U.S. Army Africa Sustainment Operations Division chief, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Joachim Consiglio (left), and U.S. personnel assess the state of inventory at Camp Lemonnier Nov. 11, 2010.

U.S. Army photo

U.S. Army Africa G-4 and 21st Theater Support Command conducted a staff assistance visit to the Horn of Africa Nov. 8-13 at the request of U.S. Africa Command.

The mission was to review the Standard Army Retail Supply System (SARSS) process in place at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, in order to improve customer support and camp readiness, said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Joachim J. Consiglio, head of USARAF G-4’s Sustainment Operations Division.

“Camp Lemonnier, which supports Command Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa and various Army units, is a Navy-centric logistics support structure,” said Consiglio. “Under the Logistics Concept of Support, which goes back to August 2009, AFRICOM designated U.S. Naval Forces Africa as the lead component for providing logistics and contracting support to joint forces operating in HOA.

Major objectives of the visit were to address the quality assurance of SARSS accountability and program, to assess the status of customer support, to train military supervisors and contractor operators in using the SARSS program, and to present an overview of the air clearance challenge process for requisition priority, said Consiglio.

“One item of concern is the SARSS relationship on Camp Lemonnier, as this resides in the preview of the Navy Logistics Officer and is run by civilian contractors with no full-time Army manager to oversee day to day operations at the Supply Storage Activity (SSA) warehouse,” he said.

During the visit, USARAF and 21st TSC specialists assessed the current SSA operations and conducted hands -on training with the SSA staff. The team also provided the camp staff an overall assessment of current operations and training on management tools that validate contractor performance and customer support, Consiglio said.

The upshot of the visit will help camp staff reduce abuse of the high-priority ordering system and reduce the air challenge of transporting equipment into the area of responsibility.

“We left mechanisms in place that will save the camp money and improve overall efficiency at the SSA warehouse,” said Consiglio.

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