In the decisive action training environment (DATE), field artillery (FA) units must conduct maintenance at a faster pace. Fires must enable the maneuver commander to have readily available combat power. This is challenged by the reality of conducting operations during prolonged periods in harsh environmental conditions. Moreover, units must conduct maintenance actions themselves in these demanding conditions. They rarely have the luxury of utilizing hardened bays or paved motor pools. Field artillery leaders must operationalize all maintenance actions. This will ensure proper utilization of manpower and resources to consistently provide maximum available indirect firepower to the maneuver commander.

FA units are arriving at the National Training Center (NTC) with a 90% operational readiness (OR) rate. But they cannot maintain that level of readiness throughout the rotation. Historically, the OR rate declines on training day four (4). This is due to various contributing factors. Maintenance is not only an operator issue. Difficulties are observed at all echelons. Leaders at all levels understand that operator or crew maintenance is the most critical operation of the Army Maintenance System. It requires continuous emphasis (AR 750-1). However, at NTC we observe tactical decisions by Battery Commanders to not conduct maintenance. This is usually due to concerns about operational tempo (OPTEMPO) or a misunderstanding its of importance.

Battalion Communications Maintenance Focused Reviews

Field Artillery Battalions habitually focus on the readiness of their pacing items. Observations from NTC suggest that they struggle with maintaining their communications equipment. This is seen at both the battery and battalion level, regardless of the operating environment. These struggles include:

• not having a good tracking system for FM equipment not listed as reportable by default within Global Combat Support System – Army (GCSS-Army)
• a lack of S6/Signal Soldier involvement in maintenance meetings.

Ultimately, ineffective signal maintenance at home station degrades unit readiness and hinders the mission in a high-OPTEMPO environment.

Greater involvement from the Battalion S6 sections and battery communications specialists in sustainment and maintenance functions is critical to properly identifying faults at both the battery and battalion levels.  25Us at the battery level must be involved in training end users on proper PMCS as well as conducting their own troubleshooting and inspections of both equipment and service records. They must also be able to advise the Battery Executive Officer, First Sergeant, and Battery Commander on Signal maintenance issues to ensure the accuracy of any status reports and maintenance work orders.

Battalion S6 sections must have representation at battalion and brigade level maintenance meetings to provide their expertise and recommendations to the battalion executive officer and ensure that their unit’s reports and requests are accurate. They must also understand the status of non-mission capable (NMC) equipment on the ESR. Battalion S6 OICs and NCOICs must also collaborate with the S4 section and Forward Support Company to ensure follow up on parts ordered and coordination of services per Appendix D (Signal Systems Maintenance) of FM 6-02 (Signal Support to Operations) and Section IX (Maintenance) of ATP 3-09.23 (Field Artillery Cannon Battalion).

Counter Battery Radar (CBR) Maintenance

When preparing for deployment, developing a CBR maintenance schedule is critical to the successful employment of this platform. This section’s ability to be self-sustaining due to the separation in space from its parent organization on the battlefield is essential to the survival of the radar section and its successful employment in accordance with the brigade fires plan. Very similar to the battery maintenance teams, the radar section is assigned radar mechanics and a parts container called an essential repair parts stockage list (ERPSL). While the radar system is a pacing item, the maintaining of critical equipment is not viewed with the same reverence as the delivery systems. Radar sections frequently do not maintain 100% of their ERPSL, or do not bring all parts forward when they deploy. These identified parts in the ERPSL will provide the radar section with the ability to repair forward and stay in the fight.

Synchronize Coverage

A strategy when developing a radar maintenance schedule is to synchronize radar coverage with Division assets throughout the operation. Our radar systems are an enemy’s High Payoff Target, and as such, require the radar to continuously conduct survivability moves or to reposition for the next phase. Synchronizing with Division will allow blocks of time where other radar assets can be employed and provide the necessary coverage in order to facilitate planned maintenance and priorities of work. This requires detailed planning at the battalion, brigade, and division levels and will allow critical PMCS during and after operations when conducted correctly.

Published Cueing Schedule

Concurrently, the radar section can execute maintenance during non-cueing timelines. The brigade can publish a cueing schedule that will provide the radar section the shared understanding of when and where the radar is required to radiate. During periods of non-cueing, the radar section leaders have opportunity to conduct levels of priority of work, to include during and after PMCS operations.

Battery Maintenance Focus Overview

Maintenance at the section and company level is a battle rhythm event at home station. Every Monday, units across the Army conduct -10 level maintenance on their vehicles and equipment to maintain a “Fight Tonight” posture. To ensure mission capability in a continuous operational environment, units must conduct field maintenance but struggle to maintain at pace. Soldiers conduct field maintenance in accordance with the respective technical manual, but do not possess the ability to troubleshoot issues. Leadership often does not have the required material available at the section level.

Use the TM

Often the section chief or squad leader maintains the preventive maintenance checks and services (PMCS) excerpt of the technical manual (TM) to conduct the required PMCS checks, but does not have the entire TM to enable troubleshooting. This in turn requires maintenance support to intervene during a 10-level maintenance task. This effect can increase issues systemically throughout the battery and battalion by not addressing faults head on at the operator level. Faults that require a relatively simple action when left unattended increase in severity to a dead-lining fault.

Deliberate Maintenance Plans

Conducting PMCS and operator level troubleshooting may be time consuming during field operations and offers challenges to the commanding officer on how to employ the mission capable guns to support the maneuver commander’s intent. It is essential that battery level leaders incorporate the necessary time to execute maintenance into their troop leading procedures (TLP). Ineffective time management will cause delays in the unit identifying faults early and receiving repair parts in a timely manner. Commanders at all levels need to operationalize maintenance into their battle rhythm and timeline. Successful commanders and leaders create deliberate maintenance plans that facilitate planned maintenance during operations while maintaining firing capability and achieving the commander’s desired effects.

Inspect what you Expect

During reception, staging, onward movement and integration (RSOI) maintenance plans are briefed to the lowest level leader. Leaders across the brigade understand the importance of maintenance, and the recovery plan for their equipment and personnel during the training exercise as briefed by higher commands.  While Soldiers may be performing maintenance before, during, and after operations, we often observe a lack of commanders providing adequate supervised time during operations for elements to perform effective PMCS. Soldiers conduct maintenance while first line leaders conduct other priorities of work in preparation for follow on operations. Simply put, leaders must plan and supervise maintenance operations. Much like units at home station place services on their training calendars, batteries should include the planned maintenance periods on their operational timeline during operations. Successful units enforce the correct PMCS before, during and after an operation with leadership supervision.

See the Big Picture

In Field Artillery units, platoons are designated hot and cold during execution of field artillery tasks or during specified blocks of time to provide constant firing capability within the battery and facilitate the execution of cold platoon’s priorities of work. Critical to pulling sections or platoons out of the fight to conduct maintenance is understanding the larger fight at Battalion and Brigade, so units can plan optimal times to conduct maintenance with the lowest risk to mission. Often observed, as howitzers become non-mission capable, the platoon hot-cold concept collapses and becomes a firing battery. If this occurs during a time of scheduled fires, commanders are understandably reluctant to take howitzers out of the fight to conduct maintenance.

Decision makers identify the required need of mission capable guns to provide the required volume of fire to meet the commander’s desired effects, but do not weigh the consequence of continuous operation without conducting field maintenance. This concept is described in AR 750-1 (Commanders’ Maintenance Handbook) as the purpose of army maintenance operations, “Preventive maintenance operations performed by Soldiers in field organizations that preserve the operational condition and inherent reliability of equipment, comprise the most critical of all of the building blocks in the Army maintenance system (AR 750-1, pg. 1).”

Power Down Decisions

There are a multitude of reasons why a howitzer could become non-mission capable, but a loss due to negligent maintenance or lack thereof is an unacceptable loss. Maintenance operations are briefed to be a critical priority of work, therefore commanders and leaders at all levels need to provide the necessary time to conduct maintenance operations. If that means pulling a howitzer out of the fight to conduct maintenance, in efforts to continue the operational use of that equipment longer, then that requires a decision point understood throughout the formation.

This decision should be operationalized, and planned throughout the fight during periods of reduced tempo. Shared understanding of the equipment’s capabilities and limitations will provide the necessary analysis of the duration of use and the frequency during that duration. There are several ways to conduct this concept, but the absolute necessity is commanders must make the deliberate decision to take an echelon out of the fight to conduct maintenance to ensure the future operational use.

Successful units operationalize their maintenance schedule throughout the deployment. Planners can forecast periods of high OPTEMPO that require the entire battalion. They can predict other periods of time that will enable sections or platoons to conduct priorities of work. Understanding the larger fight will help determine the most advantageous times to conduct maintenance. Commanders need to synchronize with the battalion’s operational plan to identify periods of time where maintenance can be conducted and report that to their higher command. This will drive the operations process to ensure the required amount of firepower is always in position ready to fire , and when warranted, maintenance will be executed as a specified task.

Field Artillery Forward Support Company Maintenance

SSL Management

The forward support company’s inability to maintain the correct shop stock to fix problems as they occur compounds the former issues.  At home station and deployed, the supply support activity (SSA) supports the unit with critical supplies.  In general terms, the SSA acts as a warehouse of Class IX (repair parts) at the BCT level.

Subsequently, each Battalion is authorized by FORSCOM to carry Shop Stock Listings of additional parts that allow for the quick forward repair of equipment.  FA Battalions should routinely inventory and analyze their SSLs to alter the stocked quantity based upon valid demands or known upcoming mission requirements.  If short, the unit should order to maintain at 100% levels at all times.  However, too many units fail to auto-replenish their SSLs on a routine basis as a method for saving OPTEMPO dollars.

Successful units routinely nominate through their leadership an automatic resupply trigger when class IX parts get consumed. This creates a system of efficiency if executed correctly. However, this efficient automation can only be useful if the end maintenance professional accounts for the consumed class IX part and updates the inventory levels in their systems. Maintenance technicians often do not conduct an accurate inventory of all class IX parts on hand.

Take All Of Your Parts With You

Additionally, many deploying units do not take all class IX parts forward with the unit. When ordering parts, the Department of the Army determines if the unit requesting parts has any on hand. If units don’t conduct an inventory prior to leaving home station, they might leave a critical part.  Also, an accounting or human error can cause a false report that the unit has that part on hand. This can result in the unit not receiving that part from the Army system.

Resource Your FMTs

Each battery’s MTOE contains a field maintenance team (FMT) that typically contains a fueler, contact truck, and a parts container. Critical to maintaining at pace is the inventory and standard operating procedures (SOPs) of operating each battery’s parts container. The FMT’s ability to maintain communication with the maintenance control section on stock line quantities, and the status of incoming parts is critical to the success of maintaining all equipment in the fight. Being separate from the forward support company adds a level of decentralization for accountability of all class IX parts. All repair parts throughout the entire battalion are identified at their end location in global combat support system army (GCSS-Army).

Reports

Another critical aspect to maintaining the fleet is establishing shared understanding of reporting requirements. Units experience difficulties establishing troubleshooting parameters in reporting faults to higher echelons. The equipment status report (ESR) provides situational awareness in real time to decision makers on the ground. It allows them to understand combat power when planning and synchronizing desired effects.

Successful units immediately report faults as they occur. They update the ESR to reflect equipment in the troubleshooting phase by placing a condition code “A” – awaiting initial inspection. This code will show a piece of equipment being NMC on the ESR without an identifying fault or part; however, it will provide the situational awareness to higher echelons on the equipment’s mission capable status. This enables comprehensive troubleshooting. It ensures that the unit places all necessary parts on order or conducts controlled substitutions as necessary to repair the equipment.

Controlled substitutions require a shared understanding of authorization level, reporting requirements, and quantity authorized in a given time period. This enables proper tracking of incoming repair parts. It also ensures that commanders maintain visibility on the amount of controlled substitutions occurring in their fleet.

Command and Control

Units assess mission variables to determine the location of the Combat Trains Command Post (CTCP). According to ATP 4-90, the Forward Support Company (FSC) should position its Unit Maintenance Collection Point (UMCP) within the CTCP. During offensive operations, the UMCP should be located as close to the firing batteries as possible or approximately within 1km. Doctrinally, the CTCP should maintain a 1-4km distance from the firing batteries to enable freedom of action, prolonged endurance, and operational reach for the supported battalion.

The FSC and maintenance personnel should understand the battalion’s current operations so they can efficiently manage time. This comes in conjunction with workflow when determining maintenance jobs at the CTCP. Their understanding of the supported battalion’s OPTEMPO will determine if the unit initiates repairs on a piece of equipment or postpones them until after conducting a required move. FSCs must be able to keep pace with the supported battalion and cease operations at the UMCP if necessary.

A few situations in which the UMCP would terminate operations and move include:

• the supported battalion can recover equipment forward
• the FSC can recover the equipment forward
• the firing battery can conduct battle damage assessment and repair to enable the equipment to move forward

An example for the UMCP delaying movement would be the converse to the previous situations. It could also be if a pacing item at the UMCP has all NMC parts on hand and the job is anticipated to take less than 24 hours.

Increased Technology Challenges & Maintenance

As Army technology increases, so does that of our equipment. However, when units field new equipment, they come with defense contracts that prevent end users from performing operator and higher-level maintenance. These contracts or agreements prevent operators from fixing -10 level issues, and more importantly, gaining confidence on the equipment. Mission accomplishment requires Soldiers to be subject matter experts on their equipment. This includes understanding and implementing maintenance operations.

These contracts prevent Soldiers from truly understanding the limitations of their equipment. As technology increases, our understanding of equipment decreases, and increases the associated degraded operations of that equipment. Maintainers are critical in this aspect; they must develop a maintenance schedule with contracted mechanics or field service representatives (FSRs) and ensure that support is available during all operations.

Units must operationalize this on unit training calendars and operationalize planning timelines in the field. Waiting until a problem presents itself is a reactive choice in a complex environment that requires proactive thinking. Many argue that this is an unnecessary risk and only produces additional threats to the unit. This equipment does not receive the proper before, during, and after PMCS due to contracted mechanics not being available to work on the equipment. The right to repair will continue to be a highly debated concept, but in the meantime, will challenge the unit’s ability to maintain at pace.

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There are a multitude of reasons why units experience maintenance issues and struggles throughout their rotation. These reasons include:

• a shortage of qualified personnel
• poor training glide path to the event
• reduction in the PMCS of equipment on a daily basis
• misuse of equipment through lack of leadership supervision
• inaccurate or unreliable reporting of equipment status

However, what is unique about the U.S. military force is our Non-Commissioned Officer corps’. The NCO corps’ has the ability to apply disciplined initiative to accomplish the commander’s intent. It is impossible to train on all aspects of a unit’s mission essential task list (METL). But by training on critical tasks and allowing leaders to execute within the commander’s intent, leaders can supervise and execute any mission within their mission set. The most efficient units make maintenance a priority. Leaders have the shared understanding of the importance of conducting regularly scheduled maintenance and the importance of accurate reporting.

Commanders at all levels must establish ownership of their maintenance plans. As we enforce operator-to-ownership and maintenance of their equipment, commanders and leaders must provide the deliberate action for prioritizing this maintenance. Units should operationalize maintenance plans on training calendars, deployment readiness gates, and battle rhythm or priorities of work during operations. The Army dictates the importance of maintenance by teaching units to conduct weekly maintenance at the start of every week. Successful units incorporate maintenance cycles that apply to their entire equipment fleet to guarantee operational use in the field. These cycles include CBRN, communications, and individual and crew served weapons. As operators take ownership of their equipment, leaders must provide the time through dedicated supervision for PMCS and application of equipment in efforts to allow the Soldier to gain confidence in its use.

POCs: Lt. Col. Robin W. VanDeusen, Capt. Joshua T. Kline, Capt. Christopher Mauldin, Capt. Daniel Lao-Talens, Capt. Valerie Blanding, Master Sgt. Jean M. Marthone, Sgt. 1st Class Rolando Flores, Sgt. 1st Class Matthew S. Konopatski, Sgt. 1st Class Gregory E. Wilson, Sgt. 1st Class Tommy W. Ferrell, and Sgt. 1st Class David A. Quintanilla

References:

• ATP 4-33 (Maintenance Operations)
• ATP 3-09.23 (Field Artillery Cannon Battalion)
• FM 6-02 (Signal Support to Operations)
• AR 750-1 (Army Material Maintenance Policy
• DA PAM 750-1 (Commanders’ Maintenance Handbook)
• DA PAM 750-3 (Soldiers’ Guide for Field Maintenance Operations)
• AR 700-138 (Army Logistics Readiness and Sustainability)
• FM 4-95 (Logistics Operations)
• ATP 4-0.6 (Techniques for Sustainment Information Systems Support)

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You can access the entire Maintaining at Pace NTC Update in a PDF HERE – or click the link below for an archive of all Lessons from Atropia.

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