FM 100-5 Operations - Survival Ebooks Military Manuals Survival ...

WWW.SURVIVALEBOOKS.COMOPERATIONSHistorical PerspectiveThe logistics support for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm demonstrates the impact of developinga theater plan for supporting deployed forces. The replacement operations management systemprocessed and deployed 18,000 filler personnel. Of the 139,000 reserve personnel mobilized, 124,500 ofthem were in 1,033 units and 14,900 were from the individual ready reserve. While 40 percent of theArmy’s CSS assets were deployed to the theater, 60 percent of those assets came from the reserve components.The modern division consumes as much as a World War II field army. During Operation Desert Shield,the defensive phase of the Gulf War, each division required 345,000 gallons of diesel fuel, 50,000 gallonsof aviation fuel, 213,000 gallons of water, and 208 40-foot tractor-trailers of other supplies each day,ranging from barrier material to ammunition. During Operation Desert Storm, a 100-hour offensive, asingle division consumed 2.4 million gallons of fuel transported on 475 5,000-gallon tankers.THE UNDERPINNINGSOF LOGISTICSA dependable, uninterrupted logistics system helpscommanders seize and maintain the initiative. Conversely,attacking the enemy’s support system can oftenthreaten or weaken its center of gravity. Destructionof the enemy’s support system and protection ofour own are important aspects of campaigns and majoroperations. Strategic concentration and operationalmaneuver and the exploitation of operational or tacticalsuccess often hinge on the adequacy of logisticsand the ability of the force to safeguard its criticalLOCs, materiel, and infrastructure. While effectivelogistics operations sustain combat effectivenessthroughout the duration of operations, they retain theability to surge in support of decisive operations. Asthe scale and complexity of Army operations increase,so does the importance of logistics to the success ofthese operations.The objective of logistics is to ensure that operationssucceed. Logistics arrangements cannot be someager that they do not meet the needs of commandersas they execute their operations, nor can they be soexcessive that they overwhelm the ability of commandersto move, protect, and employ them efficiently. Thelogistics system must strike a balance of sufficient supportto sustain operations throughout the peaks andvalleys of their duration without burdening commanderswith more support than is necessary to succeed.Logistics is one of the combat functions that helpscommanders build and sustain combat power (seeChapter 2). It is also a major operating system at eachlevel of war. Combat operations and logistics increasinglymerge at higher levels of war. Neither can beconceived without consideration of the other. Strategicand operational logistics support wars, campaigns,and major operations; tactical logistics supports battlesand engagements.STRATEGIC LOGISTICSAt the strategic level of war, logistics is largelythe purview of the CONUS industrial and civilian sector.National political and military-strategic leaders,as well as civilian and military suppliers and contractors,effectively combine efforts to provision the force.Strategic logistics deals with mobilization, acquisition,projecting forces, strategic mobility, and the strategicconcentration of logistics in the theater base andCOMMZ. It links a nation’s economic base (people,resources, and industry) to its military operations in atheater. Strategic and operational logistics interface inthe theater of war.OPERATIONAL LOGISTICSOperational logistics focuses on force reception,infrastructure develop-ment, distribution, and the managementof materiel, movements, personnel, and healthservices. Contractors and civilians provide supportfrom within as well as from outside the theater12-2