Warfighters' 9-1-1: Deployment Support Brigades: the high Operations Tempo of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom continues to increase the demand for overseas shipments of equipment to support the Warfighter. SDDC's Army Reserve Soldiers provide the manpower necessary to perform the Command's expanded wartime mission.

Within SDDC's wartraced units, four Deployment Support Brigades (DSBs) --the 1179th, 1190th, 1394th, and the 1398th--play a key role ensuring the Warfighters' equipment gets to its place of business in a timely and safe manner.

"Deployment Support Brigade capability resides only in the Army Reserve--and only within SDDC," said Lt. Col. Deborah DeCicco, SDDC G7. "Their knowledge and expertise is critical to support the Warfighter by providing efficient and competent assistance to deploying units."

DSB mission support operates at installations both with and without SDDC Task Force integration. Once they arrive at an installation, the DSB Unit Movement Teams (UMTs) interact directly with Installation Transportation Officers (ITOs), Division Transportation Officers (DTOs) and the deploying/ redeploying units to assist the Warfighter with many critical deployment issues. Some of the invaluable services they provide include unit movement officer (UMO) training, safety training, equipment/container inspections, cargo documentation (TC-ACCIS/TC-AIMS II, RFID tags, HAZMAT) and actual load-outs (rail, line-haul).

"Their expertise in RFID tag production and other Automated Information Technology (AIT) systems has proved beneficial assisting deploying units," said Lt. Col. DeCicco. "Many units lack the expertise and material to properly prepare and document the cargo, particularly HAZMAT equipment, for transit overseas and to ensure Customs and Agricultural regulations are met."

In addition, through a cooperative effort with SDDC, the U.S. Coast Guard was first introduced to OIF redeployment operations in 2003 with their first Redeployment Assistance and Inspection Detachment (RAID) in Southwest Asia. The RAID teams provided subject matter and operational expertise in the areas of training and oversight for the inspection of HAZMAT, container stowage and segregation, inspection of ammunition containers and vessel loading operation.

"The RAID teams proved so successful in assisting the Warfighter with U.S. Customs and Agricultural inspections for surface-shipped material, that SDDC's newly developed Task Force (TF) concept has integrated U.S. Coast Guard personnel with our DSB unit movement teams at the deploying unit installations," said DeCicco. "That is truly a success story."

Through the diligence and expertise of our DSBs with documentation and equipment load-outs and the Coast Guard's Container Inspection Training and Assistance (CITAT) Teams at CONUS installations, operations at the ports run more efficiently and timely due to the minimal amount of frustrated cargo. In fact, without the assistance of a DSB element, previous records show an average of 60 percent of the cargo received by deploying units identified as frustrated cargo at the port.

"With the assistance of a DSB, less than one-percent of the cargo is normally identified as frustrated cargo. This saved both time and money at the port and is crucial in getting the Warfighters' equipment to the CENTCOM AO prior to their required delivery date," said DeCicco.

One of the most recent SDDC Task Forces--TF Riva Ridge--was supported by the 1179th DSB for the OIF/OEF deployment of the 10th Mountain Division (MD) (LI) from Fort Drum, N.Y. (June 2005 to February 2006) and Fort Polk, La. (December 2005 to February 2006). The Coast Guard's CITAT team also provided support for this effort. A total of 2,168 pieces and 223,826 square feet of cargo were successfully deployed utilizing eight vessels including commercial carriers. In addition to OIF/OEF deployments, our DSBs have continued to be requested by ITOs and DTOs for assistance with cargo deployments for Combined Training Center (CTC) exercises such as National Training Center (NTC) and the Joint Readiness Training Center.

"Overall, the continued utilization of DSBs has saved millions of dollars and time by addressing equipment transportation issues for the warfighter at the onset of deployments," said DeCicco. "DSB mission support is just a '9-1-1' call to SDDC for Warfighters to ensure the safe and on-time delivery of their cargo through the SDDC pipeline. Time and time again, the SDDC DSBs have proven to be a noteworthy asset for deployment operations."

by June Pagan

SDDC Headquarters, Ft. Eustis