News

ARSENAL OPERATIONS CONTROL TRANSFERRED

By Rick Joslin/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday, May 17, 2007 10:02 AM CDT

WHITE HALL -- Operational control of industrial activities at the Pine Bluff Arsenal (PBA) was recently transferred to the U.S. Army's Joint Munitions Command (JMC), which is headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Va.

PBA's industrial activities were under the Army's Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) prior to May 7.

An Army statement said the authority transfer "aligns the arsenal's missions of ammunition production, chemical and biological defense production and repair, depot storage and surveillance, chemical weapons management and homeland security with an industrial lifecycle management command, ultimately leveraging its industrial and technical capabilities."

The release also stated that the transfer "allows CMA to focus on its core competencies of chemical storage and destruction." CMA and JMC are major subordinates within the Army Materiel Command (AMC).

PBA Public Affairs Officer Cheryl Avery said Pine Bluff Chemical Activity (PBCA), a PBA tenant, will continue to report to CMA since PBCA is charged with safely destroying chemical weapons stored at the arsenal.

PBCA oversees storage activities as well as the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (PBCDF), an incineration plant eliminating the installation's stockpile of chemical munitions. PBA's original inventory represented 12 percent of the nation's stockpile.

A command transition is now under way and JMC is slated to assume full control of PBA on Oct. 1.

The news release described AMC as the Army's "premier provider of materiel readiness -- technology, acquisition support, materiel development, logistics, power projection and sustainment -- to the total force, across the spectrum of joint military operations."

"If a soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it or eats it, AMC provides it," Avery said.

Both PBA commander Col. Brian Lindamood and PBCA commander Lt. Col. Casey Scott are scheduled to depart in July after serving two-year assignments here.

Col. William M. "Bill" Barnett will replace Lindamood and Lt. Col. Cliff Johnston will take over for Scott.

Avery said additional information on the incoming commanders, Lindamood's and Scott's future assignments and change of command ceremonies will be announced in the near future.