FM 3-34.22 - Army Electronic Publications & Forms - U.S. Army

Chapter 8
Sustainment Support for Engineer Operations
Good logistics is combat power.
—Lieutenant General William G. Pagonis
Director of Logistics, Gulf War, 1991
Sustaining engineer capabilities in combat poses a tremendous challenge to engineer
commanders and staff at all echelons. With Army transformation into a modular
force, the engineer company organic to the BCT became completely dependent upon
BCT sustainment organizations for support. Engineer forces augmenting the BCT
may also rely substantially on those sustainment organizations. The efforts of
engineer planners at all levels to plan and coordinate engineer sustainment are
essential to the full integration of engineers into BCT sustainment structure. Within
the IBCT and HBCT, battalion level sustainment support for the engineer company is
provided through the BSTB. Support is provided through the BSB and headquarters
and headquarters company (HHC) for the SBCT engineer company. Sustainment
support for engineer operations includes logistics provisions, personnel services, and
HSS necessary to maintain and prolong operations until mission accomplishment.
Logistics tasks include transportation, maintenance, supply, EOD, distribution
management, contracting, and field services. This chapter focuses on sustainment
support for the organic engineer company in the BCT and highlights the sustainment
norms within the BCTs that affect augmenting engineer elements. (See FM 3-90.5,
FM 3-90.6, FM 3-90.61, and FM 4-90.7 for more information.)
PLANNING
8-1. Successful sustainment involves balancing effectiveness with efficiency. Sustainment operations are
characterized by being able to anticipate requirements, integrate joint and multinational sustainment,
improvise solutions, and be responsive and continuous.
8-2. During the operations process, engineer commanders and staff must plan, prepare, execute, and
continuously assess sustainment support for engineer capabilities. During the MDMP, engineer planners
concurrently develop a sustainment plan while conducting other operational planning. To ensure an
effective sustainment plan, the engineer planner must understand the engineer and supported unit mission,
commander’s intent, and concept of the operation.
8-3. The development of the sustainment plan begins during mission analysis and is refined during
war-gaming. Upon receipt of the mission, engineer planners initiate their portion of the logistics estimate
process, which is described in FM 5-0 as an analysis of logistics factors affecting mission accomplishment.
Engineer planners focus the logistics estimate on the requirements for the upcoming mission and the
sustainment of all subordinate engineer units that are organic and task-organized to the supported unit. The
engineer planner predicts support requirements by determining the—
� Type of support required (maintenance, supply, transportation, medical support).
� Quantity of support required.
� Priority of support (type and unit).
8-4. After determining the support requirements, the engineer planner assesses the—
� Sustainment resources available (supported unit, parent unit, contractor, HN).
� Status of sustainment resources (location, maintenance, personnel).
11 February 2009 FM 3-34.22 8-1