Case Study

Joint Logistics Over-The-Shore (JLOTS) exercises are designed to train the Military Services in a difficult and uncommon logistics contingency. Despite its complexity, JLOTS training equips the U.S. Military to deploy combat forces and humanitarian assistance anywhere in the world where fixed port facilities are non-existent, degraded, or denied. Though the complex exercises require participation and oversight from one Combatant Command each year, the rotating participation resulted in a lack of true expertise within any Command.

To centralize and stabilize the planning process, Army shifted coordination responsibility for JLOTS from U.S. Forces Command (FORSCOM) to the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC). While there was now one central planning location, SDDC did not have any legacy experience to coordinate the required exercises and operations. To further complicate matters, the shift in responsibility did not come with additional staffing or subject matter experts - requiring SDDC to start from the ground up.

SDDC turned to Vangent for a solution that would enable continuity of planning, technical staff assistance, guidance, and execution of complex JLOTS exercises. Vangent's Program Management capability allowed it to design a solution that would:

• Enable long term continuity throughout the planning cycle and across different exercises/initiatives
• Create a repository of best practices based on lessons learned
• Provide guidance for the continued refinement of doctrinal changes
• Reduce operating costs through a "build once, use many" approach - planners no longer have to start from scratch for each exercise