The warfighting function that enables successful continuation of military operations is sustainment. Sustainment is defined as providing logistic support, personnel services, and health services in order to continue operations until the mission is successfully completed (ADP 4-0.) Without sustainment operations, the Army would be unable to continue to operate both large and small scale missions. ADP 4-0 provides seven separate but closely related principles that provide guidance to commanders on sustainment.
Integration is combining all the elements of sustainment operations. All systems must work together in order to be successful. Anticipation and responsiveness are similar in that they allow the foreseeing of upcoming requirements …show more content…
Small scale operations, such as a team of Soldiers manning an observation post, or large scale operations such as continued operations in the Middle Eastern theater both need sustainment, but the size of these operations is what makes them different. The first time I was deployed to Iraq my squad would spend one or two weeks at a time living in an Iraqi police station, overseeing police operations and training their forces. Sustainment of this size of operation was both simple and economical. All classes of supplies were delivered via battalion support elements every few days and the ability to call back to our headquarters to alert them to our needs enabled the responsiveness of the logistic channels. Soldiers requiring personnel or health services were quickly rotated out. Adhering to the principles of sustainment ensured that our small unit could endure during our time away from the forward operating base. While effective sustainment operations lead to successful missions, ineffective sustainment operations could lead to mission failure.
In his book Operation Barbarossa, author Robert Kirchubel gives an example of a sustainment failure. Operation Barbarossa was the German plan for the invasion and defeat of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. Hitler believed that the operation would only last a few months, and German commanders failed to provide enough planning and resources when the operation lasted longer than anticipated. Although the Germans won several key battles, their ultimate defeat was due to poor logistic support and the inability to adapt and improvise when faced with changes in weather and the
Integration is combining all the elements of sustainment operations. All systems must work together in order to be successful. Anticipation and responsiveness are similar in that they allow the foreseeing of upcoming requirements …show more content…
Small scale operations, such as a team of Soldiers manning an observation post, or large scale operations such as continued operations in the Middle Eastern theater both need sustainment, but the size of these operations is what makes them different. The first time I was deployed to Iraq my squad would spend one or two weeks at a time living in an Iraqi police station, overseeing police operations and training their forces. Sustainment of this size of operation was both simple and economical. All classes of supplies were delivered via battalion support elements every few days and the ability to call back to our headquarters to alert them to our needs enabled the responsiveness of the logistic channels. Soldiers requiring personnel or health services were quickly rotated out. Adhering to the principles of sustainment ensured that our small unit could endure during our time away from the forward operating base. While effective sustainment operations lead to successful missions, ineffective sustainment operations could lead to mission failure.
In his book Operation Barbarossa, author Robert Kirchubel gives an example of a sustainment failure. Operation Barbarossa was the German plan for the invasion and defeat of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. Hitler believed that the operation would only last a few months, and German commanders failed to provide enough planning and resources when the operation lasted longer than anticipated. Although the Germans won several key battles, their ultimate defeat was due to poor logistic support and the inability to adapt and improvise when faced with changes in weather and the