Nine Virginia Guard Soldiers and one D.C. Guard Soldier, two Airmen from the Camp Pendleton-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron and nine U.S. Coast Guardsmen train to conduct railhead operations Sept. 18, 2014, at Fort Pickett, Va., during the Unit Movement Officer Course. The weeklong course welcomed 20 service members and aimed to prepare them for the challenges of moving massive amounts of equipment for deployment or large-scale training events. The course, taught by the Virginia Army National Guard’s Fort Pickett-based Directorate of Logistics at the 183rd Regiment, Regional Training Institute, runs Sept. 15-20, 2014. (Photo by Capt. Andrew J. Czaplicki, Virginia Guard Public Affairs)
FORT PICKETT, Va. – More than 20 service members from three components are better prepared for the challenges of moving equipment for deployment or training after attending the Unit Movement Officer Course held Sept. 15 – 20, 2014, at the 183rd Regiment, Regional Training Institute and various training sites at Fort Pickett. The Defense Movement Coordinator’s section of the Virginia Army National Guard’s Directorate of Logistics conducted the course that follows a robust program of instruction approved by the Chief of Transportation from the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Lee, Va.
“The goal for the joint unit movement officer course was to expose and integrate our sister services to the intermodal requirements of the Virginia National Guard,” said Maj. Frederick Moore, defense movement coordinator. “This was a great opportunity to train new unit movement officers on the systems in place and show them the resources available to deploy their unit in either a stateside civilian support capacity or overseas deployment.”
Nine Virginia Guard Soldiers and one D.C. Guard Soldier, two Airmen from the Camp Pendleton-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron and nine U.S. Coast Guard Sailors train to conduct airlift operations Sept. 16, 2014, at Fort Pickett, Va., during the Unit Movement Officer Course. Air movement assets were provided by the Charlotte-based 156th Airlift Squadron, 145th Airlift Wing, North Carolina Air National Guard. (Photo by Capt. Andrew J. Czaplicki, Virginia Guard Public Affairs)
The course included hands-on training with loading and unloading rail cars, air planning using 463L air pallets and a C-130 “Hercules” military transport aircraft, and the military decision making staff processes.
“Our course covers every type of movement, from sea to air to land,” said 1st Lt. Daniel Tarrant, unit movement officer with the Fort Pickett-based Directorate of Logistics. “Learning how our equipment gets loaded and unloaded off of things like aircraft or railcars is an essential part to our unit movement strategy. When we do big moves to get around the state or the nation, we exercise the things we learn in this course.”
Moore explained that the course has operation order-type scenarios that makes the students do the necessary backwards planning using artificial, time-phased force deployment document data.
“Taking a ride on the C-130 was probably the highlight of the course,” said Senior Airman Phil Sims, engineer specialist with the Camp Pendleton-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron. “The pilots showed us what a combat take off felt like and they did a few other combat maneuvers in the air and took a few sharp turns to show us how much stress cargo could be under during a movement.”
The trip reinforced the skills they learned the previous day with the 463L air pallets, Sims explained.
“There is a various amount of policies, regulations and laws that go into moving equipment,” said Lt. j.g. Larry Submanian, logistics management specialist with the Norfolk-based Directorate for Operational Logistics – 42 Logistics Management Division, U.S. Coast Guard. “You’ve got to get all the paperwork right so that you can get your equipment and your forces overseas in an expedited manner.”
Students were exposed to over 40 hours of classroom and practical exercises which combined U.S. Army Forces Command and Department of Defense policies, regulations and procedures with hands-on training. Critical hands-on training included truck loading, chain and rail car loading, aircraft and containers loading.
The practical exercises included load planning, convoy operations, blocking and bracing, air and rail loading.
“Our course covers every type of movement, from sea to air to land,” said 1st Lt. Daniel Tarrant, unit movement officer with the Fort Pickett-based Directorate of Logistics. “Learning how our equipment gets loaded and unloaded off of things like aircraft or railcars is an essential part to our unit movement strategy. When we do big moves to get around the state or the nation, we exercise the things we learn in this course.” (Photo by Capt. Andrew J. Czaplicki, Virginia Guard Public Affairs)
“As a young officer, it’s incredibly important to know all the logistics that are involved in completing these kinds of movements,” explained Subanian.
The UMOC is designed for officers, warrant officers, and noncommissioned officers who are already or are anticipating being assigned the Unit Movement Officer duties.
The UMO primarily supervises and ensures movement training for all modes of transportation is conducted for deployment, retrograde, rotation and redeployment missions. In addition, the UMO prepares movement plans to support all task plans, modes of transportation and ports of departure; coordinates and supervises marshalling and outloading of their unit’s personnel and equipment; prepares passenger or cargo manifests; and inspects cargo and equipment registries.
“I’m at a Port Security Unit and every once in a while we’ll send our boats somewhere around the world,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Henry Cylkowski, a machinery technician with the Cape Cod-based Port Security Unit 301, U.S. Coast Guard. “We don’t have ways to efficiently move ourselves, so we have to rely on the Army and Air Force.”
Nine Va. Guard Soldiers, one D.C. Guard Soldier, two Airmen from the Virginia Air National Guard’s Camp Pendleton-based 203rd RED HORSE Squadron, and nine U.S. Coast Guardsmen took the course.
“It’s always nice to see how the other services do things. I’m brand new to the PSU and I’ve never really had to think about how to deploy our unit. In the active duty coast guard, we just took our boats from point A to point B, did what we needed to do, then came home. Now being part of the reserves we have to think about the little details,” Cylkowski said.
“It’s very eye opening to work with the Army and Air Force, I think we should do it more, because when we get into a theatre, these are the guys that we’re working with,” Submanian said.
The UMO training is meant to not only give service members knowledge about processes, but also gave the instructors the ability to stress the importance of unit movement planning.
“Having a squared away unit movement plan is essential,” Tarrant said. “When we get called to state active duty, or get sent overseas, we have to be ready.”
View and download high-resolution photos here.