDC as an organization attempted to cover E2E distribution and oversight of the complete process on their own. By only having one organization provide command oversight of the complete E2E process the DDST was able to keep the exercise commanders informed on when the cargo departed its home station, where it was currently located, when it was due to arrive in the Philippines, and most importantly when it arrived at its final destination and in the user units possession.

"The most important capability it provides is the flexibility to go to one organization and know the exact status of cargo that is in support of the operation," said Washington. "This was key as we experienced during Balikatan 2006, because during our deployment operations into Philippines there was an unexpected disaster and critical cargo had to be diverted in order help in a no notice humanitarian mission."

With the DDST providing sole command oversight of all sealift cargo entering the Area of Operation the exercise commander was able to call on one organization and that was SDDC in the form of a DDST.

The DDST was able to locate, divert, and have delivered the specific cargo needed to support the humanitarian mission.

"The role and the importance of having SDDC as the sole organization for oversight of E2E distribution will continue to play a key role and provide commanders with the visibility and flexibility to place cargo where they need it and when they need it," said Lane. "As we continue to use more and more commercial assets to elevate the use of military assets that are needed to support tactical theaters of operations the SDDC becomes the prime candidate to be the sole organization to control E2E distribution because they already having the working relationship and functionality with the commercial industry."

Capt. Daniel Gunter

836th Transportation Battalion