Marine Corps Rebalances for New Realities.

• Author: Bayer, Michael J.

In May, the National Defense Industrial Association and Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, in conjunction with DLA Land and Maritime, hosted its 2023 conference organized around the theme of "Building Resilient Supply Chains, Revitalizing Domestic Manufacturing and Fostering Growth."

At the conference, senior logistics and acquisition leaders focused on solutions for resolving the impact the evolving geostrategic security environment is having on the Defense Department's global supply chains.

At the risk of sparking an interservice rivalry, the importance of this conference was highlighted decades ago in General of the Army Omar Bradley's famous quote: "Amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics."

Over many years, the U.S. military has been able to dominate in all operational domains while operating from land-based, secure and fixed positions, in large part because we had decades ago developed logistically mature theaters with unimpeded lines of communications. This is no longer the case.

Today, rivals' technologies enable them at distance to materially disrupt lines of communications and supply.

In addition, the pandemic revealed the flaws inherent in relying on the most efficient, lowest cost, sole source, just-in-time and place supply chains. This is why the conference was so timely and important. It is also why this month's magazine features the Marine Corps and contested logistics (See page 36).

The Marines identify logistics as the pacing warfighting function that drives both the tempo of its operational reach and its military operations. As the Corps works through its future force design, its leadership is explicit that no other warfighting function will more profoundly impact Marines' ability to persist in contested environments than its logistics capabilities.

This is a crucial new reality shaping the Corps' rebalance to its naval expeditionary warfare roots.

In its February 2023 update on modernizing its logistics enterprise, the Marine Corps asserted in some detail how the Ukraine conflict is validating many of the Corps' planning assumptions, particularly the necessity of protecting supply routes against persistent attack and disruption.

This is driving several areas the Marines are prioritizing, including improving its current poor visibility in its logistics enterprise due to legacy, compartmented information technology systems and its over-reliance on crewed heavy, ground-based fleets of vehicles tethered to bulk...