ARMY NATIONAL GUARD CONVOYS pounded back and forth across the roads of our Nation’s highways and byways last year. They traveled over 2,000,000 miles, carrying hundreds of containers filled with their precious cargo – the U.S. Army’s war reserve munitions.
The Guard Soldiers operating in these convoys were working in support of Operation Patriot Bandoleer (OPB), an ongoing joint mission that calls on Soldiers from all components of the Army – National Guard, Reserves and active duty.
OPB began in 2015 and is a collaborative initiative between the National Guard Bureau, Army Materiel Command, Army Sustainment Command, Joint Munitions Command, and the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command. It involves the movement and life-cycle management of thousands of tons of munitions and war reserve materiel in support of the U.S. Army Sustainment Command (ASC)’s Army Prepositioned Stock (APS).
Military prepositioned stocks consist of warehouses filled with equipment and supplies in strategic locations around the world. Keeping these stocks readily available and poised for use not only deters aggressive behavior by foreign adversaries, but also works to increase mobilization speeds.
In a 2016 interview, Timothy Fore, director, Sustainment Operations and Army Prepositioned Stocks Directorate, said, “Linking Reserve component Soldiers to APS redistribution not only supports the Total Force Development concept of the Army, but [also] gives the Soldiers exposure to real-world mission experiences they will need to support humanitarian assistance and contingency operations in the future.”
OPB is spearheaded by Fore on the ASC side and, on the Guard side by Anthony Skivo, OPB Program Manager and Senior Logistics Analyst for National Guard Bureau.
“When Tim and I got together, [the operation] became much larger and more productive than anything I could have ever thought,” said Skivo.
OPB has become one of the largest multi-component logistics events supporting the APS program.
Missouri Army National Guard BG David Boyle has been an integral part of OPB since its inception in 2015. With Missouri participating each year and taking the lead in OPB 2016, BG Boyle understands firsthand the significance of the operation.
