Logistics command assists in delivering humanitarian aid

By Natalie Cole
1st TSC PAO

	Photos courtesy of the U.S. Army Karbala Reconstruction Team Students at the Al Kilsia Primary School in Karbala province, Iraq, wear their new backpacks, Nov. 23, 2010. The backpacks and other supplies were shipped up Iraq after the 1st Theater Sustainment Command Civilian Military Operations Center team in Kuwait coordinated the use of 1st TSC land transportation assets.

A hurdle in humanitarian support is getting supplies into the hands of people who need it, whether they are half-way around the world or in the midst of a crippling natural disaster. The cargo ships, air planes and manpower it takes to move 40-foot containers brimming with supplies are not cheap or easy to come by.

In the face of such challenges, civilian non governmental organizations have been partnering with a Fort Bragg logistics command to deliver aid into Iraq and Afghanistan.

The 1st Theater Sustainment Command has a forward command post at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, where deployed Fort Bragg Soldiers manage an extensive network of flights, ports, and ground transportation assets. Also at Camp Arifjan is the 1st TSC’s Civilian Military Operations Center.

The CMOC is operated by a small team of civil affairs specialists whose mission includes building strong relationships with local government leaders, delivering supplies to support on-the-ground relief efforts, and undertaking projects that improve quality of life for those in need. “What I like about CA is the human part; keeping relationships going,” said Lt. Col. Joseph Leon, who served as operations officer at the CMOC from 2009 to 2010.

The relationship between NGOs and the 1st TSC CMOC works two ways. The 1st TSC offers the use of its transportation capabilities to deliver aid for organizations, which have no low-cost shipping alternatives in place. In fact, if the aid organizations had to deliver the aid themselves, the cost would be so prohibitive, they wouldn’t be able to do it, said Leon.

In turn, civil affairs and logistics Soldiers play a visible role in delivering aid that mitigates human suffering – a part of the delicate process of garnering local support for the U.S. military’s objectives in the War on Terror.

The humanitarian aid transported by the 1st TSC and its trace units includes wheel chairs, winter clothing, shoes, medical equipment, dental supplies and school kits. The aid items are considered non-designated gifts, meaning they can be sent to wherever military operations and human need dictate, said Col. Michael J. Keller, CMOC team chief from 2009 to 2010.

Kuwait is an ideal location for the 1st TSC CMOC because the country has modern, deep water sea ports where large cargo ships can offload supplies. Additionally, the Kuwaiti government waives customs fees for humanitarian aid shipped as part of military operations.

Keller said the waived fees are an example of the historical support that the government of Kuwait provides us. Indeed, such a waiver frees up cash so aid organizations can provide more aid — a substantial savings considering that one recent container was filled with medical equipment valued at $500,000.

Other savings opportunities have resulted from the military’s drawdown from Iraq. With convoys of empty flatbed trucks driving into Iraq to take out equipment, the CMOC team seizes the opportunity to move aid into Iraq at no cost, Keller said.

Logistics is such a powerful part of CMOC’s role that Spc. Charles Anderson, from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., served as one of two transportation troops assigned to the CMOC team from 2009 to 2010. Anderson, an Army truck driver, worked with the 1st TSC and its subordinate units to unload containers from ships at the port onto trailers for convoys to Iraq.

Anderson said one of the most meaningful things he has been a part of in Kuwait was a shipment of about $3 million worth of clinical supplies. “We were moving dental chairs, surgical tables, gurneys, cots,” he said. The items went to northern Iraq to a newly built full dental clinic with a small emergency room, a room to house 40 people, a school, and a daycare, he explained.

Anderson said he never thought he would end up serving the Army in a civil affairs capacity. “It’s a good thing we’re doing,” he said. “With the CMOC, I iron the process out to flow smoothly.”

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