Operations in Kosovo: In Search of the Optimal Deployment Method

摘要

The Army of today is being asked to deploy all over the world. The missions that the soldiers are asked to do are as diverse as the locations they are deployed to. In the future, as the Army becomes a lighter and leaner force, it will be asked to go more places and on shorter notice. However, it also will be asked to deploy with the same level of lethality that it did when it was a larger, more robust force. Commanders need tools when asked to deploy forces. They need help when deciding how to quickly get their forces to the fight. This paper develops such a tool and applies it to operations in Kosovo. It provides a solution to the following problem: What is the optimal European port to use when deploying forces to Kosovo. The purpose of the research is to find the optimal way to deploy troops to that region using several evaluative criteria, including cost, time/distance, host nation support, force structure, rail car reliability, port infrastructure, and force protection issues. The tool is an objective method that cancels out biases with facts and assumptions that pertain to the problem. It examines each course of action by comparing each one to evaluation criteria. The criteria are derived from guidance from the Commanding General of both U.S. Army Europe and the 21st Theater Support Command. The results of the study show that, of the deploying and redeploying locations studied (i.e., Bremerhaven, Germany; Thessaloniki, Greece; Constantza, Romania; and Burgas, Bulgaria), Burgas, Bulgaria was found to be the best location for deploying forces to Kosovo. It also explains that other factors that were not included in the study could have had an effect on the final recommendation. Overall, the study provides an unbiased answer to the question of which port to use for deploying forces to Kosovo, and gives commanders a tool that will assist them when deploying forces in the future.