CHAIRMAN JOINT CHIEF'S PRAISES NEW COMMANDER OF TRANSCOM

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Dempsey Emphasizes Trust as Selva Succeeds Fraser at Transcom

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2014 – Trust is at the core of any military, and U.S. Transportation Command is part of the glue of that trust, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said at the change of command at U.S. Transportation Command today
Air Force Gen. William M. Fraser III passed the command flag to Air Force Gen. Paul J. Selva during a ceremony on the parade field at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

“One of our military’s greatest strengths is that our people know … that when they ask for something, they’re going to get it,” the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. “No matter the danger or the circumstance, they trust that what they need is on the way because it’s in the hands of Transportation Command.”

Dempsey told the men and women of Transportation Command that they are what make the U.S. military a global power, noting that once a combatant commander requests a capability, the men and women of Transcom deliver it. “That trust – even more than the materiel you deliver – makes us the strongest military that the world has ever known,” he said.

The chairman praised Fraser for his 40-year military career. “Regardless of the payload, the constant in your diverse career is that you’ve always delivered excellence,” he said. “Your leadership embodies all that we value in the profession: a commitment to the mission, to people, and to families … and to maintaining the delicate balance between mental, physical and spiritual strength.”
The general thanked the Frasers for their work on behalf of military families, especially for wounded warriors.

The chairman said he is pleased that Selva is moving into the job from the top post at Transcom’s Air Force component, Air Mobility Command. “You bring to Transcom a track record of excellence and a clear passion for the mission, the people and their families,” he said.

DEVELOPING "ENTERPRISE-FOCUSED PROFESSIONALS" FOR U.S. DOD'S TRANSCOM

With people as its most important resource, U.S. Transportation Command officials are working to develop a corps of enterprise-focused professionals as a pillar of the command's new five-year strategy. Here, Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Marty Klukas, Transcom's senior enlisted leader, talks with airmen about the command's global transportation and distribution mission, July 25, 2012. DOD photo by Bob Fehringer

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Transcom Transforms Command Culture for Future
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill., Nov. 27, 2012 - Motivational speakers and book clubs focused on innovative thinking, emotional intelligence and other trendy topics. Regular sessions where senior leaders sit down with a random group of staffers to share a meal and talk about cultural virtues. Professional development emphasizing "people skills" as well as job-related ones. And in the planning stages, "speed dating" arrangements in which employees from different offices will come together to introduce themselves and explain how their jobs fit into the broader mission

Sound like something out of Silicon Valley or an Internet startup run by twenty-somethings? Wrong. You'll find it here at U.S. Transportation Command, where Air Force Gen. William M. Fraser III and his senior staff have embarked on an all-out effort to transform the organization.

Transcom's recently released five-year strategy puts a premium on the workforce that drives the Defense Department's global transportation and distribution network. The goal, explained Air Force Brig. Gen. John E. Michel, Transcom's chief change and learning strategist, is to develop "enterprise-focused professionals" who take pride in their individual contributions and recognize their collective role in propelling the command forward.

"One of the No. 1 goals is to decrease a sense of independence that has naturally occurred over time by virtue of people being focused on their great thing, to create a sense of greater interdependence and understanding about how we all fit in so we can move forward together," Michel said.

To do so, leaders are emphasizing four key values: collaboration that breaks down organizational stovepipes and creates a unity of effort; trust across the enterprise that extends to operational partners and customers; empowerment that enables people to engage, make decisions and embrace smart risk-taking; and innovation that challenges ineffective, outdated practices and unleashes creativity.

"The question is, 'How do we bring the headquarters together in a common sense of purpose, surrounded by these cultural values?" said Army Maj. Gen. Gregory E. Couch, Transcom's chief of staff. "Our strategy is to build on these four cultural virtues as we go forward."

Focusing on "soft skills" is common in the business world and academia, Michel recognized, but not necessarily in the military. "We get a little freaked out in the military talking about soft skills because we are warfighters," he said. "But find a business out there that doesn't tell you that this is where it all starts and ends. Even if we are warfighters, I think we also realize that we are inherently relational creatures."


Such a level of introspection is unusual for Transcom, which traditionally has focused on its customers' requirements, said Air Force Col. Shawna O'Brien, director of manpower and personnel.

But by shining the spotlight on itself, she said the command can see where it needs to redirect its energies to improve overall operations. "This will help us identify how we can enhance what we do and provide better support and service for our customers," O'Brien said. "It is what will enable us to adapt to meet the requirements of the future joint force."

Anyone who has worked in a big organization knows that change doesn't come easily, Couch acknowledged. It's particularly difficult in the military, where each service has its own way of doing things and commanders rotate regularly, along with their pet programs and areas of emphasis.

So Fraser has committed to making an indelible mark on the command culture, leading the effort himself and elevating cultural change to a pillar of the most sweeping strategy in Transcom's 25-year history.

"The difference here is that this is tagged on with the strategy that is going to be a living document," Couch said. "And our goal is that when the current leadership leaves, there is no reversing this. It's non-reversible. A new commander may change the buzzwords, but these things will now be inculcated into what we are doing here as an organization."

Fraser, his deputy commander, Army Lt. Gen. Kathleen Gainey, and Couch personally lead many of the activities promoting that goal.

"There is no other place in the [Defense] Department, I bet, where you will find that the senior leadership is as engaged and invested in this from the top down," Michel said. "They are not just writing it in a paper and saying 'Go for it.' They are saying 'Follow me.' They are living the virtues, taking time out of their calendar to lead leader-led lunches, driving the book club and looking for meaningful, active ways to promote the effort."

These engagements are designed to open the command to new ways of thinking and to create opportunities for candid exchanges simply not possible within the traditional chain-of-command structure, said Diana Roach, Transcom's chief of change management.

For example, Couch periodically invites about a dozen people at a time to his on-base quarters, where he prepares and serves lunch and opens the floor to whatever topics group members want to discuss. "No issues are off the table," he said, whether it's about a technicality in the strategic plan or a pay problem.

"That's what it's really all about," Couch said. "It's about opening communication."

This communication -- through personal contact, a "third-deck blog" that enables members of the command to address the leadership directly or other initiatives -- has generated some surprising insights.

Contractors at the command, for example, expressed distaste for the color-coded lanyards bearing their identification tags that differentiated them from the federal and military workforce. "We heard through the blog that people didn't like this. They felt that culturally we had built an institutional barrier," Michel said.

So as Fraser unveiled the new strategy in late October, he distributed new lanyards, all identical and bearing the Transcom motto, 'Together we deliver," to everyone in the command. "This is just one small gesture that shows his willingness to take down barriers and promote a sense of unity across the command," Michel said.

Open communication and unity will be vital to Transcom's long-term success, he said, particularly entering a post-conflict era with diminishing requirements and resources. "We are fundamentally in the relationship business at Transcom," Michel said. "At the end of the day, we are our best when we are successful in our relationships, inside [the command] and out. And if our relationships aren't as strong as they could be, we can't be nearly as effective as we need to be."

By improving its effectiveness, Transcom will provide better services at a lower cost to its customers, Couch said. "So as we go through this process, the big question that underpins it is, 'How do we do things that are efficient and effective for our government?'" he said. "Ultimately, that is what comes out of this."

Every member of Transcom has a role to play in the effort, Couch said, shaping the culture that will define the command 10 or 15 years into the future.

"We all know that we aren't going to change overnight," he said. "But change never happens unless you start working at it. And that is what we are doing here at U.S. Transportation Command."

TRANSCOM IN SYNC



Army Maj. Charles Ward, U.S. Northern Command joint military operations officer with U.S. Transportation Command, mans his station in the Transcom Fusion Center Nov. 2, 2012, as Air Force Lt. Col. Ron Shouse checks a map location. U.S. Transportation Command photo by Bob Fehringer

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
From Afghanistan to Sandy, Transcom Synchronizes Support

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill., Nov. 6, 2012 - As Hurricane Sandy hurtled menacingly toward the New Jersey shore last week, the staff in U.S. Transportation Command's sprawling fusion center weren't resting on their laurels waiting for a call for help.

The center serves as the central point for synchronizing, collaborating, monitoring and executing Transcom's global transportation and distribution network, explained Air Force Col. Rob Brisson, who oversees its day-to-day operations.

The staff – more than 300 representatives from throughout Transcom, all 10 divisions within its J3 operations directorate, every service component, every other combatant command and several Defense Department agencies -- ensures the smooth, timely and uninterrupted flow of troops, equipment and supplies around the world, Brisson said.

Meanwhile, they keep a close eye on what's happening around the world to anticipate and prepare for the next requirement, even before a combatant commander has issued it. That, Brisson said, ranges from the drawdown in Afghanistan, an effort already begun and expected to intensify leading up to December 2014, to less predictable events such as Superstorm Sandy.

A recent visit to the classified fusion center proved to be a relatively "quiet day," by Transcom standards, Brisson said. Members of one of the largest divisions, dubbed "J3 East," peered into computer screens or gathered in small groups to discuss Transcom's highest operational priority: supporting the mission in Afghanistan.

As Transcom's Sustainment Division focuses on keeping deployed forces throughout Southwest Asia -- and around the globe -- supplied with everything from food to ammunition, the J3 East team concentrates on deployments and the daunting task of redeploying troops and their equipment, Brisson explained.

The J3 East team also has responsibility for planning Transcom support U.S. European Command, U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Special Operations Command.

Across the room, its sister division, "J3 West," is dedicated to planning transportation and logistics support to U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Strategic Command.

Several of the division staff had been participating via computer in Exercise Global Thunder 2012. The annual Stratcom exercise, with an emphasis on nuclear command and control, is designed to train forces to deter, and if necessary, defeat a military attack on the United States.

But as a different kind of adversary – the largest Atlantic hurricane on record – roared north on a trajectory targeting New Jersey, J3 West's Northcom branch quickly turned its attention there.

Anticipating a role if the states turned to the federal government for help, Transcom already had stood up a joint planning team to project what Northcom might request. Based on past disaster responses, the team knew Transcom could be called on to do anything from providing airlift support to delivering military forces, supplies or water, distillation or sanitation capabilities, Brisson said.

"This is not just us back there going, 'What if?'" he said. "It is a bunch of people sitting back there, looking at lessons learned from the myriad of other hurricane support efforts that we have done, and putting together a coherent initial plan to provide support."

The order ultimately came down when the affected states turned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which in turn approached Northcom for U.S. military support. Based on its planning, Transcom already was ready to move out when Northcom issued the requirements.

The Air Force's Air Mobility Command, Transcom's airlift component, was called on beginning Oct. 31 to fly sorties in support of relief efforts, delivering personnel and equipment as well as Department of Health and Human Services personnel, reported Army Maj. Charles Ward, the Northcom joint mobility operations officer at Transcom.

Transcom's Joint Enabling Capabilities Element also deployed its Joint Public Affairs Support Element and Joint Communications Support Element.

As of today, Transcom has conducted 78 air missions, delivering more than 630 personnel and 3,000 short-tons of vehicles, equipment and relief supplies in support of relief operations, command officials reported. Included in Transcom's deliveries to the stricken region were about 200 line, bucket, drill, digger, pickup and work trucks; pump equipment and generators; and more than 30,000 blankets.

In addition to HHS employees, Transcom transported search-and-rescue, public utilities, and dewatering experts, as well as engineers and veterinarians, officials said. In addition, Air Mobility Command has postured aeromedical evacuation support forces for rapid deployment, if required.

"The value Transcom brings is that we maximize the pace of the response to alleviate suffering and help those affected get back to a normal state of life as soon as possible," Ward said.

As the fusion center's J3 West division focused on support for Super Storm Sandy and J3 East, on Centcom's ongoing requirements, the rest of the staff went about its daily business overseeing the rest of the massive Transcom mission around the world.

During any given day, they oversee operations as Transcom's organic and commercial partners move 26 ships and load and unload another nine ships. They conduct 100 railcar shipments, 2,000 truck cargo shipments, 2,000 household goods movements, 900 airlift sorties, 97 operational air refueling sorties, seven air evacuation sorties and 30 courier deliveries.

To Brisson and his staff, it's all in a day's work. "We do a lot around here. But you can see the enthusiasm behind it, and the fact that we are all very proud of what we do," he said. "We are the peaceful professionals who sit back behind the supported commander and do what we need to do to effect a mission that needs to get done."