ANP logistics shura a success

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Several high-ranking logisticians within the Afghan National Police force attended a logistics shura at Bagram Airfield on May 30.

The shura included briefs from various support, logistics and maintenance units. The briefs covered a wide range of subjects, from providing storing, issuing and distributing material, to movement coordination and equipment maintenance.

“This was a great opportunity to bring senior-level folks from the Afghan National Police here to see how logistics is done from a first-hand perspective,” said Marine Lt. Col. Eric A Borsoni, detachment commander for the Afghan Defense Logistics Agency Support Team at Bagram.  “The ANP is in the process of transitioning their national logistics system, which is an old Soviet-style system that has been around for almost 50 years, to something a little more congruent with what NATO standards are.”

The day’s activities started at Bagram’s Jirga Center, where briefs were presented to the ANP about national-level logistics from the perspective of the Defense Logistics Agency. The speaker talked about how the DLA provides material and gets the material where it needs to go. Then, the group visited the 82nd Sustainment Brigade, which is responsible for distributing the material that the DLA provides.

The bulk of the day was spent going through the other logistics organizations on Bagram, showing movement coordination throughout Afghanistan.

The shura also included a visit to the 401st Army Field Support Brigade, showing the ANP how the Army maintains equipment in combat operations.  

“By the volume of questions, we think it’s going very well,” said Borsoni. “We try to be very cautious in not dictating how the ANP should do their business, but rather try to learn from each other. The idea here is to show, tell, and help generate some discussions among themselves so that they can take some of the things that we do and some of the things they do and distil that down into a logistics system that works for them.”