By Lt. Gen. Stephen R. Lyons
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) has never been a stranger to innovation. As it celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, the command is taking time to reflect on its past.
Established in 1987, USTRANSCOM developed around the concept of forming a unified, joint command whose sole purpose was to serve as a nexus for strategic mobility. At a time, this concept was unpopular as other commands were struggling to maintain personnel, equipment, and budgets, and the fledgling USTRANSCOM was seen as diverting valuable resources. USTRANSCOM proved its worth within a few years of its establishment, however, when it deployed in support of Operation Desert Shield, the nation's largest force commitment since D-Day.
The operation's overwhelming success prompted Gen. Colin Powell, who was then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to sing USTRANSCOM's praises. He called the operation the command's "graduation exercise," and as far as he and the president were concerned, USTRANSCOM had just graduated magna cum laude.
THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT
Military professionals understand that logistics are critical to the nation's ability to project power around the world, and are viewed by both partners and adversaries as a comparative advantage. The nation's ability to deploy rapidly and sustain military power on a global scale provides U.S. leaders with multiple options for pursuing the country's security interests.
The quiet professionals of the joint logistics enterprise play a critical role in the nation's defense. As professionals, they are compelled to ensure that strategic logistics and the ability to project military power globally remains a comparative advantage for the United States well into the future. However, logistics professionals are also acutely aware that what has worked in the past will not necessarily produce success in the future.
The joint operating environment is rapidly changing. It is characterized by emerging near-peer competitors and the need for integrated transregional, multi-domain and multifunctional operations. As a result, the Department of Defense must challenge assumptions about logistics and sustainment operations.
For example, DOD personnel cannot assume that U.S. forces will operate with impunity (zero attrition), retain assured geopolitical access, maintain cyber mission assurance, and receive approval for the timely mobilization of enabler forces. Logistics personnel also anticipate long and contested lines of communication. They are aware that logistics often precede actual maneuvers, so they expect "to fight" just to get to the fight.
TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGES
The nation's adversaries are becoming more advanced and deadly. Every day, more cyber threats emerge with the intent to disrupt and degrade the nation's ability to project and sustain forces globally. The DOD must face difficult truths and understand potential weaknesses so they can be fixed now, not later. These challenges can seem daunting. How, then, do logistics professionals face these tests?
Solutions will undoubtedly span the full spectrum of joint capabilities integration (doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities). Fundamentally, the DOD must consider ways to deliver lethal effects in nontraditional ways that will reverse the ever-increasing logistics burden.
Today's high-tech warfighting investments to enhance lethality, mobility, and survivability continue to drive increased requirements for strategic mobility, fuel, ammunition, and other critical sustainment needs. Innovations such as autonomous technologies, artificial intelligence, and smart data will clearly play larger roles in the wars of tomorrow.
THOUGHT AND INNOVATION
However, innovation is more than just technological advances. Overcoming these challenges -- and the many that will follow -- requires innovation and critical thought on how to conduct operations in the joint operating environment. Technology by itself will not be a salvation.
To succeed on future battlefields, DOD logistics professionals must always be willing to think differently, challenge processes, and expand their minds about concepts that have not previously accepted. Ultimately, it is Army personnel and their proven intellect, agility, ingenuity, and ability to adapt faster than adversaries that will lead the United States to future victories.
Warfighting readiness will always remain the number one priority. However, the character of war is changing rapidly. Again, what works today will not lead to future success. The time is upon us to shape the future, to challenge the validity of our "sacred cows," and to set the conditions for those who will follow us to achieve victory.
The services continue to think more jointly and look for ways to integrate the logistics value chain, from factory to foxhole, with an eye toward one outcome: warfighting effectiveness. In doing so, they will preserve their ability to project military power, rapidly replace lost combat potential, and enable global reach, freedom of action, and continuity of operations in order to meet national objectives.
The Army logistics elements require innovative thought and empowered, critical thinking at every echelon, and quick, decisive action. As the chief of staff of the Army, Gen. Mark A. Milley, persuasively said, "The pain of preparation is always less than the pain of regret." USTRACOM and sustainment professionals continue to make that preparation and readiness a reality.
USTRANSCOM proved its worth within a few years of its establishment, however, when it deployed in support of Operation Desert Shield, the nation's largest force commitment since D-Day.
The operation's overwhelming success prompted Gen. Colin Powell, who was then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to sing USTRANSCOM's praises. He called the operation the command's "graduation exercise," and as far as he and the president were concerned, USTRANSCOM had just graduated magna cum laude.
THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT
Military professionals understand that logistics are critical to the nation's ability to project power around the world, and are viewed by both partners and adversaries as a comparative advantage. The nation's ability to deploy rapidly and sustain military power on a global scale provides U.S. leaders with multiple options for pursuing the country's security interests.
The quiet professionals of the joint logistics enterprise play a critical role in the nation's defense. As professionals, they are compelled to ensure that strategic logistics and the ability to project military power globally remains a comparative advantage for the United States well into the future. However, logistics professionals are also acutely aware that what has worked in the past will not necessarily produce success in the future.
The joint operating environment is rapidly changing. It is characterized by emerging near-peer competitors and the need for integrated transregional, multi-domain and multifunctional operations. As a result, the Department of Defense must challenge assumptions about logistics and sustainment operations.
For example, DOD personnel cannot assume that U.S. forces will operate with impunity (zero attrition), retain assured geopolitical access, maintain cyber mission assurance, and receive approval for the timely mobilization of enabler forces. Logistics personnel also anticipate long and contested lines of communication. They are aware that logistics often precede actual maneuvers, so they expect "to fight" just to get to the fight.
TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGES
The nation's adversaries are becoming more advanced and deadly. Every day, more cyber threats emerge with the intent to disrupt and degrade the nation's ability to project and sustain forces globally. The DOD must face difficult truths and understand potential weaknesses so they can be fixed now, not later. These challenges can seem daunting. How, then, do logistics professionals face these tests?
Solutions will undoubtedly span the full spectrum of joint capabilities integration (doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities). Fundamentally, the DOD must consider ways to deliver lethal effects in nontraditional ways that will reverse the ever-increasing logistics burden.
Today's high-tech warfighting investments to enhance lethality, mobility, and survivability continue to drive increased requirements for strategic mobility, fuel, ammunition, and other critical sustainment needs. Innovations such as autonomous technologies, artificial intelligence, and smart data will clearly play larger roles in the wars of tomorrow.
THOUGHT AND INNOVATION
However, innovation is more than just technological advances. Overcoming these challenges -- and the many that will follow -- requires innovation and critical thought on how to conduct operations in the joint operating environment. Technology by itself will not be a salvation.
To succeed on future battlefields, DOD logistics professionals must always be willing to think differently, challenge processes, and expand their minds about concepts that have not previously accepted. Ultimately, it is Army personnel and their proven intellect, agility, ingenuity, and ability to adapt faster than adversaries that will lead the United States to future victories.
Warfighting readiness will always remain the number one priority. However, the character of war is changing rapidly. Again, what works today will not lead to future success. The time is upon us to shape the future, to challenge the validity of our "sacred cows," and to set the conditions for those who will follow us to achieve victory.
The services continue to think more jointly and look for ways to integrate the logistics value chain, from factory to foxhole, with an eye toward one outcome: warfighting effectiveness. In doing so, they will preserve their ability to project military power, rapidly replace lost combat potential, and enable global reach, freedom of action, and continuity of operations in order to meet national objectives.
The Army logistics elements require innovative thought and empowered, critical thinking at every echelon, and quick, decisive action. As the chief of staff of the Army, Gen. Mark A. Milley, persuasively said, "The pain of preparation is always less than the pain of regret." USTRACOM and sustainment professionals continue to make that preparation and readiness a reality.
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