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White paper focuses logistics transformation

Army News Service

Release Date: 1/5/2004

By Joe Burlas

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 5, 2004) -- As the rest of the Army transforms to remain relevant and ready, so must its logistics community for the same reasons, according to the Army's top logistics planner.

The Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4, released in late December an Army Logistics White Paper, "Delivering Materiel Readiness to the Army," describing logistics shortfalls and near-term priorities.

"It's our strategic vision," said Lt. Gen. Claude V. (Chris) Christianson, Army G-4. "The paper's intent is to provide clear guidance where we want to take Army logistics in the next two years. It is tied directly to what we have experienced in the past few years."

And it is also tied directly to the logistics failures and success Christianson observed while serving as the principal Operation Iraqi Freedom logistics operator, the C-4/J-4 for the Coalition Forces Land Component Command headquartered in Kuwait, August 2002 through July 2003.

The paper addresses four focus areas that are the G-4's top priorities: connecting Army logisticians; modernizing theater distribution; improving force reception; and integrating the supply chain.

Part of the connection problem with the current supply system, Christianson said, is the lack of visibility of needed supplies from when the request goes in to the time they arrive. Ideally, the request should be visible as it goes through the system to the industrial base and tracked in real time as the supplies move forward into the theater and to the requesting unit.

Army logisticians need to leverage technology to stay connected throughout the process, Christianson said. Currently, the majority of communications support goes to command and control of warfighting units. Supply requests are sent through unsecure, uncoded links as other message traffic allows. The G-4 is now working with the Army Materiel Command, the Army Combined Arms Support Command and the Army Chief of Staff Task Force Network to make logistics communications requirements an embedded part of all Army operations.

Recent operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have shown that logisticians need a better supply distribution system than the one developed during the Cold War.

For example, cross-attaching a unit from one division to another causes major problems in getting supplies to the right location in a timely manner. Changing unit addresses or command relationships is currently a cumbersome process, not just a couple of key strokes in the computer, Christianson said.

"This is a new battlefield; it's not linear," Christianson said. "What we have now is a rigid support system that does not work well in a flexible, changing environment."

Again, leveraging technology to keep visibility of supplies and the units that need them is likely the answer to the distribution issue.

Following the Gulf War, the Department of Defense made great strides in improving its power projection in getting forces out of garrison and to a theater of operations quickly. What it failed to do at the same time was improve its ability to receive those forces into the theater and send them on to where they are needed quickly, the G-4 said.

"What we have done in operations since the Gulf War is create ad hoc organizations to receive forces in theater -- usually after the first forces are already there," Christianson said. "What we need is to take a look at our organizational structure and see if we can come up with a more permanent force which goes in with the first wave of forces and expands as necessary."

That notional force reception unit may be a joint organization as the Army rarely works alone, Christianson said, but it will be permanent.

The Army has realized savings in reducing unit prescribed load lists and stockpiled supplies in its inventories in recent years, but that has left a lean supply chain without the benefit of an enhanced communications or improved distribution system, according to the G-4 white paper.

"We need to easily see the supply system as a whole from manufacturer to end user - simple in philosophy but difficult to execute," Christianson said.

By integrating the supply chain -- across all tactical, operational and strategic levels and with other services -- the Army will still see savings, but also better serve the end user, Christianson said.

"This white paper will ultimately flesh out into programs, linked together, and build on past successes," Christianson said.