Single, worldwide center directs MTMC operations.

The biggest organizational change in the history of Military Traffic Management Command has produced a sweeping change in the work and mission of MTMC Fort Eustis.

MTMC's worldwide Operations Center is now functioning from MTMC Fort Eustis. Originally scheduled to take place in early November, the assimilation of the operations mission at MTMC Fort Eustis was accelerated by the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, said Brig. Gen. Barbara Doornink, MTMC Deputy Commanding General and Director of Operations: Formerly, operations were directed from the MTMC Headquarters, Alexandria, Va., location.

"It's propelled us at a rate of speed we couldn't have imagined," said Doornink. "It is a challenge we must meet. I hold great confidence you will meet every challenge."

For the first time in nearly 40 years, MTMC no longer has a major subordinate headquarters for its continental United States port terminal units. Instead, the command's Operations Center now is responsible for all MTMC movements, including command and control of both active and Reserve units. Non-operations missions are still performed at MTMC Alexandria.

"We're the instrument for command and control," said Col. Dennis Faver, Director, Deployment Operations. "The Command Operations Center is the single point of entry into MTMC operations."

While the transition continues through June 2003, the Operations Center at MTMC Fort Eustis is in full operation. Formerly, the MTMC Fort Eustis location was responsible for command and control of MTMC terminal units in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Training remains a big challenge for the transition. Training topics include Recruit movements, vehicle accident procedures, customer service calls, flash messages, on-call personnel, and posting of the operations brief on the Web.

"The Fort Eustis Operations Center staff originally was focused on mission support, so they had to be trained on administrative responsibilities that go along with being the sole 24-hour Operations Center," said Col. George Montgomery, Director, Program and Policy Directorate.

Maintaining and improving customer relations is a key goal of the transition effort, said Montgomery.

"Our primary focus and major challenge is to have our customers view the transition as a seamless process," said Montgomery. "First, the subordinate commands that used to work for the MTMC Commanding General and the Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations, in Alexandria, now report, operationally, to the Deputy Commanding General.

"Second, Fort Eustis personnel must establish themselves as the overall point of contact for an operation, instead of just the Continental U.S. point of contact," he said. "We had to establish coordination with subordinate command action officers and redirect informational items, such as situation reports and spot reports."

Customer relations is also the dominant theme for Lori Starke, Chief, Daily Operations East Team.

"The important factor remains: `Focus on the customer,'" said Starke. "To overcome the obstacles, you have to practice good communication skills at all levels, get input from the subject-matter experts, and include them in making the decisions for the changes."

Transition efforts will focus on developing job descriptions for the new center, said Starke. Personnel from both MTMC Fort Eustis and MTMC Alexandria will staff the new center.

Identifying functions that will be transferred, and coordinating the handover, along with training in those functional areas, will be critical, said Col. David Smith, Chief, MTMC Operations Center.

"The challenge is to put together a functional organization with the right people in each job," said Smith. "As part of this process, some will relocate to where the new positions are, and some will not. When transitioning from one location to another, you can lose a lot of your institutional knowledge.

"We have to build a team to encompass the new challenges, and remember to keep the mission first to ensure a successful transition."

A big part of the mission is performed by the Plans, Readiness and Mobilization Directorate. The team led by Col. Gary Engel, Director, oversees 73 Reserve and Active component Wartrace units, as well as 314 individual Reserve soldiers who function as augmentees during a crisis or national emergency. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, 600 Reserve soldiers have been mobilized to support the command.

"It's a high-energy, high-operational-tempo environment, in which everyone feels part of the team," said Engel.

With this level of activity, the flow of information into Fort Eustis is critical for the entire command. As part of the transition, MTMC notified its customers of the reorganization, and new email addresses and phone numbers, and reprogrammed the Defense Message System.

"We redirected the Army Operations Center and U. S. Transportation Command Crisis Action Team to MTMC Fort Eustis. We used Defense Information Systems Agency to reprogram toll-free phone numbers for recruit and customer service calls to ring in the new Center" said Montgomery.