In 2003, the Army Field Support Command (AFSC) and the Joint Munitions Command (JMC), collocated at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, began a comprehensive oral history project aimed at chronicling a full-spectrum slice of the commands' role in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) broadly defined. Because the command was over 90 percent Department of the Army (DA) civilians and heavily augmented by contractors, the command realized by 2003 that they were managing the largest ever deployment of DA civilians and contractors into a combat area, and so, over 150 interviews were conducted focusing on the GWOT-related experiences of DA civilian members of the two commands during 2003 and 2004. Starting at the same time, Mr. George Eaton, currently command historian at US Army Sustainment Command (ASC), has conducted to date almost 200 more interviews with DA civilians, contractors and uniformed military personnel. This oral history project aims at delivering an overall picture of the activities and duties of the various components of AFSC and JMC and their combined efforts to support the Army's worldwide operations. The interviews look at growing trends in areas of both success and concern, while also accounting for how logistics support commands have completely transformed operational- and strategic-level logistics since 2003. ASC personnel are forward deployed at every forward operating base in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar and Djibouti, among others. Indeed, what began as a small operation in 2003 has become a robust organization, globally deployed, and is now a key player in all four of the Army's materiel imperatives: to sustain, transform, reset and prepare. The following interview with Brigadier General Vincent E. Boles, commanding general of Army Materiel Command Forward for Southwest Asia, deputy logistics officer for Coalition Forces Land Component Command, and commanding general of the Army Field Support Command, covers such topics as the Army Materiel Command, the Logistic Assistance Program, the Logistics Civilian Augmentation Program, Army prepositioned stocks, dealing with major subordinate commands, forward repair activities, warehousing, contracting, the Reserve Component, equipment performance, theater distribution, the Army War Reserve, workforce age, leadership, problem solving, deployability concepts, logistical coordination, training challenges, military exercises, using volunteers, and third-country nationals.

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