Chapter 1
Introduction to Sustainment
Sustainment is the provision of logistics, personnel services, and HSS necessary to maintain operations until mission accomplishment (FM 3-0). The Sustainment operational concept supports the Army’s operational concept of full spectrum operations as described in FM 1 and FM 3-0. The provision of sustainment is an integrated process (people, systems, materiel, health services, and other support) inextricably linked to operations. From a strategic perspective sustainment builds Army combat readiness, delivers a combat ready Army to the CCDR as part of the joint force, and maintains combat power and endurance across the depth of the operational area. This is supported by Army generating forces whose unbreakable link enhances Army forces reach. It is joint interdependent, relying on and providing to other Services with capabilities to support the CCDRs goals. At the operational and tactical levels, sustainment is provided by highly trained modular sustainment forces, integrated and synchronized with the operational plan. They are supported by automated systems that precisely track requirements which give commanders the time and information to make informed support decisions. They support commander's needs to provide committed forces with flexible support for their operations.
This FM will discuss how sustainment supports full spectrum operations. This chapter will begin by laying out the basics with a discussion of the principles of sustainment and the functional elements of the sustainment WFF.
1-1. The principles of sustainment are essential to maintaining combat power, enabling strategic and operational reach, and providing Army forces with endurance. The principles are integration, anticipation, responsiveness, simplicity, economy, survivability, continuity, and improvisation.
1-2. While these principles are independent, they are also interrelated (see Figure 1-1). For example, in order for commanders to provide responsive sustainment, they must be able to anticipate requirements based on their knowledge and understanding of future operations. Simplicity in planning and executing sustainment increases survivability, improves efficiencies through economy, and facilitates a continuity of resources thus reducing complexity and confusion. When the execution of plans does not proceed as expected, commanders may improvise to meet mission requirements. The most essential principle is integration. Without deliberate integration of Army sustainment with Joint and MNFs and OGA the achievement of these principles becomes impossible.
Figure 1-1. Principles of Sustainment
Integration
1-3. Integration is the most critical principle. Integration is joining all of the elements of sustainment (tasks, functions, systems, processes, and organizations) to operations assuring unity of purpose and effort. It requires deliberate coordination and synchronization of sustainment with operations across all levels of war. Army forces integrate sustainment with joint forces and multinational operations to maximize the complementary and reinforcing effects from each service component’s or nation’s competencies and resources. Integration of sustainment occurs throughout the operations process—plan, prepare, execute, and assess. One of the primary functions of the sustainment staff is to ensure the integration of sustainment with operations plans. Not properly integrating sustainment and operations could result in mission failure.
Anticipation
1-4. Anticipation is the ability to foresee events and requirements and initiate necessary actions that most appropriately satisfy a response. Anticipation of sustainment facilitates responsive support. It is based on professional judgment resulting from experience, knowledge, education, intelligence, and intuition. Sustainment commanders and staffs visualize future operations and identify appropriate required support. They must then start the process of acquiring the materiel or placement of support that bests sustains the operation. Anticipation is facilitated by automation systems that provide the common operational picture upon which judgments and decisions are based. Anticipating sustainment also means staying abreast of operational plans (OPLANs), continuously assessing requirements, and tailoring support to meet current operations and the changing operational environment.
Responsiveness
1-5. Responsiveness is the ability to meet changing requirements on short notice and to rapidly sustain efforts to meet changing circumstances over time. It is providing the right support in the right place at the right time. It includes the ability to see and forecast operational requirements. Employing appropriate information systems enables the commander to make rapid decisions. Responsiveness involves identifying, accumulating, and maintaining sufficient resources, capabilities, and information necessary to meet rapidly changing requirements. A responsive sustainment system is crucial to maintaining endurance; it provides the commander with flexibility and freedom of action. It also maintains the tempo of operations and the ability to retain and exploit the initiative. Through responsive sustainment, commanders maintain operational focus and pressure, set the tempo of friendly operations to prevent exhaustion, replace ineffective units, and extend operational reach.
Simplicity
1-6. Simplicity strives to minimize the complexity of sustainment. Simplicity relates to processes and procedures. Unnecessary complexity of processes and procedures compounds the confusion. Simplicity fosters efficiency throughout the operations process and allows for more effective control of sustainment. Clarity of tasks, standardized and interoperable procedures, and clearly defined command relationships contribute to simplicity. Simplicity enables economy and efficiency in the use of resources, while ensuring effective support of forces.
Economy
1-7. Economy means providing sustainment resources in an efficient manner to enable a commander to employ all assets to generate the greatest effect possible. The commander achieves economy through efficient management and discipline by prioritizing and allocating resources. Staffs look for ways to eliminate redundancies and capitalize on joint interdependencies. They also apply discipline in managing resources minimizing waste and unnecessary stockpiling. Disciplined sustainment assures the greatest possible tactical endurance of the force and constitutes an advantage to commanders who achieve economy of force in sustainment. Staffs also achieve economy by contracting for support or using HN resources that reduce or eliminate the use of limited military resources. Economy reflects the reality of resource shortfalls, while recognizing the inevitable friction and uncertainty of military operations. Economy enables strategic and operational reach by reducing unnecessary use of transportation requirements. Additionally, it reduces unnecessary storage and warehouse support.
Survivability
1-8. Survivability is the ability to protect personnel, information, infrastructure, and assets from destruction or degradation. It includes all aspects of protecting personnel (includes FHP), materiel, and organizations while deceiving the enemy. The ability of adversaries to disrupt the flow of sustainment could significantly degrade forces’ ability to conduct operations as well as sustain them. Planners integrate survivability with operational planning to maximize survivability. Dispersion and decentralization of sustainment functions enhances survivability. The commander may have to balance risk with survivability in considering redundant capabilities and alternative support plans. The ability to protect lines of communications promotes survivability, helping to ensure operational reach and endurance.
Continuity
1-9. Continuity is the uninterrupted provision of sustainment across all levels of war. Continuity is achieved through a system of integrated and focused networks linking sustainment to operations. Continuity is enabled through joint interdependence, linked organizations, distribution systems, and information systems. Continuity assures confidence in sustainment allowing commanders freedom of action, operational reach, and endurance. It requires commanders to track resources and make critical decisions eliminating backlogs or bottlenecks. Sustainment staffs at all levels work hand in hand with operational staffs ensuring synchronization of requirements over the entire course of the operation.
Improvisation
1-10. Improvisation is the ability to adapt sustainment operations to unexpected situations or circumstances affecting a mission. It includes creating, inventing, arranging, or fabricating what is needed from what is available. It may also involve changing or creating methods that adapt to an enemy that quickly evolves. This requires commanders, their staffs, and Soldiers to improvise other possible means to accomplish an operation. The sustainment commander must apply operational art to visualize complex operations and understand what is possible at the tactical level. These skills enable commanders to improvise operational and tactical actions when enemy actions or unexpected events disrupt sustainment operations.
The Sustainment Warfighting Function
1-11. The sustainment WFF is related tasks and systems that provide support and services to ensure freedom of action, extend operational reach, and prolong endurance (FM 3-0). The endurance of Army forces is primarily a function of their sustainment. Sustainment determines the depth and duration of Army operations. Successful sustainment enables freedom of action by increasing the number and quality of options available to the commander. It is essential to retaining and exploiting the initiative. The sustainment WFF consists of three major sub-functions: logistics, personnel services, and health services support. A summary of the categories and functions of sustainment is outlined below. Chapter 5 provides a detailed discussion of the elements of the sustainment WFF.
1-12. FM 3-0 places Internment/Resettlement (I/R) operations under the sustainment WFF. Internment/Resettlement operations take or keep selected individuals in custody or control as a result of military operations to control their movement, restrict their activity, provide safety, and/or gain intelligence (FM 3-19.40). I/R operations comprise those measures necessary to guard, protect, sustain, and account for people that are captured, detained, confined, or evacuated from their homes by the U.S. armed forces.
1-13. Logistics is the planning and executing the movement and support of forces. It includes those
aspects of military operations that deal with: design and development, acquisition, storage, movement, distribution, maintenance, evacuation, and disposition of materiel; movement, evacuation, and hospitalization of personnel; acquisition or construction, maintenance, operation, and disposition of facilities; and acquisition or furnishing of services (JP 4-0). As noted in Figure 2, there are some differences from joint and Army logistics. For example Army HSS is not considered a logistics function.
Supply
1-14. Supply is the procurement, distribution, maintenance while in storage, and salvage of supplies, including the determination of kind and quantity of supplies. There are ten classes in the U.S. supply system: CL I Subsistence; CL II Clothing and Individual Equipment; CL III, Petroleum and Solid Fuels; CL IV, Construction Materiel; CL V, Ammunition; CL VI, Personal Demand Items; CL VII, Major end Items, CL VIII, Medical Materiel; CL IX, Repair Parts and Components; and CL X, Non Military Materiel. While munitions is a class of supply, it is unique due to the complexities of activities associated with its handling. Munitions are devices charged with explosives, propellants, pyrotechnics, initiating composition, or nuclear, biological, or chemical material for use in military operations, including demolitions. Munitions require special shipping and handling, storage, accountability, surveillance, and security. Munitions operations include the critical functions of maintenance, repair, recovery, demilitarization, as well as initial control and management of captured enemy ammunition.
Field Services
1-15. Field services maintain combat strength of the force by providing for its basic needs and promoting its health, welfare, morale, and endurance. They include clothing repair and exchange, laundry and shower support, mortuary affairs (MA), aerial delivery, food services, billeting, and sanitation. All field services receive the same basic Army-wide priority, but the commander decides which are most important. FM 4-20.1 provides a full discussion on field services.
Maintenance
1-16. Maintenance is all actions taken to retain materiel in a serviceable condition or to restore it to serviceability. It consists of two levels, field and sustainment maintenance. It includes inspection, testing, servicing, and classification as to serviceability, repair, rebuilding, recapitalization, reset, and reclamation. It also includes all supply and repair actions taken to keep a force in condition to carry out its mission.
Transportation
1-17. Transportation is the moving and transferring of personnel, equipment, and supplies to support the concept of operations, including the associated planning, requesting, and monitoring. Transportation plays a key role in facilitating deployment and distribution. Transportation includes military, commercial, and multinational capabilities. Transportation assets include surface and air modes, terminal and movement control units, activities, and infrastructure. See Chapter 5 for more detail and FM 55-1 for a discussion of transportation operations.
Distribution
1-18. Distribution is defined as the operational process of synchronizing all elements of the logistics system to deliver the right things to the right place and right time to support the CCDR. It is a diverse process incorporating distribution management and asset visibility. See Chapter 4 for more detail and FM 4-01.4.
Operational Contract Support
1-19. Operational contract support is the process of planning for and obtaining supplies, services, and construction from commercial sources in support of operations along with the associated contractor management functions. Deployed U.S. forces rely increasingly on contracting to supplement organic sustainment capabilities and on contractors to perform a growing percentage of many sustainment functions. JP 4-10 and FMI 4-93.42 cover the roles and responsibilities for planning and managing contracting in support of operational commanders.
General Engineering Support
1-20. General engineering includes those engineering capabilities and activities, other than combat engineering, that modify, maintain, or protect the physical environment. Examples include: the construction, repair, maintenance, and operation of infrastructure, facilities, lines of communication and bases, and terrain modification and repair and selected explosive hazard activities (JP 3-34). Engineering provides construction support, real estate planning and acquisition, and real property maintenance responsive to environmental considerations. General engineering support is discussed further in Chapter 5. See FM 3-34 and FM 3-34.400 for more information.
1-21. Personnel services include HR support, religious support, FM, legal support, and band support. Personnel services are those sustainment functions maintaining Soldier and Family readiness and fighting qualities of the Army force. Personnel services complement logistics by planning for and coordinating efforts that provide and sustain personnel (FM 3-0).
Human Resource (HR) Support
1-22. HR support includes the human resources functions of manning the force, HR services, personnel support, and HR planning and operations. HR support maximizes operational effectiveness and facilitates support to Soldiers, their Families, Department of Defense (DOD) civilians, and contractors who deploy with the force. HR support includes personnel readiness management (PRM); personnel accountability; strength reporting; personnel information management (PIM); casualty operations; EPS, band support, postal operations; reception, replacement, return-to-duty, rest and recuperation, and redeployment operations; morale, welfare, and recreation (MWR); and HR planning and staff operations. (see FM 1-0, FMI 1-0.01, and FMI 1-0.02).
Religious Support
1-23. Religious support facilitates the free exercise of religion, provides religious activities, and advises commands on matters of morals and morale. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Army Regulation (AR) 165-1 guarantee every American the right to the free exercise of religion. Commanders are responsible for those religious freedoms within their command. Chaplains perform and provide Religious Support (RS) in the Army to ensure the free exercise of religion (see FM 1-05).
Financial Management (FM) Operations
1-24. FM is comprised of two mutually supporting core functions: Finance and Resource Management operations. Finance operations include developing policy, providing guidance and financial advice to commanders; disbursing support to the procurement process; banking and currency; accounting; and limited pay support. RM operations include providing advice to commanders; maintaining accounting records; establishing a management internal control process; developing resource requirements; identifying, acquiring, distributing, and controlling funds; and tracking, analyzing, and reporting budget execution (see FM 1.06).
Legal Support
1-25. Legal support is the provision of professional legal services at all echelons. Legal support encompasses all legal services provided by judge advocates and other legal personnel in support of units, commanders, and Soldiers in an area of operation (AO) and throughout full spectrum operations. Judge Advocate General’s Corps personnel assist Soldiers in personal legal matters and advise commanders on a wide variety of operational legal issues. These include the law of war, rules of engagement, lethal and nonlethal targeting, treatment of detainees and noncombatants, fiscal law, claims, contingency contracting, the conduct of investigations, and military justice. (see FM 1-04).
Band Support
1-26. Army bands provide critical support to the force by tailoring music support throughout military operations. Music instills in Soldiers the will to fight and win, foster the support of our citizens, and promote our national interests at home and abroad (see FM 1-0 and FM 1-19).
1-27. Health services support is all support and services performed, provided, and arranged by the AMEDD to promote, improve, conserve, or restore the mental and physical well being of personnel in the Army and, as directed in other Services, agencies and organizations. Army Health System (AHS) support includes both HSS and force health protection (FHP). The HSS mission is a part of the sustainment WFF. The FHP mission falls under the protection WFF, but will be included to provide an accurate description of AHS support. This includes casualty care (encompassing a number of AMEDD functions—organic and area medical support, hospitalization, the treatment aspects of dental care and behavioral health (BH)/neuropsychiatric treatment, clinical laboratory services, and the treatment of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear [CBRN] patients), medical evacuation, and medical logistics. See FM 4-02.12 for a full description of AHS support.
OTHER SUSTAINMENT RELATED FUNCTIONS
1-28. As a result of the movement from battlefield operating systems to the WFF construct, some tasks are realigned. Two of those tasks are explosive ordnance disposal and Interment/Resettlement operations.
explosive ordnance disposal
1-29. Explosive Ordnance Disposal is the detection, identification, on-site evaluation, rendering safe, recovery and disposal of explosive ordnance (EO) /improvised explosive devices (IEDs), weapons of mass destruction (WMD) which threaten forces, citizens, facilities, critical infrastructure, or operations. The Army EOD mission is to support national security strategy and national military strategy by reducing or eliminating EO/IED/WMD during operations. From a WFF perspective, EOD falls under the Protection WFF (see FM 4-30.50 for details).
Internment and Resettlement Operations
1-30. Internment and Resettlement (I/R) operations are included under the Sustainment WFF (FM 3.0). While not a major sub-function of the sustainment WFF; I/R are supported by logistics, personnel services, and HSS. The Army is the DOD executive agent (EA) for all detainee operations. Within the Army, and through the CCDR, the Military Police (MP) are tasked with coordinating shelter, protection, accountability, and sustainment for detainees. The I/R function addresses MP roles when dealing with detainees, dislocated civilians, and US military prisoners. The MPs support the battlefield commander by relieving him/her of the problem of handling detainees with combat forces. The MPs perform the internment and resettlement functions of collecting, evacuating, and securing detainees (see FM 3-19.1 Military Police Operations and FM 3-19.40, Internment/Resettlement Operations). Sustainment in support of internment and resettlement will be discussed in Chapter 4.
1-31. Sustainment builds and maintains combat power and provides strategic and operational reach and endurance. Sustainment supports full spectrum operations. It is one of six Army WFFs. The eight principles of sustainment must be considered throughout the operations process to achieve successful support of full spectrum operations. The principles are not a checklist but a guide for planners and leaders to incorporate the commander’s intent for sustainment throughout the operations process. The sustainment WFF consists of three major sub-functions: logistics, personnel services, and Army health systems support Chapter 5 includes a more detailed discussion of the functional elements of sustainment.