 It is the soldier's job to fight for victory on the battlefield. It is the job of the logistician to give him what he needs, when and where he needs it, in the condition required for his use, so that the fighting man can move and communicate, in short, to provide him with combat essential material. This material must not only be in working order, the soldier must be trained to use it effectively, and to maintain it, so that it will be fully operational when needed. This is Materiel Readiness. There were few complexities to logistics in the early wars of the United States, and Materiel Readiness was a relatively simple matter. Firepower in the Revolutionary War was concentrated chiefly in the muzzle-loading musket of the rifleman, and some rather primitive artillery, with horses or oxen supplying the multi-power. Supplies were hauled in carts, and mobility for the soldier was a matter of sturdy feet and decent boots. Nor did the wars of the 19th century see much change in logistics operations, or the nature of Materiel. That was true of the War of 1812, as well as the Mexican War. The greater need for mobility as army units penetrated deep into Mexico was met simply by an increased use of wagon wheels and pack mules. The Civil War brought no revolution in logistics, just a tremendous expansion in logistical operations to supply the huge armies fielded by both North and South. The primary combat Materiel remained the infantryman's rifle and the artilleryman's gun. Logistical progress was static during the lengthy Indian wars and the winning of the West, and in the brief gallant adventure of the Spanish-American War. The great change in logistics and Materiel began in World War I, as trucks appeared to help haul supplies for the Million Man Army in France. And troops took machine guns into battle, but the word mechanization remained unknown. World War II began the age of modern army logistics. The need to supply vast, often fast-moving armies in Europe and the Pacific inspired miracles in the production and supply flow of Materiel and equipment. Mechanization became a familiar word, as whole tank divisions and tens of thousands of vehicles were used in battle areas. The proliferation of weapons of great firepower gave new meaning to the expression weight of Materiel, which had become truly colossal and infinitely diversified. The new Materiel and logistics expertise developed in World War II were put to good use only a few years later in the Korean conflict, when harsh terrain and climate put Materiel as well as men to a severe test. However, it was the remote arduous war in South Vietnam that imposed the greatest demands on army logistics and in some ways produced its greatest triumphs. Huge quantities of supplies and Materiel had to be shipped 10,000 miles by sea, but even in this air age 97% of the supplies to Vietnam went by ship. With the innovation of containerization, the logistical challenge was met. The Vietnam conflict saw an enormous increase in the use of mechanized forces. There were no armored divisions in Vietnam, but there were tanks in abundance. Armored personnel carriers took the field in unprecedented numbers, and there were swarms in the thousands of that remarkable flying vehicle, the helicopter, which introduced the revolutionary battle concept of air-mobile warfare. It brought in new weapons as well as new tactics and created an entirely new dimension of logistics and Materiel needs. Vietnam's often harsh combat conditions, its rugged difficult terrain and exhausting climate that were so hard on men and equipment brought about a new high in maintenance consciousness. It drove home the importance of keeping weapons and equipment at the highest possible level of Materiel readiness. The lessons of Vietnam, the payoff of mobility on the ground and in the air, the devastating effect on the enemy of enormous concentration of firepower took deep root in Army thinking. They helped refine the tactical concepts and the considerations of logistics and Materiel that guide the U.S. Army today. It is true that the infantry is still the queen of battle. The rifleman remains the focus of decisive effort on the battlefield, but he has much more muscle in firepower. He moves far more swiftly than the infantrymen of yesteryear. Today, most U.S. infantry divisions are mechanized. The foot soldier now rides to battle protected by armored personnel carriers, deploying on foot only when he is on the battlefield itself. Mighty M-60 and M-60A1 tanks accompany him into combat. The fact is the modern mechanized infantry division is virtually a twin of the armored division. It has almost as many tanks. Behind the rifleman, heavy artillery can maneuver rapidly to give him close fire support. The same is true of 4.2 mortars. All these powerful weapons are self-propelled. And of course, nothing is more mobile than the aircraft in the division's cavalry squadron. All supporting services are completely mobile too, including supply and transportation. The medics operate in the field on wheels or tracks. So do the signalmen. And the engineers, fully mobile themselves, they help expedite the mobility of others, as with this armored vehicle launch bridge. This all-out mobility of the mechanized infantry division requires an enormous number of vehicles, some 4,000 of them. In the modern mechanized infantry division, we see the battle principle of shoot, move and communicate, expressed with overwhelming power and speed. But to be combat effective on short notice, all these vehicles must be maintained in a constant state of material readiness. All the army's mechanized divisions, none better exemplifies the constant striving for material readiness than the mighty historic first infantry division, the Big Red One. The first became a mechanized division when it returned from almost five years of combat in Vietnam to its home base at Fort Riley, Kansas. Here the very latest techniques and practices in material readiness are tried out, evaluated and perfected. Material readiness begins with the training of the individual soldier. One thing material readiness means to him is learning how to use his weapon effectively in combat. It also means taking care of his equipment in a word maintenance. It almost goes without saying that he must look after the weapon that may save his life in battle, but he must also look after the many vehicles and crew-served weapons that give him such mobility and firepower. Without maintenance, he could not shoot, move or communicate for very long. An idea of the size of the job can be obtained by looking at the vehicles on hand in just one mechanized infantry company. An idea of the complexity of the job can be gained from comparing the few tools that go along with each two-and-a-half-ton truck with the elaborate, varied tool kit that accompanies each M-113 armored personnel carrier. Achieving good maintenance requires skill and hard work, lots of it. Gentlemen, every mechanized infantry soldier must be a student too. You will spend almost as much time learning how to maintain your equipment, then working at keeping it maintained, as you will in training how to use it in battle. Now, good maintenance means preventive maintenance. Not only enlisted men go to indoor and outdoor maintenance classes, all higher ranks with supervisory responsibility go to class two, non-commissioned officers and officers, an important part of their instruction is learning how to look for indicators of possible trouble, such as a loose steering wheel or a suspicious leak. Vehicular maintenance is the responsibility of the owning company, but its repair capabilities are limited to fairly simple needs. However, each mechanized company is backed up by a chain of higher echelon maintenance facilities. Next in line is the maintenance section of the mechanized battalion to which the company belongs. It has more men and resources and can perform more complicated tasks than company maintenance. Highest echelon in the division is the division maintenance battalion. It provides a direct support company for each mechanized infantry brigade. Its skilled mechanics are capable of very sophisticated repairs. They are versed in every repair technique. Extremely complicated repair jobs, like overhauling a tank engine, go to an even higher echelon outside the division, a general support maintenance facility that operates in the field with its own highly specialized personnel. Tracked vehicles like other equipment are repaired and returned to serviceability standards prescribed in the Department of the Army technical manuals. All the service units within the division support command have similar maintenance resources, providing skills and facilities in depth for any repair need. Again, the division maintenance battalion serves as the ultimate maintenance support within the division. Their highly skilled specialists can fix all battlefield items, from a rifle to a ballistics computer for big guns. The air cavalry troop in the division has direct support maintenance backup by units of the division support command. It is the soldier who is closest to the vehicle, its driver who has the primary responsibility for its maintenance. He must check his vehicle periodically to ensure that it is in operational readiness condition. He enters his report of any deficiencies on an equipment and inspection worksheet. One of the driver's most important jobs is to enter deficiencies in the vehicle's logbook. This data provides a material readiness check on the serviceability of various components. The maintenance check is unceasing and continuous. More formal inspections are carried out by the company commander to ensure that his equipment is operationally ready. There are scheduled inspections, monthly and quarterly, inspections by the battalion commander. This is a spot check conducted by personnel of the maintenance battalion. They may set up a roadside check without warning, anytime, any place, stopping passing vehicles to give them a rigid inspection. However, in all instances, assistance is stressed. The need for material readiness has penetrated so deeply into the thinking of the first division that it now has a division material readiness officer on the staff of the division logistics officer, the G4. But all officers in key jobs of maintenance responsibility also think of themselves as material readiness officers. Whether they are vehicle maintenance people, communication specialists, engineers, medics, or even the battalion mess officer who is concerned with the field ranges issued to each company when it goes on field maneuvers or into battle. Still, no matter how well maintained equipment is, the true test of material readiness is in combat. Since the nearest thing is simulated combat, the division conducts periodic field exercises to check the operational capabilities of equipment and the men who handle it. The complex requirements of constant maintenance has led to the rise of an important concept to ensure material readiness. And that is the concept of management. The officers responsible for sending mechanized units into battle must have up to date knowledge of the state of equipment. They must be able to evaluate the constant flow of information and act correctly on it. To sum up, they must know good management. Thus each mechanized battalion holds a material readiness council once a month in which the commanding officer and his staff discuss the condition of equipment in the battalion and its maintenance needs. On a higher command level, each brigade commanding officer holds a similar readiness council monthly with his battalion commanders. While at the top command echelon of the division, the commanding general and his staff meet regularly with the brigade commanders to keep abreast of the readiness problems and needs of all units. In order to give the different levels of command a quick but comprehensive appraisal of the readiness situation, so important to good management. The abundant data that keeps flowing in is summarized in various standard forms. Among the most important forms is the unit readiness report. The unit referred to in this instance is the battalion. The unit readiness report describes in percentages, conditions, or readiness of personnel on hand. They're various states of training. The readiness state of equipment and status of logistic support. This report is transmitted by each battalion commander with commentary and supporting documents when necessary. It goes forward for study and comment to brigade, then to division, then from the division commanding general to the army's highest command levels, the Continental Army Command, and the Department of the Army. Their vital document is the material readiness report. This deals solely with equipment on hand and its availability over the past 90 days. This report is also made up by each battalion and goes all the way up through higher commands to the Department of the Army. This enormous ongoing demand for swift management information would be impossible to satisfy without the help of high-speed automatic data processing machines. The Big Red One's computerized information system has served as the model for other mechanized infantry and armored divisions. The Division Data Center operates out of mobile vans that can follow the division anywhere in the field. The Division Data Center services two management centers. One is the Technical Supply Office, which operates under the Division Maintenance Battalion. It controls the inflow and outflow of a huge volume of repair parts. These items are dispensed to all division units from warehouses through which move thousands of different spare parts in steady demand. They range in variety, from tank engines to nuts and boats. Automatic data processing makes it possible to take care of from 12 to 15,000 requisitions monthly with a minimum of errors or delay. The once lengthy process of filling requisitions now takes just minutes instead of days. The Technical Supply Office keeps the daily transaction register of all requisition operations. It is also responsible for making up a monthly computerized equipment status report. These printouts give each battalion commander a complete profile on the status of the equipment in his mechanized unit, particularly with reference to repair parts requested and those actually on hand. The Other Management Center is known as the Division Supply Control Center and operates under the Division Supply and Transport Battalion. It is headed by an officer who has the title of Division Property Book Officer. He and his staff are responsible to the Division Supply Officer and the G4. He also keeps records of all equipment issued to division units and maintains status reports. The Division Data Center plays an indispensable role in support of the Property Book Officer. All division property and equipment status records are maintained as decks of master cards in the data center. All transactions and changes are recorded daily and supply the data that go into the unit readiness and material readiness reports. All information appears in the form of printouts. The printout also serves as a hand receipt listing of property issued to each company commander. The hand receipt printout is verified by the Property Book Team before it is sent to the company commander. This computerized printout is the modern company property book. The old manually maintained property book is a thing of the past. Company supply personnel are now relieved of time consuming bookkeeping with its possibilities of error. A signed copy of the printout goes back to the Division Property Book Officer as a hand receipt. However, the company commander is still responsible for his property and has complete command control in using it. Thus, with hand receipt listings of property held by each company plus daily and weekly transaction printouts for each unit, the Division Property Book Officer is constantly aware of the changing day-to-day status of the enormous amount of equipment in the division. This information is always available to the commanding general and his staff. The Property Book Officer issues a monthly consolidation of each battalion to the battalion commander. This is a consolidated listing of all property held on hand receipt within each battalion and is sometimes referred to as a battalion roll-up. This roll-up is valuable management information, extremely helpful to each battalion commander as he strives for the goal of complete material readiness. 87. 87. All of the division's vast tireless effort to maintain material readiness means in the last analysis that each fighting man can respond quickly and effectively if a call comes suddenly for his help, at home or abroad. This preparedness to move out swiftly is checked by regular practice alerts. The troops look good, mount the vehicle. Has a specific overseas mission. Its task is to reinforce the American divisions in Germany. These are the major component of the NATO forces on guard against aggression from the east. The Big Red One operates on what is known as the dual-based concept. This means that the division needs to send only its men to Europe when it responds to an overseas call. This is because a complete duplicate lineup of combat-ready vehicles is kept in West Germany. They are quickly brought out for use by first division troops when they arrive by air. Thus, from Kansas to West Germany, the soldiers of the Big Red One can go into action with all combat essential equipment in a remarkably short time. The dual-based concept has already been tried out several times in maneuvers and has proved to be highly effective. The American Army is characterized by its aggressive spirit when it takes the offensive in battle. Now it has another offensive in the making that applies to its peacetime readiness mission. This is the logistics offensive. It is an offensive in spirit, in principle, in systems, and in techniques. Its objective is to further improve the logistics system which has shown such significant advances in the last 10 years in order to improve the Army's combat readiness still more. It is an offensive carried out primarily by the Army's professional logisticians. But it is also meant to make every officer, non-commissioned officer, and specialist concerned with material readiness think of himself as a logistician. The material readiness needs of the all mechanized Army is an incentive to bring forth new techniques and procedures to speed the flow of vital supplies, to keep firm management control of them whether in transit or in depots. To achieve almost fingertip knowledge of the colossal inventory of ground forces equipment, another step forward is increasing containerization of cargo. Containerization provides greater ease and speed of handling as well as more security for the cargo. New freight carriers will expedite movement of supplies. The new giant C5A transport plane has a carrying capacity far greater than any of today's jets and will fly longer distances. This rapid and responsive transportation system will enable the Army to minimize the stockage of material on the ground in the combat theater, thereby not affording the enemy a lucrative target when he tries to disrupt the logistic support to our combat forces. This is a drawing of a heavy lift helicopter of the future. It is meant to carry massive cargo beyond the capacity of present day helicopters. Note the containerized cargo. Here is an air cargo carrier. It can operate in difficult areas like shallow water. It too is designed for containerization. Beach discharge craft are steadily evolving. Self-propelled barges brought close to shore by barge-carrying ships. The huge self-propelled beaching lighter appears to be the most suitable vehicle for moving containerized freight from ship to shore. Inevitably, these artists' concepts will become reality as the logistics offensive pushes forward. These fighting men may never have heard the term logistics offensive, but it is vital to them. From it will come even greater material readiness so that the soldier, mechanized or armored, can, with greater certainty, safety, and confidence of success, fulfill his mission to protect this country in peace or war.