Black Hawk Down Lessons in Logistics Characteristics - Essay Example

?Blackhawk down; lessons learned pertaining to the Army's 5 logistics characteristics Introduction The military is one of the world’s most organized institutions. If for nothing at all, the military is known for its principles of discipline. By discipline, we are talking about that characteristic of the military that makes it conform strictly to lay down rules and regulations in the implementation of its programs and activities. Without any doubt, the military’s adherence to rules and regulations and its respect for discipline makes it one of the most respected institutions of the world. A lot of the Army’s principles of conducting themselves is embedded in the Field Manual (FM) with which they function and when it comes specifically to operation, the FM 100-5 becomes highly instrumental. Indeed, the true meaning of disciple among the military is that the military is well structured with programs and regulations. For instance the military has manuals and policies that regulate all that they do from the barracks to the offices to operations. One outstanding policy that regulates the military’s operations is what is known as logistics. Logistics in the literary world may be said to be the availability of resources but in the military, “logistics is the process of planning and executing force sustainment in support of military operations” (Global Security Organization, 2001). This essay looks at an influential component of logistics known as logistics characteristics. The paper shall review what constitutes logistics characteristics, the importance of logistics characteristics and lessons learned from the Army’s five logistics characteristics in relation to specific military and global events such as the famous Black Hawk Down. Components of Logistics Characteristics and how they relate to the FM 100-5 The Field Manual, commonly referred to as the FM is an important component of military operation in determining basic how-to’s. It serves as the basis of all military field operations. Because the logistics characteristics have been designed to cater for effective operations, the logistics characteristics are designed to closely relate to the field manuals and particularly, the FM 100-5. Chapter 2 of the FM 100-5 notes that “the Army classifies its activities during peacetime and conflict as operations other than war” (p. 2-0). This means that once the military is out there to keep peace, they mandate involves an entire complicated process of getting procedures achieved and thus operating within certain means and environment. During most of these operations, resources are not always in abundance for the day-to-day activities of the military. However this is no excuse for operations not to take place. In the event of scarcity of resource, the army’s logistics characteristics come to play with the philosophy that “scarce resources require logistics operations to be efficient, not wasteful” (Global Security Organization, 2011). When resources are well handled, logistics operations become both effective and efficient and the fundamentals of operation as stated in the FM 100-5 become achieved. Logistics characteristics are well organized into five components, which are briefly discussed below. Anticipation The FM 100-5 notes that the responsibility of ensuring successful use of logistics depends on the corps logisticians. Once the corps logistician is said to be pursue anticipation, it is expected that the corps logistician becomes highly proactive rather than reactive. Just as the logistics characteristics mentions anticipation as the need for the logistician to see ahead into the future, the FM 100-5 talks about intelligence gathering, stating that officers and leaders “gather intelligence to gain advance warning and anticipate likely enemy courses of action” (p. 2-6). A proactive logistician should be in the position of seeing into the future in the management of logistics. Without such a characteristic, the logistician is going likely to fail the entire team in the sense that they will not be able to maximize the use of all available resources, not excluding national assets (Global Security Organization, 2011). To achieve anticipation, the logistician must be highly visionary. Integration According to the logistics characteristics, the Army’s operations and administration comes in different phases and levels. The FM 100-5 also observes that operations does not involve the Army alone and this where integration applies in both the logistics characteristics and the FM 100-5. As a sign of tactical logistic planning, the logistician must have a characteristic of integrating proactive planning at all levels and phases of operation and all components outside of the Army. Integration at the time of operations can never be overlooked because “in an environment of joint and combined operations, the Army will also operate with other agencies of the US government” (p. 2-2). In simple terms therefore, a logistician is not a good planner if his proactive credentials cannot be integrated at all aspects of operations. Another aspect of integration is the ability of all departments of the army to put together their logistics. For instance the engineers, theatre commanders, cooks and all other departments must be in a position to integrate their efforts. Continuity It is said that the end is always what matters. This means that once a process is started in operations, it must be continued to a logical end. One crucial factor that can enhance the principle of continuity is the successful transfer of power and authority from one leading officer to the other. In the army, leadership positions are mostly occupied for periodic terms. This means that officers take up positions and leave office after some time for other people to take over. If logisticians are leaving office, it is extremely important that they have a very detailed debriefing exercise that will give their successors have fairer ideas of where to continue the management of resources and logistics from. This is important not just in official duties but also among commanders on the field of operation and all other heads of departments. The FM 100-5 also points out that continuity can best be achieved with combined arms are made to operate simultaneously. This is because “combined arms warfare produces effects that are greater than the sum of the individual parts. The combined arms team strives to conduct fully integrated operations in the dimensions of time, space, purpose, and resources” (p. 2-3). The integrated operations creates a chain of effort that ensures constant continuity. Responsiveness Responsiveness is embodied in the need to be versatile. By versatility, the logistician must have a characteristic that is highly adaptive with time such that the logistician will be in a position to respond to the supply of resources depending on prevailing circumstances. The FM 100-5 directs responsiveness and versatility towards an ability to use technology successfully in today’s modern world. The Manual therefore states that “advances in electronics, communications, automation, reconnaissance and surveillance, contamination avoidance, and precision-guided smart weapons and the exploitation of space-based capabilities have increased the lethality, range, accuracy, and reliability of our weaponry” (p. 2-3). Logisticians are not expected to be better coping with some situations and not others. Again, their responsiveness and versatility must allow for both been flexible with the distribution of resources and withholding of resources, as and when it becomes necessary. In this course, the Global Security Organization (2011) posits that “the engineer sustainment system should be versatile enough to keep pace with rapid decision cycles and mission execution and also react rapidly to crises or opportunities.” Improvisation Improvisation is an important characteristic in logistics; especially when resources are highly scarce. This is because improvisation makes room for the logistician to bring to being, that which was not by making necessary substitutions. It is out of place therefore that the Global Security Organization (2011) explains that corps logisticians “improvise by making, inventing, devising, or fabricating what is needed out of what is on hand.” The FM 100-5 relates improvisation to the need to pursue simplicity stating that “Simplicity in plans allows better understanding and troop leading at all echelons and permits branches and sequels to be more easily understood and executed” (p. 2-6). It must however be noted that improvisation should rather be an avenue for the logistician to display his or her ability to make good out of what may originally be tagged as not good. Blackhawk Down and Army’s 5 Logistics Characteristics It must be stated that there are the good and bad aspects of the Blackhawk Down as pertains the logistics characteristics. On the lessons that can be learnt on what went wrong, reviewers have observed that the breakdown in the original plan of the attack has greatly influenced America’s foreign policy. This is because contrary to the original plan of the attack, 18 Americans were dead and 73 were wounded as two of their high-tech UH-60 Blackhawk attack helicopters were shot down (Bowden, 1997). The change in foreign policy has resulted because the American Army has learnt to be more insightful in considering the components of the logistics characteristics in relation to how a particular attack may favor them before striking. There is no denying the fact that commanders at the hem of the Blackhawk Down attack swift with the implementation of the core components of the logistics characteristics. For instance the number of soldiers who went to attack were far fewer than the opposing forces, this means that there was scarcity of resources in disguise. Therefore, there should have been better anticipation of the situation. If the logisticians had look 72 hours into the future in anticipation of what the result of their action could be, they could have avoided the fall. What is more, there should have been a plan for integration were by the army could have fallen on other departments of the military when the going got though. But this of course should have been at the preparatory stage and thus, at the anticipation stage. Responsiveness and improvisation were also not well utilized. This is because knowing that there was extreme scarcity of resources, the logistics characteristic of responsiveness should have kept “pace with rapid decision cycles and mission execution and also react rapidly to crises” by making an urgent call in for reinforcement and aid (Global Security Organization, 2011). At the heat of events also, logisticians could have improvised in getting their way out. All said and done, it is not right to look only at what went wrong because there are some positive. Regarding the characteristic of anticipation, the Global Security Organization (2011) notes that there “was the twofold policy of a major military deployment and the establishment of lines of communication to the warlords” such that a meeting was arranged between Oakley and Aidid to resolve the misunderstandings that ensued. Though delayed substantially, the casualties could have been worse if the deployment was not done. Conclusion The army needs to continue to be proactive in their dealings and operations. As a matter of principle, the logistics characteristics and all other forms of guides and principles that bind operations in the military must be adhered to religiously. An effective logistic characteristic should always embody “mission analysis; course-of-action (COA) development, analysis, war gaming, and recommendation, and execution of the plan” (Global Security Organization, 2011). REFERENCE LIST Bowden M., ‘A defining battle’, 1997. Web. November 6, 2011 US Military Manual, 2011, ‘Field Manual 100-5 – Operations’, Washington D.C: US Army Publishing Global Security Organization, ‘Logistics’ 2001. Web. November 6, 2011 Read More