Our nation is engaged in a broad array of military operations that is driving significant changes in the way we train, fight, and execute missions - from humanitarian assistance to major combat. In turn, those changes require a fundamental revaluation of the way we deploy, support, and sustain those operations. There is a pressing need to develop a framework for joint logistics management at the operational level to enhance the synchronization and effectiveness of logistics support. This framework must be based on a set of imperatives and enablers that, when considered and properly established and used, offers the greatest possible freedom of action for the joint force commander (JFC) as well as our interagency and multinational partners. Military logistics support extends from the strategic level in the national industrial base to the tactical level, where 'beans, bullets, and black oil' are delivered on time, at the right place, and in the right quantity. Operational-level logistics links strategic resources with tactical units, enabling force closure, sustainment, reconstitution, and redeployment of forces. This article highlights a set of joint logistics imperatives and enablers that would facilitate the integration of joint operational-level logistics management. It also presents several joint (operational-level) logistics management options and briefly covers Department of Defense (DOD) actions now under way to enhance joint logistics capabilities. We focus on the operational level because we believe this is where enhancements to joint logistics offer the greatest opportunity for the JFC; choosing the best management structure for a given mission is a critical component of the overall logistics effort. We have intentionally avoided use of the term theater because it suggests geographic boundaries that do not seem appropriate for modern logistics management.


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    Title :

    Transforming Joint Operational-Level Logistics


    Contributors:
    M. W. Akin (author) / G. L. Topic (author)

    Publication date :

    2007


    Size :

    8 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English