Retrograde Lessons: Learning from Afghanistan’s Logistical Nightmare

[unhappycamper]

http://world.time.com/2013/02/05/retrograde-lessons-learning-from-afghanistans-logistical-nightmare/?iid=tsmodule



Civilian contractors work to drain a large puddle following a winter rain at Bagram Airbase, Afghanistan, Jan. 31, 2013. The yard holds armored combat vehicles that have been inspected and processed in preparation for shipment to the United States.

Retrograde Lessons: Learning from Afghanistan’s Logistical Nightmare
By Nate Rawlings / Bagram AirbaseFeb. 05, 2013

Much has, of course, been written about the exact art and subtle science of moving troops great distances; of feeding them and housing them; of equipping, arming, and resupplying them while the fight rages; and of bringing them—and their material support—back home once hostilities draw to a close. Mention the topic to logisticians in uniform, and you’ll probably hear some version of the line, “Amateurs talk tactics, but professionals talk logistics,” a quote often attributed to General Robert H. Barrow, the 27th Commandant of the Marine Corps.

For the past 11 years, logisticians have had their hands full in Afghanistan. For one, the country is land locked and far from a seaport. The terrain, especially in the strategically important east, is covered with mountains; and the country’s road network is much less advanced than the one in Iraq. Over the years, the Air Force and Army airdropped supplies on remote bases, from large parts for military vehicles parachuted out of airplanes to “Speedballs,” body bags filled with water and ammunition, that could be tossed out of a helicopter to resupply troops under fire.

For most of the past decade, the logistical focus has been on getting equipment out to troops fighting in remote areas. “Doctrine states when you’re starting an operation, it’s always a push,” says Major Rosendo Pagan, executive officer of the 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion. But with less than 23 months before the vast majority of U.S. troops are out of Afghanistan, logisticians have focused much of their efforts on what Pagan calls “the pull phase”: bringing equipment back from far-flung outposts.

In addition to combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Pagan has served as a logistics advisor in U.S. Southern Command, working with militaries in Central and South America. He served as a logistician during the Haiti earthquake relief. Any humanitarian mission, he points out, is a giant logistics operation, and retrograde must play an earlier role.