Ready or Not ... Here They Come: Are the Combatant Commanders Ready for Multinational Logistics

摘要

U.S. planners can reasonably expect that the United States will continue to seek alliance and coalition partners to share the political and military risks associated with going to war. For the geographical combatant commander, participation in multinational logistics is not a choice. This paper will argue that U.S. geographical combatant commanders are organizationally and technically unprepared to conduct multinational logistics during post hostilities and peace keeping operations. This paper will recommend that the geographical combatant commanders formally establish their J4 as the office of primary responsibility for multinational logistics and create a Multinational Logistics Staff Section within the J4 at each geographical combatant command dedicated to multinational planning and operations. In addition, this paper will provide an overview of multinational logistics, including a tool box of multinational logistics arrangements that could benefit the combatant commanders, especially in hostile situations where the use of contractor support is not practical.