21st Century U.S. Military Manuals: U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) Logistics - Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication (MCDP) 4
U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Military, Department of Defense
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2012 Progressive Management
Questions? Suggestions? Comments? Concerns? Please contact the publisher directly at
Remember, the book retailer can't answer your questions, but we can!
* * * * * * * * * * *
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
* * * * * * * * * * *
This is a privately authored news service and educational publication of Progressive Management. Our publications synthesize official government information with original material - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work to uniformly present authoritative knowledge that can be rapidly read, reviewed or searched. Vast archives of important data that might otherwise remain inaccessible are available for instant review no matter where you are. This e-book format makes a great reference work and educational tool. There is no other reference book that is as convenient, comprehensive, thoroughly researched, and portable - everything you need to know, from renowned experts you trust. For over a quarter of a century, our news, educational, technical, scientific, and medical publications have made unique and valuable references accessible to all people. Our e-books put knowledge at your fingertips, and an expert in your pocket!
* * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * *
BONUS USMC MARINE CORPS MANUAL
* * * * * * * * * * * *
MCDP4 * PCN 142 000003 00 * DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
Headquarters United States Marine Corps * Washington, DC 20380-1775
21 February 1997
FOREWORD
Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication (MCDP) 4, Logistics, describes the theory and philosophy of military logistics as practiced by the United States Marine Corps. It provides all Marines a conceptual framework for the understanding and practice of effective logistics. The Marine Corps' view of logistics is based on our common understanding of the nature of war and on our warfighting philosophy as described in MCDP 1, Warfighting.
Our doctrine recognizes that logistics is an integral part of warfighting. Logistics provides the resources of combat power, brings those resources to the battle, and sustains them throughout the course of operations. Our approach to logistics recognizes that war is conducted in an environment of complexity, fluidity, disorder, and uncertainty and seeks to provide the commander with the physical means to win in this environment. Our logistic capabilities extend our operational limits, allowing us to anticipate requirements while remaining flexible, adaptable, and responsive to changing conditions in the battlespace.
Chapter 1 is based upon the assumption that in order to develop an effective philosophy of logistics, we must first develop a realistic understanding of the nature of logistics. Based upon this understanding, chapter 2 discusses the theoretical aspects of logistics. Building upon the conclusions of the preceding chapters, chapter 3 describes the basic approach of the Marine Corps to logistics.
MCDP 4, Logistics, does not supersede any current doctrinal publication. It provides the authoritative basis for the subsequent development of logistic doctrine, education, training, equipment, procedures, and organization. Logistics affords no specific techniques or procedures for logistic activities; rather, it offers broad guidance which requires judgment in its application. Other publications in the logistics series of Marine Corps warfighting publications provide specific tactics, techniques, and procedures.
Marine Corps logistic doctrine applies across the full spectrum of conflict from peacekeeping or humanitarian assistance operations on one hand to general war on the other. Furthermore, this publication pertains equally to small-unit leaders and senior commanders. Since logistics is an essential component of any military activity, this publication is meant to guide Marines at all levels of command in both the operating forces and the supporting establishment.
C.C. KRULAK
General, U.S. Marine Corps
Commandant of the Marine Corps
Chapter 1
The Nature of Logistics
"Throughout the struggle, it was in his logistic inability to maintain his armies in the field that the enemy's fatal weakness lay. Courage his forces had in full measure, but courage was not enough. Reinforcements failed to arrive, weapons, ammunition and food alike ran short, and the dearth of fuel caused their powers of tactical mobility to dwindle to the vanishing point. In the last stages of the campaign they could do little more than wait for the Allied advance to sweep over them."1
—Dwight Eisenhower
"As we select our forces and plan our operations, .... [w]e must understand how logistics can impact on our concepts of operation. . . . Commanders must base all their concepts of operations on what they know they can do logistically."2
—A. M. Gray, Jr.
To conduct logistics effectively, we must first understand its fundamental nature—its purpose and its characteristics—as well as its relationship to the conduct of military operations. This understanding will become the basis for developing a theory of logistics and a practical guide to its application.
What is Logistics?
Logistics is the science of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of forces.3 Logistics provides the resources of combat power, positions those resources on the battlefield, and sustains them throughout the execution of operations. Logistics encompasses a wide range of actions and the relationships among those actions, as well as the resources that make those actions possible. These actions are all given purpose and definition by the larger art of war, of which logistics is a critical and inseparable part.
Actions that fall into the category of logistics are both humble and magnificent, include both the simple and the complex, and range in size from the tiny to the gargantuan. They include the serving of a single meal, the effective distribution of tens of thousands of separate spare parts, and the movement of vast armadas from one corner of the globe to another. The common thread that unites these otherwise disparate activities is their relationship to the physical needs of a military force. Any action that serves to transport a military force from one place to another, provide it with the physical means of waging war, or preserve its combat power for subsequent employment belongs properly to the realm of logistics.
Logistics can also be described as the bridge which connects a nation's economy to its warfighting forces. Logistics provides the means which translates national resources into combat power. Logistics transforms manpower, natural resources, and industrial capacity into units, weapons, equipment, and supplies. It delivers these elements to the theater of operations at the time and place dictated by operational requirements. It sustains the military forces throughout the course of operations. It returns those forces to their home bases when operations are concluded, rearming and reequipping them as needed in preparation for the next action.
The term "logistics" is also used to describe activities in the civilian or commercial world. In this usage, logistics describes the process of procurement, maintenance, distribution, and replacement of resources conducted by corporations, firms, or industries. These activities have many points in common with military logistics and can serve as a source of concepts, techniques, and technologies of great interest to military logisticians. Nonetheless, civilian logistics lacks the warlike purpose that defines military logistics and is thus fundamentally different. In this publication, the term "logistics" therefore describes military logistics.
The terms "logistics" and "combat service support" are often used interchangeably, but there is a distinction. "Logistics" is the larger of the two concepts. Logistics encompasses all actions required to move and maintain forces. This includes the acquisition and positioning of resources as well as the delivery of those resources to the forces. "Combat service support" is the activity which actually provides services and supplies to the combat forces. Since most of the delivery of resources occurs at the tactical level of war, combat service support has been considered to be essentially the same as tactical logistics. Indeed, Marine tactical units have logistics officers and logistics sections, but the units that perform logistics functions for these units are referred to as combat service support elements. However, some combat service support is conducted at the operational and strategic levels. For example, health services are provided at the strategic and operational levels through the use of hospital ships, fleet hospitals, and permanent military medical facilities. Conversely, some limited aspects of tactical logistics do not directly correspond to combat service support. (See figure 1)
How Important is Logistics?
Logistics is part and parcel of any attempt to conduct military operations. It is critical to the creation, maintenance, deployment, and employment of forces as well as to the redeployment, reconstitution, and regeneration of those forces after their employment. Without logistics, war as a deliberate, organized activity would be impossible. Without logistics, military units cannot be raised or equipped. Without logistics, forces cannot reach the battlefield. Without logistics, weapons go without ammunition, vehicles go without fuel, equipment breaks and stands idle, the sick and wounded go untreated, troops go without food, shelter, and clothing. Thus, logistics establishes limits on what is operationally possible. Nevertheless, while logistics sets the limits, the goal of our logistics effort is to extend those limits as far as possible.
Logistics plays a significant role in any military action, whether the action is part of a war, a military operation other than war, or even a training exercise. Whenever military units are employed, they must be deployed and sustained. In fact, logistic activities are conducted much the same way in peace as they are in war or military operations other than war. Unlike certain functions which are conducted only in war, logistics is always "on."
Logistics is concerned with the provision and allocation of resources. The conduct of war or military operations other than war normally requires extensive resources. However, the resources available to create and sustain combat power are almost always limited. Demand usually exceeds supply. Logistics helps to ensure the effective use of limited resources. Logistics assists the commander in making best use of the available resources to accomplish the mission.
Logistics by itself cannot win wars, but it has been the major contributing factor in losing many wars, particularly in the 20th century. At the strategic level, the inability of a nation to generate sufficient forces, move them to the front, and support them once engaged invariably leads to deterioration of the forces' material condition, morale, and tactical capability. This deterioration can be slow, as in the European theater during World War II, or it can occur relatively quickly, as it did in Desert Storm. Both the will and the ability to fight erode, often leading to collapse and defeat.
The impact of logistics inadequacies at the operational and tactical levels is similar. Grand schemes and operational designs never get off the drawing board for want of adequate logistic support. History is filled with examples of forces missing or failing to exploit opportunities because of their inability to logistically sustain gains resulting from success in individual battles or engagements. On the Western front in World War I, both sides repeatedly demonstrated that it was possible to penetrate the lines of defensive trenches and fortifications; what they could not do was exploit the penetrations once made, primarily due to their inability to support the advancing units.
Logistics is so important that it frequently shapes the designs of campaigns, battles, and engagements. Major operations within a campaign are frequently conducted solely for the purpose of developing the logistics capability required to sustain the campaign as a whole. The island-hopping campaign in the Pacific during World War II was largely dictated by the need to acquire advanced air and naval bases necessary to support forces striking at the Japanese homeland. Conversely, because of their importance to military effectiveness, the logistics capabilities of the adversary are often critical vulnerabilities; supply bases, lines of communications, and combat service support units are always key targets and often become the focal point for engagements and attacks.
Characteristics of Logistics
Logistics is a complex phenomenon that defies easy explanation. Any short definition, particularly one limited to a single sentence or paragraph, will invariably fail to give a complete picture of what logistics is and what good logistics requires. Using the basic description of logistics provided above, we now examine the various characteristics of logistics.
Logistics as Science
Of all the major functions that affect the outcome of war, logistics is the most concrete. In fact, logistics has been one of the few aspects of war that has been consistently described as a science. This means that logistics benefits from a body of facts, relationships, and rules that can be put to use by those who can study and master them. These facts, relationships, and rules can form the basis for calculation, deduction, and, within the limits set by the essentially chaotic nature of war, prediction.
Because of this greater degree of regularity, logistics is an area in which extensive calculation is both possible and necessary. The number and types of ships needed to move a given force from one place to another, the fuel consumed by a unit making a road march, and the spare parts needed to support a certain fleet of vehicles can all be calculated ahead of time. The tools of the civilian engineer—standard planning factors, formulas, calculations, and rules of thumb—are thus of great use to logisticians.
This is not to say that logistics is perfectly predictable. On the contrary, anything that touches upon war, and certainly something as central to war as logistics, is greatly affected by the chaos that is at the very heart of warfare. Nonetheless, because the obstacles that must be overcome in order to move and sustain forces—time, distance, and terrain—are generally passive, the relationship between inputs and outcomes is far more regular in logistics than in tactics, operations, strategy, intelligence, or command.
Because logistics is a science, it must be thoroughly understood before it is applied. This means that the logistician must do more than pull planning factors out of a book or apply an existing template to a new situation. The logistician must think each problem through, understanding the major assumptions that underlie the calculations and the implications of any change in those assumptions. In other words, the science of logistics requires that its practitioners understand not only the various elements of logistics but the relationships between them.
Despite the strong scientific character of logistics, no single theory underlies the many activities that come under the heading of logistics. The reason is twofold. The first is the great variety of things that must be done in order to move and sustain a fighting organization. The second is that logistics is defined less by a set of activities than by its results. To use a simple example, the purpose of logistics is not to use a particular technique to move so many gallons of fuel or tons of ammunition, but to ensure that the fuel and ammunition are in the right place at the right time.
In contrast to the pure sciences, in which knowledge may be accumulated for its own sake, logistics exists solely for the purpose of supporting military operations. Thus, logistics is an applied science, an endeavor in which the difference between success and failure is a function not only of knowledge but of the techniques, tools, skills, and will to put that knowledge to use. Indeed, the use of logistics is so important that it makes sense to describe logistics as an art as well as a science, a critical and inseparable part of the larger art of war.
Logistics as Art
While some aspects of war fall principally in the realm of science, an even greater part of the conduct of war falls in the realm of art. Art includes the creative application of scientific knowledge through judgment, experience, and intuition to devise practical solutions. In logistics, as in all other aspects of war, it is crucial to develop a vision of what needs to be done and how to do it. In addition to technical skill, development of this vision requires creativity, insight, and the ability to recognize and assess risk. Mechanical and inflexible application of procedures and formulas can lead to paralysis and failure. Logistics must supplement analysis and calculation with foresight and intuition in order to anticipate future requirements. When circumstances change, logisticians must be flexible and ingenious in adapting to the new situation. Creativity, boldness, daring, and a willingness to innovate or even improvise when necessary are required to exercise the art of logistics. When balanced with sound judgment and decisionmaking skills, application of these characteristics provides the basis for successful logistics.
Logistics as Relationships
In logistics, as with any other aspect of the art of war, "the essential thing is action."4 However refined, extensive, or accurate the science of logistics may be, it can be translated into the fact of effective logistics only if a large number of people do the right thing at the right time. Some of the actions that make up effective logistics are routine and are thus governed by preexisting rules and procedures. Other actions are ad hoc, taken in response to particular situations. The common denominator that unites these actions is their relationship to the definitive tasks of logistics, the movement and maintenance of forces. Thus, if an action helps to move or maintain a force, it is part of logistics.
The actions that comprise logistics are rarely isolated. Rather, they are but small steps in long, interrelated, and highly complex chains of activity. Originating in the civilian economy, resources pass through the levels of war and many echelons of command, connected by a network of logistics systems and processes. The intricacy of these relationships quickly becomes evident to anyone who tries fully to describe, by narrative or flowchart, all the logistic activities of even the most rudimentary military force. Nonetheless, any understanding of the logistics of a particular force depends heavily upon a good sense of the nature of these relationships.
The classic technique for making sense of these relationships is to reduce them into abstractions such as lines of communications, kinds of logistics at each level of war, and echelons of various sorts. These abstractions are simultaneously useful and dangerous. They are useful because they provide a shorthand that often captures one or more important features of a relationship—for example, its scale or geographic location. These abstractions are dangerous because they mask the inherent complexity of logistic relationships and often make them seem more straightforward than they really are.
Logistics as Organization
Because of its inherent complexity, logistics requires the sustained, creative, and systematic cooperation of large numbers of people. Such cooperation can be achieved only by means of deliberate, well-considered, and custom-tailored organization. Because of this, it is as impossible to speak of logistics without discussing logistics organizations as it is to explain modern medicine without mentioning hospitals.
The concept and details of organization for logistics can vary greatly. Factors such as geography, the national economies involved, enemy action, the organization and warfighting philosophy of the forces being moved and maintained, and the dynamics of the war being fought all play a role in determining the best logistics organization for a given force. It is even quite possible that the various activities of logistics will be carried out by a number of different organizations.5
The common denominator in all healthy logistics organizations is the combination of a shared vision and initiative. The shared vision, promulgated by means of a common organizational culture and the expressed views of leaders, allows the various parts of a logistics organization to set objectives, establish standards, and measure the usefulness of their work. Initiative makes it possible for all parts to solve the problems that they face and overcome the obstacles that stand in their way in a timely and effective manner.
Logistics as a Complex System
Military organizations and military evolutions are complex systems. A complex system is any system composed of multiple parts, each one of which must act individually according to its own circumstances and which, by so acting, changes the circumstances affecting all other parts. Military forces are constantly evolving, changing their size, composition, organization, and capabilities in response to the environment in which they operate. Because of this, the logistics organizations that move and maintain these forces must evolve as well. In responding to change, a healthy logistics organization functions as a complex system, operating within the complex system of the military force it supports.6
The most important implication of this is that a logistics organization will rarely, if ever, achieve a state where "everything goes like clockwork." Indeed, such extreme regularity is a sign that stagnation has set in and the system is probably not adapting to changing circumstances. A healthy logistics organization will thus be a work in progress with some elements in a relatively stable condition and many others in a state of flux. In times of crisis, when circumstances are changing rapidly and swift adaptation is required, logistics organizations are likely to function in nonstandard ways. Periods in which the system operates in a regular and orderly fashion will alternate with periods in which it is in considerable turmoil.