“What does TMCC stand for?”, “What does TMCC do?”, “How can TMCC help me?” These are some of the questions that come across the TMCC desk. The Theater Movement Coordination Cell (TMCC) consists of 5 personnel; three Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and two Officers. The TMCC is located in the Headquarters IJC Combined Joint Operations Center (CJOC) with someone manning the cell 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Movement visibility in Afghanistan is a very difficult task to achieve and it is critical to achieve success across Lines of Operations. This is where the Theater Movement Coordination Cell (TMCC) expertise comes into play. The TMCC job is to track, coordinate, deconflict, and monitor, sustainment and humanitarian convoys throughout the Combined Joint Operations Area (CJOA); we accomplish this task by using numerous systems. The systems the TMCC utilizes to accomplish their task are; Effective Visible Execution (EVE), Coalition, Reception, Staging, and Onward Movement (CORSOM), and Global Distribution Management System (GDMS), and unclassified Internet.
The TMCC collects road status and threat information from all the Regional Commands (RCs) in order to have a complete picture on the situation and to better advice the IJC Commander, CJOC Director, and CJ4. In addition, we conduct weekly and monthly meeting with RCs and contractors to discuss route status, threat assessment, Boarder Crossing Point (BCP) status, issues, and any other information that may impact ISAF Freedom of Movement (FoM). Our goal is to improve movement coordination, visibility, and develop a common operating picture between Regional Commands and contractors.
Movement in this CJOA is difficult due weather, road conditions, enemy activities, and numerous bypasses caused by damaged bridges or roads. We use all of our available information to advise contractors, Afghan Armed Forces, Non-Governmental Agencies, and ISAF Forces on the conditions of these routes and locations of possible detours. Another critical aspect and what is makes movement visibility effective is the sharing of information among RCs, contractors, and the TMCC.
The Multinational Corps Northeast took over the TMMC operations at the beginning of February 2010 and since then we have monitored, tracked, or coordinated over 2,700 logistic convoys and by mid-August 2010, we are anticipating this number to be at approximately 8,100 logistic convoys.
Photo by IJC
