MCB HAWAII -- Members of Marine Corps Systems Command recently swept through Marine Corps Base Hawaii, implementing Phase 2 of the Corps’ Item Unique Identification Legacy program.
“I think it will affect the Marines in a positive manner,” Triviso said. “When it’s all said and done, the total asset visibility will give you a clear picture of what we have, what we don’t have and the associated cost. It starts with the mark. That’s the railroad track and the train’s coming.”
The IUID program is a system of marking both legacy and newly-acquired items delivered to the Department of Defense with unique item identifiers. The new machine-readable data elements will allow the equipment to be uniquely distinguished from all the other like and unlike items.
“What we’re trying to do is mark all Class VII items by December 2010,” said Richard Triviso, IUID project officer for the Marine Corps.
Triviso said there are different criteria for marking different pieces of equipment in the different classes. Criteria include mission essential, controlled items, serialized managed items, and or acquisition cost greater than $5,000. If an item meets any one of these criteria, it qualifies as a candidate to be IUID marked.
Each item identified for an IUID mark has different variables to consider in the marking process and must be verified and validated carefully before it can be tagged.
Variable to be considered are how long the equipment is going to last, will it need to be repaired constantly and more, depending on what the system is.
The IUID marking team, which is based out of Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., is currently deployed here in Hawaii and has been actively marking weapons, optics, communication, and other Phase 2 identified items with IUID.
According to Keith Bates, lead IUID marker, the marking process begins with an inventory. The marking team inventoried weapons inside 3rd Radio Battalion’s armory, developed import data, produced IUID tags, and pulled each individual weapon validated the serial number and married them up to the accurate IUID tag.
Bates further described the actual marking of the items, stating that the team must first prep the surface, securely apply the tag, and finally, achieve a valid scan with the handheld scanner.
“The scanner will give you a brief description of the item, to include a part number and a serial number,” Bates said. “It will also give us a location of the unit, a cage code and all other identified data associated with that piece of gear.”
“It’s a mandate for all services, but for the Marine Corps, above all, I think we took it to another level with not just what the registry wants,” Triviso said. “We’ve got more information and there’s cost associated with it. I think the commanders or program managers will get a better picture of where their equipment is.”
In 2008, Headquarters Marine Corps program resources received funding to IUID mark legacy equipment, which filtered down to MCSC to execute the marking of legacy equipment. Triviso said the initiative began with $7 million and 30 people. But now they have grown to approximately 150 personnel, spread throughout the Corps’ major commands, and nearly $61 million in funding today.
The Legacy Program has been implemented in a phased approach. Phase I began with mission essential Class VII items during a 90-day mobile marking surge efforts at each Major Command (III MEF, II MEF & I MEF) from July 2009 – April 2010.
Triviso said the team successfully tagged 80 percent of the equipment that was available. But due to the current war efforts it is nearly impossible to mark every piece of equipment due to items shipped overseas.
Now in Phase 2, the team is tagging non-mission essential controlled items, to include weapons.
“It’s a much bigger effort and the Marine Corps needs to have accountability of weapons,” Triviso said.
Triviso described the IUID marking process as much more than sticking a tag on a piece of equipment; it’s “Seek and Apply.”
“You have to seek it, find it, touch it, make sure the data is good and then apply the mark and bring the data back,” Triviso said. “We identify the equipment, collect the associated data, which is everything about that system, develop import files, IUID mark it, scan it, store the items data, and register it in the IUID registry.”
Triviso said they’ve conducted pilot testing at the School of Infantry West Armory, Camp Pendleton, Calif. and results show when utilizing the IUID mark.
The marking process has proved to cut inventory time associated with the checking in and out of weapons by 50 percent.
He said the IUID technology and associated processes are international and marking will take years to complete. But in the end, everything will be marked.