Logisticians Are Tacticians Too: Bridging The Doctrinal Gap in Urban CSS Operations
Abstract
Ongoing counterinsurgency operations, as well as recent humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR) operations, highlight the inherent need for the Marine Corps' logisticians to be flexible, adaptive, and innovative in the execution of their diverse and challenging duties. On the 21st Century battlefield, combat service support elements (CSSE) will resupply refugees while protecting supplies from warlords during humanitarian relief operations, re-supply natural disaster victims during domestic and foreign disaster relief operations, and sustain fellow Marines fighting in "any clime and place" in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). Given the nature of these operations, the enemy will often choose the climate and place to disrupt friendly forces. The Marine Corps must be ready for urban warfare and urban sustainment. Unfortunately, the majority of today's CSSEs are not adequately trained in urban combat service support (CSS) procedures because there is no standard/approved set of established tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) for this mission, and existing urban training exercises do not adequately focus on sustainment techniques. This paper describes nine urban sustainment techniques that were developed by the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit during a TRUEX. Using a scenario-based approach, the unit developed and tested the nine techniques in cooperation with Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 1/1. Three basic scenarios were developed based on different circumstances and threat levels likely to be encountered; various methods or techniques were then crafted to respond to each scenario. Scenario 1 is the resupply of a ground combat element (GCE) combat train in any threat condition. Scenario 2 is the direct resupply of a GCE unit in a moderate threat environment. The last scenario is the direct resupply of a GCE unit in a high threat environment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA498341
Entities
People
- J. R. Stover
Organizations
- Marine Corps University