Miles Wide, Inches Deep: Army Logistics on the 21st Century Battlefield.
Abstract
The study begins with a futuristic vignette from a hypothetical Middle Eastern war early in the twenty-first century. In this future conflict the U.S. Army finds itself stranded on the battlefield and incapable of sustaining operations because of failures in strategic logistics planning in the late nineteenth century. Using the vignette to create a plausible failure of logistics, the author then critically examines the strategic thinking of senior leadership in regard to the current Revolution in Military Logistics (RML) in light of knowledge of the relationship between past Revolutions in Military Affairs (RMAs) and RMLs. From this perspective the author argues that planners in the 1990s did not recognize the true nature of the RML at the time and focused on technological enhancements to the old logistics paradigm, failing to foresee and develop the requisite doctrine, organizational structure, and new technologies necessary to support the on-going RMA.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 07, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA326774
Entities
People
- Herman T. Palmer
Organizations
- United States Army War College