Our Logistics Failure - The Military's Overreliance Upon Sustainment Contracting

Abstract

Since the mid 1990s, the United States military has allowed contractors to become ingrained in the sustainment fabric of our military. From realistic beginnings of building "hard-stand" shelter for Soldiers and Marines on the ground in the Balkans, the Department of Defense has allowed contracting to become the "default option" when it comes to supporting U.S. forces in combat. In spite of the fact that-per capita-there are more logisticians now in the United States military than any period in history, the contractors supporting sustainment of our forces in combat are also more numerous than any time in history, approaching a 1 to 1 ratio as compared to the military population they support. Sustainment contracting is a multi-billion dollar industry and accounts for the largest share of the Defense-related contracted business. Not only is this practice of "excessive contracting" fiscally irresponsible, but also detrimental to the development of the military's future logisticians as well as the units they will one day command.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 17, 2011
Accession Number
ADA545550

Entities

People

  • Billy J. Davis

Organizations

  • National Defense University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • Counter WMD
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Asymmetric Warfare
  • Civil War
  • Commerce
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Department Of Defense
  • Employment
  • Geography
  • Governments
  • Hybrid Warfare
  • Logistics
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • Personnel Management
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Educational Psychology
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.