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The Lifeblood of Military Power Military of Lifeblood the Logistics

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The Lifeblood of Military Power Military of Lifeblood the Logistics Logistics: The Lifeblood of Military Power John E. Wissler, Lieutenant General, USMC (Ret.) The end for which a soldier is recruited, therefore affects every aspect of organizing, clothed, armed, and trained, the whole training, equipping, deploying, and employing objective of his sleeping, eating, drinking, and the force. marching is simply that he should fight at the Logistics is perhaps the most complex right place and the right time. and interrelated capability provided by to- —Major-General Carl von Clausewitz, On War day’s military. Unfortunately, to those unfa- miliar with its intellectual and technological he term “logistics” was not commonly used breadth, depth, and complexity, it can be con- Tuntil shortly before World War II, but the sidered an assumed capability—something concept and understanding of logistics have that simply happens—or, worse yet, a “back been around since the earliest days of warfare. office” function that is not connected to war- In Clausewitz’s words, getting the force to the fighting capability. “fight at the right place and the right time”1 is The success of military logistics during the the true essence of military logistics. past 16-plus years of overseas combat opera- The Merriam-Webster online dictionary tions is partly to blame for anyone’s assump- defines logistics as “the aspect of military sci- tion that continued logistical success in the ence dealing with the procurement, mainte- ever-changing national security environment nance, and transportation of military materiel, is a given across the entirety of the military lo- facilities, and personnel.”2 The Joint Chiefs of gistics enterprise. This dangerous assumption Staff’s Logistics elaborates on this definition tends to exclude logistics from the conversa- and quotes Rear Admiral Henry E. Eccles’s tion regarding the nation’s current and future 1959 statement that “Logistics is the bridge warfighting needs. As a result, the logistics en- between the economy of the Nation and the terprise is rarely debated outside the logistics tactical operations of its combat forces. Ob- profession with the same intensity as other viously then, the logistics system must be in more publicized warfighting needs, especially harmony, both with the economic system of the need to regain our military technological the Nation and with the tactical concepts and advantage over major competitors like China environment of the combat forces.”3 and Russia, are debated. Failure to understand This simple two-sentence statement ef- the implications of not modernizing logistics fectively captures both the complexity and in a time of great technological change poten- far-reaching implications of military logistics. tially spells doom for the success of the mod- From the farthest tactical edge to the econom- ernized force. ic system of the nation, military logistics has In addition to ensuring that modernized lo- far-reaching implications for the nation and gistics capabilities are appreciated as central the military element of national power and to regaining our military advantage, logistics The Heritage Foundation | heritage.org/Military 93 capabilities must be considered in the ongoing l Medical services including patient discussion of solutions to overcome the cur- movement, evacuation, and hospitaliza- rent readiness shortfalls of today’s military. tion for U.S. and partner personnel as Logistics is nearly absent from the recent tes- well as indigenous personnel affected timonies by military leaders, members of con- by operations; gress, and industry.4 While all of the testimo- nies highlight the need to modernize the U.S. l Facilities and infrastructure acquisition, military in order to regain our technological construction, use, and disposition; advantage, few specifically highlight the need for modernized logistics capabilities. l Provision of food, water, and operational Alan Estevez, former Principal Deputy hygiene and sanitation support; Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics and a career Depart- l Operational contract support including ment of Defense Senior Executive Service lo- contract management; gistics leader, recently stated, “Logistics isn’t 5 rocket science…it’s much harder!” Logistics l Infrastructure assessment, repairs, is fundamental to the readiness of the entire and maintenance; Joint force—those at home, deployed in oper- ational settings, and permanently stationed l Common-user logistics support to other abroad—given that it must operate around the U.S. government entities, intergovern- world and across every domain of activity in mental and nongovernmental organiza- spite of enemy efforts to frustrate its opera- tions, and other nations; tions. Consequently, it is far more complex than even the most sophisticated global busi- l Establishing and sustaining large-scale ness enterprises. and enduring detention compounds; The Logistics Enterprise l Planning, coordinating, and integrat- You will not find it difficult to prove that battles, ing host-nation support from over- campaigns, and even wars have been won or seas partners; lost primarily because of logistics. —General Dwight D. Eisenhower l Disposal operations that deal with the removal and remediation of waste and Logistics touches every aspect of military unusable military property; strength and is the sum of the capabilities brought to bear by all of the U.S. military ser- l In-transit visibility of sustainment and vices and those of a wide array of international asset visibility of all major military end partners.6 items; and The core functions within logistics are sup- ply, maintenance, deployment and distribution, l Engineering support including horizon- health services, logistic services, engineering, tal and vertical construction of ports, and operational contract support (OCS).7 airfields, and other military support Logistics includes planning and executing infrastructure.8 the movement and support of forces as well as those aspects of military operations that Thus, military logistics’ defining attributes— deal with: agility, survivability, responsiveness, and effec- tiveness—are measured by the breadth and l The acquisition, storage, distribution, use, depth of these core functions, which affect maintenance, and disposal of materiel; the military from force generation to training 94 2019 Index of U.S. Military Strength to the readiness of units stationed at home the globe creates a distribution pipeline that and abroad. moves critical sustainment from the factory Logistics is the oxygen that allows military to the tactical edge of U.S. military operations. muscle to function, grow, and strengthen. Just In coordination with USTRANSCOM’s dis- as DNA represents “the fundamental and dis- tribution functions, the actions of the Defense tinctive characteristics or qualities of someone Logistics Agency (DLA) as supplier for the mil- or something,”9 logistics planning and modern- itary are equally staggering in scope and scale. ization define the distinctive characteristics or During fiscal year (FY) 2017, DLA provided qualities of the military force and ultimately more than $35 billion in goods and services, provide the military commander the freedom coordinating the actions of 25,000 military, of action, endurance, and ability to extend op- civilian, and contract personnel who provid- erational reach that are necessary to achieve ed food, clothing, fuel, repair parts, and other success. Logistics is the foundation for the items across nine supply chains distributing success of military operations from entry-level approximately 5 million distinct consumable, training to the most complex operations across expendable, and reparable items. DLA’s activ- the spectrum of conflict. From providing the ity is spread across 48 U.S. states and in 28 dif- facilities that house the members of the force ferent countries.12 and the ranges where they train, to sustaining These are far from “back office” functions the equipment warriors operate and wear, to and are truly what sustain the force and sup- providing fuel and ammunition in operations port its warfighting readiness. The criticality and training, the interconnectedness of lo- of logistics is not a new phenomenon, howev- gistics inextricably links logistics to military er; logistics has a significantly more complex combat power. nature today because of its integration across U.S. Transportation Command (US- air, land, sea, space, and the information and TRANSCOM) provides daily examples of cyber environments. what it takes to keep U.S. forces and their sustainment moving around the world. US- The Timelessness and Ever-Changing TRANSCOM conducts more than 1,900 air Nature of Logistics missions during an average week and has 25 Amateurs think about tactics, but ships underway and 10,000 ground shipments professionals think about logistics. operating in 75 percent of the world’s coun- —General Robert H. Barrow, USMC tries. It does this with a total wartime person- nel capability of 45,945 active-duty soldiers, Alexander the Great noted with dark hu- sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guards- mor the importance and complexity of logis- men; 73,058 Reserve and Guard personnel; and tics during his campaigns of conquest nearly 19,104 DOD civilian personnel—numbers that 2,400 years ago: “My logisticians are a humor- do not include the significant contributions of less lot…they know if my campaign fails, they USTRANSCOM’s commercial partners or the are the first ones I will slay.”13 Alexander’s abil- contributions
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