WAR STUDIES:
MILITARY STRATEGY AND
LOGISTICS
5100
AY 2004-2005
LESSON 35
SEMINAR
1. PURPOSE:
To analyze and evaluate the
fundamental precepts for the development of the theater commander’s operational
logistics concept to support both theater military strategies and the
implementation of campaigns in the prosecution of a larger war strategy.
2. RELATIONSHIP TO THE COURSE:
Having addressed the broader
challenge of both war strategy and theater campaign development, we now move to
the challenge of devising and tailoring operational logistics concepts to
achieve theater strategy and campaign objectives. As campaign planning
schedules the use of operations, logistics, and time to achieve the aims of
strategy, this lesson serves as yet another bridge between the strategy and
resources semesters. In this particular lesson, we will expand further on the
theater commander's overall joint/combined logistics concept and how to devise
one.
3. LESSON OBJECTIVES:
a.
To understand and evaluate how the theater commander
structures the array and fit of logistics support for forces assigned to his
theater of operations. (LA 3a, c, d, e; 4c, d, e)
b.
To analyze and evaluate the conceptual framework of the
“powergrid” model for theater logistics support. (LA 3a, c, d, e; 4c, d, e)
c.
To analyze and evaluate the means by which the theater
commander bridges the operational-logistic seam. (LA 3a, c, d, e; 4c, d, e)
d.
To analyze and evaluate methods for drawing together in
a theater context the efforts (air, land, sea, etc.) of the military Services
and allied forces for a campaign integrating operations, logistics, and the use
of time to attain strategic military objectives. (LA 3a, c, d, e; 4c, d, e)
e.
To evaluate the relationship between logistics and
other campaign functional areas such as maneuver, operational capabilities, and
intelligence. (LA 3a, c, d, e; 4c, d,
e)
f.
To analyze the relationship between the generation of
military power and the other major component elements of campaign planning to
include phasing, and time-space relationships.
(LA 3a, c, d, e; 4c, d, e)
g.
To evaluate the logistics means available to a theater
commander for influencing the situation.
(LA 3a, c, d, e; 4c, d, e)
4. GENERAL:
The
Military Departments/Services are responsible for generating/providing military
forces to include their logistics. The
Service Component Commander is the in-theater authority for Service logistic
support, and provides both materiel and organizations for that purpose unless
arrangements have been made for common servicing, cross-Servicing, or joint
servicing. The Combatant Commander
seldom owns logistic means of his own – but his subordinate Service Component
commanders do. While the Services are
responsible for developing the various capabilities that make up logistics, the
combatant commander must see to their array and fit into an overall theater
logistic system.
Theater
warfare, as we have come to know it, is characterized by three things: great
distances, military means affected greatly
by the industrial and technological sectors of national
strength, and a duration of the conflict
which generally extends far beyond prewar expectations.
Because of these characteristics, logistics
has become the pacing factor for war itself.
Accordingly, theater warfare, as we may
have to cope with it in the future, will in large measure
come down to the operations-logistics
seam. The theater commander's challenge
will be to
suture the operations-logistics seam across
both the three dimensions of the theater and the fourth
dimension of time. Three major considerations focus the
commander's attention on this seam:
· Developing a
theater logistic concept;
· Extending
operational reach in the course of a theater campaign; and
· Coming to grips
with resource limitations.
Again, the theater commander is responsible for organizing national and
Service capabilities into an overall theater logistics system. In this lesson we will discuss the crafting
of operational logistics concepts to support military and theater campaign
strategies with a primary focus on developing a system for theater
logistics support vice an enumeration of the various functional parts that
comprise the system.
5. ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION:
a.
What are the authorities and responsibilities of a Combatant
Commander with respect to logistics support within his/her AOR?
b.
What is an operational logistics concept? How does a
logistics concept fit within the broader theater warfare system? What elements,
attributes and/or processes characterize an operational logistics concept? Is an operational logistics concept more
properly a “system” or a series of related “functional parts?”
c.
How do we do logistics planning at the
operational/theater level? How do we
craft a theater logistics concept? What
is the linkage between the logistic and operational concepts?
d.
How does the theater commander see to the array and fit
of both national and service logistics support for forces assigned to/operating
within his/her theater of operations?
e.
What sort of logistics considerations does a
combatant/theater commander worry about with respect to international
(alliance/coalition) operations within a theater of operations?
f.
What is the “power grid model” of operational logistics
and how relevant is its structure to contemporary and future military
operational requirements?
g.
What logistic means are available to the theater
commander to bridge the operational-logistic seam?
6. STUDENT REQUIREMENTS:
Read the required readings prior to class and be prepared to discuss the issues in seminar.
7. REQUIRED READINGS:
a.
War Note: Devising Theater Campaign Logistic Concepts.
(STUDENT ISSUE)
b. Joint Publication 4-0, Doctrine for Logistic Support of Joint Operations, pp. II-1 to IV-9. Available in the Joint Electronic Library (JEL) CD (STUDENT ISSUE) and on-line at the Joint Doctrine Interactive web site: http/www.dtic.mil/doctrine)
8. RECOMMENDED READINGS: