The Department of the Army's official professional bulletin on sustainment, publishing timely, authoritative information on Army and Defense sustainment plans, programs, policies, operations, procedures, and doctrine for the benefit of all sustainment personnel.

The official magazine of United States Army logistics.

The Army and joint force must adapt and prepare for large-scale combat operations in highly contested, lethality to exploit. The reduction of friendly, forward-stationedforces, significant reductions in capability and capacity across the entire joint force, and the pace of modernizationmake it imperative that we do everything possible to prepare for worst-case scenarios. We must be ready to winwith the forces we have, and having the right doctrine is a critical part

The redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq, a process the DoD refers to as ¿reposturing,¿ will be a massive and expensive effort. As of March 2008, for ex., there were about 173,000 pieces of equipment in Iraq, worth about $16.5 billion, that will need to be returned to the U.S. The redeployment process following Operation Desert Storm in 1991, a much shorter war, lasted at least 14 months. DoD guidance emphasizes the importance of early planning for this redeployment process. This report examined the: (1) status of logistical planning for reposturing U.S. forces from Iraq and associated assumptions; and (2) extent to which DoD established roles and responsibilities for managing and executing retrograde from Iraq. Illustrations.

The mission of the United States Army is to fight and win our nation's wars by providing prompt, sustained land dominance across the full range of military operations and spectrum of conflict in support of combatant commanders. Accomplishing this mission rests on the ability of the Army to equip and move its forces to the battle and sustain them while they are engaged. Logistics provides the backbone for Army combat operations. Without fuel, ammunition, rations, and other supplies, the Army would grind to a halt. The U.S. military must be prepared to fight anywhere on the globe and, in an era of coalition warfare, to logistically support its allies. While aircraft can move large amounts of supplies, the vast majority must be carried on ocean going vessels and unloaded at ports that may be at a great distance from the battlefield. As the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have shown, the costs of convoying vast quantities of supplies is tallied not only in economic terms but also in terms of lives lost in the movement of the materiel. As the ability of potential enemies to interdict movement to the battlefield and interdict movements in the battlespace increases, the challenge of logistics grows even larger. No matter how the nature of battle develops, logistics will remain a key factor. Force Multiplying Technologies for Logistics Support to Military Operations explores Army logistics in a global, complex environment that includes the increasing use of antiaccess and area-denial tactics and technologies by potential adversaries. This report describes new technologies and systems that would reduce the demand for logistics and meet the demand at the point of need, make maintenance more efficient, improve inter- and intratheater mobility, and improve near-real-time, in-transit visibility. Force Multiplying Technologies also explores options for the Army to operate with the other services and improve its support of Special Operations Forces. This report provides a logistics-centric research and development investment strategy and illustrative examples of how improved logistics could look in the future.