NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL

RELEASED BY THE COMMITTEE

ON GOVERNMENT REFORM

 

 

 

 

 

FORCE PROTECTION: CURRENT INDIVIDUAL PROTECTIVE

 

EQUIPMENT

 

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOT FOR PUBL ICATION UNTIL

RELEASED BY THE COMMITTEE

ON GOVERNMENT REFORM

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am Major General Paul Lee, Commander, Marine Corps Materiel Command. I am pleased to appear before you today to discuss the Marine Corps’ management strategy in the Joint Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) Defense area of individual protective equipment.

General - The information I will talk about provides an overview of our current NBC individual protective equipment and training on that equipment. The Marine Corps takes the threat of use of chemical and/or biological agents very seriously and we feel we are providing our Marines with adequate protection and training to survive and win on a contaminated battlefield. In addition, the Marine Corps is instituting a comprehensive unit commander’s assessment of chemical biological capabilities in our readiness reporting Standard Operating Procedure. The commander’s assessment will include a training rating, equipment rating, and an overall rating. Although this report from each commander includes all NBC defense equipment capabilities, the heaviest weighted factor is the individual protective equipment.

The Marine Corps Inspector General also conducts readiness assessments on various units in the Marine Corps throughout each year and has included NBC as one of the commodity areas to assess.

Current Individual Protective Equipment - A Marine performing his / her primary mission in a chemical / biological environment utilizes the Marine Corps unique "USMC Saratoga Suit" as the primary overgarment protection, butyl rubber gloves with a cotton insert to protect the hands, and vinyl overboots to protect the feet. Finally, we utilize the M40 Field Protective Mask for protection against toxic vapor hazards. In order to ensure Marines have a seal between the negative pressure mask and the face we utilize the M41 Protective Assessment Test System (PATS) with fit factor criteria of 3,000. This fit factor is well above the minimum interim standard of 1,667 established by the joint services and is the standard established for the chemical surety sites. The services have been requested by OSD to review the interim standard and either validate it or establish new minimum criteria. Once this process is completed, the Marine Corps will determine if a change in our fit factor is warranted. We have completed our pilot program, calibrated the instruments and are ready to field the M41 PATS to our units.

Training – Two to five hours of Individual Protective Equipment (IPE) training is conducted at the entry level for both Officer and Enlisted. Prior to permanent duty assignment, both Officer and Enlisted receive follow-on training of which two to five hours is IPE training. Training is provided to our Marines, by highly qualified, school trained NBC defense specialists, to ensure Marines understand the operational use, components, inspection and maintenance procedures for this equipment. This training is conducted at least annually and includes classroom instruction and practical "hands-on" application (e.g. Individual Survival Measures Training that ensures Marines actually size, fit, wear, and conduct preventive maintenance on the Mask, Suit, Gloves, and Boots). This training is conducted at the Major Subordinate Command level (Division, Wing, Force Service Support Group, etc). Since the inception of the joint assessment program, results of the mask surveillance have indicated that unit held masks need required preventative maintenance checks and services (PMCS). To assist unit commanders in accomplishing this task, an interactive compact disk (CD) has been developed to assist personnel in conducting their PMCS. The CD is expected to be fielded in July 2000.

The Marine Corps has instituted a new enhancement package for NBC missions. To this end the Marine Corps has conducted a pilot program with the 13^th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), consisting of three weeks of training on Individual Chemical Protective Equipment and the associated organizational equipment. The training syllabus includes operational performance training, proper employment of equipment and maintenance/preventative maintenance. Evaluation of results being conducted and implementation into the remaining Marine Corps MEUs will be determined.

Joint NBC Defense Program - The Marine Corps is an active participant with OSD and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency in the Chemical Biological Defense Program. The Joint Service Materiel Group, the Joint Service Integration Group and the Joint NBC Defense Board have Marine Corps representation at the flag officer level. This forum provides the services joint NBC defense research, development, and initial acquisition requirements for contamination avoidance, decontamination, medical, modeling & simulation, collective protection, and individual protection. We work with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the other services to identify joint requirements to meet future threats and ensure the safety of all our warfighters. Within the individual protection area, the Marine Corps has been designated as the lead service for the Joint Service Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology (JSLIST) Program which consists of an improved overgarment designed to replace the Battle Dress Overgarment, the USMC Saratoga, and the Navy Chemical Protective Overgarment. In addition, the JSLIST program includes the multi-purpose overboot, commonly called the "MULO." The JSLIST overgarment has been in production since 1997 and the MULO has been in production as of early FY00. We also participate in the other service led developmental programs including the Joint Protective Aircrew Ensemble, Joint Service Aircrew Mask and the Joint Service General Purpose Mask. These programs will provide the next generation state-of-the-art protection equipment. Once the items from these programs are fielded, all of the services will have standardized equipment. This will lead to better interoperability and may reduce the sustainment and surveillance costs for the services.

Marine Corps Sustainment - Within the scope of the Joint NBC Defense Program, each Service is responsible for sustainment and maintenance of their NBC defense equipment as well as training programs. The Marine Corps’ sustainment program provides operations and maintenance for NBC defense equipment acquired through the Chemical Biological Defense Program and NBC stock listed consumable equipment/supplies including shelf-life expiring items. One of the primary focus areas within the Marine sustainment program is individual protection equipment.

Quality Assurance - The Marine Corps has been designated the lead service for the Joint Service Assessment Program of individual equipment and we are the lead service life cycle manager for the JSLIST program as well.

The Marine Corps, has teamed with the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), Pennsylvania, the U.S. Navy Natick Clothing and Textile Facility, Natick, Massachusetts, the other services, and the manufacturers to ensure only the highest quality JSLIST suits are provided to the warfighters. The framework established by the team to accomplish the highest quality is described below.

1. The team developed the Purchase Description (PD) that includes detailed construction, inspection, and testing requirements to which manufacturers must adhere. The construction and inspection requirements in the PD are designed to ensure high quality suits are manufactured and prevent suits from reaching the warfighter if they do not meet those standards. The Program Manager maintains the construction and inspection requirements in the purchase description in coordination with the textile experts from the U.S. Navy Natick Clothing and Textile Facility and the contracting office at DSCP.
2. There is a Quality Assurance Representative (QAR) assigned to each of the four JSLIST manufacturing facilities. The QARs are employed by the Defense Contracts Management Agency (DCMA) and are required to inspect suits at the manufacturing plants in accordance with the contracts, established DCMA procedures, and approved sampling plans. Any deficiencies identified are reported to DSCP and then to the Marine Corps. The QARs are audited by DSCP annually to ensure they properly enforce the requirements of the contracts and follow established DCMA procedures. QARs accept suits at the manufacturing plants on behalf of the Government prior to shipment. Suits are then shipped to a centralized Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) facility at the MCLB, in Albany, Georgia and stored there until services requisition them. Each lot of the JSLIST suits is produced from one lot of outer shell fabric and one lot of inner liner material. Rolls of outer shell fabric and rolls of inner liner material are cut to the proper shapes and the pieces are sewn together in a specified manner to produce suits. Prior to cutting the outer shell fabric from the rolls, five-foot segments are shipped to DSCP and are tested per the tailored requirements of MIL-STD-44436 (Cloth, Camouflage Pattern, Wind Resistant Poplin, Nylon/Cotton). This military standard includes tests for dimensional stability, fabric weight, and air permeability.
3. Prior to QAR acceptance of any production lots, the suits are subjected to live chemical agent tests on samples of production lot suits. The Marine Corps has contracted with the Battelle Memorial Institute for chemical testing and reporting. Samples of production lot suits are subjected to two different liquid chemical warfare agents and the level of chemical agent permeation is recorded. Random samples are pulled from every production lot for testing. Five suits from every production lot are set aside for later inspection and testing. Those suits are separately stored at Marine Corps Logistics Base (MCLB) Albany in a warehouse maintained by the MCLB Albany Fleet Support Center Special Projects Office. This warehouse is different from the DLA warehouse where stocks of delivered JSLIST suits are stored while awaiting requisition by the services.
4. The JSLIST suit has a five-year shelf life, with an estimated total life of 15 years. Once a production lot of suits has reached five years of age, samples from that lot are visually inspected and chemical agent tested to determine whether the shelf life of that lot should be extended an additional five years with sound confidence of quality / durability. Once the suit reaches ten years of service life it is chemical tested, inspected, and if qualified, is extended annually thereafter. Equipment Assessment Program personnel will perform the visual inspection. The chemical testing will be performed by the Battelle Memorial Institute. Inspection and testing of the JSLIST suits will begin in FY02 (first five year period) for shelf life extension. Representative samples from FY97 production lots will be inspected at that time.
5. In addition to these procedures, each Marine Corps unit is asked to visually inspect the exterior packaging to ensure the integrity of that package has not been compromised.

DLA is in the process of verifying the adequacy of QAR inspections performed on JSLIST suits produced under DSCP managed contracts. DLA will pull approximately 2,000 samples from approved lots of suits and perform tests on them in accordance with the contracts. This inspection will provide additional information, above and beyond the inspections conducted by QARs and the testing conducted by DSCP, to ascertain the quality of JSLIST suits produced. The USMC Saratoga suit that is currently fielded to Marines is following the same quality assurance steps as the JSLIST suits.

Surveillance - The Marine Corps has long recognized the importance of a

surveillance program for NBC individual protective equipment. In 1984, the Marine Corps NBC Test and Evaluation Program was established to conduct surveillance testing and evaluation of all individual chemical protective equipment throughout the Marine Corps. The focus on the program was to ensure the combat readiness of NBC assets held at all levels of supply, from the depots to the using units. A surveillance unit was established at each of the Marine Corps Logistics Bases to perform both mobile and fixed site testing. In 1997, the Department of Defense encouraged some type of program be established to support NBC surveillance within all the branches of the service. The program’s name was changed to the Joint Service Equipment Assessment Program and the Test and Evaluation Units were renamed as Equipment Assessment Units. The program now provides testing and evaluation services to all services in order to standardize surveillance methods and criteria. The program ensures readiness while maximizing the service life of all assets. The program achieved a $2.2M cost avoidance during FY 98 in glove testing at Third Force Service Support Group, and the MCLBs (Albany and Barstow) alone. (This figure is based upon the inventory replacement savings minus the cost for the Equipment Assessment Unit to test).

The mission of the Equipment Assessment unit is to provide technical support and assistance to all activities with NBC defense equipment throughout the conformance of physical inspection, packaging, testing, repair, instruction and guidance. The Joint Service Equipment Assessment Program uses, directed screening services, contracted toxic testing, repair, vacuum packaging, technical support, guidance, and training to all services in support of NBC Individual Protective Equipment. Asset surveillance is utilized to detect degradation trends and promote unit readiness. Certified personnel and equipment are used to visually and mechanically test the assets. The Equipment Assessment Units are able to perform intermediate level repairs on the spot to correct defective assets. These repairs include parts replacement, patching, eye lens crimping, packaging, and repackaging. While on site, these teams provide training to the command in preventative maintenance and care of assets.

In support of surveillance, the Marine Corps captures total asset visibility of all NBCD assets utilizing a Marine Corps designed database. The NBC Defense Equipment Management Program (DEMP) is utilized at all levels of supply and has fields to capture all requirements for management issues, preventative maintenance, embark, shelf life, calibration and surveillance. It is utilized to capture extensive data for congressional reporting requirements and joint service logistical support plan.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the committee for its support in this vital NBC Defense area. The Marine Corps is confident that we have established, executed, and when necessary, improved on our management strategy for NBC Defense individual protective equipment. I will be happy to address any questions at this time.