Photo By Sgt. Abigail Paul | U.S. Marines, Sailors, and Civilians with I Marine Expeditionary Force attend the...... read more read more
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American military personnel are constantly deployed all over the world. In every clime and place, Marines are all a part of a complex and expansive supply network that partners members from all branches, but how does a PowerPoint slide at Camp Pendleton teach Marines how to re-supply deployed service members? This week during the Operational Logistics Seminar (OLS) from November 30 to December 3, 2020, Marines, Sailors, and civilian personnel learned how to bridge their tactical experience into the strategic thinking processes that enable ‘beans, bullets and bandages’ to be delivered to Marines in a theater.
Most of the students who attended the four-day course were attached to I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) G4, with most of the coursework centered around the impact operational logistics can have on future MEF operations.
“This seminar teaches Marines how to plan with the Army, Navy and Air Force more successfully,” said Maj. Andrew Kettner, the West Team Officer in charge of Marine Corps Logistics Operations Group (MCLOG)’s Learning Department. “At the operational and strategic levels, it's all the same-we’re just different services. When we give seminars like this, we're starting to bridge that gap from a tactical focus into an operational focus. This is often involves logistics before anything else.”
MCLOG hosts OLSs to train large units like Marine Expeditionary Forces to tie into operational level logistics organizations and capabilities.
“MCLOG provides operational logistics and naval logistics integration training on a regular basis. This week is I MEF's opportunity to receive this training,” said Kettner. “The Commandant's guidance wants us to get after naval integration, and OLS creates an environment where that can happen.”
Much of the seminar focuses on training Marines in an operational mindset, the priority of MCLOG for this training closely follows the Commandant of the Marine Corps’ planning guidance to shift focus back to the Pacific, and enable Marines to operate in contested maritime environments.
“I believe that MCLOG is putting capability behind the OLS because it is in line with the Commandant's intent,” said Kettner. “It is a naval logistics integration opportunity and it is elevating our thoughts from the tactical into the operational, which in the end, all operational logistics is, in my mind, is getting what the strategic level has down to the tactical level: it's that simple. But it tends to look more difficult than it is, and OLS helps shed some light on how to get after that problem.”
Logisticians can use OLS as a platform to discuss the movement of supplies, such as food and water and fuel, to troops all over the world. OLS provides personnel a means of supporting their troops by facilitating an open-communication environment for logisticians to discuss what has worked in the past, what has not worked, and how to improve future efforts.
“Everything we do is connected to so much more,” said Kettner. “Creating an environment where you can have those heightened conversations, to learn, and to ask questions that you've been thinking about but didn't really know who to ask or have a venue to ask it.”
OLS provides an opportunity to train staff and augment logisticians in their training. This training provides I MEF personnel the resources to make joint-service connections. These joint-service connections provide logisticians with the ability to discuss lessons learned in different scenarios and how to improve the future of logistics for the MEF, the Marine Corps, and the Department of Defense. When you start to pull back the various classes OLS teaches, you’ll see it’s a people business.
“It’s really just knowing that there's someone to talk to, and then picking up the phone or sending an email, to get what you consider operational support,” said Kettner. “I MEF G4 understands what levers to pull to better support the major subordinate commands inside of I MEF. If they can provide better sustainment to major subordinate commands because of connections made during OLS: mission success.”
The Commandant’s planning guidance stresses the importance of naval integration, and OLS provides an opportunity to train personnel in line with the Commandant's intent. The training covers several topics which aim to shift I MEF’s thinking from a tactical mindset to an operational and strategic logistics mindset. By attending OLS, you will be educated and trained on a range of military logistical operations such as joint-service capabilities, theater specific roles, and necessary resources for your unit’s pending deployments.
| Date Taken: | 12.22.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 01.04.2021 18:07 |
| Story ID: | 385638 |
| Location: | CAMP PENDLETON, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 128 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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