Marine Corps Plans to Revamp Outmoded Logistics System

By ARTHUR P. BRILL JR.
Sea Power Correspondent

When Marines prepared to jump off in the initial attack against Saddam’s forces in miserable weather last year, the Corps’ leadership knew they had a problem. It was not the hail, driving rain or Iraqi bayonets that concerned them. It was logistics.

The antiquated Marine logistics system was not designed for the fast-paced maneuvers on today’s battlefield. Logistics Marines confronted numerous difficulties in supporting their air and ground counterparts as they destroyed eight Iraqi divisions on their 28-day, 500-plus mile speed run to Baghdad.

“The logisticians in Operation Iraqi Freedom did an unbelievable job with the systems that we had in place,” said Gen. Michael W. Hagee, Marine commandant. “The Marine air-ground team has changed over the last few years. I don’t think that logistics has evolved along with it, at least as much as it should.”

The Corps actually decided to scrap its 1970s mainframe-based logistics information-technology system before Sept. 11, 2001, but the effort progressed slowly. Since Iraqi Freedom, “logistics modernization” is a full-court press that will change how Marines receive support in combat and eventually overhaul the look of the Corps’ entire logistics community.

“This is my passion and No. 1 priority,” said Lt. Gen. Richard L. Kelly, deputy commandant, installations and logistics. “We can do better in my business. I equate the importance of this effort to any of the key weapons systems Marines are expecting.”

Hagee said the MV-22 Osprey, Joint Strike Fighter and Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle will allow Marines to go deeper and wider in the future. The capabilities of the new platforms will enable the same number of Marines to occupy, control and move around in a much larger area.

“We’re going to go faster than we did in Iraq and resupplying them will be a challenge,” Hagee said. “We’ve got to be able to do that. That is exactly why Rick Kelly and his logisticians are working on this.”

The key first step in the Corps’ logistics modernization is to replace its 30-year-old information technology systems and processes that performed so poorly in Iraq. Generally, these stovepipe systems and processes were incompatible and could not keep track of incoming supplies leaving Kuwait or requests from the disbursed and fast-moving fighting units. Problems with repair parts were notorious.

“We actually had the repair parts in Kuwait. The requests got back, but we did not have a good way of tracking the part when it was sent to the unit,” Hagee said. “The technology is here, we just haven’t adapted properly.”

The Global Combat Support System-Marine Corps (GCSS-MC) could be the solution. Costing $70 million the first two years, this Department of Defense-approved program will be compatible with the other services and replace the Marine mainframes with a single Corps-wide web-based system starting in 2006.

Kelly’s Marines created a logistical framework for GCSS-MC by examining, streamlining and computerizing every step in the supply, maintenance and distribution process. The Marines will fit the framework with commercial-off-the-shelf software and then hire a software integrator to build and test the system in a deployed area. Both selections will take place this spring.

“The real inhibiter in Iraq was our logistics information systems. We have to fix it, not the motivation and dedication of our logistics Marines,” said Brig. Gen. Edward G. Usher III, director, logistics plans policies and strategic mobility division, who is overseeing the day-to-day GCSS-MC project. “If we don’t fix it, we’re setting the future for the same kind of failure.”

In Iraqi Freedom, Usher commanded the 14,973 Marines of the 1st Force Service Support Group that supported the I Marine Expeditionary Force. Despite the huge information challenges, bandwidth limitations, bad weather, 150-truck convoys on winding, dangerous roads and some hairy resupply moments, the Marine combat units largely received the necessities to get to Baghdad.

“We did OK across the board, but we had some lean spots,” Usher admits.

Kelly’s GCSS-MC planners are focusing on the forward edge of the battlefield, called the “last tactical mile,” before moving to the rear combat areas and eventually extending to Marine bases in the U.S. In garrison, Marines plan to use the same logistics system and processes designed for combat and communicate with tactical equipment.

“Our new system will work anywhere. The legacy systems performed reasonably well in garrison, but they failed on the battlefield,” said Usher. “Their replacement must work in the same environment I experienced in Iraq.”

Having commanded Marine infantry units ranging from a rifle platoon to a Marine expeditionary force, Hagee said logistics were hard at every level, not the tactics. “Logistics is unbelievably important. If you run out of ammo or bulk fuel, you’re done. You’ll grind to a halt,” Hagee said. “Our logisticians have to go faster, think like a battlefield commander and use his metrics and language.”

The Corps is no longer enamored with successful business practices that fail to assist Marines in combat situations. In framing GCSS-MC, Kelly’s Marines consulted with such firms as United Airlines, Dell, Federal Express, WW Grainger and Penske, and examined their procedures in customer relations, order tracking and distribution, etc. Essentially, the Marines ignored anything that would not apply to a combat environment. For example, the once revered “just-in-time logistics” is impractical in fluid “fog of war”-type combat situations.

“Wal-Mart doesn’t have to move its stores every three days and tell their distributors where the stores went,” Usher said. “There is a dividing line between a business and Marines maneuvering on a battlefield.”

The logisticians in the 25,000 Marine Corps force that relieved the Army late last month in the latest phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom should not have the communications shortfalls, logistics information system incompatibility and tracking problems that plagued them last year. Although still a dangerous area, the more static situation in Iraq will benefit them along with some “Band-Aid” fixes. If ordered to move a long distance, Hagee said the Marine logisticians will keep up, but the Corps is not close to where it wants to be.

“I have Marines over there gathering lessons learned,” Kelly said. “Last year, I knew the lessons learned, both good and bad, before we crossed the line of departure. There were no surprises.”

The Army and Marines had almost identical logistical problems in Iraq. In a recent Senate hearing, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker said that changes are forthcoming. Military experts say the Marine logistical system, and the Army’s to a larger extent, were set up for a Cold War-type of scenario.

The days of putting a mountain of Marine logistics on a beach are over. Kelly is focused on supporting future sea basing and rapid joint operations. After the logistics information-technology changes take place, other modernizing steps will follow in the years ahead that could alter the face of Marine Corps logistics.

“It may be a huge cultural change, but there is no reason we can’t be as great as other parts of the Marine air-ground team,” Kelly said. “Someday I want Federal Express to ask us how we do business.”