Is There a DDOC in the House?: An Analysis of the Deployment Distribution Operations Center

Abstract

General Omar Bradley argued that "Amateurs study strategy and professionals study logistics." Recent US Military Operations in DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM, and IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF) have shown that from 1991 - 2003, the US military focused primarily on strategy and the deployment of combat forces yet struggled with logistics distribution at the operational level of war. In an effort to fix this recurring critical operational issue, USTRANSCOM and USCENTCOM created the Deployment Distribution Operations Center (DDOC). This paper documents the genesis of the DDOC, discusses the impacts of the DDOC on USCENTCOM and OIF, and analyzes the current status of DDOC formalization in Joint Doctrine and other Geographic Combatant Commands. Finally, this paper provides recommendations for USTRANSCOM and the other Geographic Combatant Commanders to ensure that a fully-trained DDOC can be rapidly stood up anywhere in the world to meet any type of contingency and to ensure the US military can demonstrate its operational distribution professionalism in future conflicts.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 04, 2009
Accession Number
ADA503191

Entities

People

  • Jonathan G. Downing

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combat Forces
  • Combatant Commanders
  • Deployment
  • Doctrine
  • Iraqi-War
  • Logistics
  • Military Operations
  • Military Science
  • Organizational Structure
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United States
  • United States Central Command
  • United States European Command
  • United States Southern Command
  • United States Transportation Command
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.